I have a question.  I know the Bible says that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Father, but it also says when Jesus comes back that the dead in Christ will rise first.  So, if we have a new body like the Bible says, and we are already present with Christ after death, who is He going to raise if the spirit is already with Him?  Or does the spirit stay with the body until the resurrection?

Sincerely,
Out Of Body Inexperienced

Dear Out Of Body Inexperienced,

When Jesus returns, the dead in Christ will rise first (1 Thess 4:16), and their souls (which are currently in Paradise – Lk 23:43) will be united with their new spiritual bodies (1 Cor 15:51-53).  When we die, our spirit is separated from our bodies (Jas 2:26).  When Jesus returns, we will be given new bodies that will never see corruption.

     Why did certain rules change when Jesus was around?  Before Jesus, the evidence of God being present was the destruction and conquering of other religions, lands, and cities (along with some pretty amazing miracles).  Some of the miracles were acts of God to actually destroy these other religions.  When Jesus came around, He preached that people should love their enemies and focused His message toward their communities.  This doesn't make sense.  If Jesus was preaching the essence of God, and we are supposed to love our enemies, then why did God eradicate pagan religions using the Israelites?  And why would He choose to use some of the people from these religions in His divine plan and lineage of Christ?

Sincerely,
Mixed Messages

Dear Mixed Messages,

God did a lot of things in the Old Testament, and destroying pagan nations was only part of that picture.  It is important to understand why God destroyed those nations.  God was protecting the Israelites because they were His people, and when they faithfully served Him, He destroyed their enemies to protect them.  It is important to understand that the Old Testament was a tutor to lead people to Christ (Gal 3:24-25).  The Old Testament taught people about the gravity of sin, the justice of God, the sinfulness of man, and our need to place our faith in God.  All of the Old Testament stands as an example of how God treats sin and how seriously we must take it.  As we read the Old Testament, we get a clear picture of how much trouble we would all be in without forgiveness... but we also see that God tried time and time again to save people.  In fact, the entire book of Jonah is about God sending a prophet to try and get the pagan city of Nineveh to turn away from their sin before it was too late.  He also accepted the harlot Rahab when she turned from idolatry and joined the Israelites (Heb 11:31).

Jesus did teach that we should love our enemies, but He also preached railing judgments against wicked men (read Matt 23 for Jesus' feelings about the Pharisees).  Jesus showed kindness to a penitent adulteress (Jhn 8:3-11), but He also made a whip and cast out all the moneychangers from the temple (Jhn 2:15).  Jesus certainly taught love, but He also taught justice – the exact same things you see in the Old Testament.  In the Old Testament and in the New, we see a consistency in God's character.  The only difference is that Jesus brought forgiveness in a way that never could happen before He died on the cross.

     Hello, I have a question about sacrifice.  I have read where the Israelites had to make sacrifices on certain days to atone for their sins.  I am also aware that the sacrifice of Jesus has made this unnecessary.  But I do not understand how taking the best portion of your livelihood and burning it would atone for your sins.  I also do not understand how Jesus' sacrifice atoned for all the sins of the world.

How does destroying the most precious things equal forgiveness from God?  How does Jesus’ perfect sacrifice save us?  What do these acts actually DO?

Sincerely,
Sacrificially Stymied

Dear Sacrificially Stymied,

The Jewish sacrifices of bulls and goats never did atone for sins (Heb 10:4); all they did was teach that forgiveness from sin came with a cost.  God teaches us that when we sin, the wages of that sin are death (Rom 6:23).  The Jews learned that lesson by making sin offerings.  When the sinner laid their hand upon the head of the innocent animal, they symbolically transferred their sin to that beast (Lev 4:27-29).  However, animal blood never was enough to truly pay for sin.  It took the God’s Son’s blood to pay the price for our sin; only Deity’s blood was enough to cover the tremendous cost of sin (Heb 10:10).

Jesus had to sacrifice Himself to pay for our sins because God is both a merciful and a just God.  By personally paying the price for our sins, God showed Himself to be both just and the justifier of the faithful (Rom 3:25-26).  Like a father paying the price for his son’s mistakes, Jesus paid the price for our mistakes.

    According to Hebrews 6:4-6, is there no hope for someone who has fallen out of the church to come back to God?

Sincerely,
Looking For Hope

Dear Looking For Hope,

Heb. 6:4-6 says that it is impossible for others to renew to repentance a brother who has fallen away.  It is always possible to come back to the Lord after falling away (1 Jn 1:9), but when someone has already been enlightened by the truth (Heb 6:4) and heard the Word of God (Heb 6:4), there isn’t any new teaching that can sway him from living a wicked life.  If someone falls away from Christ, it means their heart has been hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (Heb 3:13), and it is up to that individual to soften their own heart and return to the Lord.

     I don't belong to a church.  I grew up in church but stopped going, but I still seek God every day; I always look for Him.  And sometimes I dream, and He's in my dreams, guiding me, telling me He's taking care of me from this day forward.  And in my most recent dream, He let me into heaven, but I never really saw His face.  Is He talking to me?

Sincerely,
Hearing Voices

Dear Hearing Voices,

If we want to know God’s desire for our life, we must use the Bible to get our instructions.  Faith comes from the Word (Rom 10:17), and the Bible contains all the information we need for life and godliness (2 Pet 1:3).  If we want to understand what God wants for us, we can find the truth in the sum of His Word (Ps 119:160).  Prophecies and visions are no longer given to people directly (1 Cor 13:8).  Instead, God speaks to us through the teachings of His Son (Heb 1:1).  It is normal for our emotions and desires to send us conflicting messages; that is exactly why God tells us to not trust ourselves (Pr 3:5).

Now let’s address the issue of not belonging to a church.  The Bible teaches that we shouldn’t forsake the assembly (Heb 10:24-25).  God designed the church so that each individual would be strengthened by the power of the whole (Eph 4:16).  God never wanted christians to try and serve Him without the support of a local church; that is why He commanded the church to assemble.  It is impossible to do God’s work without being a part of a local church.  If you would like help finding a faithful congregation in your area, e-mail us at askyourpreacher@mvchurchofchrist.org or read “Finding A Church” for biblical parameters for finding a congregation.