Could I fast from something other than food?  For example, if I'm a person who likes to drink juice, and I fast from it and drink water, is that still considered a fast?

Sincerely,
Doing Without

Dear Doing Without,

The word ‘fast’ means ‘to not eat’.  The Greek word is formed by adding a negative to the front of the word ‘eat’.  It is very similar to how English words are turned into negatives by adding ‘anti’ to the front (as in ‘antigravity’ or ‘antibacterial’).  There are no specific examples in the Bible of someone fasting by simply removing a specific type of food from their diet, but having said that – the word ‘fast’ can be used in that way.  Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, which is considered to be the definitive study tool for Bible Greek, defines the word ‘fast’ as ‘to abstain as a religious exercise from food and drink: either entirely, if the fast lasted but a single day, or from customary and choice nourishment, if it continued several days’.  According to that definition, abstaining from juice would be a form of fasting.

Are Jesus and God the same person?

Sincerely,
Recalculating

Dear Recalculating,

There are three members of the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matt 28:19).  Each of the three is fully God and have all the powers of Deity.  Read "The Father, The Son, & The Holy Spirit" for details on their relationship one to the other.  Jesus is definitely one of the Godhead.  Jhn 1:1 and Php 2:5-9 make it clear that Jesus is Deity.

If God is so powerful and mighty, can't He just destroy the devil and evil?  Why doesn't He just be, like, “BAM!”… and the devil and the evil in the world be gone?

Sincerely,
Ka-Pow

Dear Ka-Pow,

God does have the power to destroy the devil and all evil, and eventually, that is exactly what He will do (Matt 25:41).  God tells us that the reason He hasn’t destroyed all evil is because that would involve destroying all sinful people as well.  After all, sin is what causes evil.  God, in His abundant patience, is waiting to give as many people as possible the chance to repent and turn to Him, so they can be forgiven (2 Pet 3:5-9).  God promises that one day He will destroy all evil; the really question is: whose side will we be on in that day?

Why did God seek to kill Moses in Exodus 4?  Was it because Moses didn’t circumcise his boys?  I have also read comments that Moses himself was not circumcised, and this is why God sought to kill Moses.  Can you clarify the account for me?  Thank you!

Sincerely,
Wincing

Dear Wincing,

Ex 4:24-26 is an odd little anecdote in Moses' life.  We don't get many details, so everything that we understand about it is from putting very few pieces of information together.  Here is what we know:

1. God was angry enough with Moses to kill him.
2. Zipporah, Moses' wife, circumcised their son, and she wasn't happy with the fact that she had to perform emergency surgery on her son.
3. After the circumcision, Moses' life was spared.

Using these meager pieces of information, our understanding is that God was mad at Moses because he hadn't obeyed God's command to circumcise his children.  Remember, circumcision was the sign of God's covenant with Israel (Acts 7:8).  The fact that Moses, God's chosen leader for Israel, wasn't keeping that covenant with his children was a big deal.  There is nothing to indicate that Moses wasn't circumcised.  Our understanding is that the issue was Moses had not circumcised his son.

Why does the Talmud say that Jesus is a sorcerer and magician?

Sincerely,
Confused

Dear Confused,

The Talmud is a Jewish book of traditions and discussions regarding ethics, the Old Testament, and philosophy… among other things.  The important thing to note is that the Talmud is not authored by God.  It is simply an old commentary written by fallible humans.  The Talmud was written by Jews that didn’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah; therefore, they said that He was a sorcerer and a false teacher.  Just because a book written by men says He isn’t the Messiah doesn’t make it true.