Well, what does the Bible say about God and science fiction?  I want to write a poem based in the future.  I want it to be purely science fiction, but it'd be about a 2031 Angel Of Death and featuring dialogue.  Is this insulting?  Wrong?  Or is there no real answer yet?

Sincerely,
A Poet And I Know It

Dear A Poet And I Know It,

Writing is just like speaking; whatever we say or write must show reverence to God (Heb 12:28), avoid crass or debased language (Eph 5:3-4), tell the truth (Eph 4:15), and be seasoned with grace (Col 4:6).  There is nothing inherently wrong with writing science fiction as long as it meets those guidelines.  If your poem is written in a way that contradicts Scripture or is full of things that are evil or lewd – it is wrong.  Avoid those things, and you will be fine.

Can you tell me something about generational curses?  Aren’t they a special kind of curse and not for everybody?

Sincerely,
Checking The Family Tree

Dear Checking The Family Tree,

Children pay for the choices their parents make.  People pay for the sins of those who have gone before.  If your father was an axe murderer, it would affect you, your children, maybe even your grandchildren (Ex 34:7)… but eventually he would be forgotten, and the consequences of his behavior would dissipate.  That is what the generational curse is – that children must live with the repercussions of their parents’ choices.  Everyone has baggage and troubles that are brought on them by the generations that have gone before.

However, every person has the God-given gift of free will (Matt 7:13-14).  In spite of what the generations before have done, we all have the ability to work out our own salvation and change our lives (Php 2:12).  Our physical lives are often dictated and controlled (at least partially) by the choices of those around us, most notably our parents, but the state of our soul is our own responsibility.  Each of us must seek God (Col 3:1) and serve Him regardless of what previous generations have done.

If God is love, and He is (1 Jn 4:8)… then would it be safe to say that love is God?

Sincerely,
Lovestruck

Dear Lovestruck,

God is love (1 Jn 4:8), but love isn’t God.  There is a logic flaw in switching those two statements around.  It doesn’t work both ways.  Consider these examples:

1. A cedar is a tree, but not every tree is a cedar.
2. A tuna is a fish, but not every fish is a tuna.
3. The man is fast, but that doesn’t mean every fast thing is a man.

God is the perfect example of love.  He loved mankind so much that He gave His own Son for us (Jhn 3:16).  He loved us while we were still His enemies (Rom 5:10).  Nobody is better at showing love than God, and we ought to imitate His love, but that doesn’t mean that every act of love is God.  That is a misunderstanding of what the Bible is teaching.

How do you explain to someone about books that contradict the Bible, like "The Jesus Letters" and "The Book of Yahweh"?  I don’t know how to prove that they are false doctrine when they are claiming to be "historically accurate".  Help please.

Sincerely,
Fighting Fables

Dear Fighting Fables,

The question of what books to include in the Bible and what books to exclude as false is a major issue – and it is an issue that the early christians had to face.  Twenty-seven books are included in the New Testament canon (the word ‘canon’, when applied to Scriptures, means ‘the officially accepted list of books’), and each one of these books is documented by early christians as being a divinely-inspired piece of literature.  In other words, the early christians believed that God wrote it.

The key to understanding why some books are included in the Bible and other books (even books from the same time period) are excluded is to remember that the Bible claims to be God’s Book (2 Pet 1:19-21).  The early christians lived during the time when these books were being written, and they were fully aware of who was doing the writing.  Today, we can’t tell which religious documents were written by apostles and which documents were written by heretics… but the early christians certainly could!  If someone claimed that a letter was written by the apostle Paul, all they had to do to verify the authenticity of the letter was to ask Paul for themselves.  The early christians were in the best position to differentiate between authentic apostolic writings and other manmade documents.  This is exactly why the early church quickly adopted the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, and they have been almost universally accepted as the only New Testament books ever since.  Numerous historical documents verify that the New Testament canon that we use today was accepted, read, collected, distributed, and used by the early christians from very early on.  People who seek to say that they have “found” some new Bible books that have been missing from the canon have to prove that their books were accepted by christians from the beginning – no one has been able to do that.

My pastor says we are daughters of Judah.  Isn’t that Old Testament and not today?

Sincerely,
From A Different Family

Dear From A Different Family,

If he means that you are physically of the lineage of Judah – he is wrong.  Christians aren’t genetically Israelites.  Christians come from all walks of life and backgrounds (Col 3:11).  However, there is a sense in which all christians are children of Israel.  The church is spiritual Israel, and all christians are children of Abraham through faith (Rom 9:6-8).  Abraham was the father of all the faithful, a living example of what faith in God should look like (Rom 4:11-16).  When we live by faith, we are children of Abraham because we imitate his life (Rom 2:28-29).