We Glorify God When All Things Work For Our Good

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28 KJV)

In the end, every believer should be able to testify that all things the had happened is for their good and for the glory of God. We will marvel at how every event that had occurred, throughout all ages, seemingly unrelated, somehow, will enable the best outcome for ourselves.

This will happen when he comes on that day to receive honor from his holy people and to be admired by everyone who has believed - and our testimony to you was believed. (2 Thessalonians 1:10 CEB)

God's Glory

Why God should be glorified
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:36 KJV)
Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. (Psalm 100:3 KJV)
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Colossians 1:16-17 KJV)
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Corinthians 6:20 KJV)

How we glorify God
1. In all things
If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:11 KJV)
2. By our confession of sins
And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. (Joshua 7:19 KJV)
3. By our faith
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; (Romans 4:20 KJV)
4. By our salvation
And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ: But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. And they glorified God in me. (Galatians 1:22-24 KJV)
And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written (in Psalm 18:49), For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. (Romans 15:9 KJV)
5. By our praise
The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!" (Psalm 50:23 ESV)
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. (Psalm 145:3 KJV)
6. By bearing fruits
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. (John 15:8 KJV)
7. By our good works
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16 KJV)
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:12 ESV)
For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. (2 Corinthians 9:12-14 ESV)
8. By keeping our body and spirit holy
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Corinthians 6:20 KJV)

Our response
1. Positive
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV)
Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. (Psalm 29:2 KJV)
Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. (1 Chronicles 16:28-29 KJV)
2. Negative
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. (Romans 1:21 KJV)

Worthy of all glory
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. (Revelation 4:11 KJV)
And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. (Revelation 5:13 KJV)
Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest. (Revelation 15:4 KJV)
I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, And I am saved from my enemies. (Psalm 18:3 NASB)

Created for His glory
Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. (Isaiah 43:7 KJV)
This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise. (Isaiah 43:21 KJV)
The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. (Proverbs 16:4 ESV)

God will not share His glory
I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. (Isaiah 42:8 KJV)
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another. (Isaiah 48:11 ESV)

To the Praise of God's Glory
He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:5-6 NASB)

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:10-12 NASB)

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14 NASB)

For our glory
What we say is wisdom to people who are mature. It isn’t a wisdom that comes from the present day or from today’s leaders who are being reduced to nothing. We talk about God’s wisdom, which has been hidden as a secret. God determined this wisdom in advance, before time began, for our glory. (1 Corinthians 2:6-7 CEB)

Cannot glorify God:
1. unless saved;
2. in our own strength;
3. except according to the Word of God.

God's glory
1. intrinsic (God's nature)
2. ascribed (by His creatures)

If one refuse to glory God, one would glorify self.

Future Glory
... all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD (Numbers 14:21 ESV)

When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:10-12 KJV)

Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever. - Westminster Shorter Catechism
God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him - John Piper

cabod כְּבוֹד
doxa δόξα

Eternal Life Without God Is Hell

A friend of mine, an Arsenal fan, once made this remark, "I wonder if there is any soccer in heaven. If there isn't, what am I going to do?"

Eternal life is going to be a big problem for if what motivates us on earth is not found in heaven. Hell is to live forever, wanting to fulfill our desires, but unable to do it.

I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. (Psalm 86:12 KJV)

Good Without God Is Hell

We always feel good when we feel useful, when we can help, when we can contribute. We will feel that life is meaningful. That is why many people do charity work. We live in an imperfect world, full of sin and poverty, where we have many opportunity to do good.

What happened if such a person is living in a perfect world, such as the garden of Eden, where there is no sin  and poverty? He cannot feel useful because there is no poor people to help, no charity to do. Every idea and every suggestion he made is inferior and made the perfect world imperfect, instead of improving it. Suddenly, he realized that his life is meaningless in the perfect world. He cannot contribute to it. And he has eternal life. He doesn't know what to do with his time. He is living in hell in the perfect world!

The Bible tells us that the primary purpose of man is not to do good for other men, but to obey God, to praise Him.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13 KJV)

The people I formed for Myself will declare My praise. (Isaiah 43:7 HCSB)

Once men put God in the centre, as He ought to be placed, then all other things will fall into their place.

Man Thinks That God Is Foolish

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14 KJV)

For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Corinthians 1:22-25 KJV)

Many people think that they are better than God. They have a lot of suggestions on how to improve the world. They do not believe that God exists because there are so much problem in the world and God does not seem to be capable of solving them.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9 KJV)

Good People Go To Hell

Christianity is the only religion in the world where good people go to hell and bad people go to heaven. Why is this so? Because men's idea of "good" is different from God's. The good people who are good in their own eyes are bad in God's eyes. The bad people who are bad in their own eyes are good in God's eyes.

Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. (Luke 18 :10-14 KJV)

The Pharisee was good in the eyes of the people. He fasted, he prayed, he gave tithes. The publican was a traitor working for the Romans in the eyes of the Jews and usually collected more taxes than required so that he could pocket the extra money. He was bad. Because he is bad, he cried out to God. The Pharisee was good. He did not stop to examine his own life. He assumed that he had fulfilled all the requirements of God.

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7:21-23 KJV)

Christ Came To Save Sinners

I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Luke 5:32 KJV)

Jesus said, "No one is good except God alone. (Mark 10:18 ESV)" The Bible also declares that "There is certainly no righteous man on the earth who does good and never sins. (Ecclesiastes 7:20 HCSB)" and that "the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23 ESV, NASB, KJV, NIV, NLT, HCSB)" Since all men die, therefore, all have sinned. All have broken the Law of God.

The Law cannot save. The Law is for keeping. When you break the Law, you are a sinner. The Law cannot stop you from sinning. But when you break the Law, the Law will tell you that you are a sinner and you have to pay the penalty. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. (James 2:10 NASB)

So how can a sinner be made righteous? If someone pays the penalty on the sinner's behalf. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, (1 Peter 3:18 ESV) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 KJV)

The First Christmas Rush

The following outline was extracted from a sermon preached on Christmas Eve in 2006 at Jesus Saves Mission, Singapore, by Joseph Poon.

4 groups of people
1. The Innkeeper
2. Religious People
3. King Herod
4. The Shepherds

The Innkeeper
1. Very BUSY doing his LEGITIMATE work
2. MISSED the KEY customer - Jesus Christ

Religious People
1. Know EXACTLY when and where Christ will be born
2. Never bother to visit and MISSED the true Christ

King Herod
1. Extremely protective of his throne, his lifestyle, career etc
2. Afraid of another King that would rule his life

The Shepherds
1. Lowly and unknown
2. Ready to receive Christ

Another Doomsday Passed

And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. ... And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:4,14 KJV)

Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. For that day will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits in God’s sanctuary, publicizing that he himself is God. (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 HCSB)

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. (Revelation 20:1-3 ESV)

Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4-6 ESV)

And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Revelation 20:7-10 ESV)

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. (Revelation 21:1 KJV)

The Worst Is Yet To Be

On Friday 14th December 201, 22 children were slashed by knife-wielding man at Chenpeng Village Primary School in Henan province, 20 children and 6 adults were shot dead by a gunman who opened fire at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

Then came the question: "Where is God when all these things happened?" Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee answered, "We have systematically removed God from our schools." Of course God was not found in China. Mao Zedong removed Him.

When we look at a cup with with water at 50% of its capacity, we called it half-full or half-empty, depending on our optimism (or pessimism). We can say that the gun violence in America is bad because God does not exist, or gun violence could be worse, but God's restraint prevent it from being worse.

Despite its liberal gun laws, America's crime scene is no way like Mexico's, there is few religious inspired violence, unlike Pakistan and Iraq and there is no armed separatist movement. America is stilled governed by the rule of law. A lot of countries in the world would be rendered ungovernable if their gun laws were like America's. Where is God when all these things happened? We see God's preserving hand in America, preventing things from being worse.

But one day He will remove His restraint.

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the one now restraining will do so until he is out of the way, and then the lawless one will be revealed. (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 HCSB)

For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. (Matthew 24:21 NASB)

The worst is yet to be.

The End Is Nigh

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:14 KJV)

Has the gospel of the kingdom been preached to all nations? Yes. In this age of internet, the gospel has indeed been preached to all nations. Then shall the end come. But what is this "end" that is coming? Is it like what people who believed in the so-called Mayan prophecy, that the world will end tomorrow, on 21st December 2012? No. This "end" refers to the end of the world as we knew it, and the beginning of a new era, ushered in by the second coming of Christ. Christ will rule the world for a thousand years, and the whole creation will be destroyed.

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (Revelation 20 :4 KJV)

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. (Revelation 21:1 KJV)

I write this now, before 21st December 2012, so that you know that I never believed in the Mayan prophecy. I expect to read this blog after 21st December 2012.

The end will come, one thousand years after the end.

Free, But Not Everyone Is Rushing For It

Everyone loves gifts, especially if we are the recipient. But there is a gift, waiting to be given, and yet not many would like to accept. This is the gift of eternal life from God.

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23 KJV)

Why is it that such a wonderful gift is not accepted? There are two reasons.

The Conditions of the Gift
When a gift is accepted, an acceptance of the conditions of the gift is implied. Anyone who accepts the gift of eternal life from God have to accept the following as true:

• You die, not because it is natural, but because you are a sinner.
• God exists. Jesus Christ is God.
• The Bible is true.
• Jesus is the only way: Jesus told him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6 HCSB)

The Gift is not Immediate

Everyone who become a Christian still dies. If it were not so, all the apostles and other Christians will still be alive, walking the earth. Even Jesus went back to Heaven after forty days. He did not stick around.

The eternal life is a future event of resurrection after death. In this respect, every religion is the same. All ends with death, and whatever is promised will be realized only after death. The only difference is, in Christianity, eternal life is a gift to be accepted by faith. For other religions, whatever is promised has to be believed by faith but earned by works.

For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift - not from works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 HCSB)

And it pleases God to design the salvation of men in this manner to His own glory, so that no man can claim credit for his own salvation.

Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6 HCSB)

 

Absolute Faith In God Is Difficult

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6 ESV)

God is absolute and He demands absolute faith in Him. Herein lies our difficulty. We find it impossible to have absolute faith in anything. I can think of there are three possible reasons for this:

Our Daily Experience
Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. (Jeremiah 17:5 KJV)
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for languages, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. (1 Corinthians 13:8 HCSB)

We never have absolute faith in anything because all things around us are imperfect. They will fail. My car has a GPS, which will give me information one step at a time. I find this very frustrating, because I would like to know in advance the route it is going to take and decide if it is the best route. This GPS usually gives the shortest route. Sometimes, the shortest route goes through the city and because of jam and traffic lights, it is better to go by the expressway. So I cannot place all my faith in the GPS. This is just one of the many examples why we never have absolute faith in anything.

Our Flesh, The Old Man
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. (Romans 7:21-23 NIV)

We have differently fleshly desires from the spiritual God. Our body has its own desire which it expect us to fulfil. We also have different goals and ambitions from God. This put us into conflict with God's will and if our desire is strong, we cannot discern God's will.

Satan
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1 Peter 5:8 KJV)
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. (Ephesians 6:16 KJV)

Satan is ever present, putting temptations and evil thoughts into our mind. Satan will always help our flesh to gain its way.

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48 NIV, HCSB)

The Three Hints In Pentateuch

The concept of salvation by substitutionary death (redemption) is not something new invented by Christianity. It was the plan of God from the beginning, even in the Pentateuch, right in the first two books of the Bible - Genesis and Exodus.

The Seed of a Woman
Salvation will come from the seed of a woman. The first prophecy in the Bible is spoken to the serpent. God promised the serpent that the Seed of the woman will bruise his head (Genesis 3:15). Jesus was born of a virgin and fulfilled the obligations of the law and became our substitute to redeem us (Galatians 4:4-5).

The Lord Will Provide
God redeemed Isaac also by a ram caught in a thicket by his horns (Genesis 22:13). Likewise, the Lord will provide for our salvation. We ought to be killed, like Isaac, but a lamb provided by God (John 1:29) became our substitute.

The Passover Lamb
During the Exodus from Egypt, God spare the lives of the first-born when He saw the blood on the doorpost (Exodus 12:13). In the same manner, God will spare our lives when He saw the blood of His Son on us (Hebrews 9:22,1 Peter 1:18-19).

God's Address

Kids like to send letters to Santa Claus. These letters are usually addressed to North Pole. But Santa Claus is a fictitious character who will not reply. If we need to write any letter, we should address it to the true and living God. So where does God stay?

For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, "I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isaiah 57:15 NASB)

God dwells with the humble.

Nature

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. (Psalm 19:1 ESV)

Men come up with all kinds of reason to prove that God does not exist. He did not perform miracles today. He only perform miracles in the past recorded in books which we think are likely to be myths. He allows evil. The whole system runs fine without Him.

"I believe in God, only I spell it Nature." Frank Lloyd Wright
"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you." Frank Lloyd Wright

Everything works without God. Nature takes care of everything. Therefore Occam's razor says God is redundant.

But nature takes care of everything except justice and morality, the good and bad things, the things that matter the most to us. Nature is amoral.

Some people try to add a moral dimension to nature. I do not find them convincing because they cannot prove morality in nature in the same way as other amoral laws of nature (e.g. Law of Gravity) are proven.

Others claim that morality is a product of evolution, pointing to the behaviour of social animals, such as elephants and baboons. Morality is a trait that allow successful perpetuation of the species, thus it was evolved. And, of course, evolution is the ultimate aimless and mindless natural process that produced all the wonderful things we see and admired.

"If chaos theory transformed our view of the universe, biomimicry is transforming our life on Earth. Biomimicry is innovation inspired by nature - taking advantage of evolution's 3.8 billion years of R&D since the first bacteria." Book description by the publisher of the book "Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired By Nature" by Janine M. Benyus.

"After 3.8 million years of evolution, nature has learned what works, what is appropriate, and what lasts here on earth." Janine Benyus

But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? (Job 12:7-9 ESV)

To me, being able to learn from nature shows what a wonderful God we have, unlike Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, there is no need for Windows7, Windows8, iPhone4, iPhone5. We have Universe 1.0 since the six-day development and implementation and God had not issued any new patch.

However to those who deny God, that our universe can run without intervention does not suggest a brilliant creator. It suggests the redundancy of a creator.

But for all the arguments and denials, all these God deniers still face one problem. Men can only suggest that God probably does not exist. Men cannot prove that God does not exist.

We cannot prove that there is no God because we are not omniscience, omnipresent and omnipotent. We do not have the means and resources to prove that a creator does not exist. We require faith to believe in the non-existence of God, just as we need faith to believe in the existence of God. What if a creator God exist? Don't you want to know what He had to say to you?

If The Earth Is Flat, You Can Judge God

"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully." Richard Dawkins in "The God Delusion" and here is a website that give Bible verses to support Dawkins.

"According to the Bible when the Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years, God fed them by making food fall regularly from the sky (Exodus16:4). During the 1980's, several million Ethiopian Christians died slowly and painfully from starvation due to a prolonged drought. God had then the opportunity to make food fall from the sky, as the Bible claims he did in the past, in order to prove his existence, his power and his love. Buddhists would say that God did not manifest his presence because he does not exist." Beyond Belief A Buddhist Critique of Christianity Chapter 3 by A. L. de Silva

"Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. If God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?" Epicurus (Greek philosopher, BC 341-270)

We all love to judge God. We also love to give God advices. We always hear people who say, "If God exist, why doesn't He do this or do that? If God is good, why does evil exist?"

Long ago, people thought that the earth is flat. They thought that the sky was like a big roof over the flat earth, with the sun transversing it by day and the moon by night and stars are like little lights on the roof. They even thought that they could build a tower to reach heaven (Genesis 11:4). These flat earth people had a rather poor view of God, thinking that His creation is rather limited and He could be challenged.

We now know that the earth is round. We also know that there is no roof, but the sky is one huge expanse stretching all the way beyond our imagination. We also can understand why God took one whole day to create this expanse (Genesis 1:6-8).

But why does the earth seem so flat from our ground perception when it is round? Because the earth is so huge and we are so small in comparison. But the earth is so small in comparison to the sun. The sun is so small in comparison to the solar system. The solar system is so small in comparison to the Milky Way. The Milky Way is so small in comparison to the visible universe. Now what can we say of the God who had created this humongous universe? Should we not stand in awesome wonder at the wisdom and power of such a creator God? Yet men, who is so small that the earth seems flat to them, think that they can judge and give advices to the God who created the heavens and the earth.

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. (Psalm 2:4 KJV)

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. (Job 38:4 NLT)

All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? (Isaiah 40:17-18 ESV)

How Do I Know What Is Right?

How do I know what is right?

Here is something from the Bible on what is right, and everyone will agree.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. (Ephesians 6:1 KJV)
So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. (James 4:17 ESV)

And here is something from the Bible, which is even more fundamental and important, which is true and right, and yet is not agreed by everyone.
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; (1 Timothy 2:5 KJV)
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: (Deuteronomy 6:4 KJV)

Right Living

Right belief produce right action. Right action produce right result. Right result produce right assurance.

Buddha's Eight-fold path 八正道
Right View 正見, Right Intention 正思惟 (Wisdom)
Right Speech 正語, Right Action 正業, Right Livelihood 正命 (Conduct)
Right Effort 正精進, Right Mindfulness 正念, Right Concentration 正定 (Concentration)

Joseph Prince
Right believing leads to right living.

Bible
The just shall live by faith. (Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11,Hebrews 10:38)

Conclusion
When you believe right, you live right.

The Big Problem
But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbour?" (Luke 10:29 HCSB)
Many people, wanting to justify their beliefs, asked, "And how do I know what is right?"

Judah And Ephraim

There is an interesting prophecy on Israel in Isaiah 11:11-16 (HCSB).
11-12
On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover - from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coasts and islands of the west - the remnant of His people who survive. He will lift up a banner for the nations and gather the dispersed of Israel; He will collect the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
This had been fulfilled when the Jews established the State of Israel in 1948. But Ephraim has not been restored.

13-14
Ephraim’s envy will cease; Judah’s harassment will end. Ephraim will no longer be envious of Judah, and Judah will not harass Ephraim. But they will swoop down on the Philistine flank to the west. Together they will plunder the people of the east. They will extend their power over Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be their subjects.
Judah and Ephraim will swoop down to Gaza in the west. This means that the current situation at Gaza will not be resolved till the missing tribes are restored to Israel. Ezekiel 37:15-28 gave a detail prophecy of the restoration. The Ephraimites will be the cream (Genesis 48:19) of the nations and will greatly strengthen Israel. The countries mentioned in Isaiah 11:14 are some of the ten countries in Psalm 83:4-8 that swore to wipe out Israel. Thus it may be alluding to that prophecy.

15
The Lord will divide the Gulf of Suez. He will wave His hand over the Euphrates with His mighty wind and will split it into seven streams, letting people walk through on foot.
This seem to happen during the Great Tribulation.
Other Bible reference:
The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. (Revelation 16:12 ESV)

16
There will be a highway for the remnant of His people who will survive from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.
This is likely to be fulfilled in the Millennium.
Other Bible reference:
On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. Assyria will go to Egypt, Egypt to Assyria, and Egypt will worship with Assyria. On that day Israel will form a triple alliance with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing within the land. The Lord of Hosts will bless them, saying, "Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance are blessed." (Isaiah 19:23-25 HCSB)

Circumcision and Tithes

Circumcision and Tithes predate Moses’s Law. Paul argued strongly against circumcision, so why are we told to tithe?

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7 ESV)

Works Versus Fruit - 2

There is a major difference between Christianity and other religions. All other religions are meritocratic. Salvation is by works.

In Christianity, salvation is by faith. God the Holy Spirit works in us to bear fruit. How do we grow? Just like the plants, or babies. We get our nutrients (the Bible) and we grow.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. (John 15:4 KJV)

Works Versus Fruit - 1

Works
Galatians 5:19-21
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (KJV)

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (NASB)

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I tell you about these things in advance—as I told you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (HCSB)

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. (NLT)

Fruit
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (KJV)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (NASB)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. (HCSB)
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! (NLT)

Works versus Fruit
Works of the flesh come naturally to us. They keep us busy and work us hard. They are many. Fruit of the Spirit. Only one fruit. To get the fruit, we plant the seed, get nutrients and leave the growth to God.

Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit, like the fire, will burn the works of wood, hay and stubble (1 Corinthians 3:12).
Quench not the Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:19 KJV)
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30 KJV)

Content

ἀρκεσθησόμεθα
So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. (1 Timothy 6:8 NLT)

εὐδοκῶ
For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10 ESV)

αὐτάρκης
I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:11-13 NIV)

Zephaniah 2:7 Fulfilled

These were fulfilled earlier and the Philistines no longer exist as a nation.
For Gaza shall be deserted, and Ashkelon shall become a desolation; Ashdod's people shall be driven out at noon, and Ekron shall be uprooted. Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast, you nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines; and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left. And you, O seacoast, shall be pastures, with meadows for shepherds and folds for flocks. (Zephaniah 2:4-6 ESV)

This is fulfilled when Israel was restored in 1948 and rebuild the city of Ashkelon.
The seacoast shall become the possession of the remnant of the house of Judah, on which they shall graze, and in the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down at evening. For the Lord their God will be mindful of them and restore their fortunes. (Zephaniah 2:7 ESV)

It is wonderful to live in times when you can see the actual fulfilment of the prophecies in the Bible. By the way, Egyptian President Morsi should read Isaiah 19 to know the fate of his nation. The history of Egypt is already written by the Most High God, the God of Abraham, also known as Jesus.

How God Introduced Himself To Israel

I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. (Exodus 20:2 KJV)

So the time is coming, declares the Lord, when no one will say, "As the Lord lives who brought up the Israelites from the land of Egypt." Instead, they will say, "As the Lord lives who brought up the descendants of the people of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where he has banished them so that they can live in their own land." (Jeremiah 23:7-8 Common English Bible)

How Did God Introduce Himself to Moses?

God introduced Himself to Moses as "I AM" (אהיה אשר אהיה).
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. (Exodus 3:14 KJV)

How does God describe Himself?
And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. (Exodus 34:5-7 KJV)

How Did Jesus Introduce Himself?

I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. (John 6:51 KJV)

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life." (John 8:12 NASB)

I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. (John 10:9 ESV)

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (John 10:11 ESV, HCSB)

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? (John 11:25-26 KJV)

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6 KJV)

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. (John 15:1 ESV)

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. (Revelation 1:8 KJV)

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. (Revelation 1:17-18 ESV)

Then He said to me, "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. (Revelation 21:6 NASB)

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. (Revelation 22:13 KJV)

"I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star." (Revelation 22:16 NIV)

Mercy And Justice

God glorify Himself through

1. the just to show His mercy
And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. (Romans 9:23-24 NASB)

2. the wicked to show His justice
What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? (Romans 9:22 NASB)
By now I could have stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with a plague, and you would have been obliterated from the earth. However, I have let you live for this purpose: to show you My power and to make My name known in all the earth. (Exodus 9:15-16 HCSB)

Satisifed

The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. (Isaiah 58:11 NIV)
I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 31:14 ESV)

Forgiven

I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. (Isaiah 43:25 ESV)

I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you. (Isaiah 44:22 ESV)

Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. (Psalm 106:8 KJV)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 KJV)

Crucified

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 KJV)

A W Tozer, in a booklet, "Total Commitment To Christ What Is It?", wrote:
QUOTE
One time a young man came to an old saint who taught the deeper life, the crucified life, and said to him, "Father, what does it mean to be crucified?" The old man thought for a moment and said, "Well, to be crucified means three things. First, the man who is crucified is facing only one direction." I like that—facing only one direction. If he hears anything behind him he can't turn around to see what’s going on. He has stopped looking back. The crucified man on the cross is looking in only one direction and that is the direction of God and Christ and the Holy Ghost and the direction of the edifying of the church, the direction of sanctification and the direction of the Spirit-filled life.

And the old man scratched his scraggly gray hair and said, "One thing more, son, about a man on a cross - he’s not going back." The fellow going out to die on the cross doesn’t say to his wife, "Good-bye, honey. I’ll be back shortly after five." When you go out to die on the cross you bid goodbye—you’re not going back! If we would preach more of this and stop trying to make the Christian life so easy it’s contemptible, we would have more converts that would last. Get a man converted who knows that if he joins Jesus Christ he’s finished, and that while he’s going to come up and live anew, as far as this world’s concerned he’s not going back—then you have a real Christian indeed.

The old man went on, "Another thing about the man on the cross, son; he has no further plans of his own." I like that, too. Somebody else made his plans for him, and when they nailed him up there all his plans disappeared. On the way up to the hill he didn’t see a friend and say, "Well, Henry, next Saturday about three I’ll come by and we’ll go fishing up on the lake." He was going out to die and he had no plans at all.

Oh, what busy-beaver Christians we are with all of our plans, and some of them, even though they are done in the name of the Lord and evangelical Christianity, are as carnal as goats! It is beautiful to say "I am crucified with Christ" and know that Christ is making your plans. I tell you, ladies and gentlemen, twenty minutes on your knees in silence before God will sometimes teach you more than you can learn out of books and teach you more than you can ever learn in churches. And the Lord will give you your plans and lay them before you.
UNQUOTE

Summary:
People who are crucified with Christ have three distinct marks:
1. they are facing only one direction,
2. they can never turn back,
3. they no longer have plans of their own.

Face one direction
But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. (Isaiah 50:7 ESV)

No turning back
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14 KJV)

No plans
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. (Hebrews 11:8 ESV)

B. U. S. Y.
Being Under Satan's Yoke

關係

Singapore takes pride in meritocracy. China is always seen as place where 關係 (guan xi) is important. It is not what you know, but who you know that matters. Thus Singapore always takes pride in its justice, where what you know and what you can do is more important than who you are and who you know. China is considered as a corrupt model.

Yet the Chinese model of 關係 is true in Christianity. It is not what you know, who you are that counts. It is who you know and you must know God. What you are and what you can do is already known. You are a sinner and you sin. If you know God and accept Him as your saviour, you will be saved. That is all about 關係 (relationship).

Athanasian Creed

1. Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith;
2. Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
3. And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity;
4. Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance.
5. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit.
6. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.
7. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit.
8. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated.
9. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible.
10. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal.
11. And yet they are not three eternals but one eternal.
12. As also there are not three uncreated nor three incomprehensible, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible.
13. So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty.
14. And yet they are not three almighties, but one almighty.
15. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God;
16. And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
17. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord;
18. And yet they are not three Lords but one Lord.
19. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord;
20. So are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say; There are three Gods or three Lords.
21. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten.
22. The Son is of the Father alone; not made nor created, but begotten.
23. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
24. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.
25. And in this Trinity none is afore or after another; none is greater or less than another.
26. But the whole three persons are coeternal, and coequal.
27. So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
28. He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.
29. Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
30. For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man.
31. God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man of substance of His mother, born in the world.
32. Perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.
33. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood.
34. Who, although He is God and man, yet He is not two, but one Christ.
35. One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of that manhood into God.
36. One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person.
37. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ;
38. Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead;
39. He ascended into heaven, He sits on the right hand of the Father, God, Almighty;
40. From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
41. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies;
42. and shall give account of their own works.
43. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.
44. This is the catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved.

Nicene Creed

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father [and the Son].
With the Father and the Son
he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. AMEN.

Apostles' Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty,
       Creator of Heaven and Earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
       Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
       Born of the Virgin Mary,
       Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
       Was crucified, died, and was buried;
       He descended into Hell.
       On the third day he rose again from the dead.
       He ascended into Heaven,
       And is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
       From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
       The holy catholic Church
       The Communion of Saints,
       The forgiveness of sins,
       The resurrection of the body,
       And the life everlasting. Amen.

Motivation

Christians must be motivated by gratitude to Christ for His salvation so rich and free.

God Does All Things For His Name's Sake

For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another. (Isaiah 48:11 ESV)

But I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I made myself known to them in bringing them out of the land of Egypt. (Ezekiel 20:9 ESV)

And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I deal with you for my name’s sake, not according to your evil ways, nor according to your corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, declares the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 20:44 ESV)

Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. (Ezekiel 36:22 ESV)

He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. (Psalm 23:3 ESV)

Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power. (Psalm 106:8 ESV)

For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself. (1 Samuel 12:22 ESV)

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (John 14:13 ESV)

Success

For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. (Psalm 44:6 KJV)

The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD. (Proverbs 21:31 KJV)

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. (Ecclesiastes 9:11 KJV)

There is no king saved by the multitude of a host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength. A horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. (Psalm 33:16-17 KJV)

Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. (Psalm 146:3 KJV)

Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. (Jeremiah 17:5 KJV)

It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. (Psalm 118:8 KJV)

Horses

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. (Psalm 20:7 KJV)

An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. (Psalm 33:17 KJV)

Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. (Psalm 32:9 KJV)

Ask

I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. (Psalm 81:10 KJV)

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: (Matthew 7:7 KJV)

And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. (Matthew 21:22 KJV)

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19 KJV)

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33 KJV)

Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. (Psalm 37:4 KJV)

And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. (John 14:13-14 KJV)

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (John 15:7 KJV)

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:8 ESV)

God answers our prayers for His name's sake and for our joy.

Hardened Hearts But Mercy Available To Those Who Seek

No city made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites who inhabited Gibeon; all of them were taken in battle. For it was the Lord's intention to harden their hearts, so that they would engage Israel in battle, be completely destroyed without mercy, and be annihilated, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. (Joshua 11:19-20 HCSB)

Many sinners refuse to make peace with God. They will receive God's justice. Those who seek God, like the Hivites, will receive His mercy.

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I performed My signs among them, that you may know that I am the LORD. (Exodus 10:1-2 NASB)

"He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them." (John 12:40 ESV) quoting from Isaiah 6:10, see also Acts 28:27.

Hivites, Destined for Slaughter, but Saved

When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, and when the LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire. (Deuteronomy 7:1-5 ESV)

When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they acted deceptively. They gathered provisions and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys and old wineskins, cracked and mended. They wore old, patched sandals on their feet and threadbare clothing on their bodies. Their entire provision of bread was dry and crumbly. They went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, "We have come from a distant land. Please make a treaty with us."
The men of Israel replied to the Hivites, "Perhaps you live among us. How can we make a treaty with you?"
They said to Joshua, "We are your servants."
Then Joshua asked them, "Who are you and where do you come from?"
They replied to him, "Your servants have come from a far away land because of the reputation of the Lord your God. For we have heard of His fame, and all that He did in Egypt, and all that He did to the two Amorite kings beyond the Jordan—Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan, who was in Ashtaroth. So our elders and all the inhabitants of our land told us, 'Take provisions with you for the journey; go and meet them and say, "We are your servants. Please make a treaty with us."' This bread of ours was warm when we took it from our houses as food on the day we left to come to you. But take a look, it is now dry and crumbly. These wineskins were new when we filled them, but look, they are cracked. And these clothes and sandals of ours are worn out from the extremely long journey." Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions, but did not seek the Lord’s counsel. So Joshua established peace with them and made a treaty to let them live, and the leaders of the community swore an oath to them.
Three days after making the treaty with them, they heard that the Gibeonites were their neighbors, living among them. So the Israelites set out and reached the Gibeonite cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim. But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the community had sworn an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. Then the whole community grumbled against the leaders.
All the leaders answered them, "We have sworn an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them. This is how we will treat them: we will let them live, so that no wrath will fall on us because of the oath we swore to them." They also said, "Let them live." So the Gibeonites became woodcutters and water carriers for the whole community, as the leaders had promised them. (Joshua 9:3-21 HCSB)

The sons of Gibeon, 95. (Nehemiah 7:25 ESV)
The men of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, 743. (Nehemiah 7:29 ESV)

The God who is merciful to the Hivites is the same God that is merciful to me.

God Is Not the Author of Sin

This website gives Jonathan Edwards anology of the sun to explain why God is not the author of sin.

QUOTE
"If the sun were the proper cause of cold and darkness," he says, "it would be the fountain of these things, as it is the fountain of light and heat: and then something might be argued from the nature of cold and darkness, to a likeness of nature in the sun.” In other words, “sin is not the fruit of any positive agency or influence of the most High, but on the contrary, arises from the withholding of his action and energy, and under certain circumstances, necessarily follows on the want of his influence."
UNQUOTE

When the sun is blocked, it becomes cold and dark. Likewise when God is disobeyed, sin prevails. We do not blame the sun for cold and darkness; neither can we blame God for sin.

Then come the next question. I cannot blame the sun. Although it may be powerful, but it is lifeless. But since God is almighty and predestines all things, how can He be disobeyed?

God did not answer this question, but instead He asked those who ask this question a series of questions (Job 38:1 - 40:2). It started with "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. (Job 38:4 NLT)" and ended with "Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? You are God's critic, but do you have the answers? (Job 40:2 NLT)"

Feasts

Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God. (Exodus 23:17 ESV)

Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year. (Exodus 34:23-24 ESV)

Three times a year, all the males of Israel has to go to Jerusalem. Yet during these period, Israel was not attacked by any foreign country.

When a man’s ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. (Proverbs 16:7 ESV)

Dharma

Karma means "to do" or "action".
Dharma means "the way things are" or "truth".
Dharma, with a capital D, is the teachings of Buddha.

Buddhists like to think of Dharma as something like mathematics and science. It is there, waiting to be discovered. Even if Buddha did not preach it, it is still there. Discovery of mathematics and science made our life better. Thanks to mathematics and science, we now have technologies that enable us to communicate faster, live more comfortably, and cure more diseases. If we have not discovered mathematics and science, we will still live, but our lives are harder and we may live like stone-age men.

Buddhists believe that Dharma is like that. If we do not know Dharma, we struggle through life with suffering and living out endless cycles of rebirth. If we follow Dharma, we will know the ultimate truth, put an end to suffering and escape from the endless cycle of rebirths and attain nirvana.

The problem is Dharma is not mathematics and science. No matter how I see it, whether from the right to the left, from the top to the bottom, from the front to the back, Dharma is not mathematics and science. It is an unproven and unverifiable hypothesis put forth by a man who claimed to be a Buddha (Awakened or Enlightened One). Of course, much of Buddha’s teaching is attractive and logical, but it rest entirely on reincarnation as a fact. Buddha did not prove reincarnation scientifically but just accept it as is. The whole Dharma now rest on a fairy tale. It is not mathematics and science.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. (Proverbs 14:12 ESV)

Approaching the Unapproachable God

God dwells in unapproachable light.
... Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. ... (1 Timothy 6:15-16 ESV)

But we approach God via Christ, our great high priest, who sacrificed Himself for our sins.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens - Jesus the Son of God - let us hold fast to the confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time. (Hebrews 4:14-16 HCSB)

God Is Both Transcendent And Immanent

God is both transcendent and immanent.
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isaiah 57:15 ESV)

"Am I a God who is only close at hand?" says the LORD. "No, I am far away at the same time. Can anyone hide from me in a secret place? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?" says the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:23-24 ESV)

The Bible never reconcile the transcendence and immanence of God. It just mentioned both in one breath, showing that God is both.
I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time - he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:13-16 ESV)

He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. (John 8:23 ESV)

one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:6 ESV)

Transcendence
God is apart and separate from His creations.
To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing. (Isaiah 40:25-26 ESV)

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV)

For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. (Psalm 96:4 ESV)

For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods. (Psalms 97:9 ESV)

Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? (Psalm 113:5-6 ESV)

Immanence
Immanuel, God with us, through His indwelling Spirit.
And the Word became flesh, and did tabernacle among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of an only begotten of a father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 Young's Literal Translation)

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. (John 14:16-17 ESV)

And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:17 ESV)

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:6-8 KJV)

Delusion 癡

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. (Psalm 19:1 ESV)

It ought to be clear as daylight that God exists. However, it is also obvious that many people doubt the existence of God, and there are agnostics who claimed that God has not given them sufficient evidence for His existence. This is because they are deluded, like the brilliant Greek mathematician and philosopher Protagoras, into thinking that man is the measure of all things. When men think that they are the centre of all things, they cannot see God. They had started with the wrong view.

The wise Buddha also realize that the right view (正見) is very important. Thus his Eight-fold path (八正道) began with the right view (正見). Buddha also taught that the wrong view (Delusion 癡) is one of the three poisons that caused suffering. The other two poisons being Greed (貪) and Hatred (瞋). Men are attached to things of the world, which are impermanent (無常).

大地及日月　時至皆歸盡　未曾有一事　不被無常吞 (佛說無常經)

What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away. (1 Corinthians 7:29-31 NIV)

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. (2 Peter 3:10 ESV)

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. (Revelation 21:1 ESV)

But Buddha attached permanence to dharma, instead of the Creator of dharma. This is also a Delusion (癡).

For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. (Hebrews 3:4 NASB)

All who reject or refuse to recognize God will suffer from delusion.

The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 ESV

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
Romans 1:18-32 NASB

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside."

Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord."
1 Corinthians 1:18-31 NASB

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, "He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness." (1 Corinthians 3:19 NLT)

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV)

At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, "I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. (Luke 10:21 NASB)

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. (Psalm 53:1, Psalm 14:1 KJV)

Right View 正見 - 1

Buddha told us that the first of the Eight-fold path 八正道 is to have the right view 正見. This is very true. Once you have the right view, you will have a good beginning.

And this is the right view - the Biblical world view.

First, know that there is a God.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1 NASB, NLT, NIV)

Next, know that God created everything through His Word - Jesus and for Him.
All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:3 ESV)
For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things have been created through Him and for Him. (Colossians 1:16 NASB)

Thirdly, know that God create all things for His glory.
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another. (Isaiah 48:11 ESV)

The right view must be produce the right response.

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. (Revelation 4:11 KJV)

The right view must be produce the right relationship. Acknowledge God as the creator.
Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. (Psalm 100:3 KJV)

And God will make us His sons, and He our Father.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13 ESV)

And we shall have eternal life.

And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3 ESV)

Know that God always has your good in His mind.
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32 KJV)
What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:11-13 ESV)
Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. (Psalm 68:5 ESV)

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! (Psalm 34:8 ESV)

Therefore, be wise, and know God.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7 KJV)
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10 NASB)

Bema Seat of Christ

The Judgement
Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess[a] to God." So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. (Romans 14:10-12 ESV)

each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:13-15 ESV)

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. (2 Corinthians 5:10 ESV)

The Rewards
Crown of Life (James 1:12)
The Incorruptible Crown (1 Corinthians 9:25)
Crown of Righteousness (2 Timothy 4:8)
Crown of Rejoicing (1 Thessalonians 2:19)
Crown of Glory (1 Peter 5:4)

Casting the crowns
And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created." (Revelation 4:9-11 ESV)