Sunday, February 28, 2010

Balaam

Balaam is a true prophet soothsayer. The Holy Spirit actually came upon Balaam and he prophesied under the power of the Spirit (Numbers 24:2) and his prophecies came true. But Balaam is a wicked man who loved the wages of unrighteousness (2 Peter 2:15).

Thus a person can speak with the power of the Holy Spirit and perform true miracles, but yet still a wicked man and an enemy of God's people.

Added on 2018-09-09
Balaam also the son of Beor, the soothsayer, did the children of Israel slay with the sword among them that were slain by them. (Joshua 13:22 KJV)
Balaam also, the son of Beor, the one who practiced divination, was killed with the sword by the people of Israel among the rest of their slain. (Joshua 13:22 ESV)
He was not a prophet of God. He was a soothsayer, one who practiced divination.

Then the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth and said, "Return to Balak, and you shall speak thus." (Numbers 23:5 NASB)
Then the LORD met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, "Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak." (Numbers 23:16 NASB)
The LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth

And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe. And the Spirit of God came upon him, (Numbers 24:3 ESV)
The Holy Spirit came upon Balaam

God was angry with Balaam because he went to Balak (Numbers 22:5-7,22).
Moses said Balaam gave evil counsel that brought a plague on Israel (Numbers 31:14-16).
Balaam had wanted to curse the children of Israel, to be paid the hire (Deuteronomy 23:3-6).
Balaam was killed by the Israelites in the days of Joshua (Joshua 13:22).
The Lord recalled Balaam's sin in Joshua's farewell speech (Joshua 24:8-10)
Recalled again through the prophet Micah (Micah 6:5)
Re-visited in Nehemiah's time (Nehemiah 13:1-3).
Peter recalls how Balaam "loved the wages of unrighteousness" (2 Peter 2:15-16).
Similarly Jude recalls how "for pay... the error of Balaam" was committed (Jude 1:11)
Jesus recalls how Balaam "Kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality" (Revelation 2:14)

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Why God would not heal amputees

For with God nothing shall be impossible (Luke 1:37 KJV).

There are many verses in the Bible that tell us that God is omnipotent. The word "omnipotent" is actually used in Revelation 19:6 in the KJV Bible. Matthew 19:26 likewise declare that "with God all things are possible". Jeremiah 32:17 and Jeremiah 32:27 tell us that nothing is "too hard" for God. Job knew that God can do everything and knows everything (Job 42:2). Isaiah said that God does as He pleases (Isaiah 46:10).

But there is a website that asks this question, "Why Won’t God Heal Amputees?" If God can do all things, why don't He heal the amputees? Actually, God does heal amputees. A salamander that loses a limb will grow one back. But we said that is an act of "nature". When you consider the universe and the wonders of creation, we can see the omnipotence of God. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork (Psalm 19:1 KJV)." But all these wonders are all ascribed to "nature". No wonder we have to ask God to perform miracles to authenticate Himself.

But does He? "A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah (Matthew 16:4 KJV, see also Matthew 12:39, Luke 11:29)." God does authenticate Himself using miracles. And the death and resurrection of Jesus is the sign God gave to the whole world to authenticate Himself. Many have performed miracles of healing and other wonders. But since the beginning of time, only one Man had died and "was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:4 KJV)". Note that it was "according to the Scriptures", that is, it was planned and announced beforehand (prophesised) so that it cannot be duplicated.

So whether God can heal amputees or not is not the matter. If He start healing amputees, requests for other miracles will appear. If you don't believe, you will not believe, no matter what signs or miracles is performed. You will just raise the bar and ask for other signs. The key to the authentication is the process and the logic behind the miracle, not just the miracle alone. So the one most important miracle is already given, and no other authentication will be given.

In fact, Jesus did heal an amputee. When Peter cut off Malchus' right ear, Jesus touched his ear and healed him (Luke 22:50-51).

Friday, February 26, 2010

William Borden - No Reserves, No Retreat, No Regret

The following article on William Borden was found on this website:
William Borden grew up as the heir to the Borden dairy industry. After graduating high school at the age of sixteen, Borden was sent on a trip to see the world. Instead of his business sense being sharpened, the Lord greatly worked in his heart. Though his friends doubted the Lord's working, Borden put that out of his mind and wrote a simple phrase in the back of his Bible, "No Reserves."
After Borden graduated from Yale, Borden found himself the recipient of several high-paying job offers, but still his vision increased and once again he penned a phrase in the back of his Bible, "No Retreat."
Borden, at his last graduation from Princeton Seminary, headed for China, only stopping to learn Arabic in Egypt. It was here that he contracted spinal meningitis. Within a month, at the age of twenty-five he had died. Just before his death, though, a final phrase was written on the back margins of his Bible, "No Regret."

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Salvation of men, free will and predestination

To all the sinners who are lost and thirsty, the Holy Spirit bid us, "And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost (Revelation 22:17 NASB)." So, come, and partake of the salvation of God.

When we are saved from our sins, we can thank God that "he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4 KJV)."

So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy (Romans 9:16 NASB).

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Free Will and Predestination

Our experience is based on Free Will. Our faith/trust is based on Predestination. Our eyes of faith see the certainty of Predestination despite our personal experience of uncertainty in Free Will.

The Bible had recorded events as both Free Will and Predestination simultaneously. Critics consider this as an example of contradiction in the Bible.

An example is the hardening of the Pharaoh’s heart by God. The Bible said that God hardened the Pharaoh’s heart ten times (Exodus 4:21-23; 7:1-6; 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8, 17). The Bible also said that the Pharaoh harden his own heart five times (Exodus 5:2; 8:15, 32; 9:34; 1 Samuel 6:6). So did God harden the Pharaoh’s heart or did the Pharaoh harden his own heart? Apparently, it is both.

Why is it that God, who, "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9)", yet allow many people can resist God's will and choose to go to hell by exercising their free will to reject Christ? Or are they predestinated to hell by God, since nobody can resist God's will?

The answer is Free Will and Predestination operates simultaneously in our context. How does eternity and time interfaces in our world is a mystery which the Bible did not answer. Christians who insist in choosing one over the other, are treading on dangerous grounds.

You, who are reading this post now, can be very sure that you are doing it out of your own free will. You are not in a trance and controlled or led by some mysterious force to this page. However, I can also say to you that your reading of this post is "foreordained before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:20)".

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Mathematics' Unanswerable question

Religions are not the only one with unanswerable questions. Even Mathematics have unanswerable questions. What is the largest natural number? You cannot answer that question. Each time you think of a number, N, there is always a number, N + 1, which is greater than it. But no matter how large the natural number is, infinity is always greater than it.

It is okay to have unanswerable questions. It is never an issue. The issue is, is it really an unanswerable questions? One can always label an answerable question as an unanswerable question to stop questions and to avoid being exposed. Thus we must always examine an unanswerable question to make sure it is truly unanswerable.

Monday, February 22, 2010

The Questions that the Buddha did not answer

Buddha refused to answer some common philosophical questions popular at his time. According to Buddhist Sanskrit texts, there are fourteen such questions, but Pali texts give only ten.

The fourteen questions:
Are the self and the universe eternal?
Are the self and universe transient?
Are the self and the universe both eternal and transient?
Are the self and the universe neither eternal nor transient?
Do the self and the universe have a beginning?
Do the self and the universe have no beginning?
Do the self and the universe have both beginning and no beginning?
Do the self and the universe have neither beginning nor no beginning?
Does the Blessed One exist after death?
Does the Blessed One not exist after death?
Does the Blessed One both exist and not exist after death?
Does the Blessed One neither exist nor not exist after death?
Is the mind the same as the body?
Are the mind and body two separate entities?
十四無記
1.世間有常(世界恒常存在吗?)
2.世間無常(世界不恒常存在嗎?)
3.世間有常無常(世界既恒常又不恒常嗎? )
4.世間非有常非無常(世界既非恒常又非不恒常嗎?)
5.世間有邊(世界有邊際嗎?)
6.世間無邊(世界無邊際嗎?)
7.世間有邊無邊(世界既有邊又無邊嗎?)
8.世間非有邊非無邊(世界既非有邊又非無邊嗎?)
9.是命是身(生命與自我是同一的嗎?)
10.命異身異(生命與自我不是同一的嗎?)
11.如來死後有(如來死後還存在嗎?)
12.如來死後無(如來死後不存在了嗎?)
13.如來死後有無(如來死後既存在又不存在嗎?)
14.如來死後非有非無(如來死後既非存在又非不存在嗎?)

十四無記 - 解釋
此詞又名十四不可記、十四難。即:
01、世界恆常存在。(「世有常」)
02、世界不會恆常存在。(「世無常」)
03、世界恆常而又不恆常。(「世亦有常亦無常」)
04、世界非恆常非非恆常。(「世非有常非無常」)
05、世界有邊際。(「世有邊」)
06、世界無邊際。(「世無邊」)
07、世界有邊際而又無邊際。(「世有邊無邊」)
08、世界非有邊際非無邊際。(「世非有邊非無邊」)
09、生命即是物質身體。(「命即身」)
10、生命與物質身體並非同一。(「命異身」)
11、佛死後還存在。(「如來死後有」)
12、佛死後不存在。(「如來死後無」)
13、佛死後存在而又不存在。(「如來死後亦有亦無」)
14、佛死後非存在非不存在。(「如來死後非有非無」)
依《雜阿含經》卷三十四所述,佛陀對外道以顛倒之見問難的十四個問題,皆不置可否,不予明確的答覆。《大智度論》卷二稱之為「十四難」,該卷曾解釋佛陀不回答的理由,是因「此事無實故不答。諸法有常無此理,諸法斷亦無此理,(中略)故佛不答」。
總之,這十四種問題是外道由於斷常一異等妄見而產生的邪執。其中前十二項是就有無等四句而言,后二項是就一異而言。新譯《華嚴經》卷二十一,更將前十二項就世間與我加以區分,而成十六種。

The ten questions:
The world is eternal (has no beginning in time)
The world is not eternal
The world is (spatially) infinite
The world is not (spatially) infinite
The soul (jiva) and the body are identical
The soul (jiva) and the body are different
The Tathagata (a perfectly enlightened being, the buddha) exists after death
The Tathagata does not exist after death
The Tathagata both exists and does not exist after death
The Tathagata neither exists nor does not exist after death

Buddha gave this as an analogy why he would not answer the questions, "Now did I ever say to you that if you led a religious life you would understand these things? It is as if a man had been wounded by an arrow thickly smeared with poison, and his friends, companions relatives were to get a surgeon to heal him, and he were to say, 'I will not have this arrow pulled out until I know who wounded me, of what caste he is, what his name is, whether he is tall, short or of medium height, what colour his skin is, where he comes from, what kind of bow I was wounded with, what it was made of, whether the arrow was feathered with a vulture's wing or a heron's or a hawk's…..' Surely the man would die before he knew all this."

In another word, Buddha thought that these questions are irrelevant to seeking nirvana, and in seeking these answers, one may be distracted from Buddha's so-call "true path".

佛陀在世時,有一位比丘喜好思惟「十四難」的問題,他每天反覆思考著這些問題,卻無法找出答案,這令他寢食難安。有一天,比丘終於忍不住了,帶著自己的衣缽走到佛陀的住處,跟佛陀說:「佛陀,請為我解答十四難的問題,如果我明白了,就繼續留在僧團。如果您無法為我解答,我就要離開您,另尋名師了。」
佛陀看著這位比丘,感慨地說:「你真愚癡啊!我一生說法度眾,幫助所有眾生解脫老病死的煩惱。此老病死的問題才是當務之急。至於你問的十四難,只是無意義的辯論而已,對於實際的解脫煩惱而言,一點幫助也沒有。如果解釋給你聽,既非真實道之理,對修行、解脫又有何助益。」
接著佛陀又舉了一個譬喻繼續說道:「就好像有人被毒箭射中了,親人急著幫他找醫生取出毒箭治療,但是這個人卻說不行。他要先知道醫生姓什麼?住那裏?父母是誰?今年幾歲?還要問清楚身上的箭是出自那一座山?用什麼樹木造的?用什麼羽毛當箭翎?什麼人製作的?射箭的弓是什麼材質做的?箭上的毒藥出自何地?藥名是什麼?……這位中箭受傷的人,非要等到問清全部的問題才肯接受治療。」這時,佛陀停頓了一下,反問比丘:「這個人可不可以等到全部問題問完了,了解了,才拔箭上藥啊?」比丘不假思索地回答:「不可以。如果等到那個時候,早就毒發身亡,命喪黃泉了。」
聽到比丘的回答,佛陀慈悲地笑了笑繼續說:「你現在的處境就是如此。被邪見的毒箭射中了,不趕快求醫治病,非得要等到世間是常、無常、有邊、無邊等十四難問題解答了,才願意拔箭療傷。如果等到那個時候,早就喪失法身慧命,墮入三塗惡道的黑暗深淵了。」
比丘聽了佛陀的開示,心生慚愧。誠心領受佛陀的教導,晝夜依循佛法精進用功,最後證得阿羅漢果。(From this website 佛典故事:: 十四難 - 中台世界)