Musings on the Tough Life Questions

NOTE: The Lake of Fire which is actually a river in Dan 7:10, is in the outer court. What many fail to realize is that the Lake of Fire is the Heavenly representation of the Brazen Laver - of the Sea of Molten Glass, located in the outer court. Note it's location. Why was it called the Sea of Molten Glass? Because the Brazen Laver was made with women's bronze mirrors melted. [Ex 38:8] Example 1: The sons of the Kingdom The sons of the Kingdom through into the outer darkness. Outer darkness means outside the city, and outside the effects of the lights of the city. "But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” [Matt 8:12] The same weeping and gnashing of teeth involves furnace of fire. "41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wa...

Simply put, A soul is a living being. A soul is always a combination of two things: body plus breath/ spirit. A soul does not begin to exist unless body and breath are combined. God's Word teaches that we are souls. The Biblical definition of a soul is simply a living breathing body. So DUST + THE BREATH OF LIFE = A LIVING SOUL. Actually no where it says we were given a soul. A soul is not something a person has per se, it is the essence of person. It is the person. We are not immortal apart from Christ. Before resurrection The bible says at death the breath of life goes back to God and the body returns to the earth by decomposing back into the "dust" it was made of. So the soul "disappears" (I don't mean extinct or annihilated)... it goes to the Unseen. The reason why I don't use extinct or annihilated is because God knows how to bring it back, or redeem it from the "unseen". Lev 17:11 "The life [nephesh/ soul] of a body is ...

Adam Became a Living Soul/ Being When God breathed into Adam, Adam became a living soul. It is important to understand this. Adam did not have a soul. He became a living soul. This is a little different from how He created the rest of creation, where everything was made by His breath , but was not breathed into like Adam was. “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.” [Ps 33:6] The word for Spirit is pnuema meaning breath, wind. It is a play of words. God therefore, breathed His Spirit [pnuema/ breath/ wind] into Adam. Adam's spirit became alive and along with his body He became a living soul. By way of illustration, and to further understanding, we can say that Adam had access to two breaths as it were - God's breath (Spirit) which animated him physically, and his physical breath, the oxygen that he breathed into his lungs. He was alive. Note: Spirit = Ruach (Hebrew)/ Pnuema (Greek)= ...

We are all aware of the principle that God made man male and female, in the image of God Himself. So how do we properly address the fact that there are Transgender people, people who feel they are born with a different gender from what they were born with. This note is also meant to address someone who comes to your church, or Kingdom Community, who says they feel this way, but have not yet acted on it and are conflicted. Or Perhaps you have a friend who also feel this way and don't know what to do. What sort of practical advice can you give him/ her? What are the practical principles and steps that can be applied to deal with this conflict? We Need to Be Redemptive, Like Christ. First let’s be clear. Christians need to more redemptive than full of condemnation. We must not go about condemning everything that is different and all things we do not agree with. Too many believers have an accusatory and condemning spirit, lacking proper judgment. We should...

The Meaning of Life Part 4 - Musing From Ecclesiastes Isn't the Meaning of Life is to Find Happiness and To Do What Brings You Pleasure? Is doing what makes you happy the secret to the meaning of life?   Is the ultimate goal in life to be happy? In America the mantra is the pursuit of happiness.  Bhutan, a very small nation was named the happiest place on earth (or at least in Asia).  It measures a Gross National Happiness Index as a productive output rather than the normal national economic index of a GDP.  Its previous king espouses that the ultimate goal in life is to be happy ( See "The Happiest Place on Earth" ). Interestingly he constructed happiness as a key performance indicator of his government’s reforms. Solomon also wanted to know if happiness and engaging in every sort of pleasure brings meaning to life.  He experienced wisdom, so now he was determine to experience every pleasure he can. After all he is philosopher who appreciates th...

The Meaning of Life Part 2 - Does Life Really have a meaning? We Must Be Real. There are certain realities that prevent Life from Having a Meaning “ What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?”  We are trying to ascertain the point to life, but we observe certain maddeningly realities called “vanities” that makes this task tough and defeat having a long term purpose. They cause a circular existence that makes life pointless. Any nominee for meaning of life is it must be viable must defeat these foes to any long term purpose.  These are Life's vanities. These are the things that suck all meaning out of life, and makes it meaningless.  The Meaning of Life must defeat the reality and pointlessness of Death as a certainty – Generations come and generations go but the earth remains forever.  New generations can spoil all your work  [Eccl. 1:4] Time as a cycle of endless repetition – [ Eccl. 1:5] The sun rises and the s...

The Meaning of Life Part 1 - Musing from Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes may be the greatest philosophy book of all time. It answers the great question? Does my life have any meaning at all? It cuts straight to the point with the premise and reality of the meaninglessness of human life under the sun. Everyone assumes life has a meaning. Only Ecclesiastes dare ask the question: Suppose it has none at all?. The preacher starts [Eccl 1:2-3] “2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!"says the Teacher."Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." 3 What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? The King James says vanity of vanities. What does vanity mean? It means that there is no purpose (no end - telios) just a finish (an end) which is death. So we are just chasing win d, on a treadmill, on the hamster wheel with no point to it at all. Paul calls it “dung.” You can imagine for yourself the more commonly used euphemistic word starting with “s” How can he ev...