National Trivia Day
January 4th is National Trivia Day. Some of us love playing trivia. During our office holiday parties, we often have trivia games. Sometimes, we check our knowledge against others. It might improve our mental sharpness.
However, if intellectual arrogance makes you an atheist, your attitude is ill-advised. Someone may think he knows everything so as to beat the IBM computer “Dr. Watson” on Jeopardy, while defying God. I am telling you, if you trust in your intelligence alone, you will lose it for sure. For instance, in a mathematical equation, you miss one piece, it will fail. Even 1+1 = 2 can be an error if you use the wrong fonts in in an Excel spreadsheet! It sounds unfair, right? When you prepare your arguments against the existence of God, you feel you are 100% right. However, you are not, because we as humans, we might overlook one tiny unknown piece in a scientific equation despite of checking “millions of” times. Can you afford to get an error for your life’s sake?
The main point is that God is omnipotent. Nothing is impossible with God. Understanding God is very complex. Nobody understands the “Three in One Trinity” concept fully, but we accept what God says even it sounds illogical to us. Remember that He is OMNIPOTENT, and we are not!
The following are some former atheists:
Hugh Ross – Astrophysicist Converted by the Bible’s Accuracy
“The Bible proved to be the most scientifically accurate book ever written.”
Albert Einstein – God Behind the Order
“The more I study science, the more I believe in God.”
Paul Davies – Physicist Awed by Cosmic Design
“The impression of design is overwhelming.”
Wernher von Braun – Rocket Scientist and Bible Believer
“The vast mysteries of the universe should only confirm our belief in the certainty of its Creator.”
C.S. Lewis – Oxford Atheist Turned Defender of Christ
“A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading.”
Psalm 14:1 says, “Fools say to themselves, ‘There is no God.’ Fools are evil and do terrible things; there is no one who does anything good.” But even the world’s brightest minds can’t escape the truth:
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” – Genesis 1:1
A Scientist's Journey to God - Krister Renard's story - C.S. Lewis Institute
Top Scientist Explains WHAT Convinced Him Of JESUS
Oxford Mathematician DESTROYS Atheism In Less Than 15 Minutes (BRILLIANT!)
However, if intellectual arrogance makes you an atheist, your attitude is ill-advised. Someone may think he knows everything so as to beat the IBM computer “Dr. Watson” on Jeopardy, while defying God. I am telling you, if you trust in your intelligence alone, you will lose it for sure. For instance, in a mathematical equation, you miss one piece, it will fail. Even 1+1 = 2 can be an error if you use the wrong fonts in in an Excel spreadsheet! It sounds unfair, right? When you prepare your arguments against the existence of God, you feel you are 100% right. However, you are not, because we as humans, we might overlook one tiny unknown piece in a scientific equation despite of checking “millions of” times. Can you afford to get an error for your life’s sake?
The main point is that God is omnipotent. Nothing is impossible with God. Understanding God is very complex. Nobody understands the “Three in One Trinity” concept fully, but we accept what God says even it sounds illogical to us. Remember that He is OMNIPOTENT, and we are not!
The following are some former atheists:
Hugh Ross – Astrophysicist Converted by the Bible’s Accuracy
“The Bible proved to be the most scientifically accurate book ever written.”
Albert Einstein – God Behind the Order
“The more I study science, the more I believe in God.”
Paul Davies – Physicist Awed by Cosmic Design
“The impression of design is overwhelming.”
Wernher von Braun – Rocket Scientist and Bible Believer
“The vast mysteries of the universe should only confirm our belief in the certainty of its Creator.”
C.S. Lewis – Oxford Atheist Turned Defender of Christ
“A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading.”
Psalm 14:1 says, “Fools say to themselves, ‘There is no God.’ Fools are evil and do terrible things; there is no one who does anything good.” But even the world’s brightest minds can’t escape the truth:
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” – Genesis 1:1
A Scientist's Journey to God - Krister Renard's story - C.S. Lewis Institute
Top Scientist Explains WHAT Convinced Him Of JESUS
Oxford Mathematician DESTROYS Atheism In Less Than 15 Minutes (BRILLIANT!)
2. Was James among ones who eye witnessed the raising of a young girl from the dead? (Mark 5)
- No
- Yes
3. Which three followers witnessed Jesus’ transfiguration? (Matthew 17:1-9)
- Peter, Andrew, James
- James, John, Peter
- Peter, Andrew, Matthew
4. What is another word of the “Sons of Thunder”? (Mark 3:17)
- Brazenness
- Boisterous
- Boanerges
5. Was James the first Apostle to be martyred? (Acts 12:2)
- No
- Yes
6. Was James among Peter, John, and Andrew who asked “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?” (Mark 13:3-4)
- No
- Yes
“The heart of man plans his way,
but the Lord establishes his steps.”
Proverbs 16:9
but the Lord establishes his steps.”
Proverbs 16:9
Things happen that drastically change our lives, which we neither expect or want. Sometimes these events happen as a result of our own decision. Sometimes these life-changes are forced on us by others. And things can happen outside of human control which radically change the direction of our lives. At times like that, we might ask, “Has God lost control?”
The answer is, “No!”
When it appears to my eyes that people in power are fighting against the plan and purposes of God, I must remember that God uses people in authority, even when their decisions are absolutely wrong, to guide my life in directions that I have not planned to go. Eventually I might be able to look back, see a bigger picture, and understand what God was doing.
Life in prison is like that.
One way men in prison keep up their hopes is to make plans for what the will be doing when they get out, which is a positive thing to do. But for some, their obsession with the future blinds them to lesson God is trying to teach them now and the opportunities God is giving them to be His representatives to others who are in prison with them.
A word for those of you who are hoping – even expecting – that you will be released soon: Remember that God is preparing your way before you, just as He did for the new nation of Israel as they left slavery in Egypt and marched to the Promised Land.
God did not abandon you when the judge’s gavel fell and you landed in prison. God has been with you in prison. He will certainly not leave you when you see freedom again. You may have messed up your life, or others messed it up for you – right now that doesn’t matter. He has a purpose and plan for your life. He can take that mess you’re in, and give that mess an eternal purpose. He will do the same when you get out.
The answer is, “No!”
When it appears to my eyes that people in power are fighting against the plan and purposes of God, I must remember that God uses people in authority, even when their decisions are absolutely wrong, to guide my life in directions that I have not planned to go. Eventually I might be able to look back, see a bigger picture, and understand what God was doing.
Life in prison is like that.
One way men in prison keep up their hopes is to make plans for what the will be doing when they get out, which is a positive thing to do. But for some, their obsession with the future blinds them to lesson God is trying to teach them now and the opportunities God is giving them to be His representatives to others who are in prison with them.
A word for those of you who are hoping – even expecting – that you will be released soon: Remember that God is preparing your way before you, just as He did for the new nation of Israel as they left slavery in Egypt and marched to the Promised Land.
God did not abandon you when the judge’s gavel fell and you landed in prison. God has been with you in prison. He will certainly not leave you when you see freedom again. You may have messed up your life, or others messed it up for you – right now that doesn’t matter. He has a purpose and plan for your life. He can take that mess you’re in, and give that mess an eternal purpose. He will do the same when you get out.
Remember those who are in prison
as if you were in prison with them.
Hebrews 13:3
as if you were in prison with them.
Hebrews 13:3
Twelve days after Christmas, January 6, is the traditional celebration of the visit of the Wise Men. “Epiphany” is its official name. This is a beautiful story that has a sad ending. (Matthew chapter 2)
King Herod was a very sick man. He eliminated anyone whom he felt was a threat to his power. He executed his wife, three of his own sons, and several relatives, all of whom he feared were plotting against him. He even ordered to have the religious and civic leaders of Jerusalem killed after he died, so the people would grieve his death. (After Herod died, his soldiers let everyone go free.)
Herod’s order to kill the male children of Bethlehem was consistent with his sick evil character.
King Herod was a very sick man. He eliminated anyone whom he felt was a threat to his power. He executed his wife, three of his own sons, and several relatives, all of whom he feared were plotting against him. He even ordered to have the religious and civic leaders of Jerusalem killed after he died, so the people would grieve his death. (After Herod died, his soldiers let everyone go free.)
Herod’s order to kill the male children of Bethlehem was consistent with his sick evil character.
One of the long forgotten heroes of faith in the history of the Christian Church is Saint Quodvultdeus. (His unusual Latin name means “What God Wants.”)
Around the year AD 430 Quodvultdeus wrote a short, but inspiring sermon giving honor to the children who died in Bethlehem. The title of this sermon is
Around the year AD 430 Quodvultdeus wrote a short, but inspiring sermon giving honor to the children who died in Bethlehem. The title of this sermon is
Children, Yet Martyrs.
They cannot speak,
yet they bear witness to Christ.
They cannot speak,
yet they bear witness to Christ.
A tiny child is born, who is a great King.
Wise men are led to Him from afar.
They come to adore One who lies in a manger
and yet reigns in heaven and on earth.
When they tell of One who is born a King, Herod is disturbed.
To save his kingdom Herod resolves to kill Him, although if Herod would have faith in the child, he himself would reign in peace in this life and forever in the life to come.
Why are you afraid, Herod, when you hear of the birth of a King? He does not come to drive you out, but to conquer the devil.
But because you do not understand this, you are disturbed and in a rage, and to destroy one child whom you seek, you show your cruelty in the death of so many children.
You are not restrained by the love of weeping mothers or fathers mourning the deaths of their sons, nor by the cries and sobs of the children.
You destroy those who are tiny in body because fear is destroying your heart.
You imagine that if you accomplish your desire you can prolong your own life, though you are seeking to kill Life Himself.
Yet your throne is threatened by the source of grace,
so small, yet so great, who is lying in the manger.
He is using you, all unaware of it, to work out His own purposes freeing souls from captivity to the devil.
He has taken up the sons of the enemy [Satan] into the ranks of God’s adopted children. These children die for Christ, though they do not know it.
The parents mourn for the death of martyrs. The child makes of those as yet unable to speak fit witnesses to Himself.
See the kind of kingdom that is His, coming as he did in order to be this kind of king.
See how the deliverer is already working deliverance, the Savior already working salvation.
But you, Herod, do not know this, and you are disturbed and furious.
While you vent your fury against the Child, you are already paying Him homage, and do not know it.
How great a gift of grace is here!
To what merits of their own do the children owe this kind of victory?
They cannot speak, yet they bear witness to Christ.
They cannot use their limbs to engage in battle,
yet already they bear off the palm of victory.
Wise men are led to Him from afar.
They come to adore One who lies in a manger
and yet reigns in heaven and on earth.
When they tell of One who is born a King, Herod is disturbed.
To save his kingdom Herod resolves to kill Him, although if Herod would have faith in the child, he himself would reign in peace in this life and forever in the life to come.
Why are you afraid, Herod, when you hear of the birth of a King? He does not come to drive you out, but to conquer the devil.
But because you do not understand this, you are disturbed and in a rage, and to destroy one child whom you seek, you show your cruelty in the death of so many children.
You are not restrained by the love of weeping mothers or fathers mourning the deaths of their sons, nor by the cries and sobs of the children.
You destroy those who are tiny in body because fear is destroying your heart.
You imagine that if you accomplish your desire you can prolong your own life, though you are seeking to kill Life Himself.
Yet your throne is threatened by the source of grace,
so small, yet so great, who is lying in the manger.
He is using you, all unaware of it, to work out His own purposes freeing souls from captivity to the devil.
He has taken up the sons of the enemy [Satan] into the ranks of God’s adopted children. These children die for Christ, though they do not know it.
The parents mourn for the death of martyrs. The child makes of those as yet unable to speak fit witnesses to Himself.
See the kind of kingdom that is His, coming as he did in order to be this kind of king.
See how the deliverer is already working deliverance, the Savior already working salvation.
But you, Herod, do not know this, and you are disturbed and furious.
While you vent your fury against the Child, you are already paying Him homage, and do not know it.
How great a gift of grace is here!
To what merits of their own do the children owe this kind of victory?
They cannot speak, yet they bear witness to Christ.
They cannot use their limbs to engage in battle,
yet already they bear off the palm of victory.
“Didn’t you know that
I must be in my
Father’s ________?”
The very first words of Jesus recorded in the Bible appear in Luke chapter 2, when at the age of 12, Jesus went with His family on their annual visit to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.
As Mary and Joseph headed back north to Galilee with their friends and family, at the end of their first day of travel, they realized that Jesus was not with them. Mary and Joseph hurried back to Jerusalem, and spent the next three days anxiously searching for Him.
Finally, “they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.”
Mary was very upset. “Son, why have You done this to us? Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You!”
And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” But they did not understand the statement which He had made to them. (Luke 2:41-49)
It’s not only Mary and Joseph who had difficulty understanding Jesus’ answer. Bible translators have the same difficulty.
The problem is that the Greek word for “house” does not appear the text as Luke wrote it.
So what did Jesus actually say? For those of us who are responsible to accurately translate Scripture into Sign Language, this is an important question which we need to investigate and answer.
A literal English translation of Jesus’ answer looks like this: “Didn’t you know that I must be in the ________ of my Father?”
This is a common kind of sentence in the Greek language. The context normally gives readers enough information to know what “the ________” refers to.
Bible translators assume that since Mary and Joseph were concerned about where Jesus was, “the _______” here obviously refers to the place they found Him – in the temple, or “the house of my Father.”
But the problem with that assumption is that the Greek word here that we translate as “the ________” is plural, meaning many or several (“the things”), not singular, meaning one (“the thing”).
An accurate translation of Luke 2:49 would be,
“I must be in the things of my Father.”
Now many modern English Bible translators add a footnote to the verse to explain that Jesus’ answer could mean, “I must be about my Father’s affairs.” ....or “I must be about my Father’s business.”
Dr. Martin Luther, in his 1545 German translation of the Gospel of Luke, translated the verse this way:
As Mary and Joseph headed back north to Galilee with their friends and family, at the end of their first day of travel, they realized that Jesus was not with them. Mary and Joseph hurried back to Jerusalem, and spent the next three days anxiously searching for Him.
Finally, “they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.”
Mary was very upset. “Son, why have You done this to us? Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You!”
And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” But they did not understand the statement which He had made to them. (Luke 2:41-49)
It’s not only Mary and Joseph who had difficulty understanding Jesus’ answer. Bible translators have the same difficulty.
The problem is that the Greek word for “house” does not appear the text as Luke wrote it.
So what did Jesus actually say? For those of us who are responsible to accurately translate Scripture into Sign Language, this is an important question which we need to investigate and answer.
A literal English translation of Jesus’ answer looks like this: “Didn’t you know that I must be in the ________ of my Father?”
This is a common kind of sentence in the Greek language. The context normally gives readers enough information to know what “the ________” refers to.
Bible translators assume that since Mary and Joseph were concerned about where Jesus was, “the _______” here obviously refers to the place they found Him – in the temple, or “the house of my Father.”
But the problem with that assumption is that the Greek word here that we translate as “the ________” is plural, meaning many or several (“the things”), not singular, meaning one (“the thing”).
An accurate translation of Luke 2:49 would be,
“I must be in the things of my Father.”
Now many modern English Bible translators add a footnote to the verse to explain that Jesus’ answer could mean, “I must be about my Father’s affairs.” ....or “I must be about my Father’s business.”
Dr. Martin Luther, in his 1545 German translation of the Gospel of Luke, translated the verse this way:
Wisset ihr nicht, daß ich sein muß in dem, das meines Vaters ist?
Don’t you know that I must be in that which my Father is?
If we again read Mary’s question carefully, we see that she did not ask, “Where have You been?” She asked, “Why have You done this to us?” And that’s the question Jesus answered. “I must be in the things of my Father.”
And so must we.
And so must we.
This lesson is from a series of studies which Pastor Ron has published on YouTube:
Digging for Gold in the Hebrew Old Testament, and
Digging for Gold in the Greek New Testament.
Digging for Gold in the Hebrew Old Testament, and
Digging for Gold in the Greek New Testament.
