Q&A Day: A Question We Didn't Get To. A Barrage of Questions from Hawk Nelson's Singer.

A barrage of questions, a barrage of answers!

Pick your favorite of the questions the ex-lead singer of Hawk Nelson has... they are all good for Q&A day.

“If God is all loving, and all powerful, why is there evil in the world? Can you not do anything about it? Does he choose not to? Is the evil in the world a result of his desire to give us free will? OK then what about famine and disease and floods and all the suffering that isn’t caused by humans in our free will? If God is loving, why does he send people to hell?” were all questions that plagued him.

Evil in the world was man's doing. And God promised that things will not always be that way (Revelation 21:5). He WILL do something about it. 

Famine / disease / flood – results of living in a fallen, cursed world, which God will also remedy. 

And God doesn't send people to hell. People choose to go to hell by rejecting God's salvation offered in Jesus Christ. See Romans 9:22-23 - the Greek verb tense makes it clear. The vessels of wrath literally “fitted themselves” for destruction!

“Why does God seem so p______ off in most of the old testament, and then all of a sudden he’s a loving father in the New Testament? Why does he say not to kill, but then instruct Israel to turn around and kill men women and children to take the promised land? Why does God let Job suffer horrible things just to win a bet with Satan? What does he tell Abraham to kill his son and then basically say ‘just kidding! That was a test.’ If God can do anything, can’t you forgive without someone dying? I mean, my parents taught me to forgive people – nobody dies in that scenario,” he wrote. 

God is the same God in both Testaments. His love for people is evident on every page. Yes, in both Testaments!

The people Israel were commanded to wipe out were brutal and wicked people. In The Case for Faith, Lee Strobel has an excellent chapter on this. 

God wasn't “betting” Satan. As usual - what Satan meant for harm, God used for good. Job ended up blessed despite the suffering he endured. Find Job in heaven and ask him about this.

Abraham was chosen by God to be the father of Israel – and the faith. Once upon a time, Abe left everything to follow God. With telling Abe to sacrifice Isaac, God was essentially asking him, “Are you willing to do that again?”

There is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22). And we forgive people because of the shed blood of Jesus (Ephesians 4:32). Forgiven people forgive. 

Okay, you asked for one - but I couldn’t decide! So here’s a short answer for them all. These are very common questions, and it’s kind of surprising the son of a pastor didn’t have these answers. Again, this is the difference between knowing ABOUT Jesus and KNOWING JESUS.

And this is why we theology!

Q&A Day - A Question We Didn't Get To: Blessed Assurance?

As usual, we ran out of time before we got to all the questions. So as promised, here’s one that was submitted:

If people who believe in God can have assurance of salvation, can people who believe in God have assurance that they are doomed?

I’m not sure of the question as it is worded. People who believe in Jesus Christ certainly should NOT have assurance they are doomed. 

IF the question is If people who believe in God can have assurance of salvation, can people who DON'T believe in God have assurance that they are doomed? To that I would say: It would be hard to think someone knows what hell is and are okay with going there. I truly believe that most unbelievers think that somehow, in the end, they were “good enough” to go to heaven - and will somehow end up there. Despite what the Bible says about sin and the need to personally receive the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ, I think most unbelievers are banking on God just overlooking their sin and giving them heaven anyways. This is clearly not what the Bible teaches.

John 3:36 - Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Q&A Day: Follow Up On Head Coverings.

A question was asked about head coverings. While I knew it was a cultural issue, it’s not one that I’ve studied in many years! So I did a little digging and came across a great article addressing the very issue asked. Instead of trying to simplify a more complex discourse, I encourage you to check this out yourself, if you are interested! Here’s the link:

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/should-women-wear-head-coverings/

Nepal Part 3!

If you were with us Sunday (either online or in person) you may have heard about the funds we were able to share with our brothers and sisters in Nepal during the lock down. Below is another message we received from Pastor Timothy. While facing the pandemic and a food shortage, as well as issues with their governing authorities, they were able to provide for 16 families, and have the resources for 14 more (as soon as they can get to them). PRAISE THE LORD!

Check out his message, and photos of the families we helped below. And continue to keep Pastor Timothy and Harvest Bible Chapel Nepal in your prayers- there is still so much need there.

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Dear Respected Brother Jeff Miller,
Loving Greetings from Kathmandu, Nepal

How are you doing these days? We hope you are doing well. We are praying for you, your family and your church. We are also doing well here in Nepal. We praise God that we are safe amid of this pandemic. Thank you so much for your prayers.

We would like to give you the updated report of our food aid project for our brothers and sisters in Nepal. God has finally opened the door for us to go to our church today. We called our church members at our church only to those who are in the crucial need of the food aid. Twelve families were served with the food provision for about one month as you may see in the pictures that we have sent in attachment. Twelve people came representing their to collect food supplies. We hope this picture would speak to you alongside with this report. We provided the necessary food items that we use in our Nepalese kitchen.

We thank you for your kind support and It has been a great help. We believe this is God’s miracle. People were surprised when they heard about this food aid that we are doing at our own church. Our brothers and sisters from a Harvest Bible Chapel Nepal has sent their thanks to you and Harvest Bible Chapel Pittsburgh. We request you to convey this message to your church. We have supported with the provision of food for 16 families at our church in kathmandu. We are looking forward to support for 14 more families. We are trying to figure out another way to get to them.
We thought we would be stopped by police officers on our way. But God protected us to get to our church. No police were found on our way.

We need your continuous prayer, love and care. We really appreciate you from the bottom of our heart. However, our three more Harvest churches are also in need of the food aid. We came to know this yesterday. We are in this tract lockdown for last three months. These three churches are in the remote parts of Nepal. Most of our church members are farmers. Their food storage is empty. We came to know that they have nothing to eat. Please remember our three Harvest churches in your prayers as they are in the need. Thank you.

With Prayers,
Timothy