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/

Q&A Day - A Question that Came in Too Late but Absolutely Must Be Answered for All of Those Who've Wondered...

First off, let me say wow. This was such an obscure reference, and SOMEONE was really studying their Bibles closely to catch it! Kudos to this guy, legit scholar. So here it is:

Search hedgehog in ESV and NIV... Why are these animals (both books written in Hebrew I assume) interpreted as different animals? Any significance to these for the Jewish culture?

The reference is Zephaniah 2:14. In the passage, God is pronouncing judgment on Nineveh, saying this bustling city will become a ghost town as a result of His judgment. But what exactly ARE the animals in verse 14?

No one is 100% sure - there is some discrepancy over what animals the Hebrew words were referring to. Does it matter? It really doesn’t. It doesn’t change the meaning of the text at all.

The point is crystal clear: the day is coming when God will judge this city, and the destruction will be so thorough that when the dust settles, there will be nothing but wild animals living there. Whether it’s an owl or a hedgehog or ANY wild animal living in the ceiling, it’s the same message. Your big bad city is about to be abandoned.