Questions and Answers
In the first part of this Q&A, we started our review about why God continually condemns arrogance. We mentioned that the words arrogance, arrogant, proud, and haughty are mentioned over 200 times in the New International Version, and that they are all interconnected in their meaning. God resists the proud, as we read in 1 Peter 5:5: “Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.’” In the Book of Psalms are found many references to those traits that God does not approve of. Psalm 5:5 reads: “The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity.” Boastful, that is self-praising, boasting and bragging, exhibiting self-importance, reflects arrogance that God totally disapproves of; therefore, His people should steer clear of any such behaviour. This is further supported by Psalm 75:4: “I said to the boastful, ‘Do not deal boastfully,’ And to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up the horn.’” Further such injunctions are found in Psalm 94:4: “They utter speech, and speak insolent things; All the workers of iniquity boast in themselves.” Also,… Why is arrogance so condemned by God? After all, some may think that it is merely an extension to self-confidence and we all need to be self-confident, don’t we? On the website powerofpositivity, we read the following: “A rather fine line exists between arrogance and self-confidence, separated only by empathy. An arrogant person feels they must assert their ego always to feel superior, while a self-confident person knows their worth without having to prove it. Arrogance points to low self-esteem because you feel threatened by other people and believe you must defend yourself. Confident people don’t have anything to show because they know their value.” They then quote Stewart Strafford as follows: “Confidence is when you believe in yourself and your abilities, arrogance is when you think you are better than others and act accordingly. You could say that arrogance is false confidence and that the person displaying it is overcompensating for their inner inadequacies.” The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines arrogance as “having a feeling of superiority that shows itself in an overbearing attitude.” Many people look to self-help books, and to writers who have little or no knowledge about the Bible, and seek ways about how best to live and to improve their lives. The Bible is not a book… Several passages in the Bible indicate that God is faithful. Knowing of the limitless power of God, this raises the fundamental question–what does it mean for Him to be faithful? Normally, we consider faith in the context of believing in something that we cannot empirically know, yet trusting that belief as truth (compare Hebrews 11:1). To ascribe this kind of belief to God does not fit, because God has the power to know everything. In fact, as we will see, the word “faithful,” when applied to God, could be misunderstood as referring to God’s “faith,” which it does not. So then, what does it mean for Him to be faithful? Answering this question requires carefully reviewing the context of the passages in which the Bible declares that God is faithful. What we will see is that the characteristic of God being faithful expresses his reliability and trustworthiness. Throughout the Bible, the description of God being faithful describes His dependability and fidelity in keeping His promises; which includes bringing as many as will submit to Him into His Family. Early in the history of Israel, we see how God chose the people to have a physical relationship with Him. He did not choose them for… On February 23, 2024, time.com headlined an article, titled, “The Odysseus Lunar Landing Brings NASA One Step Closer to Putting Boots on the Moon.” It went on to say: “‘Today, for the first time in more than a half century, the U.S. has returned to the moon,’ said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in a livestream that accompanied the landing. ‘Today, for the first time in the history of humanity, a commercial company and an American company launched and led the voyage up there.’ “Ever since NASA established its Artemis program in 2017, the space agency has made it clear that the new era of exploration will be much more ambitious. The goal is in part for American astronauts to establish at least a semi-permanent presence on the moon, with a mini-space station known as Gateway positioned in lunar orbit, allowing crews to shuttle to and from the surface. NASA also plans to create a south pole habitat that the crews could call home. And all of this will be done by a much more diverse corps of astronauts, with women and persons of color joining the all-white, all-male list of astronauts who traveled to the moon the first time around.” On the nasa.gov website, we read this statement: “WHY WE ARE GOING TO… In the last two installments, we showed that those who are called today to salvation were elected or chosen to be called before the foundation of the world—before time began. We debunked the idea that some would be called first, and only later, after having proven themselves to be worthy, they would become chosen. Rather, those who are called to salvation today had been chosen long ago by God to be called in this age. We also said in the first installment, that the “Bible does not teach that God calls many today to salvation, but that most reject their calling and that only a few will respond and become chosen and faithful. If that were true, then those who have rejected their spiritual calling to eternal salvation would have committed the unpardonable sin—and this is decisively not correct. Today, God only calls and chooses the few (compare 1 Corinthians 1:26–29), and when He brings them to true conversion, they, for the most part, will stay loyal to Him (although it is possible, that some, who are truly called to salvation, will commit the unpardonable sin).” We discussed the parable in Matthew 22:1-14 and explained that the guests who had been invited to… In the first part of this series, we discussed that few people, identified as the firstfruits, were foreknown and predestined by God, long before they were born, to be called for salvation in this age. We showed from the Bible that those who are called today to salvation were elected or chosen to be called before the foundation of the world—before time began. We debunked the idea that some would be called first, and only later, after having proven themselves to be worthy, they would become chosen. We showed that the Bible teaches the exact opposite— that God from the beginning chose us for salvation to which He called us; in other words, those who are called to salvation today had been chosen long ago by God to be called. The reason why some erroneously teach that we must be called first and that only later, once we have proven ourselves, we can belong to those who are also chosen, is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of basically two Scriptures in the book of Matthew which state that “many are called, but few are chosen.” In misapplying these passages to God’s call to salvation, they conclude that God calls many people today, but only few qualify and become God’s chosen… The apparent distinction between being called and being chosen has confused many people. As we will show in this new series, these words are addressing different aspects of the same concept. We will, in this installment, concentrate on people who are called and chosen for salvation; that is, who have been elected by God long before they were born to be given an opportunity in their lifetime to inherit salvation when Christ returns. Quoting from our free booklet, “Are YOU Predestined to be Saved?”, https://www.eternalgod.org/booklet-605/ we say this on page 52: “The Bible teaches that in this day and age, God calls just very few to salvation. Those who respond to the call and become converted are referred to as the firstfruits (compare James 1:18; Revelation 14:4). Some try to defeat the Biblical concept of predestination, as explained in this booklet, by stating that God does not know ahead of time whom He will call and choose. Rather, they claim that God ‘calls’ many, based on their prior conduct in this life, and that He then decides to choose or accept those who respond to His call, while rejecting those who reject His call. “However, those who are truly called today have been first foreknown and predestined by God… Those who claim to love God should look at what Christ said in regard to keeping the commandments. In John 14:15, He clearly states: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” It becomes increasingly difficult to just ignore these words from Christ. We demonstrate our love for Christ and also for God the Father by keeping the commandments which Christ, the God of the Old Testament, spoke to Israel and, by extension, to the entire world. Furthermore, we especially demonstrate our love for God and Christ by keeping the first four of the Ten Commandments. The first four commandments are the four main pillars of how to love God. One of those pillars is to keep the Sabbath—the time span from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. We read in Exodus 20:8-11: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that… Having reviewed both the criticism and approval of the family model God gave at the dawn of civilisation in the previous five Q&A’s, let us now look at Scriptures that show how necessary the family is in a well-ordered society and how it will be in the soon-coming Kingdom of God on earth when Jesus Christ returns. In our booklet “The Keys to Happy Marriages and Families”, we read the following on page 18 under the heading “The Christian Family”: “As the Bible gives clear instructions as to the individual roles and functions of husbands and wives, it also explains the duties and responsibilities of fathers and mothers toward their children, and of the children toward their parents. “As we have far too many marriage problems, we also have FAR too many family problems. Too often, parents know little about proper parenting, and rebellious children are the result. Children who are victims of divorce are expected to be resilient when someone they love suddenly disappears from their life. More often than not, they grow up with multiple mothers, fathers, and grandparents due to remarriage, and yet are left to fend for themselves too much of the time, because no one has time for them. “We read,… In the 4th part of this Q&A, we started to look at those who are committed to, and promote, the institution of the God-ordained family. Let us continue to review this much more positive attitude towards the biblical family environment which is the bedrock of a stable society. Quoting selectively from the USA website concernedwomen, we see that they are concerned about: 1. The disrespect for and devaluation of the family and for the unique contribution of fathers and mothers. The attempt to deny biological distinctions between men and women. 2. Sexual promiscuity, cohabitation and sexually transmitted diseases. 3. The alarming increase in violence in American households, including same-sex and opposite-sex partner assaults, spousal assaults, and child and elder abuse. And they are working to see: 1. The family esteemed as the bedrock institution of society consisting of individuals related by blood, marriage (the legal union of one man and one woman), birth, or adoption. The respect for the distinctiveness of men and women. 2. Society value and respect marriage, encourage sexual abstinence before marriage and educate on the dangers of promiscuity. 3. An end to violence within households, especially the sexual abuse of children, while reinforcing the importance and autonomy of healthy families. And, importantly, they are doing this from a biblical viewpoint, which is encouraging to see. In his article…Why is arrogance so condemned by God?-Part 2
Why is arrogance so condemned by God? (Part 1)
How is God faithful?
What are your thoughts about the recent Odysseus Lunar Landing?
Why does the Bible say that some are called and chosen in this day and age? (Part 3)
Why does the Bible say that some are called and chosen in this day and age? (Part 2)
Why does the Bible say that some are called and chosen in this day and age? (Part 1)
What is so special and unique about the Sabbath?
What do you think of the family’s continued demise? (Part 6)
What do you think of the family’s continued demise? (Part 5)
