Cell 19/2/16

We covered some basic questions that Joshua's BB boys asked him at devotions.

• If God is all-powerful, why doesn't He make everybody worship Him?

I now cannot remember who said what! I think Joshua said he framed this in terms of relationship. Relationships cannot be forced. You can't force someone to love you. On reflection this may be slightly simplistic. God, being God, would have the ability to make us sincerely and truly love Him. Even so, we who are made in the image of God have the ability to choose to love Him. I did not mention this, but we are held responsible for our moral choices (e.g. to love God or not). This is not to be confused with 'free will'. Our wills are bound by sin and we are spiritually dead. And so we are told that we cannot love God and come to Him unless he enables us to do so. But that is probably a bit much to throw at Sec 1 boys all at once.

• Why is there a hell?

This is a tough question because teaching that non-believers go to hell can be difficult in a context when non-Christians have joined the BB. So we have to maintain Biblical truth with both integrity and sensitivity. We said that hell should be taught as not being a physical place, but a state where there is an eternal lack of relationship with God. The terminology of 'hell' and 'heaven' can be de-emphasized. We can also raise the issue of the infinite goodness and holiness of God as a reason for rebelling against Him as punishment.


My take-home lessons from Joshua's questions and sharing? I think we all have to learn how to tell truths simply so that young people can understand them. This takes some preparation and care. There is also the difficulty of teaching Biblical truth in the secular environment of a school. On one hand, we must teach in a way that challenges individuals to seek after our unique God as He reveals Himself. On the other hand, we have to be winsome and take care not to be misunderstood. That takes a great deal of wisdom.


We then asked, what does it mean to believe and be saved? Or, put another way - what is it we believe in that saves us?
So we revised and said that we are saved by 'faith', which is believing, or trusting.
It seems to me that that trust is placed in Christ and Christ alone on the basis of His perfect life, atoning death, and resurrection. His life provides us righteousness, His death takes out punishment, and His resurrection seals our assurance that the Father accepts His life and death. When we believe in these things, we are saying that we trust that Christ's work alone is the basis of our salvation. He is our hope. He is all we depend on. We ourselves have nothing to offer or contribute. We can make no bargains with God. "Nothing in my hands I bring; simply to the Cross I cling". It is this completely dependent, child-like attitude that is so hard for many people to accept. It seems so easy that it becomes hard for people to be saved.

We also spoke about the possibility of Satanic miracles. Winnie had a story of a colleague's father whose mouth ulcers recovered with an unorthodox diet of nasi lemak and milk (!) on recommendation of a 'master'.
Both the OT and NT record examples of supernatural abilities exhibited by opponents of God. The court magicians of Pharoah (Ex 7), the fortune-telling slave girl at Philippi (Ac 16) and the powers of Simon (Ac 9) come to mind. Jesus warns against being deceived by Satanic counterfeit signs and wonders (Mt 24). So Satan can certainly perform miracles. Instead of denying this, we can point to the reality of the spiritual world and to the God who is the greatest miracle worker of all, and whose miracles on our behalf do not come with strings attached. Even so, I would be as skeptical of 'non-Christian' miracles as I would be of 'Christian' miracles.