Questions about Scripture

A Reason For Hope Question of the Week, December 2nd, 2016

Question of the Week: What does the Bible mean when it says, “The Dead in Christ will rise first”?
Verses: 1 Corinthians 15:51-54, Ephesians 4:8, 2 Corinthians 5:8
The term “In Christ” is a title used to describe those who have put their hope for salvation in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. This applies to Old Testament saints as well as those currently being saved. What we look back on and remember, they looked forward to. The work of salvation still applied. The only difference was their position in time to receive it. When an Old Testament saint died in Christ, they were looking forward to God’s promises at Abraham’s side in the Grave. When a New Testament saint dies in Christ, they are immediately in the presence of the Lord. The difference between the two was because the Old Testament saint didn’t have their sins forgiven yet. Once they were, they were taken to Heaven personally by Jesus in a victory parade for 3 days. That’s what Jesus was doing when His body was in the tomb. To refer to anyone, past, present, or future, as in Christ means they are saved. Upon the moment of their death, or the time of the Rapture, they will be brought into the presence of the Lord. The difference between those two is simply the fact that the saints who have died are already risen and in God’s presence. Those who are alive when the Lord takes them home won’t die like their loved ones. They will simply be brought to where they already are.

For more excerpts from A Reason For Hope, visit our page HERE.

R4H Revision.001 — A Reason For Hope is a ministry of Calvary Christian Fellowship of Tucson

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A Reason For Hope Question of the Week, November 23rd, 2016

Question of the Week: How do we give thanks to God even when we have nothing to be thankful for in our lives at the moment?
Verses: 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Psalm 103:1-10
The holiday season that comes at the end of the year is surprisingly a time of depression for most people then family and joy. Life never calls ahead concerning the things that go wrong in it, and in the midst of the dark world we live in, it can be difficult at times to obey God’s command to always have a thankful heart. The solution to this obstacle in the way of our attitude being one of gratitude is first to understand the command, then to understand the One who commanded it. As stated before, we live in a fallen world where the question is raised why good things happen at all. This statement is made with no shortage of reasons to support itself as valid. We can’t always give thanks for everything in this world because most of what this world has to offer is not something worth being thankful for. That’s why the Bible doesn’t tell us to give thanks for everything. It tells us to give thanks in everything. The difference between the two is that giving thanks for everything means you’re grateful for what has been given to you in your specific set of circumstances. Giving thanks in everything is having an attitude of gratitude regardless of the state you’re currently in. That’s what makes the second point so important. What this world gives us is rarely something we can be thankful for. What God has given us, however, always gives us something to be thankful for. The most important of which is our salvation. No matter where our lives are at, we know that this life won’t be the only one we have to live. What He has done for us through the finished work of Jesus Christ will always be something we can be grateful for.

For more excerpts from A Reason For Hope, visit our page HERE.

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A Reason For Hope Question of the Week, November 15th, 2016

Question of the Week: Are Romans Catholics genuine Christians?
Verses: Acts 4:12

The simple answer to this question is yes and no. The genuineness of someone’s faith is best determined on a person by person basis. If an individual who is apart of the Roman Catholic Church believes they are saved, you need to ask them the same question you would ask any other Christian to test the genuineness of their faith. You need to ask whether they believe they are saved by their works or by the finished work of Jesus on the cross. The Roman Catholic Church’s book of Canon Law states all of the traditions laid down at the Counsel of Trent are necessary for salvation. Fortunately an ever growing number of people in the Catholic church know very little about their church’s history and don’t believe that as valid doctrine. This shows their understanding and personal acceptance of salvation was in Jesus and not in an organization. Most people in the Catholic church are apart of it because it’s where their families have always gone and where they are most comfortable in their worship of God. The only things you need to clarify beyond salvation is; whether or not they believe that membership in the Roman Catholic Church is necessary for salvation, If they believe the idea that Jesus’ suffering on the cross is perpetuated through the mass, and if they believe the sacraments of Communion become the literal body and blood of Jesus. These doctrines, among many others, are unscriptural and would be considered cultic in their nature since they draw a person’s source of trust, truth, and salvation away from God and into their ideas about the topic. However, we make an even bigger mistake if we assume because someone attends a particular type of church that they automatically understand and adhere to the false teachings found therein. A genuine Christian can be found even in the churches with the most obvious of false teachers and doctrines, but they likely won’t stay there for long as their desire to grow closer to God continues to be hindered in that kind of fellowship. Are Catholics Christians? It depends on the type of Catholic you’re talking to. As long as they understand their source of salvation is in Christ alone and their understanding of Christian truth comes from the Bible and not their church’s additions to it, they can be called your brother or sister in the Lord.

For more excerpts from A Reason For Hope, visit our page HERE.

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A Reason for Hope Question of the Week, November 11th, 2016

Question of the Week: How do we know the gospel of Barnabas doesn’t belong in the Bible while Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all do?
Verses: Matthew 24:35, 2 Timothy 3:16
The Bible’s claim to be the inspired word of God calls itself to be held to an extremely high standard of accuracy, preservation, and reliable sources. The original 4 gospels that are called canonical, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are all based on the first-hand accounts of eye-witnesses of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These men went to their deaths claiming this was true, showing the reliability of their claims in these gospels was not something they made up on their own. The objection that the Bible has been changed over time has to deal with the manuscript evidence. The Apostles themselves didn’t pass on these accounts through oral tradition or here say. They wrote down copies and made copies of those copies in such numbers throughout the centuries that the number of them we are aware of total in the hundreds of thousands. And in all of these accounts, the only changes in the text between modern English Bibles and Ancient Greek Texts are the changes in language over time. Even the most liberal of scholars would admit that 7/8 of the New Testament we have today are the same things they were reading in the first century. The remaining 1/8 are errors involving the spelling of proper names and word order. The actual variants in text of the old and new Testaments combined total to one half of one page of text. And in this half page, no major doctrine of Christianity is brought into question. This brings us to the Gospel of Barnabas. The Gospel of Barnabas is popularized by Muslims since it agrees with the Quran’s view of Jesus’ crucifixion never actually happening to Jesus Himself and gives credence to Surah 4:157. The problem is that Barnabas was a first century Christian, and the earliest manuscript accounts of “his” gospel don’t appear until the 15th century during Islam’s Golden years of dominance over the Middle East. Beyond denying proven history and inconsistency with the other eye witness accounts, the evidence it provides to prove itself as actually from Barnabas, let alone the word of God, is not even close enough to be taken seriously as a reliable account of Jesus’ life.

For more excerpts from A Reason For Hope, visit our page HERE.

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A Reason For Hope Weekly Update, November 1st, 2016

Question of the Week: How can people understand the Bible when there are so many different ways people interpret it?
Verses: 1 Corinthians 13:9-12, Proverbs 8:9, John 16:12-15
Interpretation of Scripture is a lot like Calculus. There are people who get it and there are people who struggle with making heads or tails out of it. The issue isn’t with Calculus, it’s what the person is bringing to their study of the topic that keeps getting in the way of understanding the formulas. It works the exact same way with scripture. You only need to answer the questions; who, what, when, where, why, and how and any passage of scripture can be made a clear as day. The difficulties people have with scripture are when it conflicts with what they want it to say. That’s why when we come to scripture, we not only need to leave our bias’s out of the experience but also understand the Bible comes with its own tutor. When you let the Holy Spirit guide, the plain things of scripture are the main things in scripture, and that any difficulties we have are because of our error rather than any lack of clarity in the text, the message will be very easy to understand the way it was intended to be.

For more excerpts from A Reason For Hope, visit our page HERE.

Listen: Monday – Friday 5-6pm, AM 940 KGMS

Call with your questions:
1(877) 556-1212 (Toll Free)
(520) 790-5663 (Local)

Email your questions:
[email protected]
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Follow Twitter: @ScottR4H

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Watch our Frequently Asked Questions on GodTube or YouTube.

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A Reason For Hope Question of the Week, December 2nd, 2016

A Reason For Hope Question of the Week, November 23rd, 2016

A Reason For Hope Question of the Week, November 15th, 2016

A Reason for Hope Question of the Week, November 11th, 2016

A Reason For Hope Weekly Update, November 1st, 2016

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