Author Archives: Dave

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March 19, 2024

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Christianity, Satan, Sin

Where did evil come from?

Evil exists in the world. A survey of any the news on any given day should be enough to convince a reasonable person evil is real. The question many struggle to answer concerns the origin of evil. Christians have been discussing and debating that question for over 1,500 years. This article offers one explanation for the origin of evil.

The Bible teaches that catastrophe, suffering and death is the result of sin. Man chose to disobey God and his disobedience brought the world under a curse. The curse of sin subjected creation to the many pains of life, from disease to disaster. Sin brought suffering into the world, but what brought about sin?

First, God is not responsible for the existence of sin. He is supremely holy (Isaiah 6:2) and does not approve of sin (Habakkuk 2:13). Every work of God is perfect (Deuteronomy 32:4). Second, God alone is the Creator of all things. Nothing which exists, exists independently of God. (John 1:3) These two statements sound like a contradiction. Many have attempted to resolve the apparent contradiction by concluding God must have created evil.

God could not have created evil. When God finished the work of creation He declared everything was very good. (Genesis 1:31) God is perfectly holy. He does not declare anything good which contains evil. Immediately after the creation week God stopped creating (Genesis 2:2). God has created no new thing since He ended His creative work.

The God who is morally holy cannot create evil. God did not create evil during the week of creation. God declared His work of creation was perfect. He has created no new thing since creation was finished. Therefore, God did not create evil.

God did not create evil, but He did create perfect beings able to freely love, serve and worship Him. In giving those creatures freedom to serve Him they also had the ability to refuse to serve Him. Chief among these perfect beings was an angel named Lucifer. Lucifer was beautiful and powerful (Ezekiel 28:13-14). He became filled with pride and thought in his own heart, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.” (Isaiah 14:13-14) Lucifer’s desire for self-exaltation is the origin of sin.

Lucifer, who we know as Satan, did not create evil in the sense of causing some new thing to come into existence. Evil is not the creation of a new way of being, but a perversion of the way made by God. Evil is the corruption of the good which already existed. God created the angels to worship Him. Satan distorted that created purpose and turned it inwards towards himself. Ezekiel 28:17 says of Satan, “You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.” Satan did not act with understanding originating with himself. He had wisdom given to him. Instead of using that wisdom as it was designed to be used, he corrupted wisdom by the promotion of himself. Instead of exalting God as he was created to do, Satan exalted self. Instead of worshiping God, Satan worshiped self. Instead of serving God, Satan served his own selfish desires. The good things God created were rejected and perverted and perverted by Satan.

Evil exists because God’s creatures rejected the good of God and His creation. Evil began with Satan, the Father of lies (John 8:44) who continues to corrupt and counterfeit the good of God. Satan deceived Eve into rejecting the good God had given her. When Adam and Eve rejected God’s goodness to follow Satanic lies, they sinned. The sin of Adam and Eve corrupted their righteous hearts, polluted the hearts of all their descendants and brought a calamitous curse upon the world. Evil originated in the perverse heart of Satan, was spread to the heart of men through his lies and continues to bring sorrow to all the world.

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March 5, 2024

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Christianity, Heaven, Salvation

Does Jesus teach the existence of purgatory?

In Matthew 5:25 Jesus warns that a person who owes another and does not settle the debt with them will be thrown into prison until all is paid. What is the prison Jesus warns about? Some have said this prison is purgatory.

According to those who believe in purgatory, if a Christian is not reconciled to his brother during this life, then after life ends the sinner will be held in a place of spiritual punishment until the entire debt is paid. When the sinner is purged of all their sin they will then be allowed to enter Heaven.

Interpreting the prison in Matthew 5 as a spiritual prison is defended on the grounds that the Sermon on the Mount is talking about spiritual things. Therefore, the prison must also be a spiritual prison. Jesus is teaching what is necessary to enter Heaven, but the Sermon on the Mount is not a list of instructions on how to get there. In Matthew 5:20-48 Jesus shows the impossibility of gaining Heaven by following the Mosaic law or a list of religious regulations. To enter Heaven a person has to be as perfectly righteous as God Himself. (Matthew 5:48)

Furthermore, the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 5 involved real, physical things. He speaks of marriage, divorce and adultery. He speaks of giving away a cloak and a tunic, of responding to a slap on the cheek and of going the extra mile. Those were all physical realities that Jesus’ first century audience would have experienced first hand. The coerced mile of Matthew 5:41 was not an allegorical mile, but a genuine journey taken at the command of a Roman soldier.

In Matthew 5:29-30 Jesus does use figures of speech when He speaks of plucking out an eye or cutting off a hand. Those two statements are the only ones which need to be understood as figurative. All the surrounding verses make the most sense as literal descriptions of familiar things. Therefore, the prison Jesus referred to is best understood as a real debtors prison, not a spiritual one.

The great problem with applying Matthew 5:25 to purgatory is the assumption of purgatory itself. Those who teach the existence of purgatory teach that the mercy of Jesus enables the person to become righteous. Each person is responsible, by the grace of Jesus, to put away their sin and make themselves righteous. Sin not put away by the person is punished after this life. Because the person has received the grace of Jesus, Heaven is waiting for them. Because the person still has unresolved sin, he must be punished before he can enter Heaven. Purgatory exists as a theological concept because some sin is left unpunished. Those seeking Heaven must have a means of satisfying the demands of justice on their unpunished sin. The Bible clearly teaches otherwise.

In Hebrews 10:17 God says, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Verse 18 adds this most important truth, “Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.” God promises those who trust Jesus as their Savior that He will forgive all their sin: past, present or future. First John 1:7 says, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Since God completely forgives all a person’s sins when that person receives Jesus for salvation, then no more offering, punishment, purging or purgatory is needed.

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February 13, 2024

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Christianity, Current Events, Marriage

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Should Christians “Cancel” Alistair Begg?

Alistair Begg is the pastor of Parkside Church outside of Cleveland. His preaching ministry is familiar to many through the Truth for Life radio program. Pastor Begg recently became the subject of controversy when he discussed his counsel to a grandmother whose grandson was marrying a transgendered person. The grandmother wanted to know if she should attend the wedding. Begg related that he asked if her grandson knew she did not affirm his lifestyle and marriage. When she answered that he did, Pastor Begg said, “I suggest that you do go to the ceremony. And I suggest that you buy them a gift.” (You can find the full interview here: https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/christian-manifesto-interview and a follow up response to his congregation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2bmFuA40T4)

Begg received a lot of backlash from Christians for his advice to her. American Family Radio removed Truth for Life from its lineup and others called for Begg to repent. In response, Pastor Begg said that he has no need to repent of his words.

Marriage is a major battleground today. Many Christians continue to proclaim the Biblical teaching that marriage is the permanent union of one man with one woman. Opposition to this teaching has been intense at times. Many in Christianity have found reason to soften or deny the Bible’s teachings about marriage.

Pastor Begg is theologically conservative with a long history of affirming the truths of the Bible, including a Biblical view of marriage. He has proclaimed without apology that homosexuality is a sin and that marriage is reserved for a man and a woman. In his response to the grandmother he made clear that the marriage in question is contrary to Scripture.

The issue Begg was addressing was not the legitimacy of homosexual marriage but the advisability of a grandparent attending what many conservative Christians would consider a gay wedding. Her question is entirely different from the permissibility or morality of homosexual marriage. Begg’s response does not indicate a difference of belief about marriage. His response suggests a difference of belief about the role of congregants at a wedding and a difference of belief about how best to show love to others.

The words “marriage” and “wedding” are not synonyms. Marriage is a union of people in a legally and socially approved bond. A wedding is a ceremony where the marriage union is joined. Marriage has a lifelong union as its ideal outcome. Sitting through a wedding may feel interminable, but, ideally, it is not a lifelong event.

Many believe attendees at a wedding are playing an active role in the ceremony as witnesses who give their support to the couple and affirm the legitimacy of the union. This belief has a long history. This view of attendee as participant is seen in the familiar ministerial injunction, “If anyone can show just cause why these two may not lawfully be joined in holy matrimony, let him speak now or forever hold his peace.” For those who hold this belief, attending a gay wedding gives unspoken approval of the marriage.

On the other hand, many see attendance at a wedding as nothing more than observation. The person attending may be expressing their affection for the participants, but attendance plays no active role in the joining of the couple in matrimony. For those who hold this belief, attending a wedding does not necessarily offer an opinion on the propriety of the marriage.

The Bible is clear about the nature of marriage, but says nothing about the responsibilities or role of those attending a wedding. Legitimate applications to weddings can be drawn from the Biblical teachings on marriage. Those applications must be recognized as responses to the Biblical truth, but not the Biblical truth itself.

The Bible does not speak about the congregant’s role in a wedding. Therefore, attendance at gay wedding must be treated as a matter of conscience. Sound, Biblical reasons can be offered for attending, or refusing to attend, a gay wedding. Each believer must carefully, prayerfully and Biblically consider his own response to this issue. Each believer must permit other Christians the liberty to do the same. Christians should not reject or malign someone like Pastor Begg, who has a long history of faithful Biblical teaching, because they disagree with the counsel he gave on a subject not addressed in the Bible.