Print run: 130,000 copies
> Man at War
Magazine Looking at Life’s Big Questions
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> Messed Up? p7
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C E L E B R AT I N G
10YEARS I
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Is There Light At the End of the Tunnel? After You’ve Blown it > Advice for Life p7
Dumnezeu: Prieten?
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> Romanian article by Oszkar Ambrus p4
Science meets God > Miles McKee p14 Proverbs
Irish Opinion
Christianity
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ISSUE 4you.ie Magazine Published in Ireland by AONTAS © MMXV Editor Paudge Mulvihill
aontas
Correspondence to: 4you Magazine, 72 Rowan Drive, Castlebar, Co. Mayo Phone: 094 9023702 Email: 4youireland@gmail.com Web: www.4you.ie Design: OpenBook Ireland www.oscail.net Printer: Printbridge Publisher: www.aontas.ie
Contents Page 3 Page 4
Who Is Your Advocate? by Mark Loughridge
Dumnezeu: prieten sau vrăjmaş? by Oszkar Ambrus
Page 5
Beware by David Wilson
Page 6
Sceptics and An Empty Tomb by Mark Loughridge
Page 7-9 What to Do When You’ve Blown It! by Erwin Lutzer
Advice
4 you.i e Mag a z ine Issu e X E d itor i a l
Life
4you.ie Magazine Issue X Page 10-11 Who Do You Think That I AM? by John MacArthur
Page 12
Why Bother With an Ancient Book? by Billy Hamilton
Page 13
Science Meets The Bible by Miles McKee
Page 14
Search and Find
Page 15
Free Offers & Resources
by Mark Loughridge
Books, Bibles & Booklets Sports Cartoon Strip
10 Years
Celebrate
Welcome to our 10th year anniversary edition of the 4you.ie Magazine & Website. We are delighted to present you with articles in this issue about Science & God, Life topics, the nature of the Bible, advice and even sports humour. Throughout this edition you will find at the base of each page words of wisdom from the famous Book of Proverbs (found in the middle of the Old Testament). Regular columnist Mark Loughridge looks at the human need for an advocate on p3 and examines the evidence for the Resurrection on p6. Guest writer Oszkar Ambrus writes our foreign language article for the Romanian community. Miles McKee and Billy Hamilton take a look at Science and an Ancient Book. One of the main aims of the 4you Magazine is to encourage you to read God’s Word for yourself. We can provide you with a free gospel or Bible -see our Resources page (p15) for details. You could start reading one of the Gospels in the New Testament and get to know more about God’s answer to human need— that is relationship with God restored through the death & resurrection of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Here is a quote from John’s first Letter, Chapter 5, verse 11 (also written as ‘1 John 5:11’):— “And this is the record: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
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People
Who Is On Your Side? Who is Your Advocate?
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recently heard Louise Phelan being interviewed on the radio. She’s the vice-president of PayPal’s operations for Europe, the Middle-East, and Africa. This year she was awarded the title of Ireland’s Most Trusted Leader at the Best Workplaces in Ireland awards ceremony. In the interview, she spoke about the support she received from her family—she’s the second youngest of seventeen(!) siblings: nine girls and eight boys. ‘They were all very supportive. I’ve had great supporters in my career, and I think that the support you get from them is critical.’ But her next sentence struck me: ‘You have to have advocates. That’s what I tell students. Have you got an advocate? … [Someone] that believes in you and can support you. I think that’s really important.’
Everyone needs someone to stand beside them. by Mark Loughridge
Could you be more of an advocate for others around you? Wouldn’t it be great to have someone to stand up for us—the more powerful and influential the better?
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ut what of those times when even the best of encouragers fail us, when their words ring hollow because we know that they simply aren’t true? When we have made a mess of our lives or when the guilt of the past weighs down on us, and no well-intentioned words can sweep it away…what then? What if you are reading this and you have no one to be your advocate—no one to fight your cause?
There is One who will be our advocate in even the worst of circumstances, One who will look into whatever mess we have made, however guilty we are, There is One who and say to us, ‘I will take on your case. he’s bang on the money. How many will speak up for you’. The apostle will be our advocate IJohn children grow up being told they are writes about Him in 1 John 2:1: in even the worst useless by parents, siblings, ‘friends’, or even teachers? Or even just ignored, left to their of circumstances. ‘My dear children, I am writing this to own devices without the stimulation of enyou so that you will not sin. But if anycouragement to stretch themselves? And one does sin, we have an advocate who then we wonder why people have low self-esteem, and pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the we have to spend a fortune counselling them or weaning one who is truly righteous.’ them off whatever substance it is they have turned to for self-belief. hat’s the sort of advocate I want—One who knows my faults and is prepared to speak up for Something within us is wired for input from others—we me before the Judge of all the Earth. And do you see are not independent rulers of our own little worlds as how welcoming He is? The offer of His advocacy is open we’d like to think. And when we are low we realise this: to ‘anyone who does sin’. He not only will speak for us We need someone to stand with us, to speak for us. to His Father, but speak to us from His Father, assuring us of forgiveness, acceptance, and welcome. This is the Do you have an advocate? Someone who speaks up advocate everyone needs. Who will speak for you? for you, who speaks to encourage you, to spur you on?
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‘There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother’ -Proverbs 18 v24
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Român
Dumne z e u: p r i et en sau vrăjmaş? O s z k ar Ambru s
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uzi. Stiu ca probabil îl vezi pe Dumnezeu iubitor şi blând şi toate astea. Crezi că e chiar de treabă. Dar te asigur, El e total opus acestei imagini. Din faţa Lui regele şi războinicul trebuie să fugă. El e un foc mistuitor, e un lucru înfricoşător să cazi în mâinile Dumnezeului viu, şi tu eşti sub mânia lui divină din cauza păcatelor tale. Ar trebui să zici împreună cu Moise, care L-a vazut pe Domnul, “sunt înspăimântat şi tremur”. Suntem amăgiţi uşor de ideea vagă şi plăcută că “cineva sus în cer ne iubeşte”. Ne împlineşte dorinţele, face să ne simţim bine şi ne binecuvântează. E prietenul nostru, ne dă daruri şi sănătate, şi face ca lururi bune să se întâmple cu noi. Dar realitatea e cu totul altceva. El este vrăjmaşul nostru. Nu e cineva ce ne mângâie. Nu priveşte la noi cu satisfacţie, asigurându-ne că totul va fi bine.
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12:5 ne spune că El e Cel de care trebuie să ne temem. Căci după moarte “are autoritatea de a arunca în Iad”. Şi asta e o treabă serioasă, că o va şi face, neîndoit.
Acesta este punctul la care trebuie să ajungem cu toţii, de vrem să fim împăcaţi cu El. Că judecata Lui este peste noi şi este bine meritată. Că noi avem fire răzvrătitoare, inimi idolatre şi vieţi păcătoase. Ceea ce merităm este pierzanie eternă în Iad. Am trăit vieţi care au jignit sfinţenia şi gloria lui Dumnezeu, şi va trebui să fim traşi la răspundere, şi să plătim preţul, adică pedeapsa Lui eternă. Suntem duşmani de moarte cu Dumnezeu, şi nu putem face nimic să schimbăm asta.
Dar el poate. Şi a făcut-o.
Există un mesaj necuprinzător de minunat în crucea lui Hristos: Acela al cărui duşmani am fost, a dat singurul Său Fiu să plătească pedeapsa păcatelor noastre. Pe cruce, umbrit pentru trei ore de lumea asta, Hristos a suferit mânia lui Dumnezeu pentru păcatele noastre. Asta n-a fost făcută de mâna omului, ci de Dumnezeu însuşi. Judecata şi pedeapsa dreaptă al lui Dumnezeu pentru păcatele acestei lumi a fost executată în
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‘the LORD disciplines those he loves’ -Proverbs 3 v12
Isus Hristos, Mielul lui Dumnezeu. Şi a murit El, Domnul nostru, ca jertfă ispăşitoare pentru cei ce erau vrăjmaşii Lui. Romani 5:8 şi 10 ne-o spune astfel: “Dumnezeu Îşi arată dragostea faţă de noi prin faptul că, pe când eram noi încă păcătoşi, Hristos a murit pentru noi ... atunci când eram vrăjmaşi, am fost împăcaţi cu Dumnezeu, prin moartea Fiului Său.”
Dacă-ţi recunoşti starea de a fi sub mânia justă al lui Dumnezeu, te implor, strigă la El. Hristos a plătit deja plata păcatelor tale. Poţi merge la Dumnezeu să ceri iertare. Nu doreşte nimic mai mult decât să ţi-o dea. Dacă faci asta, increzându-te în ispăşirea lui Hristos, El te va primi în braţele Lui iubitoare. Şi prin harul şi iertarea Lui îţi va da “o dulce şi veşnică pace”, gratis, fără nici o plată. Vei putea savura dragostea, gloria şi măreţia Lui, şi vei fi al lui pe vecie. Însă cu toţii încercăm să găsim pretexte. Sunt o persoana destul de bună, totuşi. Poate chiar religioasă. Mai merg si la biserică. Oamenii ăia răi trebuie să se teamă de Dumnezeu. Am făcut mai multe lucruri bune în viaţa mea decât rele. Am mai minţit şi furat pe ici pe colo, dar au fost cazuri minore. În principiu sunt bun. Dumnezeu ştie asta şi mă va trata ca atare. Dar trebuie să înţelegem, că nu e cazul. Nu suntem buni. Nu suntem doar răi, ci suntem plini de răutate. Suntem păcătoşi stricaţi până-n adâncul fiinţei noastre. “Toţi s-au abătut şi au ajuns nişte netrebnici. Nu este niciunul care să facă binele, niciunul măcar … toată lumea [este] găsită vinovată înaintea lui Dumnezeu” (Romani 3:12.19). Şi Dumnezeu ne va trata ca atare.
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rei să accepţi ceea ce spune El despre tine şi să recunoşti că eşti un păcătos nenorocit? Te vei intoarce înspre Acela, al cărui duşman eşti, dar care te-a iubit nespus, încăt a dat chiar şi propriul Său Fiu pentru păcatele tale? El te aşteaptă, chiar acum, cu toată dragostea Lui plină de duioşie. www.4you.ie
Beware! faith
By David Wilson
Don’t confuse with gullibility or blind acceptance . Since the earliest days, the church of Jesus Christ has been plagued
by false teachers. This should not surprise us as both Jesus and the apostles warned about this danger on numerous occasions. For instance, Paul told the Ephesian elders, ‘For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock’ (Acts 20:29).
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How Can You Know What’s True? People are rightly suspicious of the proliferation of new religions that abound in Ireland today. How can we know which one is true? If someone comes knocking on my door and tries to present new ideas to me, there are three questions I like to ask. First, ‘What is your ultimate authority?’ I want to know what they’re trusting in, be it a person, an organization, or some new book or ‘revelation.’ Anything other than the unchanging Word of God is shifting sand. After giving the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told His disciples that the only firm foundation on which they could build their lives was His words (Matthew 7:24-27). To reject His words leads only to ruin and destruction.
‘Test all things; hold fast to what is good’. ~1 Thessalonians 5:21
One might think, then, that the safest place to remain is within the confines of the church and to accept whatever you are taught there. But Paul goes on to warn: ‘Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves’ (Acts 20:30). What happens if the wolf is already among the flock? Faith Isn’t Blind Acceptance Paul knew the best way to guard the flock was to ‘warn everyone night and day with tears’ and to entrust them to the Word of God which was able to build them up (Acts 20:31-32). The Bible alone records for us ‘the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints’ (Jude 3). It is a deposit of truth that has stood unchanging for the last 2000 years and which we can examine for ourselves. Indeed, when Paul preached to Jews in the city of Berea, he found them to be fair-minded because they ‘searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so’ (Acts 17:11). He was not offended that they checked his teaching against Scripture; he was delighted! Some people confuse faith with gullibility, with accepting ideas without thinking. But the Scriptures themselves encourage us to ‘test all things; hold fast to what is good’ (1 Thessalonians 5:21); and to ‘test the spirits, whether they are of God’ (1 John 4:1). The only way to do that is to compare it with some unchanging standard of truth, and the Bible alone is worthy of that trust. William MacDonald has said, ‘Faith is no leap in the dark. It demands the surest evidence, and finds that evidence in the Word of God’.
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Second, I’ll ask, ‘Who is Jesus Christ?’ The Bible affirms that Jesus Christ is fully human (1 John 4:2-3) but also that He is fully God (John 1:1), the eternal Word who became flesh and dwelt among us (v. 14). Any denial of the holy Trinity is a denial of Christ. If Jesus is not God, then to claim what He did about His words being a rocksolid foundation is arrogant in the extreme.
Check it for yourself
out
And thirdly, I ask them, ‘How can I be right with God?’ Since Jesus alone is fully God and fully man, He alone can save (Acts 4:12), and He alone can mediate between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). If He was merely a good man or a good teacher, then His death on the cross was a tragedy but nothing more. But if He is God manifest in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16), then His sacrifice for sins is the only basis for the forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7). Any religious system that denies the absolute sufficiency of Christ’s work on the cross by adding human merit or works is contrary to the unchanging Word of God.
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‘The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him’ -Proverbs 18 v17
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Sceptics and an
empty tomb by Mark Loughridge
Have doubts? So did Jesus’s disciples
People sometimes say to me, ‘I’d believe in life after death if someone came
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the experience wasn’t a pious epiphany; it was more like a hi-speed train wreck
back and told us’. I usually respond that I know someone who did. Eyebrows rise in question, and I fill in the silence with ‘Yep, Jesus’. Eyebrows fall in deflated disappointment, and more than one person has said, ‘He doesn’t count’. It always makes me laugh—that the one piece of reasonably verifiable evidence is discounted, while there is a propensity for believing ‘just so’ stories. If I had said my second cousin’s great uncle had lain dead for four days and then been restored to life people might be more likely to believe it.
There is an assumption that if we had been there with our twenty-first-century
brains we wouldn’t have been sucked in so naively. Yet one of the things that strikes me is just how sceptical the early eye-witnesses were.
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o one was hoping against hope Jesus was alive. The women who went to the tomb didn’t go there to pray for His resurrection or to sneak a peek to see if there he was alive. They went there to anoint His dead body. They are met with the unbelievable news that He is alive—and are so shocked that they initially don’t tell anyone (Mark 16:8). When they do tell the disciples, they are met with doubt ‘because their words seemed to them like nonsense’ (Luke 24:11). So Peter and John run to the tomb. Meanwhile Jesus has actually appeared to Mary Magdalene—yet she is so convinced of His death that she thinks the person in front of her isn’t familiar, and is in fact the gardener (John 20:15).
And then we have Thomas—gone down in history as ‘Doubting Thomas’. He
wasn’t going to be taken in by any hallucinogenic hysteria. He didn’t care if the other disciples had seen Jesus; he wasn’t going to believe unless he could touch Him (John 20:25).
The question I have is: just how much more sceptical would we have been? There is one more arch-sceptic: someone who makes Richard Dawkins look
mild in comparison. His name is Saul. Think of him as a cross between Dawkins and Osama Bin Laden. He hated Christianity and was determined to use any means to wipe it out. The prime target of his rage was Jesus of Nazareth, to Saul’s mind a blasphemous heretic whom his naive followers claimed had risen from the dead. Since he could not get his hands on the executed Jesus, he planned to stop this new religious movement by crushing His followers and their resurrection myth.
h The Easter story is more than a story.
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r so he thought. Never was there a candidate less likely to be convinced of the truth of the resurrection. Yet on that Damascus road his mental universe was torn apart. Before him lay irrefutable evidence that Jesus was alive, that, in fact, Jesus was God. When Jesus appeared to him, the experience wasn’t a pious epiphany; it was more like a hi-speed train wreck. Paul emerged from the wreckage, a man who had to re-order his entire belief system because he now knew that the resurrection was true.
The Easter story is more than a story. It requires more than a passing assent; it calls for you to re-order your whole life around this great fact as Paul did. Integrity requires nothing less.
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‘Though it cost all you have, get understanding.’ -Proverbs 4 v7
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Advice
8 After
You’ve Totally Blown It by E. Lutzer
Do you wonder if God is big enough to forgive your worst mistakes? It’s easy enough to excuse bad behaviour by saying, ‘Sure,
we have all made mistakes.’ But what about when you’ve really blown it? What if you’re a gambling addict who has accumulated €30,000 in credit card debt by betting online? Do you deserve forgiveness then? The truth is we have all blown it. The Apostle Paul was right when he wrote, ‘All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23). I know I have said things that I later regretted. Sometimes I think I’d be better off having my mouth taped shut because those words cannot be taken back. And I know I have failed those around me more times than I can count. I’ve had to ask for forgiveness from the people I love many times.
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very one of us, at one time or another, has made a wrong turn in the journey of life. Whether we’ve blown it in a big way or through small indiscretions, we have all wished that we could re-live some of our past days. Unfortunately, the past is a brute fact that cannot be altered. But there is hope for our future.
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Jesus once told a story about a young man who made a series of bad decisions. By his own admission, he did not deserve forgiveness. But after blowing it, he did the right thing. In Pursuit of Happiness The story is of a father who had two sons. The younger son grew tired of working the farm, so he went to his father and asked for his inheritance. The father wanted his sons to make their own choices, so he divided his property between them. The young man converted his inheritance into cash and departed for a distant country. He was sure that the good life, and his money, would last forever.
But circumstances for the young man in Jesus’s story took
a sharp turn for the worse. A famine ravaged the land, and hunger forced him to compromise his beliefs and his dignity. Desperate for money for food, he took a filthy job feeding pigs. The boy discovered that his good-time friends were untrustworthy and of no help to his penniless state. Destitute, he faced a decision.
‘For lack of discipline he will die, led astray by his own great foolishness’ -Proverbs 5 v23
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Back home,
the father had lost interest in the
farm. He often
put down his tools and stared down the road...
Trinity College Dublin
The Moment of Truth Everyone who has blown it comes to a moment of truth; a crisis point at which they must make a decision to either turn back or keep going. The young man could’ve hardened his heart, steeled his mind, and thought, ‘I’d rather starve than go home and face my father.’
He knew that returning home would mean that he’d have to face his own guilt and shame. He prepared a speech: ‘Father I have sinned against Heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’
The thought of returning home triggered guilt and shame. How could he look his father in the eye? How could he return penniless? No doubt people back home were talking about his father’s two sons: the good one who stayed home and worked the farm, and the delinquent who took the old man’s money and ran. How could he face those people?
and dignity. Sure, he tarnished the reputation of his father and his family. But the young man makes no rationalisations. He doesn’t say, ‘Well, if it were not for my friends….They lied to me and spent my money.’ Or ‘It was the recession. Unemployment was high and it cost me everything.’ No, he knows he’s blown it and he admits it.
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ut this scoundrel had the good sense to do something right after he had done so many things wrong. Rather than making the same bad choices and reaping the same old demoralizing consequences, Jesus says the young man, ‘came to his senses’. What a pivotal phrase. We wish we could read that he loved his father so much that he could not bear being separated from him and so chose to return. However, his motives were much less noble. He was hungry. His stomach, not his heart, told him that going home might be a very good idea. He thought to himself, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands had food to spare, and here I am starving to death!’
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You can’t help but like this boy. Sure, he blew his money
He knew that slavery in his father’s house would be better than destitute freedom in a faraway country. And so he set out for home, rehearsing his speech with each step. Back home, the father had lost interest in the farm. He often put down his tools and stared down the road, hoping for a glimpse of his boy.
My wife and I have counselled people whose children have
rebelled. These hurting parents have told us that they go to bed at night thinking about their child, and they wake up in the morning thinking about their child. The truth is, parents can only be as happy as their saddest child.
‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t lean on your own understanding’ -Proverbs 3 v5
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Don’t let
shame
Grace =
undeserved Love
keep you from God’s Love Although the boy had left the father’s farm, he never left his father’s heart. In Luke 11:20, we see the constant love this father had for his son. ‘But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms round him and kissed him.’
shame. We fear God’s wrath and what he might do if we turn ourselves in. We tell ourselves that we will return home only when we know we are able to follow the rules of the Father’s kingdom. Sometimes we attempted to return for selfish reasons. Even so, the Father does not chide us but is glad that we have come to Him.
a sign of the son’s return. When he spotted the young man coming up the road, the father ran to embrace him. The boy started in on his speech, ‘Father I have sinned…’, but was so smothered with kisses that he didn’t have a chance to finish. His father was not nearly as interested in a confession as he was in having his son back in his arms.
Grace and undeserved love can feel more difficult to accept than the law wielded with a heavy club. Those of us who know we have sinned hate not only what we have done, but who we are. We think our mistakes are too great to be forgiven by the Father. We think we deserve punishment.
The father’s eyes were searching the landscape, longing for
The father didn’t scold the boy. Instead he shouted, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fatted calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; He was lost and is found.’ (Luke 11:22-24) Don’t Let Shame Keep You from God’s Love
What should we do after we have blown it? Our very first
decision should be to run into the arms of the heavenly Father. Our wisest course is to take the shortest route home, where we belong. Any reluctance is all on our side. We hesitate because of our
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ut God waits eagerly for all those who have run off to pursue their own ways and desires. Yes, those who choose to return will need to change their hearts and minds and adhere to the Father’s ways, but today He is saying, ‘Come home to me! Let us feast and enjoy the banquet I have prepared for you. We will talk tomorrow about tomorrow.’ For the person whose clothes bear the stench of sin, God has a clean robe waiting. To all of us He says, ‘My arms are open. No matter how bad you’ve blown it, I am waiting for you!’
‘Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honour’ -Prov. 29 v23
To all of us He says,
‘My arms are open’
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Who do W
ith that brief question Jesus Christ confronted His followers with the most important issue they would ever face. He had spent much time with them and made some bold claims about His identity and authority. Now the time had come for them either to believe or deny His teachings. Who do you say Jesus is? Your response to Him will determine not only your values and lifestyle, but your eternal destiny as well. Consider what the Bible says about Him:
JESUS IS GOD While Jesus was on earth there was much confusion about who He was. Some thought He was a wise man or a great prophet. Others thought He was a madman. Still others couldn’t decide or didn’t care. But Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). That means He claimed to be nothing less than God in human flesh. Many people today don’t understand that Jesus claimed to be God.They’re content to think of Him as little more than a great moral teacher. But even His enemies understood His claims to deity. That’s why they tried to stone Him to death (John 5:18; 10:33) and eventually had Him crucified (John 19:7). C.S. Lewis observed, “You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to” (Mere Christianity [Macmillan, 1952], pp. 40-41). If the biblical claims of Jesus are true, He is God!
JESUS IS holy God is absolutely and perfectly holy (Isaiah 6:3), therefore He cannot commit or approve of evil (James 1:13). As God, Jesus embodied every element of God’s character. Colossians 2:9 says, “In Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form.” He was perfectly holy (Hebrews 4:15). Even His enemies couldn’t prove any accusation against Him (John 8:46) God requires holiness of us as well. First Peter 1:16 says, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
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4you.ie Magazine Issue X
JESUS IS the saviour Our failure to obey God--to be holy--places us in danger of eternal punishment (2 Thessalonians 1:9). The truth is, we cannot obey Him because we have neither the desire nor the ability to do so. We are by nature rebellious toward God (Ephesians 2:1-3). The Bible calls our rebellion “sin.” According to Scripture, everyone is guilty of sin: “There is no man who does not sin” (1 Kings 8:46). “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). And we are incapable of changing our sinful condition. Jeremiah 13:23 says, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.” That doesn’t mean we’re incapable of performing acts of human kindness. We might even be involved in various religious or humanitarian activities. But we’re utterly incapable of understanding, loving, or pleasing God on our own. The Bible says, “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one” (Romans 3:10-12).
...not even one God’s holiness and justice demand that all sin be punished by death: “The soul who sins will die” (Ezekiel 18:4). That’s hard for us to understand because we tend to evaluate sin on a relative scale, assuming some sins are less serious than others. However, the Bible teaches that all acts of sin are the result of sinful thinking and evil desires. That’s why simply changing our patterns of behaviour can’t solve our sin problem or eliminate its consequences.We need to be changed inwardly so our thinking and desires are holy Jesus is the only one who can forgive and transform us, thereby delivering us from the power and penalty of sin: “There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Even though God’s justice demands death for sin, His love has provided a Saviour, who paid the penalty and died for sinners: “Christ ... died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). Christ’s death satisfied the demands of God’s justice, thereby enabling Him to forgive and save those who place their faith in Him (Romans 3:26). John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” He alone is “our great God and Saviour” (Titus 2:13).
‘There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD.’ -Proverbs 21 v30
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you think that I AM? by John MacArthur
JESUS IS THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE OBJECT OF SAVING FAITH Some people think it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you’re sincere. But without a valid object your faith is useless If you take poison--thinking it’s medicine--all the faith in the world won’t restore your life. Similarly, if Jesus is the only source of salvation, and you’re trusting in anyone or anything else for your salvation, your faith is useless. Many people assume there are many paths to God and that each religion represents an aspect of truth. But Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me” (John 14:6). He didn’t claim to be one of many equally legitimate paths to God, or the way to God for His day only. He claimed to be the only way to God--then and forever.
JESUS IS lord
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ontemporary thinking says man is the product of evolution. But the Bible says we were created by a personal God to love, serve, and enjoy endless fellowship with Him
The New Testament reveals it was Jesus Himself who created everything (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16). Therefore He also owns and rules everything (Psalm 103:19). That means He has authority over our lives and we owe Him absolute allegiance, obedience, and worship. Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” Confessing Jesus as Lord means humbly submitting to His authority (Philippians 2:10-11). Believing that God has raised Him from the dead involves trusting in the historical fact of His resurrection--the pinnacle of Christian faith and the way the Father affirmed the deity and authority of the Son (Romans 1:4; Acts 17:30-31).
It isn’t enough to believe certain facts about Christ. Even Satan and his demons believe in the true God (James 2:19), but they don’t love and obey Him. Their faith is not genuine. True saving faith always responds in obedience (Ephesians 2:10). Jesus is the sovereign Lord. When you obey Him you are acknowledging His lordship and submitting to His authority. That doesn’t mean your obedience will always be perfect, but that is your goal. There is no area of your life that you withhold from Him.
JESUS IS THE JUDGE All who reject Jesus as their Lord and Saviour will one day face Him as their Judge: “God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31). Second Thessalonians 1:7-9 says, “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”
HOW WILL YOU RESPOND?
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Who does the Bible say Jesus is? The living God, the Holy One, the Savior, the only valid object of saving faith, the sovereign Lord, and the righteous Judge. Who do you say Jesus is? That is the inescapable question. He alone can redeem you--free you from the power and penalty of sin. He alone can transform you, restore you to fellowship with God, and give your life eternal purpose. Will you repent and believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour?
True faith is always accompanied by repentance from sin. Repentance is more than simply being sorry for sin. It is agreeing with God that you are sinful, confessing your sins to Him, and making a conscious choice to turn from sin and pursue holiness (Isaiah 55:7). Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15); and “If you abide in My Word, then you are truly disciples of Mine” (John 8:31).
‘Whoever conceals his sins does not prosper, but he who confesses and renounces them finds mercy’ -Proverbs 28 v13
© John MacArthur, Grace to You
4you.ie Magazine Issue X
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Why Bother With an Ancient Book? Is the Bible relevant to life today? By Billy Hamilton
Let’s face it, the Bible is thousands of years old. It comes from a culture far removed from what we would call the modern world. And isn’t its morality a bit dated? Add to this the findings of ‘higher criticism’, which, it is alleged, has blown apart any idea that this book is special in any inspired sense. Hasn’t post-modernism shown us that there are no ‘big stories’ (meta-narratives) with all the answers (except of course, the big story of post-modernism)? In light of this, the man on the street might just shrug his shoulders and say, ‘why bother?’
Yes,
criticisms of the Bible abound. In my experience, however, most come from people who have never read it or worked to understand it. With regard to this, a thought has often come to my mind: Why is the Bible so consistently and universally criticised? Why do people not like it? I think it has to do with one word: Sin. The Bible claims to be from a holy God, and it consistently exposes sin—my sin and yours. Therefore, one reason we so much want it to be wrong is that we are prejudiced against it, because inwardly it makes us go ‘ouch’.
I know this next sentence is going to jar some of you moderns, but bear with me. The Bible says that we are sinners. Your experience confirms this. You do things that are morally wrong and it comes naturally to you.
and that we think we can bring about change. I wouldn’t deny that some external changes could happen, but what about inwardly? What about heart attitudes? You see, when it comes to the heart (inward change), we are beyond cure. We just cannot do it.
No one had to teach you to lie, lust, be jealous, greedy, bitter, angry, steal, covet, gossip, slander, be arrogant, want to be the centre of attention, selfish, hateful— and the list could go on. Why are we like this? We have even devised ways of doing all these things subtly so that we don’t appear as bad as we are.
Our failure is God’s opportunity. You should read the ancient book, the Bible, because of its unique cure. You see, the Bible offers a cure which is outside of us. It is not something you do. The Bible has one central message from beginning to end: It is all about God’s rescue plan through his Son Jesus. This in itself makes Christianity unique in contrast to other religions. Take a few of the big ones—Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism—they all have a pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootlaces principle. They claim it is what you do that counts. Christianity says you are too heavy to pull yourself up. Someone else has to rescue you. Jesus did this through His death on the Cross. Listen to Saint John:
Listen to an ancient Bible writer: ‘The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.
The Bible is well able to stand up to the critics. It proves its own reliability and authenticity.
I believe this is one great reason why we
should read this ancient book—it touches where it hurts. It is relevant. The Bible gets it right with regard to human nature. I know that we like to paint ourselves in the best possible light. I know we all like to compare ourselves with other people, and that usually means people who are morally beneath us. Then we come out on top. After all, nobody is as bad as Adolf Hitler. But let’s look at what the Bible says about human beings. About you and me.
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4you.ie Magazine Issue X
Who can understand it?’ (Jeremiah 17:9). What a diagnosis! We all have serious heart trouble! One Bible writer, Paul, was fond of describing human beings as ‘under sin’. This is his way of saying that we are under its control. We do not control it, it controls us. If you don’t believe this, try stopping to do the things listed above. We should read the Bible because of its relevance. Be aware: Because it is an honest book, it will not flatter you. It will not stroke your ego or give you placebos.
Further, Jeremiah said we are ‘beyond cure’. That hurts as well. We want to be cured and many of us seek to be cured by our own endeavours. How many self-help books have you read? How often have you promised to turn over a new leaf? How many New Year’s resolutions have you made? The lengths to which we’ll go to fix ourselves demonstrates that, how unhappy we are about ourselves—
‘This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.’ (1 John 4:10)
Here is the performance that really counts. The ultimate achievement comes through the death of Christ. He takes the punishment for our sins so that we can be completely made new and experience both forgiveness of all our sins and acceptance by God. All this becomes ours through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith means not depending on your own performance, but relying completely upon what Jesus has done for us. The Bible is well able to stand up to the crit-
ics. It proves its own reliability and authenticity. It is right up to date with regards to human nature. We are sinners (Ouch!) and it provides an answer to our inability to cure ourselves. That makes it worth reading.
‘Wisdom calls out in the street; she raises her voice in the public squares.’ -Proverbs 1 v20
Miles McKee
Does Science Disprove the Bible? Discover the unchanging truths of God’s word.
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he Bible is not the book of the year; it is the book of the ages. It has outsold, outlasted, and surpassed in reach more than all other books put together. However, not so long ago, personal reading of the Bible was frowned upon in our country. In fact, in many countries, the Bible has been burned and banned. Indeed, rather than accept that the Bible is God’s word, many still deny, distort, and disregard its gracious truths. ‘Oh, we can’t believe the Bible ’, some sneeringly say, ‘Science disproves it’. Well, I’ll be the first to admit that the Bible is not a science textbook. It isn’t meant to be. It’s a book that teaches us about God, His character, and His redemption through Jesus Christ. However, when someone says that science disproves the Bible, they are incorrect. They would be more accurate if they said that some science disagrees with certain parts of the Bible. Disagreement, however, neither proves nor disproves anything.
God’s word never changes, but science changes constantly. For example, we take it for granted that the earth is suspended in space. But science didn’t always believe that. In ancient Egypt, they believed that the earth rested on five pillars. The Greeks, in turn, believed that it was supported by a giant named Atlas. The ancient Hindus believed that the world rested on the backs of giant elephants who, in turn, rested on a giant turtle who rested on the back of a serpent swimming in a cosmic sea. But we don’t find anything like that in the Bible. What we do find, however, is Job 26:7 which informs us, ‘He hangs the earth upon nothing!’ Wow! How did Job know that? God told him.
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gain consider how, in 150 BC, Hipparchus the astronomer charted the heavens and concluded there were 1,022 stars. A few hundred years later, Ptolemy, said that due to scientific advances he could now tell that Hipparchus was incorrect. There were not 1,022 stars; there were, in fact, 1,026! Then 1300 years later, along came Galileo with his telescope and reckoned that the stars numbered in the thousands. Was he correct? Far from it! Astronomers now estimate that there are at least 12 octillion stars in the known galaxies.
‘God’s Word never changes, but Science changes constantly’
Given enough time, science will catch up with the truths of the Scriptures. Science, you see, is always changing and developing. For example, in 1861, the French Academy of Science printed a brochure giving 51 incontrovertible scientific facts as to why the Bible was in error. Today, not one scientist believes in any of these so-called proofs.
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gain, for thousands of years the science of the day maintained that the earth was flat. In 1492, as his ears rang loudly with warnings that he would fall off the edge of the world, poor old Columbus set sail to discover new lands. But the earth wasn’t flat. The Bible had said this all along. The Bible prophet Isaiah, 2,700 years ago stated, ‘It is He that sits on the circle of the Earth’ (Isaiah 40:22). The word circle is literally the word for sphere or globe! So how did Isaiah know that the earth was a sphere? God told him (2 Peter 1:21).
www.4you.ie ‘The fear
However, no one needed to calculate the number of the celestial luminaries. Jeremiah, the Bible prophet, had already addressed this. He stated clearly that the host of heaven (the stars) cannot be numbered (Jeremiah 33:22). How did he know that? It’s simple: God told him.
‘Given enough time, science will catch up with the truths of the Scriptures’
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rom the examples above it is noteworthy and observable that as science has advanced over the years -that scientific research often agrees with and even proves the veracity of the Bible. And so we can be confidant that any apparent disagreements between science and scripture at the present time will also be resolved in the future.
of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom’ -Proverbs 9 v10
Miles McKee
4you.ie 4you.ie Magazine MagazineIssue IssueXX
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seek
trending thoughts
and
find
Mark wonders: ‘Do we really wanT To f ind God?’
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ere’s something I’ve noticed: It’s cool to search for God, but uncool to find Him. People talk about wanting to find spiritual reality and deeper meaning, about wanting to get in touch with God. The idea of looking for Him sounds good—the search, the journey—but the reality of actually finding Him is too much. Here’s how it plays out: a person recognises that there is something missing in his (or her) life, or that some issue needs resolving. He may have tried many other avenues or none at all, but now he throws himself at God. He starts to find out about God, and all goes well for a time. The information is interesting—but then comes a crashing realisation. God isn’t simply interested in solving my problems; He wants me!
At that point, this guy (or girl)
turns tail and runs, runs as hard as he’s worth—all the while proclaiming that he’s searching for God. What he wants isn’t God, but an Aladdin’s lamp to rub in a crisis. He wants a magic genie who will disappear when He isn’t needed.
j
Most people want help and are happy to listen to any advice as long as it doesn’t require admission of guilt or personal change. And that’s a shame 14
4you.ie Magazine Issue X
because they run from one help system—be it counsellor, support group, friend—to another. They’ll search everywhere for a solution that doesn’t require admission of guilt or effort to change. That kind of search is like looking while covering your eyes with your hands.
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Our best friends are the ones who
call us out when we are wrong. They correct us so that we don’t wreck our lives or hurt others. Why would we want less from God? Only if your God will say things about you that will upset you and make you struggle will you then know that you have found the real God and not a figment of your imagination. That God is the God who will really help you. He doesn’t just want your problems; He wants you. And if you seek Him you will find Him, for He is not far off. But we must seek Him on His terms, not our own.
Is it cool to search for God, but uncool to fInd Him ?
ut God won’t play that game simply because He is God and not a genie. His very God-ness lies in the fact that He is in charge and calls the shots. He tells it as it is. Our problems are only a symptom of a deeper problem—ourselves. And that’s what God is offering to fix.
If you want a god that allows you to pick and choose what demands he makes, a god who pats you on the back and tells you you’re wonderful and you don’t need to change, and that everyone else is the problem— keep searching. But don’t kid yourself. Don’t trick yourself into believing that you are looking for God.
‘Whoever finds Me finds life and receives favour from the LORD’ -Proverbs 8 v35
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4you.ie Magazine Issue X
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"Love one another as I have loved you"
xJesus Christ
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