Book Review: The Question That Never Goes Away, by Philip Yancey

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Steve Husting

“Why did God allow this to happen?” “Why didn’t God protect us?” “Why doesn’t a good God stop this evil?” These are all variations of the question that recurs — that never goes away —  in the aftermath of any great and not-so-great tragedy. “Where is God when it hurts?”

While exploring the question, Philip takes us on trips to some of the saddest places on earth, including Japan following the tsunami, Sarajevo and the ‘ethnic cleansing,’ the child killings at Newtown and Sandy Hook. The question has only slight variations in these places; in asking, the questioner instinctively assumes that God is a good God.

Philip’s hardest task comes when trying to find words to answer the question in a way that would comfort the hearers who have suffered loss. Going from place to place to give talks on this subject, he advances several perspectives. One I remember most is when he asked the parents who lost a child in Newtown (my paraphrase), “Now experiencing the worst pain a parent could feel, where everything seems so empty and lost, and your spirit crushed, how many of you would rather never have experienced the joy of having your child at all?” None of the people raised their hands; though their pain is most unbearable, the joy beforehand was still worth it. Continue reading →

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Dying With Honor

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Steve Husting

The Bible is hard to understand in places. It’s also a thick book – who can remember it all? Therefore, many of us have ultra-simplified our theology, condensing it down to, “When I die, I go to heaven.” That’s simple and easy to remember. But its very simplicity is deceptive.

Consider Hebrews 12:2, for example: “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Here, Jesus was not cowering under the shame of being on the cross, nor was He screaming for the pain and agony to end. Jesus on the cross is our example of how to accept the will of God and endure pain for Him (1 Peter 2:21). As a reward for His faithfulness to death, God set Him up on a throne to rule in the kingdom (Philippians 2:5-11). Continue reading →

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What is the “narrow way” and why is it hard to get on it?

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Steve Husting

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).

Jesus spoke these words as part of a sermon on a mountain to the people. The context of the sermon answers the question of the narrow way’s identity. The sermon is about the character of the kingdom of God in a believer’s life. The narrow way is the kingdom of God, as distinct from the established religion the people were familiar with. Let’s look at several examples taken from the Sermon on the Mount, from each of its three chapters. Continue reading →

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A Tale of Two Resurrections

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Steve Husting

When Paul made an argument for his faith in Acts 24:10-21, he affirmed his belief  that both the just and the unjust will be resurrected (24:15). What is the resurrection of the just and the unjust? When we encounter a doctrine in the Bible that isn’t well-developed in our minds, we may change the words a bit to make the verse fit our theology better. In the case of the resurrection of the just and the unjust, we may adapt it to our way of thinking by making it say, “the resurrection of the saved and the unsaved,” or “the resurrection of the believers and unbelievers.” (This makes us feel good about ourselves, too.)

We tell ourselves that Jesus saved us and imputed His righteousness to us, so we are among the “just,” which means righteous ones. Because we are saved, we Christians will surely be resurrected or raptured, and all the unbelievers left behind. I will touch more on this later.

If this thinking were true, then Paul’s next words would not make any sense: “I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men” (24:16). I used to take it for granted that because I am saved, I would make the first resurrection. But Paul saw two resurrections, not of the saved and unsaved, but of the just and unjust. They are not the same thing. “Just” does not mean “believer” or “saved.” Continue reading →

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“Once upon a time there was an Atheist”

Posted on August 17, 2013 by Steve Husting

Some atheists claim that the Bible is full of fairy tales that Christians have contrived in order to find order, purpose, and comfort in this life. But what about the fairy tales the atheists believe? And why do they think Christian beliefs are mere fables? Continue reading →

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“I Am A Catholic!”

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Steve Husting

“I am a Baptist.” “I am a Presbyterian.” Perhaps when spiritual conversation ebbs and flows around you, at one point the tide may bring you in, and all you can say is that you are a member of a denomination, or that your family has been of that denomination for years.

But when we appear before the Lord in Heaven, Jesus will not be asking us what denomination we belonged to. He will tell us to give an account of our lives to evaluate how we have responded to His Word. Obedience to His Word is high on His list of priorities for His people, so then how does our denomination come into play? Continue reading →

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“When I Die, I’ll Go to Heaven”

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Steve Husting

A lot of assumptions are found in this statement: “When I die, I’ll go to Heaven.” What’s missing? No mention is made of how you live from now until death, and no mention is made of the eternity-defining event between death and Heaven, Judgment Day. Our eternity will depend more on living than dying. The time between death and Heaven will focus on rendering a judgment on this life, which will determine our riches and honor for in Heaven. More problems with the phrase: where is Jesus and God in this?  Continue reading →

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Does God Demand Blind Faith?

Posted on July 16, 2013 by Steve Husting

Did Jesus demand that people believe on Him by faith only, or did He present proofs and reasons to believe?  Let’s start off with this incident:

Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, And said unto him, “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?”

Jesus answered and said unto them, “Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them” (Matthew 11:2-5).

Here, John the Baptist, thrown into jail earlier, was possibly wondering if Jesus was the Messiah. How did Jesus answer this question? Did He insist, “Just believe – that’s all you gotta do. Just believe!” No; Jesus gave him proofs to ponder. The Jews knew that when the kingdom of God would come, then the lame will walk again, the blind will see, and the deaf will hear. Jesus not only told the people, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand,” He provided proofs by the miracles that He performed that the kingdom was indeed at the very door. Continue reading →

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What does it mean to be filled by or led by the Spirit?

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Steve Husting

It is helpful to understand something by looking at its contrast. In this case, in contrast to being filled with the Holy Spirit and led by Him is being filled with fleshly desires and being driven by them, unable to control oneself. The book of Romans helps us understand this contrast.

In the first three chapters of Romans, we see ourselves as we really are: fallen in sin. We are told, “There is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all gone out of the way, they have together become unprofitable. Destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:11-12, 16-18).

This is the life we are accustomed to living: we don’t seek after God and His will, for we prefer pursuing our wills first. We have left the way of holiness and enjoying God and thus become unprofitable for God to use us. We are not full of good cheer from the good news of Jesus Christ and His love, but full of misery because of all the dark desires and thoughts that afflict us. We have not known the way of peace because we are at odds with God Himself, and thus with others and ourselves. We have no fear of God because we are engrossed with the things about us and forming our own ideas of life. Continue reading →

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What I Learned from my Biases

Posted on June 29, 2013 by Steve Husting

I remember when I first became aware of the impact of my biases upon myself. A Republican lady from church emailed several people about the negative actions of a certain Democrat. I rolled my eyes with the attitude of, “Well, he’s a Democrat, so what do you expect.” Later, I received another email that railed against a Democratic official’s policy. But this time I remembered Snopes.com and checked to see if the email content was faked. It was. I sent the email back to inform the other recipients. Once again I received an email from the lady against a Democrat. Once again I checked it against Snopes.com and found it to be a fake. I alerted the other recipients ….

What made me focus on the Republican bias I had against anything Democratic was a man saying that he could not accept the link to an article I sent him because of the Creation bias of the writer. When the above email incident occurred, this conversation came to mind, and I saw my Republican bias for what it was. I’ve since thought long and hard on the incident above, and came up with several ramifications of having a personal bias. Here they are … Continue reading →

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What is the purpose of Bible preaching?

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Steve Husting

God uses regular and faithful Bible preaching to share His truths about life. Here is what the Bible says of itself:

And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, [thoroughly] furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:15-17)

So based on this passage, what’s the aim of Bible preaching? Continue reading →

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How can the Old Testament laws be passed away, yet still be said to continue?

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Steve Husting

The covenants God made in the OT with the Hebrews were “for ever.” However, from what we understand in the book of Hebrews, they could only continue if the priesthood continued, and if God Himself continued it. As it is, the Aaronic priesthood has been replaced by Jesus’ Melchizedec priesthood (Hebrews 7), and God Himself rejected the law because it never did what He wanted; the old covenant was replaced by the new covenant of faith in Christ (Hebrews 8:7-13). God said the OT law was ineffective and ready to get the boot. Why keep something around that never perfected anyone (Heb. 10:1)? Continue reading →

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How do I deal with out-of-control sexual urges?

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Steve Husting

You deal with sexual desires the same way as with any other feelings, whether of envy, hatred, avarice, pride, and so on. The foundational teaching is Romans 6. There, we learn that when Jesus was buried, He took our “old man,” or sinful nature, into the tomb with Him, then He rose again. Since the old nature is buried with Christ, it no longer has power over us. We no longer have to follow them. When they come, we can say, “I am risen with Christ and seated in the heavenly places with Him. Lord, I come to Your throne of grace and ask for help to turn my heart and thoughts to You.” Then you turn and get busy with something else immediately (Romans 6:13). It takes time to take up this new way of thinking, but like any other new process in life, if you apply it again and again, you’ll find God following through to enable you, even shield you from its effects. Continue reading →

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Isn’t the Israelite’s entrance into the Promised Land in the OT symbolic of our going to Heaven when we die?

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Steve Husting

I’ve sung several hymns where this point of view is held. The crossing of the river Jordan into Canaan’s land is held to represent death, and the land itself is Heaven. I don’t hold to that view, and I’ll explain why.

Remember when God sent spies into the land to check the land out in Numbers 14? The men returned and said it was a terrible place. Enemies everywhere! “There are giants there,” they said. “Let’s go back to Egypt!” That doesn’t sound like a report of Heaven to me!

Furthermore, after that incident, God had the Israelites turn back to the desert. He told them that only two of them would enter, Joshua and Caleb, because they believed God, while all the rest of the people would die in the wilderness. Only their children would enter the land. Would that then be symbolic of missing Heaven because you thought something bad about it? Multiple problems attend the idea of entering the land as symbolic of entering Heaven. Continue reading →

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After doing all these things, does this mean I’ll go to Heaven when I die?

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Steve Husting

A fuller version of the question is:

“I have gone through Sunday School as a child, have been attending church regularly, tithe regularly, do my best to be a good person, and sometimes read my Bible and pray. Does this mean I’ll go to Heaven when I die?”

If you were a Catholic, you would word the question as:

“I have successfully completed Confirmation, attend Mass regularly, take Communion regularly, tithe regularly, go to confession regularly, do my best to be a good person, and sometimes read my Bible and pray. Does this mean I’ll go to Heaven when I die?”

Whether Catholic or not, the answer to both questions is the same: no. Continue reading →

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Is predestination really about man’s free will versus God’s sovereignty?

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Steve Husting

Many people start their approach to predestination from a philosophical position rather than on the actual words and phrases the Bible uses about it. For instance, I asked one person how he begins his argument for predestination.

He said, “God knew all of us before we were born, right?”

I stopped him right there. “Aren’t you supposed to prove religious truth with the words God gave us in the Bible?”

The trouble with his approach is that he’s starting with an assumption that he already believes in, and is using an argument that will lead where he wants to go, which is a logical fallacy called a leading question. If you read Catholic literature trying to prove that Mary was always a virgin, you see this same approach. They start out with the assumption that she was already “ever virgin” and show how the verses could be read that way (like changing Jesus’ brothers into cousins), rather than produce the verses that actually shows she was “ever virgin” to begin with. Continue reading →

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Why are so many of today’s scientists frustrated with the theory of evolution?

Posted on December 25, 2012 by Steve Husting

Remember when the early scientists thought to prove that life could be created by electricity in an ideal atmosphere? That never really panned out; the proteins created by that method were right-handed proteins and all organic life required left-handed proteins. (Let’s overlook the irony of an intelligent scientist deliberately choosing which gases would work together with the right amount of electricity to use to produce life.) In the end, scientists realized that life could not arise from an oxygen-rich atmosphere because oxygen oxidizes – it would kill any organism trying to survive. Continue reading →

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Don’t I have to love myself before I can love others?

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Steve Husting

People often give this response to the story in Matthew’s gospel where a lawyer asked Jesus which was the greatest commandment in the law. Jesus had answered:

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (See Matt. 22:37-39.)

Because the passage of “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” ends in “as thyself,” it seems to imply that if we loved ourselves more, then we could love our neighbor more. Was Jesus really saying this? There are several problems with this reasoning. Continue reading →

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Will the world end on a specific date based on the Mayan calendar?

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Steve Husting

God was very specific when he told us how the world will “end.” Because he wanted us to be ready against that time, he gave specific prophecies regarding specific events, some of which could be happening in our lifetime, to help us comprehend the times.

Read the articles I’ve written about the end times so you can see for yourself that the world can’t end until certain events transpire.

https://stevehusting.com/doubtbusters/category/doubt-busters/end-times-doubt-busters/

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What good are the Ten Commandments for today?

Posted on December 11, 2012 by Steve Husting

God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses to pass on to the Israelites in ancient times. Are they still relevant now? Well, God’s purpose for giving them then are similar to the purpose they are given now. If the Israelites wanted God to remain in their midst and protect them, prosper their farming, and keep them healthy, then they would show it through obedience to His commandments. Much of the historical portion of the Old Testament shows us what happens to a nation when it strays from God; then God sent prophets to show them the way back (such as by following God’s commandments); he then sent them prosperity when the nation returned to God. Is this something we need to learn of in our land? Continue reading →

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Does God help those who help themselves?

Posted on December 8, 2012 by Steve Husting

I don’t know the origins of this phrase, but it sounds like an observation born out of experience, or possibly someone struggled with trying to make sense of the relationship between God’s work and man’s work, and he came up with this simple statement to make sense of it all, and left all the complexities out of it. Continue reading →

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Why does the Bible talk about Israel signing a peace treaty?

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Steve Husting

Daniel 9:24-27 gives us a sweeping, end-times prophecy from Christ’s first coming to His Second Coming. Verse 27 tells us about the final seven years before Christ sets up His kingdom. It all begins with someone making an agreement, or covenant, with Israel and other nations for seven years. (In the passage, “one week” is the term understood in those days as a week of years, or seven years.) Here is the passage: Continue reading →

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Couldn’t God just forgive instead of sending His Son to die?

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Steve Husting

Why couldn’t God just forgive all our wrongdoings? Because it would be like a judge who, faced with a murderer, stood up from his seat and said, “I forgive you.” Not only would he shock the courtroom and outrage the victim’s family, he would be refusing to administer justice to the offender. Justice would not be served. Continue reading →

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Why is it that many people get into religion when they’re down on their luck and not when they’re happy and enjoying life?

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Steve Husting

People are more readily predisposed to get help when they have been devastated by some physical or emotional loss and are unsure of how to help themselves. In many cases, they will try to cope with their problem with drugs, a sexual relationship, a gang, or the occult. Others get involved in community activities to get their minds off their troubles and help them cope with life. Continue reading →

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You defend your religion because you’re biased, right?

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Steve Husting

A bias is the same as having a particular view of the world. Everyone has a bias. The atheist’s religious bias is that there is no God. A Christian’s religious bias is that there is a God and he created all things. People possess varying amounts of religious biases, political biases, racial biases, class biases, and so on. Continue reading →

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How can you be hungry for God?

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Steve Husting

How do you stay hungry for God? That’s easy to answer. Never be satisfied with the world, the flesh, or the devil, and always strive for something beyond what you can attain on your own. As long as you are content and satisfied with the many things you can do, you’ll always be a step away from God. Continue reading →

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Seeing through “The Woman in Black”

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Steve Husting

I recently watched the movie starring Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame, The Woman in Black. This was a ghost story, complete with haunted house. When it was all over, I found it odd that the incidents in the haunted house were not really explained. For instance, how did the toys start up on their own? Was it normal for people to hear footsteps in the upper room, but upon investigating, see no one? Several times the lead character saw a hand or face on the other side of a window, but looking again, found no one there. Looking out of window to the grounds below, he could see a woman in black in a cemetery, but looking again, found her mysteriously gone. Continue reading →

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Was the mark of Cain God’s curse on him?

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Steve Husting

Here is the passage in question. As we see, Cain kills his brother, God confronts him with it, then the mark is applied:

And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother?

And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper? Continue reading →

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How can I be sure I’m really believing by faith?

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Steve Husting

One of the reasons you are confused about faith is because it has been ruthlessly redefined beyond recognition. Some people in religion have defined it as a power, while secularists have mocked it as believing contrary to proof. Both are wrong. We develop faith in God and his doctrines in the same way we develop faith in the non-religious aspects of our life.

A member of an atheist group has just as much faith as a Christian attending church services. Just consider this: when a member of an atheist group hears other members mocking God and the Bible and just nods in agreement, he is believing by faith. We know this because he does not point a finger at the speaker and say, “Prove it! What evidence do you have?” He just accepts what he hears; he does what he accuses the Christians of doing: believing apart form seeking facts; “stepping out into the darkness.” Continue reading →

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How could you love a God who told father Abraham to kill his son?

Posted on May 26, 2012 by Steve Husting

Here is the passage referred to:

And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of (Genesis 22:1-2).

This concern is troubling on a number of levels. First, it’s horrendous to think of parents killing their own children. Second, it raises the disquieting thought: What if God tells me or anyone else to do it today? Continue reading →

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