Theological critic mocks the temptation of Jesus by the Evil One: “If Christians insist that Jesus is God, how is it possible for the Devil to take God to a very high mountain and show God all the kingdoms of the World when God is the creator of the kingdoms of the world and all that lies therein?” Matthew 4:8 & Luke 4:5

Christian response,

The Evil One formerly held a position of great authority in the throne room of God the Father (Ezekiel 28:11-17) and the relationship between the Son and this cherub angel was one of former intimacy as said angel was a special anointed creation of God. Our entire creation narrative in Time is the resultant of this anointed cherub angel’s rebellion in the Kingdom and that destructive sin having been extricated from the Kingdom (Luke 10:18) and this Earth having been created by the Son for cause with rapidity (Genesis 1; John 1; Colossians 1; Hebrews 1) and the Evil One, his demonic minions, placed here as a war between the Son and the Evil One was declared in Genesis 3:15 and the strategy the Father would use to defeat the Evil One was pictured in Genesis 3:21 (a gospel of grace involving selfless love not man’s works) and this war ultimately came to fruition 4000-years later at Mt. Golgotha with the words shouted by the Son, Jesus Christ, “It is finished.”

The relationship between the Son and the Evil One is not fully known to humanity but it’s safe to say that in Eternity there was mutual love and respect between the two until iniquity was found in the angel of light; therefore, the pride and lofty spirit of the fallen anointed angel having met with Jesus before the culmination of the war between them and then taking Jesus for a last temptation before Messiah’s ministry of victory over this fallen angel is not unusual and both Jesus and the fallen cherub angel are truly spiritual beings and neither is constrained by Time or physics; therefore, Messiah and the Evil One could have chosen any “high place” on Earth or the 2nd or 3rd Heaven to discuss alternatives to the coming battle involving death, Hell, the grave…why do you mock and disparage the power of God and His Holy Spirit?

Question on FB concerning Adam and law: “Which law had been transgressed that required the death of humanity? Since where there is no law, there is no transgression.”

Christian response, (I apologize for the length of the narrative)

The moral law or law of conscience (Romans 2:15) has been extant from the creation of the angels. The moral law was created in response to the necessity for free will among God’s created beings; free will being essential for love and relationship with our Creator to manifest with purity and authenticity. God created the moral law and infused same into mankind as we are created in His spiritual image and have received certain communicable attributes from our Creator; this was done primarily for two-reasons:

1) The Moral Law of Conscience acts a bulwark against unrestrained narcissism, hedonism, moral relativism, thereby ensuring the sustainability of human kind as God works through creation via the Son “to destroy the works of the Devil” (1 John 3:8b) which is accomplished via the Gospel ordained “before the beginning of Time” (2 Timothy 1:9-10).

2) The Moral Law of Conscience is of necessity in order that God’s Judgment in Time and in Eternity can manifest with equity, due process; therefore, all of mankind will be “without excuse” (Romans 1:18-32).

Not only was Adam infused with God’s Moral Law of Conscience, but Adam received a Law directly from His Creator to not compromise with evil and the ramifications of same, should Adam disobey, were clearly articulated. Adam relented to the enticement of his wife, Eve, and sought the knowledge of evil in lieu of obedience to God’s Law; therefore, spiritual death, a chasm between God and man, manifest immediately and physiological death manifest in due time.

Adam’s rejection of God’s Covenant of Sustenance and Provision manifest in a curse upon the human genome and nature thereby setting forth the introduction of the Son born of the seed of the woman (virgin) who would do battle with the originator of evil (Genesis 3:15) and the strategy used to destroy the works of the Evil One was pictured in Genesis 3:21 (A Gospel of grace not works). The following Scripture within the Canon, as inspired by the Holy Spirit, simply details this cosmic war between good and evil having been placed within the Realm of Time as God set-apart a people group to be His sign-post or historical and eschatological marker identifying where God is positioned in the framework of Time by observing this chosen people-group and their historical station in Time from moment to moment.

Finally, it is important to remember that mankind was created to live eternally and it is sin, rebellion, rejection of God, that has resulted in death of the human species, why? God the Father has ordained the Kingdom as inhospitable to sin; therefore, mankind’s sin will not be permitted to enter the Kingdom (Revelation 21:27); in fact, this is the causation for the creation narrative as sin was introduced into the Kingdom by a rebellious cherub angel necessitating the extrication of sin and the sin-bearer from the Kingdom and a repository for the Evil One on this Earth as God deals with him and his sin partially constrained by Time and physics. It is the foolishness of man that suggests God will wink at our sin and permit our entrance into the Kingdom void repentance and atonement as God Himself suffered and died to provide atonement via His selfless and eternal love.

How can mankind redeemed by Messiah yet burdened with a sin-nature in the flesh obey Messiah’s command: Matthew 5:48 “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

Christian response,

Though perfection is the goal in the Christian life, we know that we remain burdened with a sin-nature inherited from our father who ultimately inherited it from our first father, Adam (Romans 5:12); therefore, our New Nature in the Spirit struggles with our old nature in Adam and the Curse (Romans 7); therefore, perfection is a lofty goal but in practicality, not attainable while constrained by decaying flesh within the Realm of Time – BUT – we can attain the perfection and righteousness of Messiah imputed into and over our lives by grace (unmerited favor unattainable by human effort) through faith (trusting-believing) in Jesus as our Lord and Mediator for sin (2 Corinthians 5:21); it is Jesus and Him alone having been born of the hypostatic union (Philippians 2:8) and circumventing the sin-nature that permitted Him to observe the Law of Moses/the Decalogue in absolute perfection (Matthew 5:17) and thereby become our propitiation for sin; therefore, the one who trusts in Jesus as Lord receives Messiah’s perfection, just like that of the Father, imputed into and over their life; therefore, the one who trusts in Jesus is spiritually and positionally “right” before the Father, forever via a Covenant of Grace established in Messiah’s innocent blood (Luke 22:20). Perfection remains the goal in the Christian life as we walk in sanctification via the indwelling Holy Spirit and His tutelage; this, as the Spirit prepares us for service in the New Jerusalem (1 John 2:27).

Jewish legalist insults Christianity: “Christians live under a false Covenant.”

Christian response,

The New Covenant is the ONLY Covenant that provides life through atonement for sin (Matthew 26:28). The Covenant of Law only defined God’s mandates via ordinances yet was absent atonement (Romans 3:23); therefore, the Law only condemns the hearer who is a sinner (Romans 3:23) and unable to acquire atonement through works of the Law as the Law mandates perfection (Galatians 2:16; James 2:10).

If you reject the atonement for sin ONLY provided by faith in Jesus – Yeshua as your God and Mediator for sin (John 14:6; John 3:16-18), you will die in your sins and you will not enter the Kingdom of God (John 8:24) nor will you be named among the Jewish remnant in that Day (Isaiah 10:22; Romans 9:27) but you will be exiled into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth…hopelessness.

Judaizer mocks Messiah’s suffering, death and resurrection: “Jesus died for your sin except He didn’t actually stay dead. So, what did He sacrifice, His weekend? Jesus gave up His weekend for your sins.”

Christian response,

Jesus’ shed blood makes atonement for your sin (Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 10; Matthew 26:28); Jesus died to defeat death and the grave for you and me through the resurrection as the First-fruits of those who will die in Jesus as Lord (Romans 6:9; 1 Corinthians 15:20-28) and find life in the resurrection patterned after His own death and resurrection (Philippians 3:21). The redeemed in Jesus Christ will live with Him forever in resurrected bodies in the New Jerusalem upon a New Earth within a New Heaven (Revelation 21-22); paradise lost will be paradise restored and this New Kingdom will be Physical not entirely Spiritual.

Atheist suggests atheism is absent faith: “A Christian poster claims it takes MORE faith to believe that universe popped into existence out of nothing than to believe God created it. Why is this poster wrong?”

A Christian poster’s response,

I am not incorrect. Commonsense, logic, reason, an unbiased summation, demands that our Universe has been created by intelligence far superior than ours and that intelligent creator is obviously not constrained by Time and physics; therefore, it requires infinitely more “faith” to believe that a “Big Bang” of unknown origin consisting of matter and energy of an unknown origin “popped” or exploded into existence our Universe and then a speck of that Universe was accidentally formed that somehow sustains the fragility of life constructed with a genome, the complexity of same being beyond human understanding; NASA and Harvard’s best are without explanation.

The atheist possesses tremendous faith, more than any Christian in the history of the faith-based New Covenant. The Big Bang, molecules to man evolution – abiogenesis; descent with modification; macroevolution – a fish becoming humanity through positive genomic mutation/speciation/adaptation…I simply lack the faith necessary to believe these things, especially seeing that our Creator has taken the due diligence to provide me a personal letter explaining, carefully articulating, my origin and purpose, my destiny, while carefully preserve that letter through history when mankind has gone to great length to destroy that letter; then, this same Creator entered the Realm of Time in flesh and demonstrated His power and dominion and authority among men.

I see no other plausible explanation for the supernatural Universe that consumes me through my senses other than a Supernatural God as its Creator. I choose to trust in this God who has introduced Himself as Jesus Christ and I completely reject the explanations provided by men with an agenda of narcissism, moral relativism, hedonism. As the antithesis of Atheism, I find a life of faith in Jesus Christ to be incredibly wholesome, joyful, peaceful, meaningful, replete with assurance and contentment; therefore, I cannot deny what I see with my eyes and know with my heart and have experienced through personal application of God’s Truth.

Atheists mocks the Holy Scriptures: “The Bible has been edited, re-written, and there is more than one version. How can this be the word of a perfect, changeless God?”

Christian response,

The Bible, the autographs, has not been edited or rewritten…”translations” of the Bible have been edited and rewritten for accuracy and style and ease of reading. The original languages are at your fingertips if one desires their truth. Where the atheist fails in their hatred for God and faith and truth via biases is the reality that the same God who created the Heavens and the Earth and our complex genome with rapidity for cause is MORE than capable of ensuring that His human creation receive the EXACT words He desires so that we can know Him personally; love Him intimately; live with Him eternally. My, the faith of the atheist is incredible.

Question on FB: “DID JESUS CHRIST START A RELIGION? If so, scripture please?”

Christian response,

Jesus Christ abhorred “religion” as religion mandates mankind strive and work and labor for God’s approval, but Jesus nullified the error of all religions as He did the work for mankind concerning righteousness with the Father through atonement for sin at the Crucifixion subsequent to keeping God’s Laws in perfection, something mankind could never do; in fact, Elohim demonstrated this reality and truism as early as Genesis 3:21 but every religion denies God’s Gospel (Good News) demonstrating that righteousness and forgiveness of sin are manifest ONLY by grace (unmerited favor unattainable by man’s works) through faith (trusting-believing) in Jesus Christ as God and Mediator for sin; a reality that was ordained “before the beginning of Time” (2 Timothy 1:9-10).

Atheist asked (mockingly): “It is impossible to have an intellectual conversation with a person of faith. What say you?”

Christian response,

Are you suggesting that faith nullifies intellectualism? Faith is acting upon the evidence of things not seen; in other words, the incredible Universe, our unfathomable genome and its complexity scream “design” and therefore a Designer. Logically, with wisdom and discernment, I am convinced that God has revealed Himself in Nature, in His written word, through His Living Word i.e. Jesus Christ; therefore, by faith I cannot deny what screams at my senses to be Truth; that is, all that we see and apprehend with our senses was created with purpose for cause by One who is infinitely Intelligent and beyond the constraints of Time and physics…I call Him God, Jesus Christ, Lord, Messiah, Holy Father, Holy Spirit as He has introduced Himself to me in these ways. It is possible that, intellectually speaking, you, as an atheist, are not equipped spiritually to understand or engage the person of faith?