The God Wall » Truth

Resisting the Biblical Jesus

Jim Norman — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:14:05 +0000

The world has always resisted the Biblical Jesus. By that I mean the supernatural Jesus. The Son of God. The man raised from the dead. The man who claimed to be “the way, truth and life.” The man who clearly said there was no name under heaven other than his - that produces eternal life.

Modern society has become spiritually energized, but invests that energy in everything BUT the Biblical Jesus. Anything goes in this modern cafeteria of spirituality, EXCEPT guess who?

The world is for the most part suffering from Biblical illiteracy. The average person has no idea what the Bible says. There is no understanding about how the Bible was written and no understanding of its reliability. Instead, myths have been promoted and accepted about the Bible:

1. It has been changed
2. It was written by men with an agenda, who were less than truthful and accurate.
3. The Bible is not authoritative.
4. The Bible is just a book of nice ideas that we can pick and choose from to make any point we want to make.

Unfortunately, many professing Christians are equally ignorant of Biblical facts. Many refuse to accept it as the absolute word of God, that reveals Him as he is and who he is. Modern Christians like to pick and chose what they believe about their faith and they actually make God up as they go - relying on their feelings rather than Biblical truth.

The reason the Bible and the Biblical Jesus is resisted is because human beings are rebellious and the Bible clearly teaches that the rebellious will never enter God’s kingdom or his presence. The moment that a rebellious heart acknowledges the authority of the Bible and the truth presented there about the Biblical Jesus, the smell of spiritual death begins to rise in their nostrils. Denying the authenticity of the Bible creates a license to continue in rebellion and avoid conviction about their true spiritual condition (spiritually dead to God in their sin).

The authenticity of the scripture and the historical truth about the Biblical Jesus is available for any honest person seeking truth to pursue. Unfortunately, far too many really don’t want to know the truth, so they accept false allegations and misleading charges about the Bible and about Jesus.

Over 90% of the people who have ever been born on this earth are alive today. The vast majority are spiritually lost and will be so eternally, unless they come to know and accept the Biblical Jesus.

The Price of Perfection

Jim Norman — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 12:00:45 +0000

God is fearless and perfectly unselfish. There is no threat to the “self” of God and that is the source of his perfect righteousness. It is also the prerequisite for perfect love. God is love because God is perfectly fearless and unselfish. This enables Him to love completely in total abandon, holding nothing back. As mortals we cannot comprehend such an awesome condition or the power it must hold. Two words flow forth from love and righteousness: Justice and Judgment.

If righteousness and love are the foundation of God’s character, justice must proceed out of that condition. Perfect righteousness and perfect love produce perfect objectivity and the twisting of truth is impossible under those conditions. Perfect objectivity that erupts from righteousness and love must support truth in every case. Upholding truth is justice, and if justice is fostered out of perfect righteousness and love, then God’s justice is perfect too.

The final result of love, righteousness and justice is judgment. Without judgment there can be no justice. And without justice, righteousness and love cannot be preserved. All of this creates a problem for humanity, because the Bible reveals that eternity itself is rooted and sustained by God’s perfect righteousness and endless love. The perfect righteousness of God cannot tolerate unrighteousness in His presence or in the eternity He occupies.

Out of His perfect righteousness and love, which is fearless and unselfish, God has justly judged that unrighteousness will not be allowed to pollute his eternity. Since human beings are fearful and selfish it means we are unrighteous. Our unrighteousness bars us from being in God’s eternal kingdom. This is a hard judgment for people to accept but it is the price of failing to achieve perfection.

The Transcendent Truth About Jesus

Jim Norman — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 11:00:48 +0000

During my agnostic years I objected to the idea that unless I believed a certain thing, God, without hesitation, would reject me and blow me straight to hell where I would twist and burn for eternity. My attitude about a God who would do something like that was very negative to say the least. I was told that people had to be forgiven for their sins, which included going to the movies on Sunday, dancing, wearing shorts, smoking, drinking, cussing, having sex before marriage, working on Sunday and a host of other violations that God had declared to be worthy of death. The message was “Believe in Jesus or go to hell!”. I was never satisfied by any rational explanation of why that should be necessary. I vividly remembered that the Christian God had nailed Adam and Eve for eating the wrong kind of fruit, and had also nailed His own son to a cross! Who wants a God like that?

Since I had committed so many of the aforesaid sins by the age of 12, it is easy to understand why I was negatively positioned with respect to wanting to believe what the Christians said I needed to believe. I was able to avoid seriously considering the Christian option until I began to study and acquire knowledge I had not previously had. Certain logical facts about the alleged death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth forced me to reevaluate what I thought I knew about Christianity.

If the literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus did not actually happen, Christians are wrong. If a supernatural resurrection did happen, it forces individuals to think about some other things, whether they want to or not. The transcendent truth of the resurrection is: If it happened it happened. My not believing in the resurrection will not change the fact that it happened. If the resurrection did not happen, my believing it did will not change that fact either.

Deciding what you believe about the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important decision you will make in your lifetime.

The Feeling of Fear

Jim Norman — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:00:16 +0000

During most of my young life I believed I wasn’t afraid of anything. When I finally identified with my fear it happened in a very simple way. A man who had faced fear, told me how it felt. He described fear as a sense of impending doom, a sense that something bad was about to happen. He said that the feeling usually washes over people when they begin to think and worry about the future. When I heard his description of the feeling I was suddenly faced with two facts:

1. I had felt that way most of my life, and;

2. The feeling influenced just about everything I thought, did, and said.

I eventually came to see that my greatest fear was the fear of truth I could not manipulate. I was afraid of truth because of its transcendence, and the fact that anything transcendent is beyond my control. I thought I needed to be in control of my life to be happy and real, transcendent truth threatened me.

What I believed about some very basic things established the foundation for my life, and controlling the things I believed was the first step in my self-deception. These foundational beliefs involved God and my concept of right and wrong. They also involved how I saw myself in relationship to my family, my community, the world and ultimately the universe.

I discovered that the beliefs I held were usually produced by one of two factors:

1. An honest desire to know the truth, or;

2. The subtle desire to control the truth in a way that would enable me to think things were the way I wanted them to be.

When I could combine these two factors I could create a very functional denial system, because controlling the truth would not really work unless I could convince myself I was not controlling the truth. I found the most effective way to control the truth was to “honestly” come by some preconceived notions or presuppositions, and try to find support from others who wanted to believe the same things. The world we live in today is dominated by perception and an unwillingness to face reality. Facts that contradict what we want to believe are ignored. We also live in an age permeated by a sense of impending doom – which is the feeling of fear.

The Bible has quite a bit to say about fear. The main point is that faith in Christ overcomes it. Christ is the ultimate reality and the personification of truth. It is only by his power that we can remain in the present moment and escape the fear we have of the future. “You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32)

Christians and Divorce

Jim Norman — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 11:00:35 +0000

People divorce when they become unhappy in their marriages and are unwilling or unable to work through their difficulties and resolve them. I don’t want to be accused of being a hypocrite on this subject, so I acknowledge that I have been divorced too. I can speak on the subject with experience. I can also report that God has convicted me of the sin of my divorce and I have repented of it. The truth of my own divorce is that two selfish people wanted everything to go their own way and all trust and respect for each other was stripped away over time. When I filed for divorce in 1982 I was fed up with everything about my marriage. I wanted the pain to stop and the anger to end. So I just quit, rather than try to really change anything.

I think the feelings and atmosphere surrounding my divorce were no different from what others experience when they divorce. At the time a divorce is initiated, hate, anger, bitterness, jealousy, frustration, exhaustion and hopelessness are the dominant feelings. The pain is so intense you will do just about anything to make it stop. The only thing we seem unwilling to do is consider what God would have us do. Most Christian people who get a divorce know that it is not God’s will for them to divorce, but they still divorce. They do not search God’s word or His Spirit for solutions. And, most importantly, they are unwilling to be obedient to His command not to divorce.

The Sins of Self

Jim Norman — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 11:00:53 +0000

There are seven specific sins of self that are at the root of all that God wants us to crucify in our lives. The complete removal of these self-sins is the objective work of the Holy Spirit in the life of every believer. It is the way God goes about conforming us to the image of Jesus Christ in this earthly life. God is not trying to create a hoard of tithers and evangelists who will attend Purpose Driven Life seminars so they can get what they want from God! God purposes His children to be like Jesus in motive and in thought so they may reflect Him in all they say and do. This requires the death of self and the crucifixion of the sins of self. The seven sins of self are:

Self Love

Self Seeking

Self Confidence

Self Righteousness

Self Enhancement

Self Defense

Self Pity

the following scripture needs to be burned into our minds and it needs to become a foundational truth in our Body of Truth.

For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Rom 8:5-8) NASB

Five Points of Carnality: Jealousy

Jim Norman — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:00:13 +0000

Is there jealousy in your life? Is there jealousy in your church? Is there jealousy in your home? If so, this is evidence of carnality. Jealousy is driven by a suspicion or a fear that others may be more loved, respected or accepted. Jealousy erupts into disagreement, argument and sometimes violent behavior. There is no place for jealousy in the life of a Christian. People who are jealous are convinced they have a right to be jealous. They believe they have been wronged or slighted or overlooked in some way. They also believe they can define right and wrong.

Jealousy is an emotion of sin and a pit that must be avoided if we are to grow in Christ.

Lies Power Sin

Jim Norman — Wed, 05 May 2010 11:00:24 +0000

Our sin nature actually shapes the development of our Body of Truth. As we add things we believe to our Body of Truth, the self-seeking heart colors the way we interpret the events of our lives and the things we believe to be true. So, in the final analysis, the things we do are influenced by the things we believe, but the entire behavior machine is fueled by the sin nature which is at the root of our lost state.

When we are infants and children in the process of building our Body of Truth, there is a motive that sustains the process. Every person lives in a state of fear that somehow, someway, we are not going to get what we think we have to have to be safe and secure. So, we come to believe the lies that allow us to do things by our own power to get what we want, so we can be “safe”. Lies thrive within human selfishness and sin. Lies also power our rebellion against God. Until our self-seeking hearts are put to death the truth transplant we need will be resisted.

“The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.“ (Luk 6:45) NASB

A Wake-Up Call!

Jim Norman — Mon, 03 May 2010 11:00:42 +0000

Through Jesus Christ and His written word, God has revealed that he is a holy, righteous, just, loving God. But, He has also revealed that human beings are separated from Him by their sin and rebellion and have been judged for it. Unregenerate human beings exist in a condition of spiritual death. However, God has also revealed that we can be restored to life by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Once restored by faith, we are ‘born again’ to spiritual life that is eternal. The price of this redemption is that we repent of our sin and rebellion and accept His Lordship over all that we are and do. Men who create religions out of their efforts to define God always place men at the center and exalt themselves. The true revelation of God is a big slap in face for men who are lovers of themselves, who really want to be little gods themselves.

God Has Landed!

Jim Norman — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 11:00:55 +0000

What would happen to some poor European docking his ship on our shores for the first time and having to confront an entrenched culture that had already determined who he was supposed to be and what he was supposed to be doing? The preconceived notions and speculations would probably bear little resemblance to the reality of his presence. However, his presence would cause big problems for the leadership that had a big investment in keeping the traditional beliefs alive. Our newly arrived European would be in grave danger. The smart option would be to get back in his boat and leave!

This little theoretical concept is great way to understand the way man-made religions have been created throughout history and nothing has really changed about man-made religions in modern times. Humans haven’t come up with anything really new for thousands of years. They have merely couched their theories in different terminology and jazzed up the images to make them sound more intelligent and logical. All of their ideas are still based on human reasoning and logic and there is no divine revelation supporting any of it. Human, man-centered religions are all birthed from a belief that man can define God. In doing so, that belief sustains rebellion against the true God – the God of revelation and of life.

The Bible testifies that God has in fact landed on our beaches for the purpose of revealing Himself:

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…(Heb 1:1-3 NASB)