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07
Nov
2022

Is It True That God Will Not Allow Sin In His Presence?, Part 1

God Will Not Allow Sin

Conventional Christian wisdom says that God will not allow sin in His presence. People repeat this so often it is accepted by Bible students as a biblical fact. The following quote is representative of this idea:

“Because GOD hates sin and GOD is righteous, just and holy, His nature disallows Himself from coexisting with sin in His presence. For this reason, GOD must keep Himself separated from sin.”1

Is this true? Does the Bible really say that God does not allow Himself to be in the presence of sin? As a matter of fact, the Bible does not say this. It is a demonstrably false teaching, but where does this notion come from?

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Posted by Eddie Lawrence in Misconceptions, Theology
31
Oct
2022

Can God Change His Mind?, Part 2

Change His Mind

There are a few Bible passages which, on the surface, seem to say that God doesn’t change His mind. There are other passages which clearly say that God not only can change His mind, but that He has changed it on several occasions. In the previous article we noted that the passages which appear to say that God does not change His mind are in fact referring to occasions when God committed to a certain course of action that He would not deviate from.

God’s immutable nature doesn’t prevent Him from changing His decisions. He is sovereign and is free to change His decisions anytime it pleases Him. Reversing a decision is not equal to Him changing His nature. What about God’s foreknowledge? Does God’s knowledge of the future mean that things can only turn out one way?

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Posted by Eddie Lawrence in Theology
24
Oct
2022

Can God Change His Mind?, Part 1

Can God Change

Is it possible for God to change His mind? Some people read passages such as, “For I the LORD do not change…” (Mal. 3:6 ESV), or “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8 ESV) and conclude that it is impossible for God to change His mind. They reason that if God is immutable, His decisions must also be unchangeable. 

It is also reckoned that if God is omniscient and knows all things, including the future, then it would be impossible for God to change His mind. Since He already knows what He is going to do in the future, what sense would it make that He would ever change His mind?

For people who have drawn this conclusion the idea that God can or does change His mind would undermine His divine nature. Does the Bible support these conclusions? Can God still be God if He were to change His mind? 

In this post, we’ll examine the question of God changing His mind in light of His immutability and the context of the scriptures in question. I’ll examine the question concerning God’s omniscience in a follow up article.

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Posted by Eddie Lawrence in Theology
17
Oct
2022

What Is A Seared Conscience?

Conscience

Paul wrote about “liars whose consciences are seared” (1 Tim. 4:2 ESV). What did he mean? What is a seared conscience? For that matter, what is the conscience? Our conscience is our inner voice that inflicts us with feelings of guilt when we have sinned (Rom 2:15). The interesting thing about the conscience is that it can be wrong and can even completely fail to work!

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Posted by Eddie Lawrence in 1 Timothy
10
Oct
2022

Are We Living In The Last Days?

Last Days

Ever since I was a child, I’ve heard Christians say things such as, “Times are really bad. We are surely living in the last days.” Indeed, things are getting really bad in our world. Society is becoming godless and secular. Gross immorality is put on display in TV shows, movies, and music. Many churches have compromised and allowed the surrounding culture to influence them more than the Bible. Is this what Paul meant when he wrote 1 Timothy 4:1?

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, (1 Tim. 4:1 ESV) 

Are we living in the later times Paul spoke of? Yes, we can be absolutely certain that we are living in the last days. How can we be so certain we are living in the later times? We can be sure because the later times began over 2,000 years ago with the establishment of the New Covenant.

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Posted by Eddie Lawrence in 1 Timothy, Eschatology, Misconceptions