Love Truth Blog

Psalm 136 begins “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” As the psalm progresses there is this refrain “for His lovingkindness is everlasting,” in other words, “His love endures forever.” What wonderful words to sing. In this song, the psalmist looks to his own history and sees the love of God being demonstrated from one event to another. God delivered His people from Egyptian slavery, parted the Red Sea, fought for them in desert battles, and brought them to their promise land, proving “His lovingkindness is everlasting.” We can give thanks to God because His love endures forever. The everlasting love of God is also demonstrated throughout the whole of Israel’s history. Vishal Mangalwadi, in his lectures entitled “Must the Sun Set on the West,” shares of his struggles reading through the Old Testament, from Genesis to Chronicles, but one day he had an epiphany that the books being read offered a glimpse in Jewish history from God’s perspecti...

Now is the season to give thanks. I think it easy these days to get a bit cynical and lose our sense of gratitude for what we have. I find the Psalms 100 puts things into perspective, and offers some real reasons to give thanks, its two stanzas, short and sweet: Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the Lord is good; His loving kindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations (Psalm 100:1-5, NASB). The psalmist calls people into worship with shouts of joy, glad service, and joyful singing (vv. 1-2). He reminds them that God “has made us, and not we ourselves” (v. 3), or better yet, “It is he who made us, and we are his” (ESV). How great it is to know that w...

I remember someone mentioning a conversation with a skeptic on the existence of God, wherein the skeptic essentially asked, “If God does not exist inside time or space and is immaterial, then in what way does He exist? Is God made of nothing?” At first glance this question certainly seems pretty difficult but nothing about it really creates a problem for a theist. The question presumes a materialistic world. In other words, the one asking already accepts the idea that the only thing that exists in the universe is material stuff, and apart from that there is nothing else that exists. All that can be physically detected, measured, quantified, and categorized is all that can exist in this universe. Since God does not fit into these categories, the skeptic questions in what way can there be a God. The skeptic’s strict materialism ultimately becomes a stumbling block from which he falls upon his own sword. What the skeptic fails to realize is that there are things which he too believes ...

Does the Bible have anything to do with having a relationship with God? Some might think they can get in touch with God by getting in touch with nature. I can understand that. I enjoy getting out and talking walks on the greenway. Out there I can see the beauty of God’s creation, and all that I see in nature dives my soul to sing, “How great Thou art!” There is something about observing the handiwork of the Creator. Trees, flowers, birds, deer, squirrels, snakes, fish, tadpoles, bull frogs, and butterflies all in their own way pay tribute to the Maker. Yet, one can get in touch with God on an even deeper level through meditating upon the Scriptures. God also has spoken to us through Moses and the prophets and Christ and the apostles, and through them God has share things about Himself that could not have been known otherwise. God the Father sent the Son to be incarnated in the person of Jesus Christ. He is Living Word, who has declared to His followers the good news of salvation. Thi...

Pick up a King James Bible, flip over to 2 Samuel 6:23 and the passage reads: “Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death.” That is simple to understand. Flip over to 2 Samuel 21:8, however, and one finds it mentions “the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.” Did Michal the daughter of Saul have children? Or did the biblical writer simply make a mistake? Did he get confused about who’s who in the family of Saul? It might be suggested that the “five sons of Michal” were not really biological children, since 2 Samuel 6:23 states that “she brought up for Adriel,” that is Michal “adopted and brought up the boys under her care.” 1 However, there may be another way of resolving this apparent contradiction. Modern translations, for the most part, offer a different reading of the verse. For example, 2 Samuel 21:8 in the New American Standard reads: “the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul...

God appeared to Solomon in a dream at night and granted him a wish. Solomon then prayed for the wisdom to discern between good and evil so that he could rule as the king over God’s people. Solomon’s prayer pleased God, and the Lord responded in granting the monarch wisdom along with riches and honor (1 Kings 3:5-15). Today King Solomon is known for his great wisdom. Understanding Solomon’s wisdom, on the other hand, can at times be mind boggling. For instance, one proverb of Solomon goes, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will also be like him,” but in the very next line reads, “Answer a fool as his folly deserves, That he not be wise in his own eyes (Prov. 26:4-5, NASB). Does one answer a fool? Is this a contradiction in the Bible? There is no contradiction. The answer to the question of whether or not to answer a fool is both “yes” and “no” depending upon the circumstances. Solomon is not offering two universal rules that apply to every situation; rather he pai...

1 Corinthians is rich with spiritual truths that have implications for Christians of every generation. Some skeptics, however, raise objections to the reliability of 1 Corinthians on the basis of an apparent contradiction made by Paul. They point out that 1 Corinthians 2:15 reads, “But he who is spiritual appraises [or judges] all things, yet he himself is appraised [or judged] by no one,” 1 but that 1 Corinthians 4:5 reads, “Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God,” and assert that biblical writer commands readers to do two completely opposite things. 2 Are Christians to judge or not to judge? Paul is not contradicting himself. 1 Corinthians 2:15 concerns the source of the believer’s ability to make sound judgments about truth and error, right and wrong, good and evil, where...