The Ultimate Kobayashi Maru

Kirk taking the Kobayashi Maru test.

Christy and I were watching the episode Junior Salesman of the show The Office the other night.  On the show, Dwight is interviewing Clark and he presents him with this awful hypothetical where there seems to be no good option because he wants Clark to answer poorly.  Instead, Clark says, "Sounds like your classic no-win situation.  So I'd Kobayashi Maru it."

Theology Tuesday: Proving God Exists - Part 6

Proving God: Jesus' Testimony

We've looked at a whole lot of different things to examine the evidence that God exists.  Rather than turning to science or philosophy, today we are going to examine the testimony of a single witness.  Imagine you are on a jury in a courtroom.  A crime was committed and there are various witnesses being called to the stand.  There are two conflicting stories that emerge as the witnesses are questioned.  Half of the witnesses tell one story and the other half tell another.  Both stories cannot be true as they say completely opposite things.

So what happened?  How would you, as a member of the jury, decide?  Would you take into account the character of the witnesses?  Would it change the way you felt if you found out that one half of the witnesses were gang bangers and the other half of the witnesses were police officers with clean records?  What if one of the witnesses was Martin Luther King Jr. or Mother Theresa?  Would that sway your thoughts?  What if one of the witnesses who stood up to testify was Jesus Christ Himself?

Theology Thursday: Is Jesus Still Human in Heaven?

 
The second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, became flesh as John 1 tells us.  God became a man in Jesus Christ.  He lived a human life, went through our human struggles, and even faced human temptation.  He suffered real human pain and faced a real human death and was able to die in our place because He truly was one of us.

But then He rose from the dead.  Was He still really human?  Was He a ghost? 

What about when He ascended into heaven?  Is He still human up there?  Why would He be?  Don't we all become angels up there or are we just spirits without bodies?

Was Jesus Created?

Rather than a devotional today, I thought I'd answer a question for you that I was asked recently.  Hopefully this helps you be better equipped to defend your faith.

A friend of mine called me up with some questions the other day.  He was visited by some Jehovah's Witnesses who pointed out a passage and told him that Jesus wasn't God but that God had created Jesus.  Now, if you are a Christian or grew up in church, you know that Jesus is God.  But, would you know what to say if presented with this verse?

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  Colossians 1:15


What would you say to someone who showed you that verse and said, "See the Bible says that Jesus was created.  He was the first born.  If He was created, then He isn't really God."?

Ephesians 1:1-2 Dear Ephesians...

I'm going to be going through the book of Ephesians on Mondays.  I'm going to only do a couple of verses at a time and it may look more like a commentary than a devotional.  Hopefully, it will be a mix of both.  This might be more of a study type thing for anyone who reads it than a pure devotional, but if that's what you're looking for then you can find it here on Mondays.

Ephesians 1:1


Paul an apostle


Paul introduces himself here as the author of the letter to the Ephesians.  He also identifies himself here as an apostle of Christ Jesus.  The word apostle comes from the Greek word apostolos which has the meaning of a delegate or envoy or a "sent out one".  The title means that Paul has been sent out and commissioned by Jesus.  Paul can say this because the resurrected Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus and called him.