Did the Serpent Deceive Eve?

The serpent did not lie or deceive anyone!

GENESIS 3:1-5

He [the serpent] said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:1-5).

Read carefully and you will see that the serpent did not lie.

When Eve eats the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, two things happen, and both exemplify that the serpent was telling the truth!

First, Eve’s eyes are opened and she becomes like God knowing good and evil.

Second, she does not die after touching or eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge – as God had said she would. What the serpent has done is to expose God as the crafty one.

If you’d like to learn more about my books “Doubt after Doubt: Doubting the Christian Faith” and “Them Demons is Tricky” visit http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=1749311.

Do you hate the Hittites too?

How could God, the divine architect of life, ever narrow his blessings down to one group of people?

In a universe composed of billions of galaxies, how can earth even be a favorite among all the other heavenly bodies?

In a world with countless nations, clans, tribes and people, how could God favor any one over the others?

Could Americans – in the eyes of God – be superior to Indonesians?

Could Brazilians be counted superior to Koreans?

How could one land be rated above all others? Is the Grand Canyon superior to Mount Everest? Does New York rate higher in God’s eyes than Tokyo?

When an ego is attached to God, then he has desires to feel superior, to justify his existence just as egocentric humans do. Joshua even pleads to God’s egocentricity when he asks “What then will you do for your own great name?” 

Christianity teaches that God loves Israel and the Israelites more than anyone else.

THE BOOK OF GENESIS

When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.

They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah…

Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m disgusted with living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living (Rebekah is speaking of the Hittite wives her son Esau married in Genesis 26:24). – Genesis 26:34-27:46

If you’d like to learn more about my books “Doubt after Doubt: Doubting the Christian Faith” and “Them Demons is Tricky” visit http://stores.lulu.com/rob_jacik.

Does God Speak Through Prophecy?

Did you know that Genesis was authored around 1400 BCE?

Did you know that Malachi was authored around 400 BCE?

Why do I mention this?

In my research I learned that Christian doctrine teaches that the Jesus fulfills prophecies left by several authors of the Old Testament – including Genesis and Malachi.

Unfortunately these prophecies aren’t clear and in some cases the author didn’t even know he was writing a prophecy.

Do you have a hard time – like I do – imagining that God would drop little breadcrumbs of prophecy scattered throughout miscellaneous verses in at least eleven Hebrew-centric writings authored over more than a millennium of time?

It took 1,000 years for God to author the Old Testament in such a way that prophecies or clues about Jesus coming could be provided.

This is to say that God is the Great Riddler – and we are left to put the pieces together.

But let’s add to our timeline the fact that centuries elapsed between the writing of the last book of the Old Testament and the first gospels.

One must realize that the puzzle God creates for us took over 1500 years to complete. And in order to decipher it one must have a rare and incredibly extensive knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures.

The puzzle also required literacy at a time when illiteracy was the rule. In fact, illiteracy has remained the rule on this planet for thousands of years up until recent history.

If you’d like to learn more about my books  “Doubt after Doubt: Doubting the Christian Faith” and its prequel “Them Demons is Tricky” visit http://stores.lulu.com/rob_jacik

What do Athiests know that you don’t know?

Did you see the recent poll where it was determined that Athiests know more about religion than any other demographic?

A new survey of Americans’ knowledge of religion found that atheists, agnostics, Jews and Mormons outperformed Protestants and Roman Catholics in answering questions about major religions, while many respondents could not correctly give the most basic tenets of their own faiths — from the Associated Press

What do Athiests know that many other people don’t know?

While I am not an Athiest or an Agnostic, I’m certain much of what has pursuaded Athiests and Agnostics to turn away from the faith of their youth could be found in:

Doubt after Doubt: Doubting the Christian Faith

“Doubt after Doubt” is a book people are afraid to read! I was once afraid too!

When I began questioning my faith I looked upon that crucifix on my wall with trepidation knowing that questioning my religion would be wrong. Others who have pondered reading this book have also turned away for fear of the challenges they may face. Through will-power and courage I pushed aside my fears and investigated every doubt I ever had about Christianity to author the book. I challenge Christmas, Easter, the devil, the creation story, hell, the word of God, sex, homosexuality and more often using the Bible to support my case. “Doubt after Doubt” is informative and inspirational providing a new way of looking at the faith that many people call their own.

Shop at Lulu: http://stores.lulu.com/rob_jacik

Would you like to know the Truth? (Part I)

A piece of Christian paraphernalia was left on my door this past week entitled, “Would You Like to Know the Truth?”

I said, “Yes, please enlighten me!”

And then I read, “Does God really care about us?” And the response was:

WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES: God never causes what is wicked. “Far be it from the true God to act wickedly, and the Almighty to act unjustly!” says Job 34:10

Wow! And this came from the book of Job. The same book where God permits Satan to go to earth and take everything Job has just to test Job’s devotion to God. Job loses all of his livestock and all of his servants, then all of his sons and daughters were crushed to death, and then he was inflicted with painful sores — all in an effort to prove to God that he was a righteous man.

Far be it from the true God to act wickedly?

Deuteronomy 28:61 “The LORD will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed.”

Want more?

Here:

God murders almost every living creature on the planet: Genesis 7:21-23

God destroys the entire populations of Sodom and Gomorrah: Genesis 19:24

God wipes out the Egyptians: Exodus 14:26-28

God encourages murder and plundering of men, women and children: Deuteronomy 20:13-14

God commands murder and the display of their slain bodies in public: Numbers 25:4

God commands stoning: Leviticus 24:23, Numbers 15:32-36

God buries men, women and children alive: Numbers 16:27-34

God destroys men with fire: Numbers 16:35

God puts a man to death: 2 Samuel 6:6-7

God puts a child to death: 2 Samuel 12:15, 12:18, 1 Chronicles 2:3

God puts 70 men to death: 1 Samuel 6:19

God sends hornets: Exodus 23:28

God brings disaster 1 Kings 14:10-11

I could go on for hours. Want to know the Truth — read the Bible! You’ll be amazed at the wickedness of the God of the Israelites!

For even more, check out my book Doubt after Doubt: Doubting the Christian Faith.

 

God an environmentalist?

I just stumbled across a verse in Habakkuk (2:17) . Could God be one of those liberal environmentalist-types:

The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,

   and your destruction of animals will terrify you!

Yahweh is speaking to the Babylonians. The reference to Lebanon is in response to the Babylonians destruction of the incredible cedar forests there. This verse is found in the middle of a diatribe against the Babylonians for their wicked actions — apparently destroying trees and animals yields Yahweh’s wrath.

What happens when we die?

Do bad people go to hell?

Do we all go to heaven?

Are the righteous granted the kingdom of God?

Do you have to believe in Jesus to get into heaven?

All of these questions and more are answered in this FREE CHAPTER from the new and controversial book, Doubt after Doubt: Doubting the Christian Faith — Chapter 6 “Doubting the Christian Afterlife.” Check it out!

But was King Solomon devoted to the God of the Bible?

A recent archaeological find is suggesting they may have found King Solomon’s mines. However, how many people know that this wise figure of the Bible was not devoted to God?

King Solomon turned to paganism later in his life and worshipped many Gods, in addition to Yahweh (the God of the Bible).

While he is credited with building the Temple in Jerusalem, he also built high places in honor of the god Chemoshof Moab and one in honor of Molech the god of the Amorites. He also worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians. In fact, it is likely, as a result of the influence of his 700 pagan wives, Solomon worshipped even more gods!

It is likely he burned incense and offered sacrifices to these pagan gods along with his wives (1 Ki 11:8)!

From 1 Kings Chapter 11:

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.

 

Got doubts about Christianity? Visit http://www.DoubtAfterDoubt.com

Ghosts are real! The Bible says so!

Are ghosts real?

At this time of year, near the eve of Halloween, ghost stories become the norm. We question the reality of ghosts and spirits.

Throughout my life I’ve witnessed the church deny the existence of ghosts — and if they really do exist, they must be the works of the devil.

The concept of ghosts is contrary to Christian doctrine. Christian doctrine states when we die we’re going to await the return of Christ. When Christ returns the righteous will convene with Jesus in heaven and have everlasting life, while the non-believers and the sinners will be subjugated to an eternity in hell.

This view of the afterlife leaves no place for ghosts or spirits of any kind.

But what does the Bible say?

I turn to 1 Samuel chapter 28. In this tale Saul is King and his prophet and adviser Samuel has recently been killed. His enemy, the Philistines, were gathering to do battle with him. Saul was terrified. Out of fear, Saul turned to the Lord for answers and insight…but the Lord did not appear. In desperation, Saul seeks out a spiritist (a medium) so that he may inquire with the spirit of his recently deceases adviser Samuel.

This was an act of utter hypocrisy, since Saul had banned all mediums from the land — however, one was found in Endor.

Saul disguised himself and visited the woman known as the Witch of Endor. At first, she was reluctant to heed his request to bring up a spirit because of the decree against such practices — but Saul assured her she would not be punished.

The medium then proceeded to bring forth the spirit of Samuel. Not only is she successful in speaking to the ghost of Samuel, but Samuel explains to Saul why the Lord is angry with him, plus he predicts his defeat to the Philistines and the death of his sons on the battlefield. Each of Samuel’s predictions come to fruition.

So according to the Bible: ghosts are real, we can communicate with them and they can predict the future. Nice!

Divination is Real! The Bible says So!

With Halloween on the horizon many people turn to Tarot readers, psychics and other mediums to get their cards read or to perform some other form of divination.

What does the Bible have to say about this ancient practice?

The Bible is full of divination techniques used by the Israelites and their neighbors to predict the future. In fact, there are so many references to divination that I will not provide them here.

The most proficient user of divination is probably Joseph, in Genesis. He has the ability to interpret the future by reading dreams. Check out the later chapters of Genesis for details on his abilities.

Another method of determining information was to cast lots or draw straws. The book of Jonah provides a great example of this.

Attempting to flee the fate the Lord has set before him, Jonah boards a ship. While out at sea the vessel faces calamity as the weather bears down upon them, tossing and turning the ship. The crew suspect they have someone on board who has angered the gods in some way. To determine who the culprit is they cast lots to determine who is responsible (Jnh 1:7). The lot fell on Jonah.

So here, the Bible tells us we can perform divination and that casting of lots is a great way to determine the thoughts of God.