Christian Thoughts

  After reading the account in Genesis 1 outlining God’s act of creation in the first six days of the universe’s existence, believers have at times wondered about the following apparent incompatibilities with known scientific facts: ●      the appearance of the first homo sapiens reportedly occurred much later than six days after the formation of the earth ●      there is no mention of dinosaurs being created during any of the six days although their fossils have been found in many different countries ●     astronomers on the SETI program are actively seeking signs of life in distant galaxies but the Bible is silent on the existence of planets other than the earth cited in Genesis 1:1. By extrapolation, other associated queries (like why Deuteronomy 4:19 identifies “the sun, the moon and the stars” among “all the host of heaven” but makes no reference to any of the planets) likewise prompt some to wonder whether the Bible is even accurate when scrutinised from a scientific pers

Genesis 12 records the very first time God freely offered to Abram (after the latter heeded His call to uproot from his country) the promise that the land to which He had led him would be given by Him to his descendants forever.  This promise is so important that God chose to  personally  repeat it to him in Genesis 13, 15 and 17 (as well as much later to Isaac in Genesis 26:4 and Jacob in Genesis 35:12).   Given the multiple repetitions of this divine promise, why then did Abraham’s descendants have to re-locate (during Jacob ’ s life-time) to yet another place when the “father of many nations” (Genesis 17:5) was already residing in the land hand-picked by God Himself?  Was it impelled by circumstances beyond their control (such as the devastating 7-year famine that struck all the regions)?  Was it due to Jacob’s longing to be re-united with his beloved son Joseph (who was supposedly killed some 20 years ago)?  Was it because of the need to venture elsewhere to find far more ferti

  The unembellished five-verse passage in Numbers 15 outlining what happened prior to God’s pronouncement of capital punishment for a man who had gathered sticks on the sabbath, has prompted believers and scoffers alike to pose provoking questions such as the following: •       whether the sabbath law should be stringently enforced every seventh day •       whether God was overly unfair in imposing the most extreme punishment on the man •       whether this apparently out-of-place narration ought even to have been incorporated into scripture.   First of all, the incident described in Numbers 15:32-36 cannot be read out of context.   It is important to recognise at the very outset that this passage has been deliberately placed by the author in Numbers 15 because of the focus on, among other things, the different adjudication processes to be applied when “a person sins unintentionally … before the Lord ” (Numbers 15:27-28) as opposed to when “the person does anything presumptuo

    1.     The Old Testament’s narrations of the experiences gained by Joseph, Daniel and Esther whilst navigating the ruling echelons in foreign jurisdictions have piqued the interest of many a believer.   Why were they in positions of influence among pagan cultures?   Did they contribute to the heathens’ causes?   Had they compromised themselves in the process?   2.       It should at the inception be pointed out that God is actually silent in the entire book of Esther whereas His leading is very much evident in the lives of Joseph and Daniel.   Perhaps looking at how the three of them ended up outside the Promised Land is of assistance when seeking to understand the context for each character’s life journey.   God told Abraham that his entire family would have to leave Canaan for Egypt, and Joseph was the first to do so.   God told Jeremiah that the Jews would have to leave Judah for Babylon, and Daniel was among those who did so.   However, God also told Jeremiah that the Jew