Expert: Mrs. Priscilla Lyons - 5/1/2006

Question
A couple of days ago I sent you a series of questions,God bless you for your time & answers,they mean alot.

Still,a couple more,please!

In the bible Iv'e read that if you follow the word,your days would be lengthened,your health etc
I believe in psalms. What does it mean when people die young?I've never thought the bible to be contradictive,so does that mean that those who do have not followed close enough?I know that CANT be right.I cant seem to find peace with what I see & hear about on a daily basis.it seems that we were ALL born into a type of "check-mate",and are being punished for being in this position.

Also,I know that the father,son,& the holy spirit
are one in the same,which is hard to fathom(let's leave that can of worms alone)ha-ha!

Still,from reading the bible,meeting Jesus would be awesome to say the least,the holy spirit(ghost)
with the (wheels of eyes etc)well..speechless!
But the Father,well,with the raining down fire,
flooding the world and,and,and,well you know,really is frightening! My point is WHY is ALL man & woman punished for the actions of Adam &
Eve?Because ALL of us would have done the same thing,right?So WHY is God so mad at a creation that obviously was bound to fail?When God returned to the garden and asked "where are you?,what have you done?"I find it VERY hard to believe that he didn't know!In the Old testament things were MUCH harsher than the NEW.For instance,murder,adultry etc.were all sins (understandably)but once Jesus got here,even thinking about these things was just as bad,Did the father not fully grasp what it was REALLY like down here?And about enernity,I know our life is "but a vapor"(and agree)But let's be realistic,I'm convinced that if you broke your finger and i said "hey,before you know it,it'll all be over anyways"you wouldn't find that too comforting.

Please dont take me wrong,I love God.But the bible does say "come,let us reason"
And I pray to Jesus that you don't mind helping me!
Depending on your answers,I may have more,PLEASE be patient with me!
May God richly bless you.     Kevin McIntosh

Answer
Dear Kevin,
    I'm glad you've written back.  You are right--God does want us to reason with Him.  If you were to create something that could think on its own, reason, make its own decisions, and would choose to trust and love you freely, how would you do it?  How would you create humans. not robots?
   God is not mad at us even though He knew we would all sin.  He loves us so much He provided the cure for sin at a very dear price.  A parent that loves his children, disciplines his children.  "He that spareth his rod hateth his son." Proverbs 13:24  Children who have never had loving discipline, don't learn to discipline themselves.  They are a menace to themselves and others.  The Old Testament was more "hands-on" discipline, more picturesque, but God had revealed enough of the truth by the New Testament times, that He expected more self-discipline--inner understanding.  We spank young children to teach an association of pain with destructive behavior.  We use picture books and less words.  As they grow up, we use less spanking and expect more controlled behavior.  We don't have to watch them every minute and have do's and don't's for every single situation (like the Old Testament laws).  Older children start reading books without pictures.  Do you see how our childhood compares with God laying the foundation of right and wrong in the Old Testament, then teaching self discipline and moral reasoning as we grow older, like the New Testament?
   God's questions in the Garden of Eden made Adam and Eve face the truth of their actions, much as you would want your son who had foolishly wrecked a car, to consider, "Was showing off really worth it?"  The point is to have a proper understanding of our actions so that we can make better decisions in the future.  The ground was cursed and Adam and Eve's bodies started aging, but these consequences showed Adam and Eve and us that apart from Him, things are ruined and don't last.  That teaches us God's love in wanting to be close to us forever.  He is the Source of all life, love, and justice.  God allows us to see injustice, hate, and death to help us choose the opposite.  He experienced the ultimate injustice, hatred and death from His creation, in order to pay the price of our sin, so we can escape the horror of eternity separated from Him.  
   When we use God's wisdom to guide our lives, we avoid a lot of health problems, financial problems, and relational problems, so we are less likely to get involved with the criminal underworld, get murdered by a crazy, jealous spouse, or drive drunk and kill ourself in a wreck.  God wants to guide our eating habits and keep us from being couch potatoes.  He wants us to surrender our frustrations to Him and receive His peace, which all contributes to longer and better living conditions.  Still, because of sin in the world, there is injustice and accidents that cause death and suffering not due to our own behavior.  Even our gene pool has been corrupted so babies are born with health problems.  Life here is not fair, and the death of Jesus was not fair, but God allows injustice sometimes, and it helps motivate us to not neglect so great a salvation. Hebrews 2:3
   I just got some info together for a friend who's talking to a Muslim about the Trinity.  Dr. D.James Kennedy has some interesting points.  Instead of 1+1+1, we should think of the Trinity as 1x1x1=1.  The Hebrew word for "one" in Deut. 6:4 "The Lord our God is one Lord." is "achad", which means "a one of unity."  It is the word used for a cluster of grapes, a number of objects joined into a unified whole.  It is the Hebrew word used in Gen.2:24 "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one (achad) flesh."  Two distinct personalities become one (achad) flesh, one union of two souls.  There are two articles you might enjoy reading on this subject.
http://icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=2590
http://icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=2494
   Happy reading!
   Priscilla