Questions

The percentage of the world’s population interested in God’s answers to life’s questions is continually decreasing.  Also dwindling is the number who want to know God’s commandments and will actually strive to obey them. But the good news is, that number that seeks and obeys, albeit small, is ever so much the stronger, simply because resistance intensifies strength.

GodSaidManSaid fields questions on a regular basis though most of the answers are already posted on this site. We recommend you read or listen to one message a day for the next six months and then after that, once a week on Thursdays, when we launch a new subject (God willing). You will remain abreast and stay up-to-date with what GodSaidManSaid is publishing. In this feature, GodSaidManSaid addresses four very common questions. Get your Bible out and follow along.

Sam sent the following question:

My friend and I have this argument about if Jesus and God are the same person. We would like to settle this argument. Any help you could give us would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

The answer to this question is yes and no, and this is not a contradiction. First, no they are not the same person. Jesus said, decades after His resurrection, in Revelation 3:5, 12, & 21:

5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

Colossians 1:3:

We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

Ephesians 1:3:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

Sam, there are hundreds of Scriptures that clearly show the separation of the Father and the Son. I Corinthians 8:6 reads:

But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

Two key words in I Corinthians, chapter 8, verse 6, that help to discern between the Father and the Son are "of" and "by." Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language defines "of" as, "From or out of; proceeding from, as the cause, source, means, author or agent bestowing." [End of quote] So then the definition of "of" tells us "But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things,..." This means that all things proceed from God and are sourced in Him. The definition of "by," pertaining to its use in I Corinthians, chapter 8, verse 6, is, "Through, or with, denoting the agent, means, instrument or cause." [End of quote] It can be simply stated, of the Father and by the Son. Read Hebrews, chapter 1, verses 1-2, carefully and the "of" and "by" concept will be very obvious.

1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

I Timothy 2:5:

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

The above verse defines the principle of the word "by" used in I Corinthians, chapter 8, verse 6. Now for "Yes, they are the same." This sameness is a spiritual oneness. Jesus defines it in John 17:11, 21, 22, & 23:

11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

This is the oneness in the spirit of God and we as believers are required to walk in that same oneness even as our Lord has described.

A visitor to GodSaidManSaid asked this second question: What happens when a baby dies? King David fathered the child in an adulterous act with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. Because of David’s sin, God took the child from him and was one of the many judgements David paid for his sin. The dead child went to be with the Lord. II Samuel:12:22-23:

22 And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?

23 But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

It is written in James 4:17:

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

The criteria for sin is knowledge. In the Garden of Eden, our rebellious parents ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and died unto the LORD that very day. The baby has no knowledge, therefore is guilty of no sin.

One grieving visitor whose child had just died sent us an e-mail asking a bewildered, "Why, God?" The question brought me back to a funeral that I was asked to conduct. It was the burial of a five-day-old baby. When I arrived to conduct the funeral service, the little baby girl was laid out in a tiny coffin about the size of a breadbox. It was a most sorrowful and unsettling view—at least until true revelation came from God. This revelation came in two parts. The first part was that the child was now in heaven and that the odds of a baby being born today, growing up, giving his or her life to Jesus Christ, enduring unto the end (Matthew 24:13), and entering into eternal life, are very, very small. Jesus said, Matthew 22:14:

For many are called, but few are chosen.

This little baby beat the odds. The second part was really a matter of perspective. The world view is, "How unfortunate, the child had no opportunity to live out its life," and I must add here: life with all its pitfalls, dangers and snares. From a heavenly perspective, it would be, "How fortunate for you that you have arrived at the Blessed Hope so soon." This little one in the tiny coffin was one of the few that was chosen to enter into the presence of the Lord early.

This following question came from Krystal:

I have been visiting your site now for the past couple days and have found it very interesting. I have a question regarding animals and souls. I was told by a friend that in the Bible it says that animals do not have souls. Please tell me if this is true and if so why it is?

When God created man, He created man in His own likeness and His own image. Genesis 1:26-27:

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Unlike all the other creatures of God’s creation, man was made in the image of God. Genesis 2:7:

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

So then man was created in the image of God and He gave man a soul. The rest of creation cannot, by design, attain these heights.

Speaking of death, the Word of God poses a question that differentiates between man and beast in Ecclesiastes 3:21, and it says this:

Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

This question was sent by Ron:

I was wondering what the Bible says about an older man and younger woman. I asked my pastor and he doesn’t really have an answer. Is it Biblical for older men to date younger women?

The original plan of creation had Adam and Eve each at the perfect age of full maturity, but there is no commandment that GodSaidManSaid is aware of that prohibits older men from dating younger women or older women from dating younger men. There are problems in major age differences socially, sexually, and physically, of course, and they should be taken into consideration between the interested parties. The Bible tells us that Abraham was approximately ten years older than his wife, Sarah, and considerably older than Keturah, the wife he took after the death of Sarah. Abraham was at least 137 years old when he married Keturah and she bore several children to him.

Also, the beautiful story of Ruth and Boaz suggests a considerable difference of age between the two of them (Ruth 3:10).

The final question in this feature is from Eileen. She has a problem with quoting Old Testament commandments when we as Christians are walking in the new covenant. The answer to her question is on this website in the following subjects. Just click on the subject; you will be taken directly to it: "A Matter of Law," "Do Not Add Or Subtract," and "Their Imaginations Became Vain." It must be emphasized that Jesus Christ did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it. Matthew 5:17-18:

17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Jesus, the apostles, and the disciples quote from the Old Testament hundreds of times. By the way, "Thou shalt not kill," is an Old Testament commandment.

God’s Word had the answers.

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