Question:
Is it wrong to marry someone outside of our assembly?

Answer:
1 Corinthians 7:39 says that: “The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.”

It is most important to marry “only in the Lord,” only someone who wants to live his/her life for the Lord. This does not mean to marry just someone who is saved, but to marry one who believes the way you do about the Lord’s things, including how the Lord shows us in His Word to gather unto Him with other Christians.
It may not be “wrong” to marry someone “outside of the assembly,” but it would be wrong to marry someone who does not seek to please the Lord, nor seeks to put Him first in his/her life. What a denial it would be of the beautiful picture that marriage is (of Christ and His bride, the church), and of the unity of marriage—if one would function in the assembly and the other would not! If one would go to the assembly meetings and the other would go to a church. Also, what confusion this is to the children in that marriage. The Lord asks the question: “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3).

Question:
Is it wrong to remarry if your spouse dies?

Answer:
No. Romans 7:2 says that death releases the marriage bond: “For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.”

Question:
What does association mean to Christians? (For example, you have a friend and she is not saved; she says the only way she will listen to the gospel is if you go with her to her Catholic Church.)

Answer:
This is a good question, but what association means to some Christians it doesn’t mean to others! So it seems to me that a better question to ask would be: “What does association mean to me?” And even better it would be to ask: “What does association mean to God?”

The Bible tells us what God thinks of association: “Be not deceived: evil communications [associations] corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33). “What part hath he that believeth with an infidel [unbeliever]? …And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:16-18). How important it is to have a close association with the Lord, and we can only have a close association with Him if we are saved, and are not closely associated with “evil” and unbelievers.
The fact that your friend will only listen to the gospel if you attend her Catholic church indicates that not only is she not ready to listen to the gospel of God’s grace to sinners, but that she possibly wants to try to persuade you to receive what her church teaches about the way of salvation.
The verses quoted above show that if you go to her church you would sanction (by your presence) her church’s teaching, and you cannot sanction the teaching of salvation by human efforts if you have trusted Christ alone for your salvation. If you go to her church, and possibly hear something that is not according to Scripture, you will be defiled (“corrupted”-1 Corinthians 15:33) by hearing what is said.If your friend will not listen when you try to tell her the good news that Christ died and rose again to save her soul from hell, then show the gospel to her in your life. Show Christ and His love to her by your actions! And if you seek only to please the Lord, He will make you ready to speak to her when she asks the reason you have peace about things now and in eternity. “Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15).

Question:
Are multiple marriages (polygamy) wrong?

 

Example of multiple marriage: Abram, Sarai and Hagar. Genesis 16:1-6, Sarah realized she was wrong to tell Abram to take Hagar since she wasn’t bearing children to him.

Answer:
In every example of polygamy in the Bible there was trouble. God’s plan for marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman. Adam was instructed to “…cleave unto His wife [not wives]” (Genesis 2:24).

Question:
If there is predestination, then why seek souls?

Answer:
This question has to do with realizing that to human understanding there are two irreconcilable truths. They are God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. All who will be redeemed by the precious blood of Christ are God’s elect. Every person who lives on earth is responsible to believe the gospel of God as found in the Bible. It is impossible to now reconcile these truths satisfactorily in our thinking. In fact, over many years the countless volumes written in part for this purpose, have all failed. We must let go of our reasoning and simply believe God!

God foreknows everyone who will be redeemed. We do not. But we have the privilege from God to carry the message of the Gospel to everyone, which we should be willing and ready to do. God then saves the elect by the preaching of the Gospel: they come to Christ. Not one of God’s elect will be lost. They believe the Gospel and trust in Christ. Many more people will hear and refuse to believe. They will be lost, they are responsible to believe, but they will not come. Read Romans chapter 10. Perhaps this is enough to answer the last part of the question.Now the first part of the question: Predestination really has nothing to do with seeking souls; has nothing to do with being saved or lost. The four verses of Scripture that tell us about predestination are Romans 8:29, 30 and Ephesians 1:5 and 11. These four verses, briefly, tell us about the blessings God has predetermined believers shall have. These verses have nothing to do with humanity at large. No one is predestinated to be saved or lost. But God has predetermined that believers shall be “conformed to the image of His Son” and have “an inheritance” in Christ “according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” To repeat, predestination has to do with the blessings Christ’s redeemed ones will have for time and eternity according to God’s determination—not God choosing them.

Question:

What does the Bible say about dating?

References that are related to searching for a wife: Genesis 24, Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for his son; Genesis 29, Jacob and Rebekah; Exodus 2:21, Moses and Zipporah; Ruth 2:2, Boaz notices Ruth gleaning in his fields. Men find attractiveness in women who are found serving.

Answer:
The Bible doesn’t mention dating at all, but God has His ways of bringing two people together.

It was suggested that instead of going alone to a place of amusement, etc. that we test or observe a person in his/her family setting to see what is the person’s true character. How does he/she respond to their parents, brothers and sisters, etc.?
Also, count on God to bring you together with His choice (which is the best) of your lifetime partner in marriage. Prepare your heart for that special person by growing spiritually. Wait upon the Lord.
It is essential to find someone who loves the Lord, delights in the water of the Word, and desires to please the Lord. You will meet such a person where God’s people come together to pray and read the Word. We are instructed to marry “only in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 7:39)! Put the list of physical priorities on the back burner. God has the best for those who leave the choice with Him.

Question:
If someone is saved, is it possible for them to fall so far away from the Lord as to murder or do something as horrible as that? If that is possible, the Lord would understand and forgive—right?

Answer:
Yes, it is possible for a believer to do as horrible a thing as even the most wicked person is capable of doing. It is correct, also, that the Lord forgives the most horrible things. But more must be said about this because of the gravity of such things.

Sin in the believer is just as wicked as sin in the most ungodly person. But, in Christ, our God has given us power over sin. Believers have been delivered from the bondage of sin; the ungodly have not. It is most heinous for the believer to do such things. If one does, we can be certain that God’s judgment will be upon that one in this life so as not to be condemned with the world (see 1 Corinthians 11:31, 32). Remember how God dealt with king David concerning the death of Uriah the Hittite in the Old Testament. God’s holy discipline in the lives of believers is certain and sure. It is for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness (Hebrews 12:10). If we live closely to the Lord, we will not do such things.
Next, it is most important to see that it is the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ that cleanses us from every sin (1 John 1:7). Every sin! We stand accepted, complete and without sin in virtue of the blood of Christ. Our God, more than anyone, understands what sin is and that only the blood of Christ can remove all guilt. After all, He is the One who provided for our eternal salvation.
But remember, there is not a more miserable person living on the face of the earth than a believer who is living carelessly before the Father concerning his daily life. This also takes in the “lesser” sins that we sometimes brush off as being “not all that serious.” Our God hates ALL KINDS of sin. May it be in our hearts, then, to walk in obedience according to His Word so that we may enjoy constant fellowship with the Father and the Son.

Question:
What does the Bible say about interracial relationships and/or marriages?

Answer:
1 Kings 11:1-3 tells of King Solomon’s “strange women,” and the Lord’s word that the children of Israel (God’s earthly people) “shall not” marry the peoples of the nations because “they will turn away your heart after their gods.” This same principle is true for God’s heavenly people today.

The marriage of Boaz, who was a Jew, to Ruth, a Moabite (Ruth 4:13), was not an interracial marriage, because Moab was a son of Lot, the nephew of Abraham (Genesis 19:37). However, Moses, a Jew and descendent of Shem’s marriage to an Ethiopian woman, a descendent of Ham (Genesis 10), is an example of interracial marriage. But God supported Moses for having married her in Numbers 12:6, 7. Also, Judah had two sons by Tamar, who was a Canaanite, who was also a descendent of Ham (Genesis 10:6; 38:2, 6), and she is mentioned in the genealogy of Christ (Matthew 1:1-3). So though “The Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, and separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel” (Deuteronomy 32:8), yet He allows exceptions to those bounds.
There are two basic principles for marriage:
1. 2 Corinthians 6:14: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” – Only marry a true believer in Christ.
2. 1 Corinthians 7:39: “… [marry] in the Lord.” In other words, only marry a person who wants to live for the Lord. The Lord wants us to follow Him, showing fruit for Him, enjoying Him and His Word, and He will direct us to the one He has for us! The Lord asks the question: “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3).
Interracial marriage is not forbidden in Scripture, but the couple must be strong in the Lord because of the added differences in training, effect on the children that may come from the marriage, etc. that are built into an interracial marriage.

Question:
Why does God need us and what was His ultimate reason for creating us?

Answer:
The answer to your question can only be found in the Word of God. Below are a few Scriptures for your consideration before the Lord. They tell us that all things were created:

(1) For His pleasure: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for THOU HAST CREATED ALL THINGS, and FOR THY PLEASURE they are and were created” (Revelation 4:11).
(2) For Himself: “The LORD hath made ALL THINGS FOR HIMSELF: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil” (Proverbs 16:4).
(3) Every believer is “created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Ephesians 2:8-10).
(4) God formed His people to praise Him: “This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise” (Isaiah 43:21).
(5) God created His people for His glory: “Every one that is called by My name…I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him” (Isaiah 43:7).

(“Created,” “formed,” and “made” in the verses above are three different Hebrew words, which tell of God’s working in His people so they can show forth His “glory.”)
(6) God desires “those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice” to gather “unto” Himself (Psalm 50:5).
All angels (except those who rebelled against Him) praise Him and shall praise Him for all eternity (Revelation 5:11, 12), but only humans who have accepted Christ’s sacrifice for sins, praise Him willingly because they have “made a covenant with” Him “by sacrifice.” Jesus told the woman at the well, “The Father seeketh SUCH to worship Him” (John 4:23).
God does not NEED anything from us. He doesn’t need wisdom, knowledge, counsel, or anything else, because “ALL THINGS” are “of…through…and to Him” as Paul exclaims in Romans 11:33-36: “O the depth of the riches both of the WISDOM and KNOWLEDGE of God! how unsearchable are His JUDGMENTS, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His COUNSELLOR? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.”
But as we realize that He created, possesses, and sustains us, and everything else, we can’t help but praise and worship Him, as Paul did in the verses above.
I don’t know of any Scripture that says that God NEEDS anything, but we are told that He desires and seeks worshippers. As Jesus told the repentant sinner at the well: “The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him” (John 4:23).
Worship is the overflow of adoration to God from a heart that is taken up with Christ. Worship is to “joy in God” (Romans 5:11). PRAISE is “the fruit OF OUR LIPS” (Hebrews 13:15), but WORSHIP is to make “melody IN YOUR HEART to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19).
I don’t know of any Scripture that says that God’s “ultimate reason for creating us” was that we would worship Him, but we are told that this was one of the reasons He created us (Isaiah 43:6, 7). It also seems, from Proverbs 8:30, 31, that He created us to have fellowship with Him: The Lord says: “I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. . . . Then I [God the Son] was by Him [God the Father], as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him; Rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and My delights were with the sons of men” (Proverbs 8:23, 30-31). He showed His desire for fellowship with man from the days of Adam and all down through man’s history, and He pleads for fellowship with His people in the last church period—which we are living in today. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).
Proverbs 8:30 tells of the happy relationship and fellowship the Father and the Son have always had: “Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him.” Proverbs 8:31 goes on to tell us: “Rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and My delights were with the sons of men.” So it seems clear that He also created us in order to have communion and fellowship with us. This is a privilege we greatly benefit from as well.
Our finite minds are not able to fully understand God and His purposes and reasons for doing things. We only can know what is revealed to us in His Word. God says: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (see Isaiah 55:7-11).Though we know from God’s Word that He made us to worship and have fellowship with Him, there are some things that we may never know the answer to (at least not this side of the glory). Your question may fall into this category. “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29).

Question:
Do angels know right from wrong?

Answer:
Yes they do. James 2:19 says, “The devils also believe [there is one God], and tremble.”

Question:
Why does God need us and what was His ultimate reason for creating us?

Answer:
God does not need us, for what can we give Him? Can we make Him richer than He is? What can we do to make Him more than He is? He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and omnificent (this might be included in omnipotence). There is not nor can there be any power greater to or equal to His, which is seen in part in creation (He has much more power than is seen in creation). He sees everything, everywhere, at any given moment. He is everywhere present all the time. (Did I miss anything?)  No, He does not need us, but we surely do need Him.

Because of His love for the Son, and for us who are in Christ, He has a great plan in the ages to come for Christ and His redeemed ones: “According to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord (Ephesians 3:11). Read the rest of the verses in this chapter which ends with God’s ultimate reason in verse 21: “Unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” I take it that this verse is telling us that there will be glory to God in the Church by Christ Jesus for all eternity. All the members of His body, the Church, will have their part in that eternal glory which is God’s. What great love our God has for us that we should be part of and share in this glory for all eternity! See also chapter 2:7: “That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”

Dear fellow believer, whenever you get a bit discouraged, think on things like these!

Question:
Can angels sin?

Answer:
Yes, when Satan, the devil, was created he was the highest of the angels, but he sinned: “The devil sinneth from the beginning” (1 John 3:8). Satan was “The anointed cherub that covereth” and “wast perfect in his ways from the day that he wast created, till iniquity was found in him …. his heart was lifted up because of his beauty” (Ezekiel 28:14, 15, 17). And he said: “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:14).

See also Revelation 12:10 and 2 Corinthians 11:14. In Genesis 3 Satan tempted Eve the same way that he fell by telling her: “You shall be as gods” (Genesis 3:5). 2 Peter 2:4 says, “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell [Gr: Tartarus—deepest pit of gloom], and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.”

Question:
In Exodus when its tells of the powers that the magicians had, they seem to have the same powers that God gave Moses. What were these powers? Where did they come from and do they exist today?

Answer:
I have put your question into four parts so I can answer it more easily.
 

“In Exodus when its tells of the powers that the magicians had, (1) They seem to have the same powers that God gave Moses. (2) What were these powers ? (3) Where did they come from and (4) do they exist today?
(1) They seem to have the same powers that God gave Moses.
The magicians in Moses’ day were only able to do two of the ten plagues that Moses did. When they tried to do the third plague—bring lice out of the dust—they had to acknowledge: “This is the finger of God” (Exodus 8:19). The Lord told Adam, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:19), and only God can bring forth life.
(2) What were these powers?
The Spirit of God tells us in 2 Timothy 3:1-7 about these powers and even tells us the names of the men (though we are not told them in the Old Testament) who had these powers: “Now in the same manner in which Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, thus these also withstand the truth; men corrupted in mind, found worthless as regards the faith. But they shall not advance farther; for their folly shall be completely manifest to all, as that of those also became” (2 Timothy 3:8, 9—Darby Translation).
These powers and men were like the corruption in the “last days” (2 Timothy 3:1) among professing Christians. Whatever these powers were, they were far inferior to the power of God that was manifested through Moses, and their “folly” was eventually manifested to all. The magicians could only increase the evil by what they did. They could not remove it. The account in Exodus 7-12 shows us that no true miracle (no deliverance) was attempted by them. They seemed to turn water to blood and bring frogs, but could not remove them. When God stepped in and created life by the word of Moses they were baffled.
(3) Where did they come from?
I believe that they came from, or were directed by Satan. 2 Timothy 3:8, 9 tells us that these magicians “withstood the truth,” and had “corrupted” minds. Both of these things are caused by Satan. They are a picture of the antichrist who will come “after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders” (2 Thessalonians 2:9).
(4) Do they exist today?
Most certainly they do. Sad to say there are many, like Jannes and Jambres, who “withstand the truth; men corrupted in mind,” and thus are “found worthless as regards the faith.” How many there are who profess to be Christians who have “a form of godliness, but [deny] the power thereof.” And we are instructed to “turn away” from them (2 Timothy 3:5). We are warned: “Ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even NOW are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time” (1 John 2:18).

 

We trust these few thoughts will be of help to you, and we look forward to any more questions or thoughts you may send our way.

Question:
How did people in the Old Testament go to heaven before Jesus died on the cross? Examples: Elijah-chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:11), Enoch -“God took him” (Genesis 5:24).

Answer:
Animal sacrifices were a temporary payment for sin, and were a picture of Christ who would die for them. Romans 4:1-5 shows that people in Old Testament times BELIEVED in God. Men have always been saved on the principle of faith, and they believed in the God of creation (Romans 1:20).

Romans 3:25 shows that people in the Old Testament were saved, so to speak, on the installment plan—in view of Christ’s work on the cross. “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” So people in the Old Testament times, such as Elijah and Enoch, were able to go to heaven because they believed in a coming Redeemer (see Job 19:25).

Question:
I’m studying creationism vs. evolutionism and I’ve heard many pros and cons on the gap theory. One way I heard it expressed was a length of time between the first and second verse in Genesis 1 in which the earth became “waste and void” and the other version was, of course, the one that stuff evolved during that time and was somehow destroyed in a great flood or something. The first theory sounds plausible, especially since I’ve heard that the two words ‘creation’ in those first and second verses are two different words; the one in the first verse meaning to create and the one in the second verse meaning to re-create. Does anyone have any insights on this topic they could share, or any verses?

Answer:
Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” clearly shows that evolution is a mere theory (or idea), and also that this idea is not true!

The Hebrew word, “bara,” which is translated: “create,” means “to bring into existence where nothing existed before.” This Hebrew word is never used in Scripture of any other maker than God. Only God can create, or “make something from nothing”!
God did not “create” the heavens and the earth in six days. He spoke and brought worlds into existence: “He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast” (Psalm 33:9). But He remade, or “made” the earth in six twenty-four hour days. “In six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:11).
The Scriptures tell us that God not only “created” things, but that He also “made” things.

The summary of Genesis chapter 1 is given in Genesis 2:3: “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.” Since the Hebrew words for “created” (“bara“), and “made” (“asah“) are different words, they distinguish different acts of God. The Hebrew word that is translated “made” means: “working to put together from something already created.”
The distinction between these words is made in other verses regarding the creation and the making of the earth. Isaiah 45:18 says: “For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.”
Some Bible scholars believe that one of the reasons the Lord gave the Old Testament mostly in the Hebrew language was to show this important distinction between “created” and “made.”
Isaiah 45:18 tells us, that in the original creation of Genesis 1:1, God “created” the earth “not in vain” but “formed it to be inhabited.” Therefore, the first part of Genesis 1:2: “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep” must not be speaking of the original creation, but of the condition the earth was in when the Spirit of God “moved upon the face of the waters,” and started to “make” the earth in six days (Genesis 1:2-31).
The term “gap theory” came from those who oppose the belief that there was a difference in the earth (and therefore of time) between verses 1 and 2 of Genesis chapter 1. There are several reasons why we do not believe that the “gap” (or difference between Genesis 1:1 and 2) is a mere “theory.” Along with the difference the Scriptures make between what God “created” and what He “made,” is the Hebrew conjunction “and,” that God put at the beginning of verse 2. This word “and” shows, in itself, that God is telling us that these verses are separated, that there is a difference between verse 2 and verse 1, and that there is an interval of time between the two verses. We are not told how much time there was between these verses, but we are told that there was some time between them and there could have been as much time as man’s mind can conceive.
We trust these few thoughts on this basic and important subject will turn you to search the Scriptures more and more. For we know nothing about this subject except what God has seen fit to tell us in His Holy Scriptures.This subject is also covered in the book titled: “In the Beginning” by William Kelly, and the excellent and useful article titled: “Digging Up Bones” by Tracey L. Bumpus.

Question:
What’s wrong with the NIV version?

Answer:
The apostle Paul says that he spoke “words” when he wrote the Scriptures: “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:13). He spoke not man’s words, but the inspired words of God. Therefore it is important when translating the Scriptures from the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts that the translation be a translation of “words,” not the translation of phrases, which is how the NIV is translated.

What is wrong with translating phrases? When this is done it allows the translator to inject what he thinks the phrase says. A translation of “words” from one language to another is essential for us, in dependence on the Spirit of God, to learn the correct interpretation of the passage. The KJV, NKJV, and JND are translations of “words,” called verbal translations of the Scriptures.

Question:
If a child who hasn’t reached the age of accountability dies, does he go to heaven?

Answer:

Yes. David’s infant son died and David was assured that he would see his son again and that they would spend eternity together (see 2 Samuel 12:23).

The Lord says in Matthew 18:10: “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels [spirits] do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.”

Question:
Why is there suffering in the world?

Answer:
Suffering is the result of sin. Woman have pain in child-bearing (Genesis 3:16). Work is a curse of sin, causing him to “sweat” (Genesis 3:17-19). Before man sinned, man dressed and kept the garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15), but there were no thorns, weeds, or mosquitoes then. After he sinned, the Lord told him: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:19).

But this is just temporary for the believer! Romans 8:20-23 says: “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

Question:
What does the Bible say about evolution?

Answer:
Nothing. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

Question:
Is it wrong for a woman to wear a man’s garment?

Answer:
Under the law, a woman or a man was not to wear clothing of the opposite sex. Deuteronomy 22:5 says: “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.” It is thought that in Old Testament times women sometimes tried to look like a man so they could get the benefits a man had. (Likewise men should not act like women.)

And we should not change what God has set up today either, but be “content” with the place God has given each of us (Philippians 4:11). Men and women are to be submissive to the order of headship that God has set up and seek to represent Christ and His bride, the church (1 Corinthians 11:3). Even if all is out of God’s order, we should still follow Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1). Man’s God-given place to “rule” woman in Genesis 3:16 is a Hebrew word that means to provide, care for her, and make her flourish.The guideline God has given to us for dress in the New Testament is: “That women adorn themselves in modest apparel” (1 Timothy 2:9). We should not dress to make others notice us. What is “modest” today, would not have been modest 50 years ago.

Question:
What is sin?

Answer:
Sin means separation from God. “Sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4, Darby Translation). Lawlessness is having no law. “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6).

Question:
What is peace? What is joy?

Answer:
“Peace” we have about anything that happens (good or bad) knowing the Lord is in control of it. “Joy” in John 16:24 is related to the Greek word for grace and thanksgiving.

If I realize more of grace, my heart will respond with thanksgiving and a sense of joy as my heart overflows with gratitude. Joy is the outward expression of thanksgiving.
The Lord has given us His Word that His “joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” (John 15:11). The joy that Christ had and has given to us through His Word is despite “happenings.” It is deeper than happiness, which is caused by things that happen. The Lord also gives us peace about that which hasn’t happened. We know that evil may happen, but God is in control (Ephesians 1:11). Peace and joy are part of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22, 23).