More Facts for Christians
- Some people think that the human race was punished for seeking wisdom, when our ancestors ate from the forbidden tree. The full name of that tree was the “‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil.’” (See Genesis 2:17.) Adam and Eve lived in paradise, talking directly with God. They already had knowledge of good. What they gained by eating the forbidden fruit wasn’t wisdom, but the knowledge of evil. Psalm 111:10a tells us that “[t]he fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding.”
- Many view 666 as sinister and unlucky. The number comes from Revelation 13:18b. 666 is either the name of an evil man that can be decoded from the number, or simple biblical numerology. The number of God is seven. Seven is perfect. Six is less than perfect. In Revelation, the imperfection of the beast is emphasized by repeating the number. According to this interpretation, 666 should remind us of evil’s weakness, not its power.
- The most famous conflict between science and religion is probably Galileo’s trial, often misrepresented. Galileo wrote a letter revealing his Copernican sympathies (belief that the sun, not the earth, sat at our solar system’s centre). In a private meeting with a clergyman, Galileo swore he wasn’t a Copernican, and was allowed to go home, as long as he wrote about Copernicanism as theory, not fact. Galileo then wrote a dialogue in which the character promoting Copernicanism won the argument. As the moronic character in the dialogue quoted the pope, Urban VIII wrongly assumed that the character represented himself. After a debate over whether he could write about Copernicanism, even theoretically, Galileo recanted. At age sixty-nine, he was sentenced to house arrest for the remainder of his life. He was never tortured, or put in prison.
- Given what a ghost is - the spirit of a person - their existence isn’t compatible with what the Bible teaches us. Investigations into alleged hauntings are backing up the Bible. A person suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning shares the same symptoms as one suffering from a “haunting”: listlessness, depression, dread, visual and auditory hallucinations, illness, and sudden and seemingly unexplainable death.
- Ultrasound and infrasound cause events that are misinterpreted as hauntings. Infrasound is so low it can't be detected by the human ear, yet still causes anxiety, sadness, and spine chills. It can even resonate at the same frequency as human eyeballs, causing optical illusions. Infrasound also vibrates objects, so they move because of an invisible force. The source of infrasound can be as simple as a fan.
- Some people think men are superior to women because, “God created man in his own image,” (Genesis 1:27a). Yet, “in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27b). This passage doesn’t refer to physical, but to spiritual characteristics. God created all of us in His image and with souls, so that we might someday be with Him in heaven.
- Probably the most serious misconception about spiritual matters is that being good will result in a person going to heaven. Being good isn’t enough. Being perfect is, but no one is able to be perfect every second of everyday for their entire lives. There’s no way to balance out the scale with good works. The Bible says that the only way to heaven is to be “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.” (Romans 3:24-25a). The only way to heaven is to have faith in Jesus as our perfect Savior, and this faith is given to us through God's grace.
To learn more about these and other topics, please purchase a copy of Into the World: 62 Devotions to Edify & Inspire.
To learn more about these and other topics, please purchase a copy of Into the World: 62 Devotions to Edify & Inspire.