Skip to main content

Unbelief


There is power in faith. Jesus said, "If you have faith like mustard seed, you could say to this mountain move and be cast into the sea." (Matthew 21:21,  Mark 11:23, Luke 17:6). Faith which is trusting God has the power to move mountains. The opposite of faith however is unbelief. This too has a power. If someone harbors unbelief and disbelief in their hearts they can hinder the Holy Spirit. When Jesus had Risen from the dead he visited His Disciples, but the Apostle Thomas was not there. Later Peter and rest of the Apostles told Thomas that Jesus had appeared, but Thomas replied, "Unless see the wounds in his hands, no unless I put my finger in his side I will not believe." (John 20:25).

St. Thomas was skeptic. He distrusted and scrutinized everything. This was both his greatest strength and his greatest weakness. On one hand it meant that skeptics have a patron Apostle. Jesus choose a man who would naturally question, doubt, and analyze everything. The Lord was unthreatened by Thomas and had him join the Twelve. However, in the crucial moment of Christ's Resurrection, Thomas brought unbelief to the table.

Jesus appeared again, this time the doors were shut and windows closed. A precaution because the Romans and Sanhedrin were searching for the followers of Christ. Jesus immediately after saying, "peace be with you," went over to Thomas who was present this time and said, "Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." (John 20:27). Our Lord had heard St. Thomas' words weeks before and now was giving Thomas what He requested. The skeptic is met with the proof he desires and His response is, "My Lord and My God!" (verse 28).

How many of us are like Thomas? How many of us allow disbelief and unbelief to quench our faith and trust in the Lord? How many of us require and demand for Jesus to, "show us the wounds in his hands, and place my fingers in his side?". Thomas was used by the Lord, He was skeptic and brings comfort to converted skeptics who want to test everything; that their kind and personality is accepted by the Lord and even was made disciple. But Jesus doesn't want to leave doubters doubting and unbelievers unbelieving. No he wants them to believe, and even said, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:29).

Our Savior loves skeptics and even made one His servant and disciple. But He does not want the skeptic to stay skeptical about the truth and trusting Him. Skepticism can be in service of the Savior or Satan. If a skeptic believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, they can use their nature to comb, test, challenge, and examine what is said with Scripture and the Spirit and thus become an apologist who confronts heresies that harm the Faith. But if a skeptic does not bridle and beat their question marks into shears for the Savior, it can be used by Satan as is the case with atheists and agonistics.

Choose to let your research and skeptical nature come under trust and faith in Christ. Then with the Lord's help your inquisitive and analyzing brain can be used in the Lord service to reach more skeptics and put arguments down with the Truth of God. Choose to be like St. Thomas who after being confronted with the Truth of the Risen Christ said, "My Lord and My God!" Believe1 Trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior! Repent of your sins, believe Jesus was Crucified for your sins and Rose from the dead! Take the leap and you will become leader in showing the lost the Truth of God. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Israel’s Conquest of Canaan: The Nephilim and Giants

  Christianity Today asserts that the conquest of Canaan can be a “stumbling block” for believers. This probably is because of a foolish idea of comparing it to a modern conquest happening in our world. The truth is that God had Israel conquer Canaan because it was ruled by evil giants, “We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” (Numbers 13:33). These are Anakim or Nephilim, the children of angels and human women, “When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God (angels) saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. The...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dispensationalism

John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) was a man who did two things, he took 70th week of the Book of Daniel and stretched out to the End Times, and he was the father of  Dispensationalism , a belief system that God dispenses different peoples with separate blessings and covenants. According to Darb'ys doctrine of Dispensationalism, God dispenses different covenants. There are total of seven dispensations that divide the history of man: I. Dispensation of Innocence (prior to the Fall, "Do not east of the Fruit of Good and Eve, Eden), II. Dispensation of Conscience ( You must assuage guilt and sin with blood sacrifices.) III. Dispensation of Human Government (Multiply and Subdue the world, example the Tower of Babel Gen 11:1-9, and Genesis 1:28). IV. Dispensation of the Promise (Dwell in Canaan, Jerusalem) V. Dispensation of the Law ("Obey the Law of Moses and the Prophets"). VI. Dispensation of Grace (The Church, Jesus Christ has come...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jesus’ Name in Aramaic

There has been a trend to render Jesus’ name Hebrew, יֵשׁוּעַ , Yeshua. The problem is neither Christ nor his apostles, nor the Jews in 30-33 A.D. spoke Hebrew, they spoke Aramaic. A ramaic is the oldest language on earth and was the language Jesus spoke. In fact, the oldest Old Testament is the Septuagint a Greco translation around 132 B.C.E. (165 Years Before Christ)that was translated from Aramaic. The Masoretic Text, The Hebrew Old Testament most Bibles use, dates from 7th to 10th Century A.D. (Medieval Times).  This translation does not cross reference with the words of Christ in the New Testament which are Aramaic and Koine Greek.  If the Aramaic was what Jesus spoke, then by what name would have been called? Jesus’ name in Aramaic is Isho or Eesho, spelled ܝܫܘܥ . That is the name of our Lord in Aramaic! He would have heard his name in this dialect, “Hail Isho or Eesho!” as well as the Greek, Ἰ ησο ῦ ς , Iesous.  Aramaic is disappearing, only a few peop...
Post a Comment
Read more