FAQ's

If God is good, why do so many bad things happen?

I wish I knew the answer with 100% accuracy, but I can only share with you what I believe based on what the Bible says.
God gives man free will. Free will means that He did not make us robots. Robots can't choose to love. Robots only do what they are told to do. God wants a family. People created in His image that choose to love Him or choose not to. This choice of free will leaves it open for people to do horrible things. Yet God intervenes in so many instances, some that we may not even be aware of until we get to Heaven, through prayer and His sovereignty. We don't know just how bad things would have been without God's intervention in the things we experienced or happened in our lives.
God is a gentleman, and He does not force himself on people. He does not force people to say yes to Him. He wants people to choose to be in a relationship with Him. I believe the more God we have in the world, the more outward intervention of God we will see. We need to invite God into every area of our lives, into every area of our society. We need to pray and ask Him to intervene in our most challenging situations. We must also remember that we are the hands and feet of God in the earth. We are supposed to partner with Him to bring the Kingdom of God here, the culture of Heaven. We need those who have chosen Jesus to understand this reality and begin to live it out by bringing the culture of Heaven to their workplace, homes, and friends, in fact, everywhere. There is a belief that the important people are those in "ministry" in churches, but we are ALL called to "ministry," just not all in the church. The majority of things are supposed to happen by those outside the church. We are supposed to get discipled in the church to go out and do the "ministry" in our everyday lives and bring the culture of Heaven into every situation. In doing this, we would see a lot less bad stuff and more of the love of Jesus. People need God to change their heart of flesh to one of the Spirit. They need a loving God to touch the broken places where they have been hurt. We can make all the difference in the earth when we live like this.

Does believing in Jesus mean I will have to live a boring life?

Yeah, that's what I thought was going to happen. I will have to be Ms. Goodie two shoes now that I'm a Christian. No more partying, getting drunk, and sleeping with my boyfriend. Lame right? Oh, how I was wrong! When my life started changing after I gave my life to Jesus and got baptized in the Holy Spirit, I began to look back on how I lived and the things I had done, and I realized the world lied to me. Culture told me this is what you do to have fun; this is what you do to be cool; this is the normal way of living life. For me, an even greater part of it was I found that I had a very broken heart, and I used these things as a way of escape to not deal with the pain inside of me. In reality, getting drunk and feeling like crap the next day was not fun! Regretting what I did or said was not fun! Living life with a broken heart was not fun!

When I started to read the Bible and see what an actual believer's life is supposed to look like, I was blown away! While I am still on a journey of living out only the elementary things of God, there is NO comparison between what the world says is fun compared to what we can do as children of God.

We can pray for the sick and see them healed; we can hear from God and share what God is saying about people with them; we can even raise the dead and so much more! Now, this is some serious fun!!!! Sharing Christ with people who are hurt and broken is fun! Seeing someone's eyes light up when they feel loved is fun!

Then there is the aspect of the battle between good and evil. While Jesus took the keys away from the devil and handed them over to us, the devil is still active in the earth. We, as believers, need to operate in the authority given to us to shut down his involvement in the earth. In this Epic battle, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities, powers, and rulers of darkness. It is a spiritual battle that has genuine consequences in the earth. If all the gamers were to know there is a real-life situation in which they could kick some evil booty, they could have a whole new purpose in life!!! Keeping in mind our weapons are not carnal but mighty through God, we use spiritual weapons as believers.

Is the Bible just a bunch of rules I'll have to live by?

The Bible is the living word of God. That's not just a catchy saying, but it is literally true. The words that are written in the Bible have life in them; they are alive. Remember being a believer is supernatural. God is supernatural, meaning he supersedes the natural laws. The Bible is full of truth. While many things need to be understood through the time frame of the writings and why they were written, like matters related to women addressed here in the FAQ, many things are very clear. These are way better than rules; they reveal God's best for us.
Adultery, Gossip, Lying, and sex outside of marriage, to name a few, are not beneficial to our lives or good for us. The world has told us that these things are OK, good, and normal. That it all doesn't matter, but if you were to step back and look at your life, if you have done any of these things, you would probably conclude that, yeah, these things didn't turn out well for me or the others involved. Some may seem like more minor sins while others seem larger; all are wrong and cause pain and hurt to us and others. The devil entices us to do these things, and then he heaps shame, guilt, and condemnation on us. He has quite the system of breaking people down over and over again. God is a good Father who wants good things for His children. He doesn't tell us that we should avoid these things to keep us from having fun but because it is the best thing for us, our lives, and our hearts.

Does God believe that women are less than men and should be treated as such?

The quick answer is Absolutely NOT!

I recommend the book: Fashioned to Reign by Kris Vallotton if you would like to read into this more than what I can lay out here. It Biblically and culturally dispels all the scriptures in the Bible that some want to use to try and dominate, minimize, and attempt to keep women from fulfilling their God-given destiny, which is just as important as the guys fulfilling their destiny. Women are not second-class citizens in the Bible or God's eyes. The Bible clearly states in Genesis 1:27 - So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. At the very beginning of the Bible, it says both, female and male, are created in the image of God. Now, why would God think that half of His image is inferior to the other half? It's just not rational.

Some women get a bit bent out of shape when they hear about scripture saying you need to submit to your husband, which is understandable, especially if you have a negative view of this word and possibly of your husband. Submission is yielding and surrendering. If your husband were fulfilling what the Bible speaks of for him, which is laying down his life for his wife, this would come easy as your husband would be seen in your eyes as your protector, a great champion who encourages you and cheers you on in life, who always has your best interest in mind. When he brings something up as the head of the household, you would know that he does so with your best interest in mind, not to control or to dominate but to protect. Some women may also object to the husband being the head of the household. What we need to understand is that God created us with different designs. Men have things of God's character that women do not, and vice versa. It takes man and women to represent the fullness of who God is. One of the most beautiful aspects of marriage is that when we come together, we bring different aspects of God to the table to have a full life in Him. Being the head of the household does not make a man better than a woman; he was simply created for that position, and it is supposed to be a position of love, not domination. If you have believed or experienced something other than these things, I am so sorry; I implore you to please not reject God because people have understood and lived things out wrongly.

Jesus is the head of the Church. He is not dominating, He is not controlling and He does not flaunt His position of being the head. He leads in love and He leads by example. He is the example husbands should be looking to when it comes to being the head of the household.

Should I wait until my life is straightened out to say yes to Jesus?

The reality is that none of us, no matter how clean we have lived, will ever be as clean as Jesus. He is sinless. He wants to receive you just as you are! You are welcome to come to him as you are right this second. Can you feel the joy and longing in His heart right now at this very moment just at the thought that you would say yes to coming into a relationship with Him?!?! I can; I have tears in my eyes right now for you as I write this knowing you, yes you, will read this someday. He wants you to know how much he loves you and wants to restore you to God's family.

Are there things that God won't forgive?

There is only one thing in the Bible that God says is unforgivable, and that is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Everything else is forgivable! Those who have committed the unpardonable sin aren't concerned that they have committed it as their hearts have become so hardened against God that they never even have a flicker inside of them wanting to be in relationship with Him. If at any point, even up until the moment of someone passing, someone has the desire to know Jesus and is willing to say yes to being in a relationship with Him, Jesus welcomes them with open arms! Jesus has already paid the price for all sins when He died on the cross and would love for everyone to receive this gift of salvation from Him to be set free from the weight of sin in our lives.