Do you have some tough questions that need answering?
If so, you can email us or chat with us about it or give us call (our numbers are in the Members area).
Below are questions you've previously asked. Click on a question below to be taken to the (attempted!) answer....
Q: When are Susie and Sean going to have a baby?
Q: Where did Jesus go between His death and resurrection, and what happened to Him whilst he was there?
Q: Is 'Brian' a good name for a baby girl?
Q: Is sex before marriage wrong and if so why?
The short answer... This is such a cool and interesting question. Revelation 21 talks about a ‘new heaven and new earth’:
1. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.
2. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
3. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,
4. and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."
5. And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And He said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true."
6. Then He said to me, "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.
Revelation 21:1-6
All the corrupt, flawed and painful part of creation is swept away and only the good stuff is left. We’re part of creation so we’re transformed too. So, anything lacking in our personality or character is made up, not so that we all become the same but so we become what we were made to be.
The long answer… It's easy to want Revelation (and even the prophets like Isaiah) to be 100% literal in meaning. For sure, Revelation and Isaiah are true… but not necessarily literal. This is because the main ‘problem’ the writers of these books had is that they are trying to describe the indescribable, to talk about immortality when they are mortal, to describe eternity when they are stuck in time – that’s pretty hard stuff to write about!
Hmmm… OK, think about this: you can't really predict what a baby
will look like as an adult, but in the adult you can look back and see
the adult in the baby (in photos and videos obviously!). What we will
be like in the new heaven and new earth is unpredictable now but when
we’re there and we look back we’ll be able to recognise ourselves. (This
is, after all, what happened when Jesus was resurrected after her died:
afterwards he was clearly recognisable, but different too.)
The question about people being changed by tough lives hits the nail on the head: the good stuff in our lives which we carry forward is to do with how much we have let ourselves be redeemed. Only things that are redeemed are a part of the new heaven and earth. And stuff is only truly redeemed if we bring it to God.
But what does ‘redeem’ mean? It means to make acceptable in spite of negative qualities or aspects; to restore yourself to favour or to somebody’s good opinion; to restore a reputation; to buy something back or pay something off; a ransom paid; to keep a promise… to pay for our sins by death of Jesus on the cross.
All this redemption stuff is how we end up with notions of hell (as if you won't let yourself, or part of yourself, be redeemed then how can you enter the new heaven and earth?) and even the Catholic view of purgatory, which is a bit like a waiting room (as it takes time to work through all that sinful bitterness and stuff before you are ready for heaven).
But really you probably knew the answer already: stuff happens. It’s what we do with it that counts.
Q: When are Susie and Sean going to have a baby?
The short answer… Mind your own!
The long answer… We've had one! :-)
Q: Where did Jesus go between His death and resurrection, and what happened to Him whilst he was there?
The short answer… Hey why can’t you ask us ‘easy’ questions like why does God allow suffering or what about other religions or something! The Bible does not say much about this topic actually but it does talk about an earthquake and ‘the curtain being torn’ in the gospels. Apart from that, really the only other references to what happens between His death and resurrection are below:
18. For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit;
19. in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison
1 Peter 3:18-19
...and...
6. For this is why the gospel was preached even to the dead, that though judged in the flesh like men, they might live in the spirit like God.
1 Peter 4:6
The most likely meaning of these tricky verses is that Jesus, after His death, went to see the ‘evil spirits’ who were awaiting judgment to announce His victory over death and the forces of evil. (When it says ‘spirits’ it may not necessarily mean dead people.)
The long answer… Even though there’s just a few short references to what happens between Jesus’ death and resurrection, bible commentaries take pages to describe all the various options of what is meant or what may be meant by these verses!
Do you know what ‘creeds’ are? The Nicene Creed is usually read every Sunday at church? Creeds are agreed statements of faith – they sum up what we believe from what the bible says. They were first written alongside the early gospel accounts to counter Gnosticism and heresies.
So what’s ‘gnosticism’ I hear you say? (Stay with me here, there is a reason for going into all this! Maybe go get a coke or something to keep you going!) Gnosticism is a general term for a number of mystical-type religions / philosophies that sprang up in the first few centuries after the birth of Jesus. They mostly believed in two separate Gods: one who created the ‘world of the Spirit’ and the other who created the ‘world of Matter’. They thought that the physical world of matter was all bad and evil. And a ‘heresy’ is something that's often mostly right… but ultimately it’s quite a bit wrong too. So, as I say, the creeds were first written to sort out the Gnostics and heretics… job done.
An-y-way, it’s probably because of 1 Peter 3:18-19 that that the Nicene Creed says Jesus “...was crucified, died and was buried. On the cross he descended into hell. On the third day he rose again...” which is maybe why this question was asked in the first place?
Perhaps the best thing to do is to view what happened to Jesus between His death and resurrection as a shout of victory of the cross over everything bad and evil… “Hey! Evil! It all over!”. Some would say that it was what happened on the cross that was the main thing and the resurrection simply the demonstration of it. (Hmm… which came first, the chicken or the egg?)
So, as I’m obviously beginning to lose it, I’d best wrap up there as really that’s as much as the bible tells us about what happened to Jesus during the period between Good Friday and Easter Day... anything else we say about it is interpretation or guesswork. Hey, if we’d been given all the answers we’d be bored!
Q: Is 'Brian' a good name for a baby girl?
The short answer… No!
The long answer… No, not at all!
Q: Is sex before marriage wrong and if so, why?
For this question we thought we'd post it on the Refine Facebook page for us all to contribute - see what you think, or post your own thoughts by clicking here. Those of you who don't have a Facebook can read a reply (this time given by a Refiner) below.
The short answer… God says
so.
The long answer… We need to
understand that everything God tells us to do is for our own good in the
end and this applies especially to relationships. He lays down
guidelines to stop us from getting hurt - not necessarily just
physically of course but also mentally and, importantly, spiritually.
Sex and sexual acts are an incredibly intimate! Sex is a good
thing - God created it so it must be good! - but He created it to be
within a truly committed relationship between two people: that means a
marriage. Sex creates a special bond between two people, a bond
which is only designed to be there within marriage. Many also
believe that sex, as it is an integral part of marriage, creates a bond
not just between two people but also a bond, a binding contract, between
them and God. So, this spiritual bond is really very strong and
you don't want to have it tangling up any relationships other than the
right relationship for you, the one you'll be in for the rest of your
life. It can be just too painful and destructive otherwise.
Don't agree with what we've said? Or you've got have more questions? Please email us or chat.
