Why did God create the universe?

Sincerely,
Big Picture

Dear Big Picture,

God created the universe for His enjoyment and His glory (Col 1:16-17Col 1:16-17
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16 for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him; ¹⁷ and he is before all things, and in him all things consist.  

WP-Bible plugin).  God makes it clear that before He made even one molecule of the universe, He planned to offer salvation to mankind (Eph 1:4Eph 1:4
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4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love:  

WP-Bible plugin).  His plan was that all mankind would be offered the opportunity to spend eternity with Him through Jesus Christ (Eph 1:5Eph 1:5
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5 having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,  

WP-Bible plugin).  God created the earth, so we might live on it, choose Him, and spend eternity as His children.

If I have denied God to someone, and I am a christian, does it mean I will not spend everlasting life in heaven?

Sincerely,
Mum’s The Word

Dear Mum’s The Word,

A single act of denial will not condemn you to hell, but a lifestyle of denying Christ will.  Christ warns against being someone who will not confess His name before mankind (Matt 10:32-33Matt 10:32-33
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32 Every one therefore who shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father who is in heaven. ³³ But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in heaven.  

WP-Bible plugin).  Christ teaches us to be courageous and not timid with our faith (2 Tim 1:72 Tim 1:7
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7 For God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness; but of power and love and discipline.  

WP-Bible plugin).  Peter denied Christ three times (Lk 22:34Lk 22:34
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34 And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, until thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.  

WP-Bible plugin) in a single night, but Peter also later repented and changed his ways (Matt 26:75Matt 26:75
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75 And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.  

WP-Bible plugin).  It was a sin for you to deny God.  Repent of that sin, chart a new course of brave faith, and seek God’s forgiveness (Jas 5:15Jas 5:15
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15 and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, it shall be forgiven him.  

WP-Bible plugin).  If you draw near to God, He will faithfully draw near to you (Jas 4:8Jas 4:8
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8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye doubleminded.  

WP-Bible plugin).

I would like Bible reading about if gambling is a sin and where to find it in the Bible.

Sincerely,
On A Roll

Dear On A Roll,

The Bible never specifically mentions gambling as a sin, but gambling is wrong for several major reasons.

Gambling focuses around money and greed.  God warns us clearly about being fixated with money (1 Tim 6:101 Tim 6:10
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10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.  

WP-Bible plugin, Heb 13:5Heb 13:5
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5 Be ye free from the love of money; content with such things as ye have: for himself hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, neither will I in any wise forsake thee.  

WP-Bible plugin).  God wants us to be satisfied with our income (Eccl 5:10Eccl 5:10
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10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance, with increase: this also is vanity.  

WP-Bible plugin).

Gambling is used as a means to gain money without working for it.  God finds pleasure in people working for their money (2 Thess 3:10-122 Thess 3:10-12
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10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, If any will not work, neither let him eat. ¹¹ For we hear of some that walk among you disorderly, that work not at all, but are busybodies. ¹² Now them that are such we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.  

WP-Bible plugin,Pr 10:4Pr 10:4
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4 He becometh poor that worketh with a slack hand; But the hand of the diligent maketh rich.  

WP-Bible plugin).

Gambling wastes money because, ultimately, the house does always win.  God expects us to be good stewards (1 Cor 4:21 Cor 4:2
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2 Here, moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.  

WP-Bible plugin) and save for the future (Pr 6:6-8Pr 6:6-8
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6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; Consider her ways, and be wise: ⁷ Which having no chief, Overseer, or ruler, ⁸ Provideth her bread in the summer, And gathereth her food in the harvest.  

WP-Bible plugin).

Gambling and the places where gambling occurs are often associated with other sinful things.  There is a reason Las Vegas is called “Sin City”.  That industry is not one that a christian should be supporting (2 Cor 6:16-172 Cor 6:16-17
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16 And what agreement hath a temple of God with idols? for we are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ¹⁷ Wherefore Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, And touch no unclean thing; And I will receive you,  

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Gambling is addictive.  We can only have one master (Lk 16:13Lk 16:13
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13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.  

WP-Bible plugin).

All of these things deal with what is normally thought of as gambling.  Things like school raffles, cake-walks, penny-ante card games among friends, etc. fall into a grayer area.  So whenever considering these activities, use wisdom in comparing them to the concepts listed above.

The Bible says in the New Testament that a deacon or pastor should be the husband of one wife.  I attend a Baptist church that does not allow a man to be a deacon or pastor unless he has only been married once in his lifetime.  I do not disagree with this and I believe this to be true, but my question is if the pastor or a deacon in my church has had sexual relationships prior to meeting and marrying their first and only wife, would this not disqualify them from their office of pastor or deacon?

Sincerely,
Double-Checking

Dear Double-Checking,

The qualifications you are referring to occur in 1 Tim 3:2, 11 Tim 3:2, 1
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
2 The bishop therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, orderly, given to hospitality, apt to teach; ^{3 1} Faithful is the saying, If a man seeketh the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.  

WP-Bible plugin Tim 3:12, and Tit 1:6Tit 1:6
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6 if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children that believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly.  

WP-Bible plugin.  The term ‘husband of one wife’ literally means ‘a one woman man’ in the original Greek.  In order to be a deacon or a pastor, a man must have shown himself to be dedicated to one woman and committed to monogamy.  Previous relationships before marriage would not necessarily disqualify a man from serving, but all those details must be considered before appointing a man to the position of deacon or elder.  The question is simply, “Is this man a dedicated one-woman man?”  Answer that question, and you will know whether he is qualified.

Our church recently had to make a major decision.  One man mentioned that we should consider Scriptural examples of how the disciples made major decisions, and the most similar example he could think of was when the apostles cast lots in Acts 1 to choose who would replace Judas.  Some people dismissed this instantly, saying that we don’t have the Holy Spirit the way the apostles did.  Another person said we shouldn’t have to resort to casting lots; we could work this out logically.  Is casting lots an appropriate way for churches to make decisions today, and if so, what does casting lots look like?

Sincerely,
Luck Of The Draw

Dear Luck Of The Draw,

Casting lots was an ancient way of randomly deciding on something.  It is akin to flipping a coin or drawing the short straw in today’s culture.  Historically, what little we know of casting lots involved using dark and light colored stones and blindly choosing them, with each colored stone representing some aspect of the decision that needed to be made.  In Acts 1:26Acts 1:26
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26 And they gave lots for them; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.  

WP-Bible plugin, they cast lots to decide who would replace Judas the traitor and be numbered as one of the twelve apostles.  There are several key ideas that need to be understood before we make this a common practice in the church.

1. All logic had already been applied to the situation.  The apostles had already consulted Scriptures (Acts 1:15-16Acts 1:15-16
   English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
   15 And in these days Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren, and said , ¹⁶ Brethren, it was needful that the Scripture should be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spake before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who was guide to them that took Jesus.  
   
   WP-Bible plugin, Acts 1:20Acts 1:20
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   20 For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be made desolate, And let no man dwell therein: and, His office let another take.  
   
   WP-Bible plugin).  They had also used wisdom in setting up the minimum criteria for becoming an apostle (Acts 1:21-22Acts 1:21-22
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   21 Of the men therefore that have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and went out among us, ²² beginning from the baptism of John, unto the day that he was received up from us, of these must one become a witness with us of his resurrection.  
   
   WP-Bible plugin).  This decision was not made randomly and without prior thought.  They came to the conclusion of two potential candidates using Scriptural guidance and wisdom (Acts 1:23Acts 1:23
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   23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.  
   
   WP-Bible plugin).
2. This was a decision between two perfectly Biblical and healthy choices.  Both Joseph and Matthias were godly, faithful, competent, and qualified men.  Either one would have been a good decision.  Once again, all logic had been applied already.  The only reason they had to choose between these two men was because there was only one slot to fill in the apostleship.  Casting lots left the decision to random chance because there was no downside.
3. The power was in the prayer, not the casting of lots.  Before they cast lots, they prayed (Acts 1:24-25Acts 1:24-25
   English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
   24 And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show of these two the one whom thou hast chosen, ²⁵ to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas fell away, that he might go to his own place.  
   
   WP-Bible plugin).  There is only one time in the entire New Testament that we see casting lots used in a decision-making process… but we see prayer involved in hundreds of decisions.  The common denominator throughout the New Testament is prayer.  They prayed for wisdom and then “flipped a coin” because they honestly couldn’t choose between these two godly men, and God blessed their decision because they prayed and asked for the blessing.

In short (as if this was a short answer!), casting lots is as applicable as drawing straws – you can do it, but it really isn’t going to do you any good in and of itself.  Prayer (Jas 1:5Jas 1:5
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5 But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.  

WP-Bible plugin), searching the Scriptures (Acts 17:11Acts 17:11
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11 Now these were more noble than those in Thesslonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.  

WP-Bible plugin), and a multitude of wise counselors (Pr 11:14Pr 11:14
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14 Where no wise guidance is, the people falleth; But in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.  

WP-Bible plugin) are the real keys to good decision-making.

What guidance does the Bible have for how a church should use its money?  It seems from places such as 1 Corinthians 16 that when the early church collected funds, they were primarily used for benevolence.  Today it seems like the majority of a church’s income tends to go towards paying utilities and mortgages, and churches frequently have a large savings account.  What guidance does the Bible have as far as how much a church should keep in savings, how much debt it should take on, etc.?  If a church buys land, should it consider the investment value of the land as well?  What about earning interest on money in savings?

Sincerely,
Not For Profit

Dear Not For Profit,

The church is allowed to spend money on anything God commands the church to do.  If God commands the church to assemble (Heb 10:24-25Heb 10:24-25
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
24 and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works; ²⁵ not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting [one another]; and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh.  

WP-Bible plugin), the church can spend money to assemble in the most practical way it sees fit.  If God commands the church to teach (1 Cor 4:171 Cor 4:17
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17 For this cause have I sent unto you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who shall put you in remembrance of my ways which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every church.  

WP-Bible plugin), the church is authorized to spend money to facilitate teaching the saved and the lost.  If the church is told to do something, they are authorized to spend money to make it happen – that freedom to spend money is inherent within the command.  It would be the same as if someone asked you to take their car to the car wash… it would be understood that it was okay for you to spend the gas to drive the car to the car wash, and it was also okay for you to spend the money to pay for the car to be washed.  Whatever is necessary to fulfill a command is automatically allowed.

In the particular case of the Corinthian church, they needed to collect funds for benevolence… and that was a very common reason for collection in that time of christian persecution.  In today’s culture and world the church finds itself in, we need to pay for things that the first century saints would never have dreamed of (“Electrical bills?  What’s that?!”).  However, just because the expenses we face are not the same, that doesn’t mean that the same guidelines don’t apply.  1 Cor 16:1-21 Cor 16:1-2
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16 ¹ Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I gave order to the churches of Galatia, so also do ye. ² Upon the first day of the week let each one of you lay by him in store, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come.  

WP-Bible plugin outlines the mode with which to collect funds to pay for whatever expenses a church may incur.  It also explains that it is appropriate for the church to have a store of money for future expenses (1 Cor 16:2-31 Cor 16:2-3
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2 Upon the first day of the week let each one of you lay by him in store, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come. ³ And when I arrive, whomsoever ye shall approve, them will I send with letters to carry your bounty unto Jerusalem:  

WP-Bible plugin).

As far as how big that savings account can be, what level of debt the church can incur, savings accounts with interest, etc. – the church has the same guidelines for financial management as individuals… use wisdom (Pr 8:12-18Pr 8:12-18
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12 I wisdom have made prudence my dwelling, And find out knowledge [and] discretion. ¹³ The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil: Pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, And the perverse mouth, do I hate. ¹⁴ Counsel is mine, and sound knowledge: I am understanding; I have might. ¹⁵ By me kings reign, And princes decree justice. ¹⁶ By me princes rule, And nobles, [even] all the judges of the earth. ¹⁷ I love them that love me; And those that seek me diligently shall find me. ¹⁸ Riches and honor are with me; [Yea], durable wealth and righteousness.  

WP-Bible plugin).  Too little of savings is foolish; too much is greedy.  Interest is condoned by God (Matt 25:27Matt 25:27
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27 thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back mine own with interest.  

WP-Bible plugin) and shows wisdom, but “playing the market” with the church’s treasury is very different from gaining simple interest.  In other words, the church needs to show wisdom and discretion in its financial management.