根據穆斯林的說法，聖經是否已經被更改？

 總是有人會問關於聖經是否已經被篡改。的確，沒有任何人擁有聖經的原本，但我們必須探討這個問題。問題在於我們擁有的複本是否已經被更改。

穆斯林總是提到聖經已經被篡改。有一位著名的學者名叫塔巴里，他承認聖經的準確性。塔巴里在穆罕默德去世兩百年後寫了一本名為《宗教與帝國》的書，他從未對聖經的真實性產生過疑問。

在九世紀，阿爾·加扎利研究了聖經。他始終表達聖經所有書卷的真實性，並且從未質疑聖經的完整性。

我將寫一些穆罕默德成為伊斯蘭教先知之前寫成的手稿。今天我們擁有的聖經與這些古代的手稿並無不同。

梵蒂岡抄本（Codex Vaticanus）約定於公元325-350年，包含了聖經中的所有書卷，直到希伯來書。原本文件並未延續至希伯來書9:14。新約剩餘的部分由另一位抄寫員補充。它現在存放於梵蒂岡圖書館。

亞歷山大抄本（Codex Alexandrinus）約定於公元450年，包含了大部分的聖經書卷。這份手稿從馬太福音25:6開始，約翰福音從6:50到8:52的部分和哥林多後書4:13到12:7的部分缺失。它目前存放於大英博物館。

西奈抄本（Codex Sinaiticus）約定於公元350年，包含了整本新約聖經以及部分舊約聖經。它也存放於大英博物館。

根据穆斯林的说法，圣经是否已经被更改？

 总是有人会问关于圣经是否已经被篡改。的确，没有任何人拥有圣经的原本，但我们必须探讨这个问题。问题在于我们拥有的副本是否已经被更改。

穆斯林总是提到圣经已经被篡改。有一位著名的学者名叫塔巴里，他承认圣经的准确性。塔巴里在穆罕默德去世两百年后写了一本名为《宗教与帝国》的书，他从未对圣经的真实性产生过疑问。

在九世纪，阿尔·加扎利研究了圣经。他始终表达圣经所有书卷的真实性，并且从未质疑圣经的完整性。

我将写一些穆罕默德成为伊斯兰教先知之前写成的手稿。今天我们拥有的圣经与这些古代的手稿并无不同。

梵蒂冈抄本（Codex Vaticanus）约定于公元325-350年，包含了圣经中的所有书卷，直到希伯来书。原本文件并未延续至希伯来书9:14。新约剩余的部分由另一位抄写员补充。它现在存放于梵蒂冈图书馆。

亚历山大抄本（Codex Alexandrinus）约定于公元450年，包含了大部分的圣经书卷。这份手稿从马太福音25:6开始，约翰福音从6:50到8:52的部分和哥林多后书4:13到12:7的部分缺失。它目前存放于大英博物馆。

西奈抄本（Codex Sinaiticus）约定于公元350年，包含了整本新约圣经以及部分旧约圣经。它也存放于大英博物馆。

Does God require Sabbath-keeping of Christians?

I will begin this blog with Colossians 2:16-17. It says, "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ." Romans 14:5 is similar in spirit. The verse says, "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers everyday alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his mind." Theses Scriptures make it clear that, for the Christian, Sabbath-keeping is a matter of spiritual freedom, not a command from God. Sabbath-keeping is a an issue on which God's Word instructs us not to judge each other. Sabbath-keeping is a matter about which each Christian needs to be fully convinced in their mind.

In the early chapters of the book of Acts, the first Christians were mostly Jews. When the Gentiles began to receive Jesus as deliverance, the Jewish Christians had a dilemma. What aspects of the Mosaic Law and Jewish tradition should Gentile Christians be instructed to obey? The apostles met and discussed the issue in the Jerusalem council (Acts 15). Acts 15:19-20 says, "It is my judgement, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to Go. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood." Sabbath-keeping was not one of the commands the apostles felt was needed to force on Gentile believers. It is inconceivable that the apostles would neglect to include Sabbath-keeping if it was God's command for Christians to observe the Sabbath day.

A common error in the Sabbath-keeping debate is the concept that the Sabbath was the day of worship. The Seventh Day Adventists believe that God requires the church service to be on Saturday, the Sabbath day. That is not what the Sabbath command was. The Sabbath command was to do no work on the Sabbath day (Exodus 20:8-11). Yes, Jews in Old Testament, New Testament and modern times use Saturday as the day of worship, but that is not the essence of the Sabbath command. In the book of Acts, whenever a meeting is said to be on the Sabbath , it was a meeting of Jews and/or Gentiles converts  to Judaism, not Christians.

You may have a question. When did the early believers meet? Acts 2:46-47 says, "Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who being saved." If there was a day that Christians met regularly, it was the first day of the week (our Sunday), not the Sabbath day (our Saturday) (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2). In honor of Christ's resurrection on Sunday, the early church observed Sunday not as the "Christian Sabbath" but as a day to especially worship Jesus Christ.

Is there anything wrong with worshiping on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath? No! We should worship God every day, not just on Saturday or Sunday! Many churches will have service on both days. There is freedom in Christ (Romans 8:21; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Galatians 6:1). Should a believer practice Sabbath-keeping, that is, not working on Saturdays? If a believer feels led to do so, yes (Romans 14:5). However, those who choose to practice Sabbath-keeping should not judge those who do not keep the Sabbath (Colossians 2:16), Further, those who do not keep the Sabbath should avoid being a stumbling block (1 Corinthians 8:9) to those who do keep the Sabbath, Galatians 5:13-15 says, "You, my brothers were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other."

GIF link: https://giphy.com/gifs/soKNvRuObmUoJLqYoI

Death will happen

We live in a world that acts that death is an option. If we have the right diet and workout plan, then we will live forever. People are afraid of death. If there was a shot to prevent death, millions of people would take it. This is my introduction to Genesis 35:19-20.

My last blog on the book of Genesis was title, "Life Is Difficult." I wrote that Rachel died while giving birth; therefore, life is hard. Rachel gave birth to Benjamin. Mankind view point of death could be like Rachel. She named the son, "Ben-Oni", which means Son Of My Trouble. Does death bother you, so that you can't go to funerals? I have knew a few people that are that scared of death.

Rachel gave birth to her son and she died. Jacob had to mourn because his wife died but he needed to keep living life. Jacob keep on moving and buried his wife in Ephrath  (nowadays called Bethlehem).Life still occurs when a loved one dies. I know that people will mourn differently. Jacob kept on living life, however, he was tearful. 

I could image Jacob crying and talking to his loved ones about honoring Rachel while being strong. I have the same approach to death. I give honor to my dead friends and family by keeping on moving forward.  Jacob had God in the center of his life, I have God in the center of my life. If a person has the forever picture, the person will see death has no sting. 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 says:

"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Jacob looked forward for the Messiah. He knew that the Messiah was the Redeemer. Hebrews 11:39-40 says:

"These were all commended for their faith , yet none of them received what had been promised, since God planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect."

I will get back with the life journey of Jacob. Now, Jacob will bury his wife in Ephrath. He had a period of great mourning, again, we need to embrace that point. God will bring healing when we do this. Everyone does it differently. Genesis 35:20 says,

"Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, to this day that pillar marks Rachels tomb."

People may die but the memories of them will not. It is true that we will be all forgotten but our loved ones will remember us. If I pass on, most people will forget about me, but my close friends will still cherish me.

I will get even deeper. I said the world will forget you. When your close friends and family die, your memory will be forgotten. There is Someone that will not forgot about you. His name is Jesus. It is interesting that Rachel was buried in Bethlehem. Jesus has always been around but He came as a man on this earth to redeemed mankind. He was born in Bethlehem, where Rachel was buried. I will go back to 1 Corinthians 15:55-57. Death has no power of over the true believers in Jesus. Have you embraced the power that has conquered death? Merry Christmas and may you embrace Jesus, forever. 

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWfgj9RMUeM&feature=youtu.be

My boss got mad at me

I will be open with my personal life. I assume that we all have jobs because you don't have a billion dollars. For many, it is a needed evil in life. I am not rich so I work everyday.

I have been working for Johnstone Supply for five years. There are four branches in the Northwest division of the company. There are locations in Bothell, Everett, Tukwila and Seattle.  I worked in the Seattle locations for three and half years. The Tukwila branch was growing and lacked warehouse workers. 

I was a part-time warehouse worker that did some sales. I was not great at the forklift when I was in the Seattle branch. The manager in Seattle was forced to send me down to the Tukwila as a loaner. It exposed my weakness. I did well enough to get transferred to Tukwila but was not perfect.

I got in some accidents with the forklift and was not the most accurate worker. I did my best but was not fully trained in Seattle. It was getting to my boss and co-workers in Tukwila so they were angry at me.

The manager got enough of my lack of training in the forklift and in other areas of my job. He challenged me to improve. I had a chance to not listen to him but I heard his words. I went to my co-workers for help. I was open to be better at my job. Many people would hate the boss, I thought my boss did the right action.

Proverbs 29:1 says, "A man who remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed-without remedy." I don't want not be teachable; therefore, I listen to people. The world is full of prideful people, so I ask the Lord to help me not to be prideful. I have been giving some props but the glory belongs to God.

This was uncomfortable for me to wrote about this event, but I wanted to farther the gospel. Get to know God and the Bible are needed in life.

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh40kWUoC8Y&list=PLgf_eOslPblEyzRYvw-YkuA3dhL-C900I&index=17

 

Life is difficult

It didn't took long for me to realize that life is difficult. A person should never expect that everything will go well. I am surprised when life doesn't give me an curve ball.

Jacob's life was not perfect. He moved place to place and had issues. He just moved to Bethel and his wife was going to give birth. Genesis 35:16-17 says, "Then they moved to Bethel. While they were some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, "Don't despair, for you have another son."

In the Jewish culture at that time, wealth was number of kids an couple had. It was an great honor to have an son. Childbirth has never been easy and during Rachel's day, many women died giving birth.

I will never give birth to an child, but child birth is like life. Life can be painful. 

Issues came up and the pain is great. We need to rely on Jesus during the painful times.

Genesis 35:18 says, "As she breathed her last- for she was dying- she named her son Ben-Oni."

If you are curious what Ben-One means, it means son of my trouble in Hebrew.

God never wanted women to have pain giving birth but since Adam sinned, they will have child birth pains. Genesis 3:16 says, "To the woman he said, "I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children."

The good news is that modern medicine has helped childbearing greatly. Women don't die much anymore and kids are healthy. Rachel lived in times when it was dangerous to give birth to children.

Sin causes pain and troubles. Sin will cause death.

Genesis 35:18 says, "But his father named him Benjamin." Benjamin in Hebrew means son of my right hand. In the Jewish culture, the right hand is identified as an special place of honor. Jacob viewed his son as an great blessing. 

We have an father in heaven that want us to be born again. We have sinned and death is our default position. Jesus came to this world to redeemed mankind. He did on the cross and arose from the dead.

If we repent from our sins and follow Him. We will have the Holy Spirit live in us.

John 5:24 says, "Very truly  I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life."

GIF Link: https://giphy.com/gifs/sinned-Q7dtPnRmU8EeEze2ku

What is success?

I will drive deep into this topic. Life is uncertain and it drains me. On Thursday, I was weak so I needed to rely on Philippians 4:10. The verse says, "I can do all this through him who gives me strength." Life can knock me out so I need Jesus.

We can't have life without plans. It is hard to figure out the next step. I do an simple first step. Proverbs 16:3 says, "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans." God has given me much wisdom.

We all need wisdom to survive in this world. People look to YouTube and books for guidance. I go to an book which helps me greatly. 2 Kings 2:3 says, "And observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulation, as it is written in the law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go."

God has given us talents. We must be faithful to honor him. Success is honoring God.

People want to do great movements but are you faithful in the little details in life?

Luke 16:10-11 says, "Whoever can be trusted with very little can be trusted with much and, whoever is dishonest with very little will be dishonest with very much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who can trust with great riches."

We must work hard in life and give honor to Jesus.

Action requires faith and our faith can waver. We must walk down the roads of life. Isaiah 41:10 says, "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed , for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous hand."

Jeremiah 17:7 says, "But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him."

I see many people that claim that they are self-made. This is pride that many people will fall into. God has given you abilities and provisions. Deuteronomy 8:18 says, "But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today."

I must get the heart of God in my desires. I must align my way with his will. When I do this then I have Psalm 37:4. It says, "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."

I see many people are drop-out even if they have college degrees. They are too prideful to admit that they need God. Proverbs 3:1-4 says, "My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many year and bring you peace and prosperity. Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man."

We must remain humble and follow the Lord. James 4:10 says, "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."

GIF link: https://giphy.com/gifs/road-L1Wcvajs9Ez3ZpKDPd