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What is the minimum age for baptizing a believer or receiving him into the assembly?

What is the minimum age for baptizing a believer or receiving him into the assembly?

Being baptized "into (literally) the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 28:19)" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 28:19) involves a public identification with divine Persons. It is a public and personal testimony. Being in the assembly is a public and collective testimony. Although the Word of God doesn’t prescribe a minimum age for assuming public testimony, we could put an unfair burden on those who are too young for such a responsibility. Of those whose miracles were a public testimony to Israel, the youngest recorded is the maid of 12 (Mark 5:42)." TARGET="_blank">Mark 5:42). The first act of public testimony by the Lord was at the same age (Luke 2:42)." TARGET="_blank">Luke 2:42). By Jewish tradition, children assume public responsibility for keeping the law, becoming "sons (or daughters) of the law," at about that age. This does not set a specific age for our practice, but it gives some guidance. While many wonderful Christians started for heaven in early years and while it is a great blessing to see our children saved in their youth, we are embarking on a dangerous course if we emphasize and highlight youthful conversions. Nurture professing children sufficiently to encourage growth where there is divine life, without making it more difficult for them to be forthright, if they discover they are not really saved. Parents who promote their children for early baptism and reception are helping neither their child nor the work of God.

The teen years present many difficulties. While assembly reception may preserve some, others need time to sort through the challenges of those years.

D. Oliver
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Are people in heaven married?

Does the Lord teach that believers will not become married in heaven or that the marriage relationship will not exist in heaven?

In answer to the Sadducees’ question about the woman who had seven husbands (Matthew 22:23-32)," TARGET="_blank">Matthew 22:23-32), the Lord discloses that those who have resurrection bodies will not marry or be given in marriage. If this only means that couples will not become married while they are in resurrection bodies, but will retain the status of marriage they had at death (or the Rapture), it hardly answers the question. When each of the seven husbands died, he was married to that one woman. Which of them claims her as wife in the next life? This is the original question and, in that case, the Lord didn’t answer it.

The teaching cannot simply mean that death severs the relationship; therefore none were married at death and so they will not be married at the time of the resurrection. What about the Rapture? Are the only people who remain married in heaven the living couples who go to heaven at the Rapture?

Perhaps a better understanding of the Lord’s teaching is that the unmarried state of angels in heaven is the state of resurrected believers - whether on earth or in heaven. Marriage is an earthly, temporary, but wonderful institution. Its design is to better enable our understanding of the glorious and eternal relationship between Christ and the Church. In heaven our only thought there will be to please Him, our eternal Bridegroom (compare 1 Corinthians 7:34)." TARGET="_blank">1 Corinthians 7:34).

D. Oliver
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Could Jesus Christ have returned to heaven without dying on the cross?

Could our Lord have returned to heaven without going to the Cross?

This idea used to be put forward as a possible suggestion for illustrative purposes. What a wonderful ending to our Lord’s life it would have been had He gone straight up to heaven without dying! but without asserting that this was a possibility. Of later years this supposition has become an affirmation, put forward as though there was a clear “thus saith the Lord” for it. Especially have speculative teachers, who love the sensational, asserted this in connection with the Transfiguration on the Holy Mount. In reality this was the most unlikely moment for such a thing to occur, had it been otherwise within the range of God’s purposes, for such an event is never hinted at in any of the three Gospel accounts of the Transfiguration.

In Matthew 17" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 17 this comes just after the Lord’s first clear announcement of His passion: “Jesus began to show unto His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things”, etc. (Matthew 16:21)." TARGET="_blank">Matthew 16:21). In Mark 9" TARGET="_blank">Mark 9 likewise the account is preceded by the words of Mark 8:31," TARGET="_blank">Mark 8:31, “The Son of Man must suffer,” etc., and so in Luke 9" TARGET="_blank">Luke 9—the reference to the sufferings in Luke 9:22" TARGET="_blank">Luke 9:22 as a necessity, is followed by a glimpse of the coming Kingdom glory.

Far then from a choice being offered to our Lord on the Holy Mount of returning to heaven without dying, I believe this prophetic view of the coming Kingdom glory was to cheer the disciples in view of the certainly coming Cross. There is an additional fact given us in Luke, namely, the subject on which Moses and Elias conversed with our Lord in the glory —“They spake of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem.” Certainly Peter tried to turn Him from this purpose in Matt. i6, but was met with a stern rebuke.

The momentous scene in Gethsemane clearly shows, however, that the Lord was a free Agent in redemption. He was under no fatalistic necessity to redeem men, but He was “the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world,” and He had said to Nicodemus, “The Son of Man must be lifted up.” Later we hear Him saying, “For this cause came I unto this hour,” and “The Son of Man came . . to give His life a ransom for many.” These two sides of truth are seen at Gethsemane. His holy human will rightly shrank from contact with sin, and the Divine abandonment involved; but as a Divine Person His will was able to say, “Nevertheless not My will but thine be done.” When Peter sought by the use of the sword to defend His Master, the latter says, in Matthew 26:52," TARGET="_blank">Matthew 26:52, “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” but immediately adds, “But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?”

In John 18:11" TARGET="_blank">John 18:11 we have an additional word, “The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?” which, coming either before or after the other words, gives us the balance of Scripture. It was with “wicked hands”—the voluntary act of murderers—that men crucified and slew Him; but it was also with holy hands that He by a voluntary act, and by the Eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God (Hebrews 9)." TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 9). He could say with equal truth, “No man taketh My life from Me, but I lay it down of Myself,” and “this commandment have I received of My Father” (John 10)." TARGET="_blank">John 10). There was no fatalistic necessity for our Lord to lay down His life, but there was a moral necessity, and it is very unprofitable and unsound specula tio to assert the contrary.

W.H.

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Why does God allow suffering and pain?

Why is there pain and suffering?

You may also be interested in the more personal question "Why am I experiencing a time of difficulty? What is going trying to do to me?"

C.S. Lewis called it “The Problem of Pain” in his short, but influential book.

“If God were good, He would wish to make his creatures perfectly happy, and if God were almighty, He would be able to do what He wished. But the creatures are not happy. Therefore God lacks either goodness, or power, or both. That is the problem of pain in its simplest form.”

Very briefly, there are a number of ways of answering this challenge.

Choice

God created man, Satan and the angels with the power of choice. This gives us the option of choosing to obey or to rebel against God. Building us with a free will has the inherent risk of losing us to sin. Suffering, being the result of sin, is the inheritance we received from Adam and Eve and their fatal choice to disobey God. Romans 5:12" TARGET="_blank">Romans 5:12 says that he is the source of death in the world being the head of all humanity. As a consequence of Adam’s choice, the world is visited by calamity and suffering.

Romans 5:12" TARGET="_blank">Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned--

This “bondage of corruption,” with the “whole world groaning and travailing together in pain” (Romans 8:21, 22)," TARGET="_blank">Romans 8:21, 22), has affected all men everywhere. God did not make the world in its fallen state. In fact, when finishing the world he said "it is very good" (Genesis 2:1-3)." TARGET="_blank">Genesis 2:1-3). Some day in the future, God will take away the curse from the earth. In that day, “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain” (Revelation 21:4)." TARGET="_blank">Revelation 21:4).

God lacks power?

If God is almighty, then why does he allow suffering to exist? God actually uses suffering to accomplish his will. Hebrews 12:5-11" TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 12:5-11 says that he disciplines his children with chastening. Discipline is both punishment and instruction.

Hebrews 12:5-11" TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 12:5-11 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. (6) For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." (7) It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? (8) If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. (9) Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? (10) For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. (11) For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Hebrews 5:8-9" TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 5:8-9 says that Christ himself “learned” and was "made perfect" by what he suffered. Christ was certainly not ignorant nor unaware of suffering neither was he "imperfect" in the moral sense of sin. He "learned" by experience what suffering is. He "learned" obedience by practicing obedience even at the cost of the worst suffering imaginable. "Made perfect" is the completion of his work by carrying it out to the end.

Hebrews 5:7-9" TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 5:7-9 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. (8) Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. (9) And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,

Just because suffering continues to exist does not logically mean it exists because God is powerless to stop it. God uses suffering to accomplish his purposes, which raises the next question…

God is cruel?

If God is capable of stopping suffering, then why does it continue? To end suffering, God would have to end the root cause of suffering – the ability to sin. This would mean that God would end our ability to make choices. To stop murder, God could end our ability to commit murder. To stop sin against God, he could end our ability to rebel. To stop evil implies ending the ability for individuals to choose what they want to do. God created Adam with the foreknowledge that Adam and his sons had the ability to worship God as well as the ability of Cain to kill his own brother.

Doesn’t God want his creatures to be perfectly happy?

Is God leading us somewhere with the aid of suffering? The purpose of creation is not to give us self-indulgent pleasure. The ultimate happiness of man is found by being able to glorify God even if that entails suffering on our part. If God had made Adam with the mind of a programmed machine, Adam would not have sinned nor died. Adam and his descendents would also not have the experience of being redeemed by grace. There would be no salvation. There would be no mercy of God. There would be no heaven. Instead, God has created a plan that will be consummated by the salvation of sinners who don’t deserve redemption, but will worship God eternally because of it. Man would never know salvation apart from sin.

Suffering is turned into goodness in the end. God was not surprised by Adam’s sin and fall. Of course, this does not mean that God is the source of sin, but it does mean that God is above sin and can use it to accomplish glory in the end. If God is eventually going to bring glory to himself through the suffering of all humanity, can he not do the same in your broken life?

Conclusion

These are summary paragraphs of a few reasons why suffering is allowed to continue. We can't know all the reasons why God allows suffering we just know that He does.

Shad Sluiter

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What does the Bible say about gambling? Is gambling a sin?

Be the first to give an answer to this question. Write an answer in the comment section below. Please provide your name and if you have a website or blog, be sure to include the URL in your answer. You may optionally include an email address. Answers will be reviewed.

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Will there be night in the Millennium?

Does Isaiah 60:19-20" TARGET="_blank">Isaiah 60:19-20 teach that there will be night during the Millennium, or does It refer to the Eternal State? (See Revelation 21:23, 24, 25)." TARGET="_blank">Revelation 21:23, 24, 25).

Isaiah 60" TARGET="_blank">Isaiah 60seems undoubtedly to refer to the millennial glory of the saved nation of Israel. Verse 12 could not apply to the Eternal state. The passage—vv. 19 and 20, does not say there will be no sun or moon, but they will not be needed in “the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel,” that is, in the rebuilt Jerusalem, as we see her described by the prophet Ezekiel. The glory of that city will not be her historical associations, nor her unparalleled situation, but the fact that the Lord will be there (Ezekiel 48:35)." TARGET="_blank">Ezekiel 48:35). Indeed that will give her her new name, “Jehovah-Shammah.” (The Lord is there). Though no doubt the sun will continue to rise and set, and the moon to wax and wane over the millennial earth, the prophet says to Israel: “Thy sun shall no more go down,” that is, the Lord Jesus, reigning as their Messiah in their midst will not cease to lighten His city. He whose face shone as the sun on the Holy Mount, will never be eclipsed, and they will need no other light. As for Revelation 21: 23, 24, 25," TARGET="_blank">Revelation 21: 23, 24, 25, it does definitely say “there will be no night there.” I believe the whole chapter from verse 9 to the end is a description of “the New Jerusalem,” in connection with the New Earth, which will only supersede “the first earth” at the close of the millennium.

W.H.

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The Gospel Hall Forum

The Gospel Hall Forum is an email ListServ that has been in operation since 1996. It provides a way for believers to share news updates related to gospel work, prayer requests and to ask for information about others.

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How can I know which job offer to accept?

What circumstances guide a believer in selecting a specific job?

Assuming that the anticipated career move involves a suitable occupation for a believer, here are some questions based on biblical principles:

1. Has the path opened in answer to prayer?
2. Is this for greed or need - to become more financially responsible and more able to help others)?
3. Will this job remove me from contact with some who have shown a response to the gospel?
4. Is this move consistent with the Lord’s previous leading or does it reflect personal instability?
5. Do I understand all that the job involves?
6. Will this hinder me spiritually, including my ability to attend all assembly meetings?
7. Is this an escape from scripturally resolving interpersonal relationship problems or will it immerse me in such problems?

D. Oliver
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Did Jesus suffer the pains of Hell on the cross?

How are Christ's sacrificial sufferings related to the sufferings of the lost in hell?

What was infinite in character (the sufferings of our Lord Jesus at Calvary) and what will be eternal in duration (the sufferings of the lost in the lake of fire) should be carefully distinguished. A reverent consideration of the Bible's descriptions of Calvary indicates that the Lord Jesus endured the unmitigated judgment of God. His was an infinite capacity to feel and to suffer. His holy emotions, unclouded by sin, fully registered the approaching storm when He was in Gethsemane. He endured the totality of that judgment on the cross. Prophetically, His language was, "Thou hast afflicted me with all Thy waves." "All Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over me." Although the flood waters were "restrained" in Noah's day, no such limitations restricted the flood-tide of grief that swept over His holy soul. Typologically, the scapegoat, whose death was in an uninhabited land, points to the One Whose sufferings were incomprehensible to the human mind. How could we measure His sufferings when He Who is absolute Holiness was, at the same time, "made sin for us?" Not only was the Savior suffering for countless others' sins, but God, through His Son, was condemning sin in the flesh. How correct Samuel Stennett was, "What he endured no tongue can tell to save our souls from death and hell!" Saying, "Christ suffered our hell" not only claims too much but also says too little. He suffered infinitely more than we could have endured through endless ages.

E Higgins

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