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AUBURN • CALIFORNIAAnswers by Desmond Ford

Des, you mentioned, during the eleven o'clockhour, that just as Moses gave the law to thepeople, the One like unto Moses also gave

law. How do these laws differ?

Christ gave a depth to the law that Moses couldnever give.

Christ described the height and depth, thelength and breadth of the eternal truth. Christsaid to Pilate, "To this end was I born, and forthis cause came I into the world, that I shouldbear witness unto the truth" (John 18:37 KJV).Christ did not say to Pilate that he had come togive a new truth. He said he came to bear witnessto truth already existing.

The truth about duty had been around for along time. As soon as God made the world andinstituted the Sabbath, the first four command-ments came into effect automatically. If God isthe Creator, we must put him first. And how canyou make an image of the Creator who madeeverything? And we must reverence his nameand reverence his day.

As soon as the first marriage was celebratedin the Garden of Eden, the last six command-ments came into effect automatically. As soon asthere is a marriage, and a child is born, there areparents to honor. Once there is life, look after it,which is the sixth commandment. Life is in two

forms-male and female-which brings us to theseventh commandment. Be careful to preservethe right relationship between the sexes.

Besides life and purity, there is something elseto safeguard in the family, and that is property.So there is the commandment about stealing.One other thing to care for, and that's reputa-tion. So you get the ninth commandment, not tobear false witness.

Then at the root of all sin is wrong thinking.So the tenth commandment is about thinking.Thou shalt not even think wrongly. So the truthof law has been around for a long time-sincethe beginning.

The only two positive commandments of theDecalogue-the fourth and the fifth-point to theprimeval events of creation and marriage fromwhich all duty flows.

What our Lord Jesus did was reveal the law'snever-before-seen heights and depths. Remember,Jesus said, talking about the law of Moses: "Forverily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass,one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from thelaw, till all be fulfilled" (Matthew 5:18). Jesus islooking at even the smaller elements, the jotsand tittles.

Even the shadowy, ceremonial bits of the lawdidn't fail. They found their fulfillment in theantitype, Christ.

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Rr many years our family has been attending aBaptist church. We enjoy it there-the music,the prayers, worship, the sermons on the gospel.

However, we still believe many of the doctrines ofour former heritage, the Seventh-day Adventistchurch. For example, we believe the Sabbath, thestate of the dead, and what SDAs teach about hell.We sometimes ask ourselves: What's the differencewhat one believes?

This is a very good question.Let me take an example from your own

question. The doctrine of hell has made moreatheists than any other supposedly Christian doc-trine. Robert Ingersoll was the son of a minister.When he heard his father preach on hell, hewalked out saying, "If that's God, I hate him."And I don't blame him.

The reason he could say what he did isbecause he had the image of God in his heart,and God is love. Remember, when the poet said,"What brutal braggart made the world?" he wascontradicting himself. What he is saying is anoxymoron.

You can only make a judgment on the basis ofyour standard. And whoever made the worldmade our standard. So you can never say theJudge is bad, because it's the Judge who gave youyour concept of good. You could never have evilunless there was good. That's why the word "god"is a contraction of "good," and why "devil" is just"evil" with one letter prefixed.

So it does make a difference what onebelieves. It makes a very big difference. In allsorts of areas.

Obviously, if you get angry, it makes a differ-ence what you believe about murder. If you aretempted to immorality, it makes a big differencewhat you believe about the seventh command-ment. If you are tempted to give things undueproportion, your belief in the prohibition of idola-try can be a great protection.

Beliefs are very important because they leadto practice.

Many individuals I meet seem unimpressedwith the overwhelming textual evidence forthe Bible through the multitude of manu-

scripts. How can I succinctly drive home the histori-cal authenticity and reliability of Scripture?

People who are troubled about the reliabilityof Bible manuscripts do not know much aboutthe issue.

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Scholars who spend their lives studying Biblemanuscripts tell us that less than one percent ofthe original wording of Scripture-especially theNew Testament-is open to debate. Less than onepercent!

I recommend the book by Sir FrederickKenyon, Our Bible and the Bible Manuscripts. Thisis the greatest book on the topic. Imagine, lessthan one percent is open to debate!

How do we understand the problem of pain,suffering, death, and cancer in good peoplewho believe in God and the gospel?

My friends, we don't follow Christ for the loavesand fishes.

We live in a world that is cursed by sin. In aworld cursed by sin, all of us share, to someextent, the evil effects of sin. All of us-howeverreligious, however Christian, however good, how-ever filled with the Spirit.

God "causes his sun to rise on the evil and thegood, and sends rain on the righteous and theunrighteous" (Matthew 5:45 NIV).

The very best of Christians often need glasses,hearing aids, false teeth, and other aids. And it isas well that it is like that, because if Christianswere immune from these things, from physicalfrailties, who wouldn't join the church!

Such an influx would destroy the church. Itwould be a church largely filled with riceChristians. It would destroy us.

There is one other thing to be said. Oursicknesses are like our characters and our person-alities. To some extent-about a third-we are allshaped by heredity; and we're one-third made byour early environment. That also is true of sick-ness. We had little to do with shaping the envi-ronment in which we grew up. Then there is theone-third that we choose.

It's very important to understand that lastone-third. Whatever we can do, we should do.

In certain cases, Christ said to someone hehealed, "Sin no more." We are responsible forobeying the laws of God as far as we know them.But never make the mistake of saying all sicknessis that person's fault. Often it isn't.

And some of the greatest of saints in churchhistory have been the greatest of sufferers.

How do you explain those people who appearto be good people and do the same goodthings as Christians-yet they are atheists?

Plucked flowers still bloom for a while. It's thenext generation you'll have to look out for mostof all.

Intuitively, the law of God is on the side oftruth. We are all made in the image of God, soall have innate convictions about right andwrong. Even the atheist has conscience.

And the influence of Christianity lasts onlong after Christianity is rejected. We can call itthe 'cut -flower ethic.' But given generation aftergeneration without Christianity and the flowersof ethics will wither.

Remember that this generation, the mostanti-God generation that's ever lived, has mur-dered 100 million people! And this was done bygovernments that were in power, supposedly, toenforce the right and protect the honest!

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S there a curtain in the heavenly sanctuary, sepa-rating the various holy apartments? If not, wasthe curtain symbolic of Christ?

No, there's no curtain.If you read the whole book of Revelation,

there is never a curtain presented. The temple cur-tain that separated the holy from the most holyplace was just a symbol of our Lord Jesus' flesh.

We are told this in Hebrews 10:19-21.Scripture says that the temple curtain was a sym-bol of Christ's flesh. When our Lord's flesh wasrent by the spear, the temple curtain was rent.That was to tell us that there is now no divisionbetween the sinner and God, because sin hasbeen paid for by the Savior.

,f the wages of sin is death, did Lazarus receive an

unfair payment? He died a second time, afterJesus raised him from the dead.

What happened to Lazarus-his resurrection-was a plus. You shouldn't ask, "Wasn't his seconddeath an unfair disadvantage?" You should ask,"Wasn't his resurrection a very remarkableexample of grace?"

Remember, dear friends, death is nothing buta sleep. Who need be afraid of a sleep?

I'm not one scrap afraid of death, but I'mafraid of dying. That's different. But looking untoJesus, we can handle that too.

Moody was asked, "Do you have courageenough to be a martyr?" He said, "No, no, no, Idon't have courage enough to be a martyr. But ifChrist calls me to be a martyr, he'll give me

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courage enough."That's true for all of a Christian's trials,

including sickness and dying.

Can we not agree that the formation of thestate of Israel in 1948 was an intervention byGod?

Things can be providentially caused withoutthem being the topic of Bible prophecy. It hap-pens all the time.

God is sovereign, God is King. The Jews haveas much right to their own land as any other peo-ple on earth. Yes, I believe there was providencein the formation of the state of Israel.

That doesn't mean that I'm commendingeverything about the state of Israel. Many of itscitizens are agnostics or atheists. Many of the peo-ple in the state of Israel do not believe in the Godof the Scriptures. Most of them. Never forget that.

Yes, I believe there was a providence in it.

Do you know what the basic beliefs ofChristian Science and Scientologists are?

Christian Scientists believe that there is no suchthing as pain or disease or death. The ChristianScience Monitor, a very great newspaper, neveruses the word death. Amazing how you can writea newspaper without doing that.

Christian Scientists are usually very finepeople, very good people. They are very even,equitable, very upright, and very ethical.

Their teaching that there's no such thing assin or error is itself a contradiction, because therealways has to be the error that people are in errorabout error. It's just not a consistent teaching.

But many of the things they say are right.When they say that the mind has a tremendousinfluence on the body, that is true.

However, most Christian Scientists, as theymature, have found that they do need doctors forsetting bones, dentists for fixing teeth, andopthamologists for their eyes, and so on. Theirteaching just doesn't work out too well.

Scientologists are really a form of the New Age.Scientology says that man is really godlike.

Scientology has all sorts of extreme positions thatare similar to New Age positions, and very anti-biblical.

The founder, L. Ron Hubbard, was a rogue,and a rascal. He was impure, and a very

dastardly individual. He was quite unreliable.Scientology is something of the devil itself,

which is not to say that all Scientologists are badpeople. It's very easy for decent people to becometrapped, and a lot of them are.

Do you believe that all things work togetherfor good to those who love the Lord (Romans8:28)? Your own case, for example?

This is an allusion to Glacier View. I believe thatGlacier View has worked for much good.

However, there has been more sorrow andmore harm done to many other families than tomine. With great courtesy and compassion peo-ple have been sympathetic to Des Ford, but, real-ly, quite unnecessarily.

It was no great trauma for Gill and myself.Her courage was always good, and I didn't lose afriend, a single friend because of Glacier View.

And I've had a bigger, broader ministry sincethen: radio, television, publishing, and seminarsaround the world.

Yes,all things work together for good, andmine is only a trifling-but true-example.

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,f Loma Linda University continues teaching the

Moral Influence Theory while Andrews Universityteaches Righteousness by Faith (with obedience to

the law as the fruit of faith)-what message is thisgoing to send to the young ministers now preparingfor ministry in the SDA church?

They will be more confused than ever!

,f the footwashing service is to be practiced with

the Lord's Supper, would it not be better to do itafter the Bread and Wine? That's because the

footwashing is a symbol service not a cleansing.Surely, we come to Christ as we are, not yet right,not yet cleansed?

I think the logic in this is quite correct.To think that we earned the blessing symbol-

ized by the Bread and the Wine by humility andservice would reverse the gospel.

The logic of the question is correct. However,life is not always logical. What happened, histori-cally, was that when guests came in from outside,hot and sweaty, it was usually at that stage thatthe washing of feet took place.

But the logic here is undeniable, and if I were

talking about the theology of it, I would want tosay that, too.

Most Christians, of course, do not believe thatthe footwashing is a biblical ordinance. The rea-son is that whenever water is used in John'sGospel, it is used symbolically, in every case.Also, the other three Gospels don't refer to thefootwashing at all. Therefore, the practice cannotbe required because the Bible standard is, "in themouth of two or three witnesses" every truthshould be established. (See Deuteronomy 17:6;19:15; Matthew 18:16; 2 Corinthians 13:1; 1Timothy 5:19; Hebrews 10:28.)

How far can a person go in changing the Bookof Revelation before they are taken out ofthe Book of Life? There are many sincere

people who make private interpretations ofRevelation. Where do they stand in relation to thethreat in Revelation 22: 18-19?

The threat at the end of the Book of Revelation isnot talking about private interpretations. It'stalking about the willful deletion of passagesfrom manuscripts of the book. It's talking aboutwillful perversion, not mistaken or misguidedinterpretations.

Luke 15 is the story of the young man who wentaway to a far country, the Prodigal Son. Whatis the spiritual meaning of the father giving the

son a robe, putting a ring on his hand, and shoes onhis feet? What kind of feast would you recommendfor someone coming home to the Father? Do youthink a physical application would be appropriatetoday?

Parables are just parables. They are pictures,rather like types.

No parable "walks on all fours." A parableteaches some main idea, but not every detail of aparable is to be pressed into having a specialmeaning.

The purpose of the symbols you mention wasto teach acceptance.

Here was a young man who had cut his tieswith his family and lived selfishly. Yetwhen hecame back to his senses, his father accepted him.

This is a picture of all of us: We wander intothe far country of sin, yet God loves us still. Godsends us through the university of hard knocks.Some of us are taught by those hard knocks, andwe wake up. (Some never wake up.)

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Then God brings us back by his grace, andaccepts us.

So we are not meant to press every detail ofthe parable. The main idea is simply acceptance.

What kind of feast is appropriate for thosewho return? A feast of loving acceptance. And ifyou want a physical feast to go with it, that's justfine-but it's not primary.

How do you account for Israel's independencein 1948?

We have talked about that already.I believe there was a providence in it. Israel

has just as much right to a country as anyoneelse, but that does not mean it had to be foretoldin Scripture. The Scripture has been misappliedwhen so used.

Some people who go to church and call them-selves Christians haven't changed in 20 years!How can I tell whether I am growing and

maturing as a Christian?

If you have an increasing self-distrust, if youhave an increasing trust in God, increasingprayerfulness, if your life is less and less selfish,and the world is more and more enriched foryour being here-these are the tests.

Are there any steps in the Christian experiencea person can look at to know whether one isgrowing as a Christian?

There will be a deepening prayerfulness, anincreasing trust, a great self-distrust, an over-whelming desire to serve and to be of use. Godwill be our intimate Companion in an evergrow-ing way.

You know, the world must be better for ourbeing here-or we have no reason for being here.

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s there a time when a Christian can feel comfort-able giving a reason for the hope that lives within?

Yes,as soon as you are converted.Once you have seen the vision of the love of

God for the unlovely, you have something to talkabout and something worth talking about.

,f Christ died for all, what happens to those who

never knew Christ but lived as though they knewhim?

Remember, when we talk about not knowingChrist, what about knowing God, the Father?

Romans 1:19-21 says that from the begin-ning of the world, from the creation of the world,all persons have known something about God,the Father. In other words, there is the testimonyof nature, there is the testimony of conscience,and, because of Calvary, there is the testimony ofthe Holy Spirit. From the beginning the Spirit hasbeen moving upon the hearts of men.

People who respond to the moving of that HolySpirit, and become more like the God who madethem will be saved regardless of the culture theywere brought up in. Whether their culture isMohammedan, or Hindu, or whatever, if they arebecoming like God in humility, love, kindness, andgoodness in response to the Spirit-they are saved.

You see, the Bible says the fruit of the Spirit islove. Wherever you have unselfish love, you haveevidence that the Holy Spirit has been respondedto. I am talking about unselfish love, not justpaternal love. That is very unselfish, but it hasselfish elements. In fact, the only pure love in the

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world is God's love.Speaking more generally: If the fruit of the

Spirit is love, wherever you see unselfish love,wherever unselfish love dominates the life,whether it is Mohammedan or Hindu, it isbecause that person has responded to God'sSpirit. They will live forever because they haveresponded to the moving of the Spirit.

Salvation is not just a matter of geography.

A question about Colossians 1:27. "To them Godhas chosen to make known among the Gentilesthe glorious riches of this mystery, which is

Christ in you, the hope of glory" (NIV). ManyChristians use this text, but all they ever see is thephrase, "Christ in you" as if this is the gospel. Isn't itreally about Christ knowing the hope of glory?

The real meaning of the text is that Christ is inyour presence, that Christ is among you-thechurch. It is, of course, originally addressed to thegroup of believers at Colossae, but applies to allbelieving groups. It is not really stressing the idea ofChrist dwelling in the individual believer's heart.

This is clear in the Greek text and in the con-text of the verse. It is talking about Christ in yourmidst. Christ has come into the Christian church

and brought with him the hope of glory.Remember, the Bible uses such expressions as

"in Christ" 165 times. However, there are onlyhalf a dozen expressions going the other way,"Christ in you." The emphasis in our preachingand teaching ought to have the same proportion.

We must also give preeminence to justifica-tion over sanctification-though sanctification isalways the fruit of the gospel.

Does traditional Adventism believe Christ'snature was like Adam's after the Fall in orderto justify the need to live a perfect life?

Well, I suppose it could be that way for some.With others I think it is just sheer ignorance.

I knew a very fine Christian minister at onecollege where I taught. He was a beautiful gentle-man. I'd like to be half as good as he was. Hebelieved in the sinful nature of Christ.

One day I sat down with him, and I said, "Elderso-and-so, please give me a Bible study on thenature of Christ." Now, he could have given me anEllen White study, using statements without theircontexts, because from very early times she be-lieved in the sinlessness of Christ's human nature.

But he couldn't give me a Bible study. He hadbeen a minister for 50 years!

It is not always a wicked twisting and turningthat people engage in to prove a doctrine.Sometimes it is ignorance.

The New Testament says Jesus was that holything (Luke 1:35), without blemish or spot (1Peter 1:19), who knew no sin (2 Corinthians5:21), in him was no sin (1 John 3:5), and did nosin (1 Peter 2:22). Could it be more clear?

Tis is the oneyou've been waiting for: PleaseI explain Luke 2 1:24.

Please, let us have a look at the text. Christ istalking about what is happening to Jerusalem,and the treading down of Jerusalem until thetime of the end.

Let's look at it: "They will fall by the swordand will be taken as prisoners to all the nations.Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentilesuntil the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled" (NIV).

Please notice farther down in the context it istalking about when the Kingdom of God will ulti-mately come (verse 31). The text is saying this:"For over a millennium, Jerusalem has been thecenter of God's work on earth. It will never be so

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again after Calvary."Let me repeat what it is saying: "Though Jeru-

salem had been God's city for the center of God'swork for over a millennium, it never would be soagain. It would be trodden down by unbelievers."

Let me remind you: The average modern Jewin Jerusalem is an unbeliever.

Let me remind you: In the New Testamentonly those in the New Covenant are recognizedas God's Jews.

In the last book of the Bible, there are twowarnings against those who say they are Jews andare not-Revelation 2:9 and 3:9. So, anyone who isoutside the New Covenant is a Gentile. The NewCovenant is made with the house of Israel.Anyone outside the New Covenant, anyone who isnot in Christ is a Gentile. That applies even if yourbloodline goes back to Abraham, because a personis not a Jew who is one outwardly. A Jew is a per-son who is one inwardly. Scripture says:

A man is not a Jew if he is only one out-wardly, nor is circumcision merely outwardand physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is oneinwardly; and circumcision is circumcision ofthe heart, by the Spirit, not by the writtencode. Such a man's praise is not from men,but from God. (Romans 2:28-29)

How far can you deviate from following theBible literally before you are in danger?

If God looked at our actions only, we would all bein such horrible trouble. But an act's quality isdetermined by its motive.

That is how God judges our acts, fortunately.Very fortunately. Because we do so many thingswrongly.

God looks at what is in the heart. What's thereason you did it?

This also applies to some things that lookgood outwardly, but God looks into the heart andsays it's not good at all. And there are somethings that look bad, and God looks into theheart and says it's all right, they meant well.

It is the intent that's important.

Now, friends, I think that is all of your ques-tions from this Bible School. Unless, surreptitious-ly, I swept 50 more of them under the platform,or Roy walked off with them!

If I have missed yours, I'm not forgetting. Itjust never got to me.

Thank you very much for your questions. ~~