think there is life on other planets, put there by God, like us? I don’t, but others argue that there is.” A . This is a most frequent question today since man has been diligently working on space travel. We do not have any idea whether there is any animal life on other planets. If there is, it would have to be quite different from the human race. There is no other planet in our solar sys'tem which has the same chemical content of the atmosphere such as our planet. As to whether there is any other planet re volving around some other sun up in the heavens, there is not the slightest indication. Life, as we know it, exists exclusively here on this earth. Some day, when we get our resurrection bodies and are able to move about God’s heaven with the speed of mind (not the slow speed of light), then we will know for a certainty concerning this particular question. Until that time we must use what reasoning abil ity God has given us and on the basis of such reason, we would say there is no life like ours on any other planet. Q . Walla Walla, Washington — “If the Jews are God’s chosen people why do they obey the Talmud instead of the Bible? Have you read the Babylonian Talmud?” A . The Jews, of course, are God’s chos en people (Genesis 12:1-3; Deut. 14:1, 2; Amos 3:2). Not all of the Jews obey the Talmud. A small proportion of them, as orthodox Jews, do. Yet even here they do not obey all of it. This question is somewhat like our asking, ‘If those who trust in Christ are God’s elect ones, why don’t they act per fectly?” The problem is that they don’t obey everything in the Bible. It is the difference between one’s position and one’s condition. We have studied parts of the Babylonian Talmud. This could be studied as one would a Bible com mentary like Matthew Henry. * The easiest person to deceive is one's own self. it *
the information as it is found in the Scriptures. Anything else would be in correct. With the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, more than any other in the Bible, people go from one extreme to another. There are some who will not mention the Holy Spirit, treating Him as though He did not even exist. There are others who preach and teach it to the exclusion of all others. One im portant point, however, is not to mix the baptism of the Holy Spirit with water baptism. There is no water in volved in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, except the water of the Word of God. Anyone who has been baptized with the Holy Spirit by faith should also be instructed to be baptized in water. A basic verse in the answering of this question is I Corinthians 12:13, “For by one Spirit are we (believers) all (not just a certain number, not just those who have attained a certain de gree of spirituality or those who have gone on further in the faith) baptized into one body.” We do not teach a partial baptism of the Holy Spirit. We teach a complete, finished, adequate; and all sufficient baptism into one body, the body of Christ. The verse continues, “whether we be Jews or Gentiles (if we are believing), wheth er we be bond or free (if we are trust ing Christ); and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” When a Jew or Gentile trusts Christ as Saviour and Redeemer, immediately that individual is made a part of the body of Christ. The only way that individual can be made a part of the body of Christ is by a definite spiritual transaction which is called in Scripture, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It does not necessarily involve any feeling. It is not experien tial, but it is positional. This is some thing that God does, in the same man ner as justification. The baptism is not a special work of grace apart from faith. It is that which is the wonderful portion and privilege of every child of God and which happens immediately when that person trusts Christ for his salvation. Q. San Diego, California — “Do you
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