he change his mind (repent) and turn to God for salvation. So what many consider a contradiction is ac tually only an evidence of the un changeableness of our God who is both “ faithful and just to forgive us our sins” if we confess them to Him — and “ to cleanse us from all un righteousness.” God does not change in character, then, but only in His attitude, which is based upon man’s changing attitude toward Him. ASTROLOGY Q. People are becoming more and more interested in astrology. Is it a science and should Christians in terest themselves in this? A. “No” to both your questions. As tronomers and other men of science declare unanimously that astrology is not a science at all. It is a system of prediction based upon the signs of the zodiac, which teaches that the fate of men is determined by the position of the stars. How truly Shakespeare stated: “ The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” When the earth was believed to be center of the universe, the changing configurations of the heavenly bodies were believed to be indicative of hu man destiny. The early Chinese, Egyptians, Chaldeans, and the Ro mans, but not the Greeks, became de votees of astrology. In the Middle Ages the procedure was to divide a globe into 12 portions by circles run ning from pole to pole like those which now mark meridians of longi tude. Each of the 12 spaces between these circles was called a “ house of heaven.” Since each house represent ed advantages or the opposite, one as certained what star and what house were in the ascendancy at the time of a person’s birth and from this predicted his fortune. Astrology de clined after the 17th century but now interests susceptible people who do
not know their Bibles. The Lord for bade consultation with “ familiar spirits” (Isaiah 8:19) and those who used enchantments, star-gazers, as trologers and the like (Isaiah 47:11- 14). Our guidance is to be found in the Word of God. DEEDS OF THE BODY Q. I heard a preacher say that God has nothing whatever to do with our bodies, only our spirits. This does not seem to me to agree with the New Testament. Will you please give me some Scriptures to show this man? A. There are innumerable verses to refute this utter nonsense that we are not accountable to God for what our bodies do. Begin with Romans 12:1, I Corinthians 6:19-20 and I Thessalonians 5:23: “ I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mer cies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, ac ceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” ; “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” ; “ And the very God of peace sanctify (separate) you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul (mind) and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The body obeys what the spirit and mind direct it to do. We are accountable to God not only for what we think in our hearts, but also for what our eyes see, our lips speak, our hands perform and the places to which our feet take us. “ I f we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (I John 1:7).
GOD'S "REPENTANCE" Q. Will you please explain the seem ing contradiction of these verses: “For I am the Lord, I change not ” (Mai. 3 : 6 ) ; “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning ” (I Sam. 1 5 : 2 9 ) ; “And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for He is not a man that he should re pent” (I Sam. 1 5 : 2 9 ) ; and these that sound exactly the opposite: “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil that He had said that He would do unto them, and He did it not” (Jonah 3 : 10 ) and “And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart” (Gen. 6 : 6 ) . A. I am glad you said “ seeming con tradiction” for it is not an actual contradiction. There are no contra dictions in the Word of God, but we are sometimes confused in our un derstanding of them. The word translated repent has many shades of meaning from feeling sorry or re gretting to changing one’s mind. All of these verses are true. There never has been, nor shall there ever be, any alteration in the character of our Trinitarian God. He invariably hates sin and loves the sinner and seeks to save him. As His attitude toward sin and righteousness are unchanging, then His dealings with men do change as they turn from sin to re pentance. If this were not so, none of us would be saved. God grieved over man’s unrepentant and wicked condition even to the point of being regretful that He had made man. It was abhorrent to him that one He had made in His own image should become so rebellious and sinful. The unchangeable holy God had to de stroy sin and the only condition upon which He could spare man was that
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