Ask a Baraminologist: Theology

Our first question comes from Haisley: Is God walking with Jesus?

First of all, Haisley, great question. There is a lot of deep theology here we could go into, and I would encourage you to ask your parents or pastor about anything further you want to know on this topic. The important thing to understand here is that God and Jesus are not distinct in essence. Jesus is God (Philippians 2:5–6). God is a triune God. What that means is he is one God, in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If you don’t understand that concept, that’s OK. No theologian who has ever lived has completely understood it. Jesus explicitly said that he and the Father were one (John 10:30). And Jesus made the Father known on earth (John 1:18). So they are in complete agreement and can be said to walk together in harmony. I know this is a complicated topic, but I hope this helps you understand it.

Our next question comes from Juliet who asks, “If Jesus died for our sins, why do we still sin today?”

Great question, Juliet. We need to make a distinction here between Christ’s payment for sins and our own actions. When Christ died on the cross, he took the penalty for our sins on himself (1 Cor 15:3–4). Scripture says that God made Christ to be sin for us (2 Cor 5:21). So Christ was made responsible for our sins, even though he was perfect. In fact, it was only because he was perfect that he could pay for our sins. However, this does not mean we will not sin. This is because we have a sin nature (Romans 7:17–24). Even Paul constantly struggled with sin, to the point of saying he was the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). While we do become new creations in Christ when we become Christians (1 Corinthians 5:17), our old sin nature does not go away during our lifetime. We will not be perfect until we reach heaven.

Our final question comes from Kaleb who asks, “I’d really appreciate your perspective on global warming. Is it something we should think about or ignore?”

Awesome question. So God gave man dominion on the earth in the beginning (Gen 1:26, 28). That means we are responsible to take care of the creation God has entrusted us with. That said, God tells us how the world will end, and it will not be due to something man does. Instead, God says he will destroy the earth by fire (2 Peter 3:12–13). So while we should make decisions that are wise and not be wasteful of the things God has given us, we should not be worried about humanity going extinct due to global warming or climate change. Anyone panicking about that is not relying on the authority of Scripture and is showing a fundamental lack of understanding of the true nature of the universe.

Hopefully, these answers have helped you and blessed you. Make sure you join us again soon; I will be answering a couple more questions from other kids just like you! If you have a question, ask your parents to help you submit it here.