The Answerer

Ask your question of "The Answerer"

Kids ask questions of Peter Harris a Scripture Teacher in Perth public schools. Sadly it seems the Bible Stories are being re-enacted in real life at the moment. The stories may have more 'is-REAL-ism' since 1948. Before that there was no IS-RA-EL. (For exactly 1,871 years.)

Check out NEW STORIES on my Picture-Click Bible Stories page? 

     Peter's car is fully restored! 

In my first book I answered 100 of YOUR questions about: "Why didn't God stop?" or simply "Why doesn't God?" and about bad things that happen or about bad people doing bad things. 

 Check the "Q&A's" already on this site first!

         Try the orange Category search to the right ======>>>

          Or click on the Answers Tab above to see them in numerical order.

          See also the children.org.au website which has all of the Questions & Answers uploaded. (Someone else likes my Answers and that means they like your Questions, too!

The answers are being added below as blogs - so you can comment as others have contributed already. We have 1,500 more comments to work through this month!  

From Peter Harris

"The Answerer"

("The Answerer" is the name the children

in my Scripture classes call me!)

Dear reader,

I, the answerer, am now 89 Years old and I write this memo in a hospital bed in my home state of Western Australia.I have been here for weeks.

And I have been thinking that because so many of my readers do not live in Australia, many might not know what the “Good News” is truly all about.

The “Good News” is the gospels -the story of the life of Jesus in Matthew,Mark,Luke and John.

Well, the Archangel Gabriel visited Mary to give her a message from God. It was that Mary was a favoured lady and that “….the power of the most high will overshadow you so that the child born to you will be called the Son of God. You are to name him Jesus for He will save the people from their sins.”

That little encounter (story)can be found in Luke
chapter one.(Luke 1:26-38).
Well people needed to be save because sin separates us from God.
Many people had drifted far from him so He planned to send his son Jesus to die in our place and make a way for us to get to heaven.It was Jesus who died instead of us and he was known as “The Lamb of God” the “Sacrificial Lamb”.

High above Rio de Janero is a 30m. (97 feet high) statue of Jesus with his arms stretched out over the city, yea the whole world, as a welcome to all to come.
It is named “Christ the Redeemer.”

I like very much the word ‘redeem’ and ‘redeemer”,because that is what. Jesus is. The “Good News” is that getting to heaven is a freegift.
It cannot be bought,earned or bargained for. You take it or leave it.

Jesus said: “ I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies.” (John 11:25).
Believing in Jesus and His father,God, takes only a moment-but you then have the rest of your life to learn more about God and his ways.
If you choose to join God’s family be sure to choose a good and serious church near you because there are some churches that are not much more than Sunday social clubs and people can enjoy singing and good company. Go to a church where the “Good News” is preached often.

May God be with you and bless you as long as you live.

Peter Harris. Nov. 2021

Ps. Give yourself a lift and Google up John Newton. Read of his many years of evil living and even captain of a “ Slaver”-a ship carrying slaves to America and his later becoming a Preacher and writing the much loved hymn “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. “. It is more popular now than when he wrote it 230 years ago.

Some people are, and some are not, and some never will be.

Jesus told this story to teach his Disciples (and us) of different people and how some will gladly receive His word, others are just ‘Too busy.’ to take it on board-and some gladly take it and keep on taking it. It is a truly wonderful story that illustrates our lives here on earth.

Farmers: Everybody likes to grow things and appreciates the farmer who grows it for us to eat and enjoy. Jesus told this story like this: (theanswerer’s version)

A farmer was sowing seed so he could have a crop of probably wheat or corn, and some money. No machinery then and the grain was thrown (scattered) buy throwing handfuls into the ploughed field (paddock). Some of the seeds fell on the path through the field and birds saw it and flew down and ate it.  Other seed fell on stony ground and other seed fell among thorns and thistles and these weeds choked out much of the good seed and some seed fell on good soil. The seed on stony ground grew –but when the sun got hot the soil quickly dried out and the plant died. The seed in the good soil grew well and in the end produced (grew) 30 seeds from one plant. Other plants did better and produced 60 grains and some 100 grains from the one plant.

So it is the same with people who hear the ‘Good News’ (the Gospel of Jesus). Some are just too busy making money and buying ‘things’ for the family, others find it all a bit too hard to understand and believe it and in some cases Satan comes and ‘Helps them to forget’ what they learnt. But others are glad to hear such ‘Good news’ and want to hear and understand more and more. They gladly produce the extra grains and spread the ‘Good News’ to others.

Those who hear the ‘Good News’ are the people who hear it, believe it and want to know more and serve God in any way He directs them- even to becoming missionaries to their own people. That is what Jesus meant in saying “…some produce 30, 60 or even 100 times what was sown by the ‘Farmer’”-meaning a Christian who shares the ‘Good News’ with others.”

Just suppose now that you were among those listening to Jesus telling the story. “Which group do you think you would be in?”

The first three are those who let ‘things’- possessions and money-be first in their thinking. Others are just not interested, and some others get enthusiastic, but when troubles or persecution come along they blame God for bad things and forget about the ‘Good News’ that they heard. The ‘Jesus way’ is not all happiness and good times. These teach wise people many good things, if he or she will understand that God is not, maybe, in the hurry that they are in.

Mark 4.1-24 and Matthew 13:1-23

Punishment for child abusers. - Matthew Ch.6:11-18

NB:‘theanswerer’ has no doubt that children were Jesus’ favourite people. How do I know? Not once did Jesus criticize children- but plenty of times He ‘told off’ the grown-ups!

Children cannot say “No.”, and are defenceless against a strong adult, and if they are abused they cannot grow into happy normal adults. Child sexual abuse, as one friend told me is: “Murder of the soul”.

Currently in my country, Australia (in 2016-2017) there is a long running Royal Commission on child abuse, mainly by church and church institutions. Some of it is horrific: grown–up people mentally and emotionally crippled by priests and others. They mostly have little hope of a happy family life and such things, some have suicided (killed themselves). No wonder Jesus used his strongest words of punishment for the abusers. Severe judgement awaits them!!

Please note that in the Old Testament God separated children from the unbelieving adults. “All those twenty years and older will never enter the Promised Land.” Meaning even 19 year olds were not considered old enough to be a serious ‘doubter’ of God’s goodness, ie. not yet mature enough to be classed as adults! (See Numbers, Chapter 14:26-35)

This is what Jesus said: “It will be terrible for people who cause even one of my little followers to sin (or ‘to stumble’ or ‘To lose his faith in me’). These people would be better off thrown into the deepest part of the ocean with a heavy stone tied around their necks.” (Mt.18:6) And: “Don’t be cruel to any of these little ones! I promise you that their angels are always with my Father in heaven.” (Mt.18;10-11 From The Bible for Today)

One of the world’s finest Bible scholars, Dean Farrar, a former Dean of Canterbury, spent several years of his life in the land where Jesus lived and died. He lived with the local people, took the original Greek scripture text and wrote his story as a book: Life of Christ.   My copy is 103 years old and from his understanding of Jesus, wrote this comment on the words of Jesus. Do understand that this man, Dean Farrer, understood the very feelings that Jesus put into his words –things we cannot always get it in our English translation. They are powerful words indeed!! He wrote this:

“ And then gently resuming His discourse-the child nestling in His arms, and furnishing the text for his remarks-He warned them of the awful guilt and peril of offending, of tempting, of misleading, of seducing from the paths of innocence and righteousness, of teaching any wicked thing, or suggesting any wicked thing, or suggesting any wicked thought to one of these little ones, whose angels see the face of His Father in heaven.

Such wicked men and seducers, such human performers of the devil’s work-addressing them in words of more bitter crushing than any which He ever uttered-a worse fate, He said awaited them, than to be flung with the heaviest millstone around their neck into the sea.” Farrer, Dean; Life of Christ. p366.

Only God devises what their punishment will be, something very awful I am sure!

This book can be seen on the WWW-the same as my 103 year old copy.

Post Script: If you dear reader in the past, have done serious wicked things-there is forgiveness for you. John wrote: “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” We then have a ‘New start’ and begin again, leaving our sinful life behind.  (I John 1:9 NIV)

I recently read a book titled: THE BODY. A guide for Occupants, by BILL BRYSON.

It sure was a ‘can’t-put-it-down’ sort of book. It is a ‘Best seller’ too. Bill does not attribute the making of us to God- but I do. Bill is a highly respected writer and a very popular man. He writes so well. ALL SHOULD READ IT!

I simply put before you a few descriptions as to how our bodies are made up that I did not know about, but was amazed by how it was. Why?

At the finish of the book (it was on loan) I was amazed that my Mum lived to 100 years and I am now 88.

In the 100 years that my mum lived, the work that her heart did –if it was added up to ‘work’ or effort, would have lifted a one-ton weight 150 kilometres into the sky. Phew! (it would have gone past Richard Branson’s space flight!)

Also: An adult human being has about 25,000 km of blood arteries, veins and capillaries (very thin veins) to transport blood to the right places, at the right time and place to keep us warm, or to cool us down.

In a cell (not a drop of blood) there is about a metre of DNA. DNA is deoxyribonucleic acid and it holds chromosomes and genes.  Somehow these all combine together to decide our eye colour, eye shape, nose shape and size, skin colour hair and millions of other features that make us look and work as we live our lives. The DNA is composed of-as Bill says: ‘exquisitely fine strands’. These are so fine that it would take a million of them to be as thick as a human hair.        If, somehow these DNA strands in all of our cells were put end to end (in a long line) it would stretch out to Pluto ... about 1.8 billion km. (1,800,000,000 km). Did God design it?

And antibiotics: These are truly wonderful lifesaving drugs and have saved millions who would otherwise have died. BUT-stupid people are abusing them and using them when they should not. RESULT: Quite a lot of ‘Antibiotic resistant bugs’ that, sometimes, cannot be killed. In 20 years they may be of much less use and millions could die because of the stupid misuse. They also kill gut ‘bugs’- leaving us vulnerable to severe sickness.  DO READ THE BOOK because it might save your life later!!

God put millions of ‘Gut flora’ (good bugs) in our digestive system that keep us healthy and fight off infection and sickness. Please believe that.

Ps: The book is not Bill’s opinions. He liberally quotes maybe thousands of experts in the book. People from major research places, major hospitals and people who work only on one problem and ‘Know their stuff’. All are good sources of knowledge about problems.

Google up “how our eyes work” then “how our ears work”.