Check on Google if it's driving you nuts.
Here's another one to crack...
Question : What came first, the chicken or the egg?
Answer: Is that a fertilised or unfertilised egg?
A riddle is an apparently impossible problem. However, when the answer is revealed it is usually very simple and the person is left asking themselves why they couldn't see it before. The essence of a riddle is a single mystery and everyone loves a good mystery. To be able to solve a riddle is a sign of intelligence so we feel pleasure when we uncover the answer. The answer has been hidden and surely only the wise could have revealed it ; )
God loves to reveal the answer to a mystery if our ears are open! My friend Paul Shaw shared with his Karakia group the story of Moses and the Burning Bush and he asked them if they believed it.
One day as Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, out at the edge of the desert near Horeb, the mountain of God, suddenly the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him as a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw that the bush was on fire and that it didn’t burn up, he went over to investigate. Then God called out to him, “Moses! Moses!”
“Who is it?” Moses asked.
“Don’t come any closer,” God told him. “Take off your shoes, for you are standing on holy ground.
I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” (Moses covered his face with his hands, for he was afraid to look at God.)
Exodus 3:1-6
The Karakia group is a mixture of people, young and old (including a converted leader of the Mongrel Mob!). Needless to say, the youngest more easily believed the story of the Burning Bush. The adults struggled to believe the story so Paul pointed them to the Sun. Every day the Sun burns so fiercely and the fuel is never burnt up! So we can see the Sun and know that a Burning Bush isn't much of a problem for God!
The story of the Burning Bush also contains the wonderful answer to a mystery about whether there is life after death. 1600 years after God had appeared to Moses, the Sadducee's came to Jesus to try to prove that there was no life after death but Jesus proved to them from the above passage that it was true.
“But now as to whether there will be a resurrection—have you never read in the book of Exodus about Moses and the burning bush? God said to Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and I am the God of Isaac, and I am the God of Jacob.’
“God was telling Moses that these men, though dead for hundreds of years, were still very much alive, for he would not have said, ‘I am the God’ of those who don’t exist! You have made a serious error.”
Matthew 12:26-27
Jesus favourite method of teaching was in parables. Parables are a step up from a riddle, they are like a symphony compared to a pop song. They contain answers to multiple mysteries. When you go to Church and listen to a sermon, it is usually a straight talk explaining or instructing on a subject. Jesus didn't teach like that. His sermons used mystery to explain truth and were loved by the crowds. To be able to wrap up eternal truth in a story and make it interesting is a great skill. 2000 years later we are still talking about them : ) How many stories of today will be talked about in 4015 AD? Not many I would bet.
Jesus' level of intelligence was far beyond that of his enemies. He was easily able to respond to questions designed to trap him.
Then the Pharisees met together to try to think of some way to trap Jesus into saying something for which they could arrest him. They decided to send some of their men along with the Herodians to ask him this question: “Sir, we know you are very honest and teach the truth regardless of the consequences, without fear or favor. Now tell us, is it right to pay taxes to the Roman government or not?”
But Jesus saw what they were after. “You hypocrites!” he exclaimed. “Who are you trying to fool with your trick questions? Here, show me a coin.”
And they handed him a penny.
“Whose picture is stamped on it?” he asked them. “And whose name is this beneath the picture?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
“Well, then,” he said, “give it to Caesar if it is his, and give God everything that belongs to God.”
His reply surprised and baffled them, and they went away.
Matthew 22:15-22
And equally he was able to easily expose his opponents by presenting them with a trap of his own!
When he had returned to the Temple and was teaching, the chief priests and other Jewish leaders came up to him and demanded to know by whose authority he had thrown out the merchants the day before.
“I’ll tell you if you answer one question first,” Jesus replied. “Was John the Baptist sent from God or not?”
They talked it over among themselves. “If we say, ‘From God,’” they said, “then he will ask why we didn’t believe what John said. And if we deny that God sent him, we’ll be mobbed, for the crowd all think he was a prophet.” So they finally replied, “We don’t know!”
And Jesus said, “Then I won’t answer your question either.
Matthew 21:23-27
The crowds loved the things Jesus said which exposed the dishonesty and stupidity of their leaders. We could do with a bit more of that in our day and age ; )
A lot of people have difficulty in grasping how Jesus' death on the Cross can save us from our sins. For a child it is not a problem, they just believe it. But for an adult, life is much more complex and prevents them obtaining the peace that Jesus offers. They retain their feeling of guilt because they haven't found the key to solving the riddle. They need to understand the mystery of the Cross.
The answer to the riddle is that Jesus is God : ) If God himself has paid for our sins, what has Satan left to accuse us of after that? It's really that simple.
Answer: Is that a fertilised or unfertilised egg?
A riddle is an apparently impossible problem. However, when the answer is revealed it is usually very simple and the person is left asking themselves why they couldn't see it before. The essence of a riddle is a single mystery and everyone loves a good mystery. To be able to solve a riddle is a sign of intelligence so we feel pleasure when we uncover the answer. The answer has been hidden and surely only the wise could have revealed it ; )
God loves to reveal the answer to a mystery if our ears are open! My friend Paul Shaw shared with his Karakia group the story of Moses and the Burning Bush and he asked them if they believed it.
One day as Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, out at the edge of the desert near Horeb, the mountain of God, suddenly the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him as a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw that the bush was on fire and that it didn’t burn up, he went over to investigate. Then God called out to him, “Moses! Moses!”
“Who is it?” Moses asked.
“Don’t come any closer,” God told him. “Take off your shoes, for you are standing on holy ground.
I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” (Moses covered his face with his hands, for he was afraid to look at God.)
Exodus 3:1-6
The Karakia group is a mixture of people, young and old (including a converted leader of the Mongrel Mob!). Needless to say, the youngest more easily believed the story of the Burning Bush. The adults struggled to believe the story so Paul pointed them to the Sun. Every day the Sun burns so fiercely and the fuel is never burnt up! So we can see the Sun and know that a Burning Bush isn't much of a problem for God!
The story of the Burning Bush also contains the wonderful answer to a mystery about whether there is life after death. 1600 years after God had appeared to Moses, the Sadducee's came to Jesus to try to prove that there was no life after death but Jesus proved to them from the above passage that it was true.
“But now as to whether there will be a resurrection—have you never read in the book of Exodus about Moses and the burning bush? God said to Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and I am the God of Isaac, and I am the God of Jacob.’
“God was telling Moses that these men, though dead for hundreds of years, were still very much alive, for he would not have said, ‘I am the God’ of those who don’t exist! You have made a serious error.”
Matthew 12:26-27
Jesus favourite method of teaching was in parables. Parables are a step up from a riddle, they are like a symphony compared to a pop song. They contain answers to multiple mysteries. When you go to Church and listen to a sermon, it is usually a straight talk explaining or instructing on a subject. Jesus didn't teach like that. His sermons used mystery to explain truth and were loved by the crowds. To be able to wrap up eternal truth in a story and make it interesting is a great skill. 2000 years later we are still talking about them : ) How many stories of today will be talked about in 4015 AD? Not many I would bet.
Jesus' level of intelligence was far beyond that of his enemies. He was easily able to respond to questions designed to trap him.
Then the Pharisees met together to try to think of some way to trap Jesus into saying something for which they could arrest him. They decided to send some of their men along with the Herodians to ask him this question: “Sir, we know you are very honest and teach the truth regardless of the consequences, without fear or favor. Now tell us, is it right to pay taxes to the Roman government or not?”
But Jesus saw what they were after. “You hypocrites!” he exclaimed. “Who are you trying to fool with your trick questions? Here, show me a coin.”
And they handed him a penny.
“Whose picture is stamped on it?” he asked them. “And whose name is this beneath the picture?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
“Well, then,” he said, “give it to Caesar if it is his, and give God everything that belongs to God.”
His reply surprised and baffled them, and they went away.
Matthew 22:15-22
And equally he was able to easily expose his opponents by presenting them with a trap of his own!
When he had returned to the Temple and was teaching, the chief priests and other Jewish leaders came up to him and demanded to know by whose authority he had thrown out the merchants the day before.
“I’ll tell you if you answer one question first,” Jesus replied. “Was John the Baptist sent from God or not?”
They talked it over among themselves. “If we say, ‘From God,’” they said, “then he will ask why we didn’t believe what John said. And if we deny that God sent him, we’ll be mobbed, for the crowd all think he was a prophet.” So they finally replied, “We don’t know!”
And Jesus said, “Then I won’t answer your question either.
Matthew 21:23-27
The crowds loved the things Jesus said which exposed the dishonesty and stupidity of their leaders. We could do with a bit more of that in our day and age ; )
A lot of people have difficulty in grasping how Jesus' death on the Cross can save us from our sins. For a child it is not a problem, they just believe it. But for an adult, life is much more complex and prevents them obtaining the peace that Jesus offers. They retain their feeling of guilt because they haven't found the key to solving the riddle. They need to understand the mystery of the Cross.
The answer to the riddle is that Jesus is God : ) If God himself has paid for our sins, what has Satan left to accuse us of after that? It's really that simple.
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