But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
1 Corinthians 15:10 KJV
The Irresistible Revolution
"While the voices of blockbuster movies and pop culture cry out for a life outside the matrix of numb efficiency, Christianity often has offered little to the world, other than the hope that things will be better in heaven."
"Sometimes we speak out to change the world, and other times we speak to try to keep the world from changing us."
"In our culture of "seeker sensitivity" and radical inclusivity, the great temptation is to compromise the cost of discipleship in order to draw a larger crowd. With the most sincere hearts, we do not want to see anyone walk away from Jesus because of the discomfort of his cross, so we clip the claws on the Lion a little, we clean up a bit the bloody Passion we are called to follow."
"We would like to include people like the rich ruler and Ananias and Sapphira, but we would end up with the sort of Christianity that arose after Constantine, in which everyone can be a Christian but no one knows what a Christian is anymore."
"For us, belief is only the beginning. What really matters is how we live, how what we believe gets fleshed out, so we also have a statement of orthopraxis (meaning, "right living, right practices"). And this is where most belief-oriented faith communities fall short. They tell us only what they believe, but they do not tell us how their beliefs affect their lifestyles."
"We live in an age in which people, when they hear the word Christian, are much more likely to think of people who hate gays than people who love outcasts, and that is a dangerous thing."
"The world has seen Christian extremists who will blow up abortion clinics and dance on doctors' graves. We have seen Christian extremists who hold signs that say, "God hates fags." The world has seen Christian extremists who declare war in the name of the Lamb. But where are the Christian extremists for love and grace?"
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Non traditional thoughts about life, the world, and God from a Christian's perspective.
"I am seized with fear that my own will will be given place, and I will thus ruin my usableness for God. It would be easy to follow my feelings...to interfere with the voice of the Lord when He says, 'This is the way, walk ye in it.' "
Elisabeth Elliott
Monday, August 21, 2006
Where is God?I received an email today from George Frodsham of http://helpwithgod.blogspot.com that was filled with questions about the Christian faith. I will do my best to answer them here.
George:
Your questions are good questions. I admire you for seeking the answers to these questions. I am no biblical scholar, I am only a follower of Christ. I will answer your questions to the best of my ability, hoping that, as I do, I do not merely confuse you. I fear my answers will be more subjective than a scholar's answer, but I will do my best.
Let me preface this by saying that I am neither an atheist nor a Christian, and the questions and comments are not all originally mine.
I am somewhat confused about religion. I fully admit that I do not know much about it (indeed this is an attempt to find out), but what I do know makes it difficult for me to understand how people can be believers. So I ask one big question – how do you know that you’re right? Here are some questions/problems I have about Christianity:
1. The Bible: many take the bible to be the word of God – most of the religious beliefs and practises are based on it. However, changes (accidental and deliberate) to the bible over the last 2000 years mean that less than half of the words now there are the original ones. So is God changing the bible to fit the times? That’s the only explanation I see, but we have stumbled across a problem. Not only do we have hundreds of different versions of the bible, but we have also become so good at copying it that we don’t make ‘mistakes’ anymore. So how will God modify it?
God hasn't modified his word through the ages. There are different versions, sure. But they are all based on the same original manuscripts. And some are literal translations, some are paraphrases, some are commentary. That doesn't make them all different. They all (for the most part) contain the same information...the same information that was written in the original manuscripts.
2. Selflessness: from what I understand, one of the most important things about living a Christian life is being ‘good’, and that often means being selfless. So doing things only because you benefit from them is a sin. But why are people ‘good’? To go to heaven. Ask any Christian why they follow God’s word and the answer is so that they can go to heaven. Isn’t this the same thing as saying ‘I’m only good because I get a reward’? Sounds a little bit selfish to me… Those of you thinking that you are not ‘good’ for selfish reasons answer me this: would you still be ‘good’ if doing so sent you to hell?
I want to combine my answer for 2 and 3 so see below.
3. Different interpretations: everybody interprets the bible differently. Is this ok? Christians with the same fundamental beliefs live their lives in very different ways. Not all believe that premarital sex is wrong, not all believe that being homosexual is wrong, some think that you should go to church every day etc… So where is the line? Are there some basic beliefs that if you hold, you will go to heaven, as long as you’re ‘good’? Come to that, is it enough to just be ‘good’? Are these the basic beliefs: a. God exists b. Jesus was the son of God c. He saved us d. We should be nice people If they are, what was the big deal about the Da Vinci Code? Surely it’s anyone’s right to believe that as much as the bible – the evidence for both is about the same anyway. And they are upholding the basic beliefs.
The first thing to understand is that not everyone who says they are a Christian is a Christian. There are some basic misconceptions and stereotypes surrounding Christianity that are fueled by people who claim to be Christian but do not understand what it means to be a Christian. Spirit-filled believers, those who have an active relationship with Christ, do not serve God "to get to heaven" as you have suggested. We serve God because He deserves no less than our praise, worship, and service. He is our Almighty Creator and, despite our sinful tendencies, has bestowed upon us more grace than we can handle! Each and every one of us deserve to go to hell. Why? Because of our sinful natures. Humans chose to seperate themselves from God, yet God, in His infinite love and mercy, still chose to give us a way to get to Him. That is why we choose to live by the standards God has set forth in the Bible.
It isn't enough to be "good." What does good mean? Whose definition of good would you go by? God was pretty clear that "there is none righteous, no not one" (Romans 3:11) and that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). It isn't "good" people who go to heaven, it's forgiven people. The "basic beliefs" as you call them can be found in Romans 10:9: "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Basically, believe in God, know that Jesus is God's Son who was sent to die for you, acknowledge Him as Lord of your life, and believe in the resurrection.
As a Christian, I didn't see a "big deal" with The Da Vinci Code. It was a work of fiction. I read it with that in mind and found it to be an interesting work. The people who were up in arms about it were so, in my opinion, because they are not confident enough in their own beliefs to be able to handle someone challenging those beliefs.
4. Lack of miracles: miracles were the evidence that Jesus provided to show he was the son of God. A miracle, by definition, is something occurring that should be impossible (not unlikely). So when was the last miracle? Has one ever happened to you? Was it what made you a believer? A disease being cured doesn’t count – that is merely unlikely, and just as many people have died even though people were praying for them. However, something like an amputee’s leg growing back – that works.
As far as miracles go...whoever said a straightened hand is more spectacular than a healed heart? I can't take credit for that question, I believe Bill Bright is the mind behind it, but I have to agree. It is a miracle whenever someone's bitter broken heart is restored and made whole by the love of God.
5. Talking to God: many believers say that they believe in God because he talks to them. If someone says that they hear voices telling them what to do, we usually send them to an asylum. How do you know you are different to them? Secondly, why is it that God hasn’t spoken to billions of people, including me? This seems a little unfair considering he is supposed to love all humans equally.
God doesn't speak audibly. At least not to me. I've never heard an actual "voice" that I can attribute to God. What I have is His Holy Spirit dwelling in me. And with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit I am able to discern truth from falsehood. When I read His word, the Holy Spirit will point out particular passages that apply to something I am currently facing. The Holy Spirit acts as a guide, a conscience, if you will. It is that "voice" that believers hear. And nonbelievers, who do not have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them, have a much harder time hearing that voice. But, they do. If they didn't no one would ever convert to Christianity! The very act of becoming a Christian is listening to God's voice.
6. Other religions: if Christianity is the one true religion (and believers of other religions are going to hell), God is again being unfair to the billions of people who are never educated about Christianity, and never have a chance to believe in it. And it works the same the other way around. How many of you have been educated about every different religion and still choose Christianity? If you are brought up as a Muslim, you will be a Muslim. If you are brought up as a Hindu, you will be a Hindu. Or is it that it doesn’t matter which religion you believe in, just that you believe in a higher power? If that is the case, why do we have a bible?
To steal a quote from a movie..."God is like the wind. I can't see it, but I can feel it." And while Christianity isn't based on feelings, that's a pretty accurate description. I have actually studied other religions. I was even dabbling in Wicca for awhile there. But there's no away around John 14:6. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me" (emphasis mine). And why would you expect God, master of the Universe, to be limited by your definition of "fair"? And I would venture to say that there are few people out there who have never heard of Christianity. With today's technology, all of the first and second world countries have ready access to the knowledge of Christianity...and most third world countries have missionaries who are spreading the Gospel. The Bible has been translated into so many different languages just so folks could have the knowledge and choose for themselves.
Tags: Where is God?, Christianity
Posted by Amanda at 8/21/2006 04:33:00 PM
2 Comments
Dirty Butter posted at 8/22/2006 05:41:00 AM
I would just add that a god that you can understand is not god at all. Don't expect to understand all of Him. You much accept Him on faith. Use your God given intellect to study and learn, but in the end, it takes believing, not head knowledge, to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord.
Jay posted at 8/26/2006 09:02:00 PM
Hey Amanda. Just wanted to check out your blog. I think you handled those questions well. They're good questions that anyone exploring their faith should ask at some point, because they're indicitve of a true search for God. Of course we probably won't come to all the answers (and especially not the reasons for the answers) in our lifetimes. Still, it's wonderful to know that we can help people expand their faith, even if we know so little in the scheme of things. Hope your allergies feel better.
Jay