Removing God From Your Metric...

 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said, "Man has forgotten God." What is meant is that the biggest issue today is whether man can live without God because He doesn't think He is necessary to answer the ultimate and big questions of life any longer, as Nietzsche said, "God is dead," or irrelevant and no longer needed!  Evolution seems to make atheists feel intellectually fulfilled and to be able to challenge the religious establishment and elites.  That's quite a commentary even on today's society and that was many years ago.  

Our technical expertise has surpassed our wisdom on how to best use it. We discover that inventions can be used for evil as well as good; the same thing Alfred Nobel wondered about dynamite. He felt so guilty that he founded the Nobel Peace Prize to compensate all the evil that could be done in his name.   We are rapidly seeing and overseeing our own destruction without any outside help and we can blame no one but ourselves. Will Durant said that "no society has been able to maintain morality without the aid of its religion!"  and George Bernard Shaw is said to have quipped, "No nation has survived the loss of its gods."  You must realize that it was the church that kept the Roman Empire becoming utter chaos and lawlessness. 

What can be done? Man needs to realize his identity in God which he has forgotten: he is in the image of God and hot-wired for dignity, purpose, meaning, fulfillment, self-worth, and self-esteem.  Without God, life makes no sense and if you do not reckon God in the dynamic, man becomes a useless enigma and purposeless lifeform, no better than the beast.  Have you ever observed an ape building a chapel? Of course not! They are oblivious to God because they are not in His image and not meant to worship Him. We have a heart to love God, a mind to know Him, and the will to obey Him; animals do not. 

How can we find our purpose or calling? William James said "the best use of a life is to spend it on something that will outlast it.". We must live for something bigger than ourselves!"  We must not then just live for the here and now and eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die!  We are meant to live in light of eternity!  We have our identity in God! 

This image we have enables us to have the madness of laughter, the tears of joy and sorrow, the communicative ability to talk to God, the rational mind to reason, the morals to be responsible for our actions, the emotions and love to have a relationship with God on a personal level and find joy in God, the free will to decide if we want to serve God, and the intellect to know God. We have many things in common with God too besides that: we have a sense of humor, we are artistic and have an aesthetic sense, and we are musical and especially that we ae imaginative and creative and can think on an abstract level! This is why we are not stupid like the animals who cannot know God.

Bertrand Russell, atheist philosopher, said that "unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless."  We simply come from nothing but blue-green algae scum, we have no divine or ultimate purpose in living, we are headed nowhere after death and this means there is no justice because it is necessary according to philosopher Immanuel Kant that God be the Judge that He can make all things right that were wronged in this life.  Too many people get away with crime and evil and never see justice or their comeuppance and God is necessary to even the score and settle matters on Judgment Day.   In sum, consider the wise  words of Dostoevsky: "If there is no God, all things are permissible."   Soli Deo Gloria! 

What Do You Want From Christianity?

 People seek Christianity for a plethora of reasons.  Some are looking for answers to life's biggest questions (even the Answer), some are looking for the benefits though not the Benefactor, some are seeking fulfillment or meaning and purpose in life, some may be battling sin and want to have power it, some seek genuine salvation, some seeking a mission statement or assignment to dedicate themselves to, some are seeking mundane solutions and daily needs, some are actually searching for a way of escape from problems, some are trying to overcome sin or some hang-up or addiction, some are seeking for a job to do or task to complete, some are trying to find something they can do that will earn salvation, some are seeking a song to sing or creed to believe in, some are actually looking for truth and willing to pay the price to know it. There are many demographics of people in church who may seek these things: seekers, skeptics, cynics, nihilists, contra-Christians, infant Christians, adolescent Christians, and even your mature and informed believer.  What  do you want of your faith? 

Jesus is more than a personage to believe and that existed.  He is the God of Gods and the only perfect man who ever lived. He is more  than a moral Exemplar, or Teacher, or Leader to show us the way to live a good life.  His purpose was to die for us, not to show us morals or lessons on living.   He defined eternal life as knowing Him and the Father as it says in Scripture: Know the Lord!  He came to do all we couldn't do and to finish the work of defeating the devil's work and bear witness of the truth.  We would be blind without Him for He is the way and we would not know where to go without Him.  He is the truth and we couldn't know anything for sure without Him, and He is the life and we couldn't know how to live without Him.  Some teachers have said that we should emulate great men like Jesus but this sells Him short and doesn't do Him justice to rank Him with the so-called great men of history, though He is the central figure of Western Civilization and greatest revolutionist. Early believers called our faith the Way and sought to show the truths Jesus taught and to live in the truth.  It is a great joy to God that we abide in the truth and live accordingly. 

Jesus is a Friend,, Advocate, or Intercessor to have in our corner and to be on our side when we sin and to make sure we neve are alone.  But don't just think you are His buddy and can get on familiar terms or that God has favorites, especially you.  We are all one in Christ and there is no room for elites.  We are the servants of Christ and those who obey Him only are worthy of being called friends. We must strive to know Christ as Lord and Savior and even Judge and Teacher to not put Him in a box.  We must accept the true Christ and not another Jesus who isn't God in the flesh and receive Him for who He is: Lord and Savior. He lives in us as a substituted, surrendered, inhabited, exchanged, and Spirit-filled life!   He must be accepted as He is or we are rejecting Him; we cannot just see Him as a Savior and not submit as Lord.  Christ will not be divided. Christ seeks to live in us and that means more than someone who is company, but one who abides in us and controls us and we have Him living through us.  

Now, Christianity can be a fulfilling life if we seek God's will.  God will prosper us and equip us to do whatever He calls us to do and another thing: He will never give up on us and we are His work in progress and that means we will always grow in  our faith. We progress from faith to faith as we grow in maturity; there is no treading water so to speak as we are either backsliding or growing.  We are to have a living faith and that means one that grows.  We will go somewhere with Christ.  If you don't think or plan on going somewhere, that is still a finish line.  If you go anywhere long enough, you will end up somewhere.  So be careful that you go with God and find His will lest He say, "Okay, have it y our way and do as you will." That is a statement we don't want to hear!   For we will all have to go one on one with God and at the final audit of our lives, we will give account of ourselves. 

So what the real goal should be is to find God's will for your life and more specifically, your spiritual gift.  The only way to do this is to get out in the mission field or place of service and see what you can do and try things for experiment until you find what you are suited to and your natural gifting. We are all fulfilled when we find God's will and calling for our lives and start to progress in service with God's blessing.  Do you want to be rewarded for no labor in the Lord is in vain and when you find God's will you will be all the more motivated to do it and it won't be a chore.  It isn't a matter of your achievements though, but God's accomplishment that you trust in. Faith doesn't save, Christ does.  It's the object that matters.  That is the error of those who on Judgment Day will say, "Lord, Lord, did we not....:|" They trusted in their works, not in the Lord.  And by the way, we must neve play the "Let's compare!" game and get jealous of the ministries of others for to whom much is given, much is required. 

Our endgame ought to be to love Jesus more fully especially that it overflows and we can share Christ with others that they may see Christ in us and be converted--the main thing.  Our lives ought to be dedicated to service and only those who learn to serve will be happy in Jesus and find fulfillment.   And the byproduct of all this is that we know Christ and are able to build a loving relationship with Him. There is so much that our faith offers: we don't just have a worldview that outshines all others and answers all the big questions of life, but we can be blessed and truly find the good life by following on to know the Lord and obeying Him, for to obey is better than sacrifice. If you just want a life without problems or to be financially secure and to have the American dream, you are looking at another Jesus because the real one warned us we would have trials and tribulations in the school of Christ which comes with the territory. We must be willing to take up our cross and follow Him.    If you want a trouble-free life or the easy life, you have the wrong religion! 

Christianity is also good psychology for those with everyday problems or issues and even personal problems for Christians make good counselors and we can find out that Christ heals  us from the effects of sin and sets us free from the power of Satan over us. We don't just believe in avoiding bad behavior, but in living right and developing godly habits.   Then Satan cannot touch us! Our faith is truly a study of the soul and Christian psychology isn't about sanitizing the self or becoming a perfect person, but about the salvation of the soul. We seek not to judge but to heal and we can help each other in the body.  There is such a thing as a guilt-complex but there is real guilt also, and our faith teaches us to confess it and to become responsible for our sins and not just think anything goes and is normal for there are standard of behavior as a Christian and we must come clean sometimes and be honest with ourselves and others--call a spade a spade.

They say that religious people are the least stressed of all demographics.  Scientists think they have the truth and the only reliable truths can be known through scientific methodology, but they are as messed up as anyone else.  What  we gain as believes is the resident Holy Spirit to be our anointing and teacher so we have the mind of Christ and are open and positive to spiritual truths.  The world is blind to truth and cannot grasp or appraise the spiritual. Yes, even the Bible becomes an open book and a delight to read because we have the right Spirit to do it. The world by wisdom cannot know God!  

So what more do you want from Christ? How about affirmation that you did a good job when He says, on that day, "Well done! thou good and faithful servant." and how about when He rewards us with a promotion and says, "You have been faithful in little, you shall be faithful in much..." and finally, when the party and celebration begins and He says, "Enter into the joy of the Lord."  This is where it's at: we have a hope that no other faith has, we have assurance of salvation and a taste of it now.  

Christianity is Christ and if you remove Him, you disembowel it and it cannot avail. If all you want to be is a good person or be a do-gooder, then any religion will do.  But if you want full assurance of salvation, then Christianity is the only hope. Christianity is not just good advice or a philosophy or even just a worldview and way to live good, but a way to know God and love, serve, and relate to Him. This is the only religion that is not a works proposition, do-it-yourself proposition, or lifting yourself up by your own bootstraps.  It's not about your achievements at all, but God's accomplishments.  The devil doesn't necessarily want to make you a bad person, but as good as possible without God in the picture.  The whole point is that God solved the sin question once and for all with the cross.   We are to find our purpose in Him and "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever," as The Westminster Shorter Catechism says.    Soli Deo Gloria! 

The Manifold Facets Of Our Salvation...

Note that salvation isn't a simple adjustment in the Divine Ledger above.  There are four aspects of our salvation that make it so wondrous.   Firstly, we are redeemed from the slave market of sin, for Jesus paid the price to set us free from the power of sin; secondly, we are justified in the heavenly court above and declared righteous in God's eyes because we are imputed with it; thirdly, we are reconciled to God's family and restored to fellowship with the Father and the Son, while this invites fellowship with our brethren in Christ; fourthly, we are propitiated or expiated in the temple of God whereby the blood of Christ was shed on our behalf to satisfy the Father.

Christianity is a religion of salvation, which doesn't sound so equitable or democratic, implying some are condemned or lost. Salvation, technically, is to be rescued from some threat; however, in our case, we are our own worst enemy!   Salvation is more than forgiveness!  Our whole-person needs salvation:  our hearts are depraved,  our minds are feeble, and our wills stubborn.  Our salvation is through God's grace as the source, with Christ as the means, and faith as the channel.  And Christianity is the only one proclaiming that there is only one Savior and depicts the "saviorhood" of Christ.  What are we saved from?  Ourselves, the devil, hell, the power of sin, the effect of sin, and from God, i.e., from the wrath of God.  Salvation is totally a work of God without our input and reflects our secure position in Christ, our growing condition in Christ, and our future expectation in glory--we achieve no pre-salvation work.

Our common salvation is as good as it gets and we cannot improve on it. We are saved from the penalty of sin, are being saved from its power, and shall be saved from its presence!  Jesus saved us--He did; He keeps us--He does; He's coming for us--He will!  Concerning the tenses, His salvation is our experience, hope, and expectation. Our past was forgiven, our present given meaning, and our future secured.  We are saved; we are being saved, and we shall be saved!  It began in eternity past, is realized in time, and looks forward to heaven. That's why it is written in Heb. 2:9, NIV, "How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?"  We have faith in Christ, we believe in Him and believe Him, we have our hope secured and anchored in Him, our expectation is in Him, and our security is in Him. If we had to trust in ourselves, we'd fail and could never know for sure of our status.

Our salvation was wrought by God and planned and purposed by God the Father as its Author, accomplished and secured as a finished work by God the Son, and applied by the Holy Spirit. The Father purposed it, the Son executed it, and the Spirit made it known!  The three work as a group effort in a team and union as one Being having no conflict of interest or will.

Christ is fully at work in our salvation through His three offices: we're saved from the penalty of sin by the crucified Christ, from the power of sin by the risen and living Christ, and from the presence of sin by the coming Christ. We are saved from the ignorance of sin by the prophet Jesus, from the power of sin by the king Jesus, and the guilt of sin by the priest Jesus.   

Finally, let me add the perks of our salvation with come with the whole package:  we are given peace with God and ourselves, we are given purpose and meaning in life following His will, and we're given the power to overcome sin, Satan, and the world as our threefold enemy, and don't forget:  God is now our Father and we can confidently look forward to our reward in glory!   Soli Deo Gloria!

An Incentive To Live The Good Life

"The heart has reasons the mind knows not of."  --Blaise Pascal
[No nation has been able to maintain] "a moral life without the aid of religion."   --Will Durant, humanist and historian.  
"God must exist for ethics to be possible."  --Immanuel Kant
"If God does not exist, all things are permissible."  --Fydor Dostoevsky
"For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command:  'Love your neighbor as yourself'"  (Gal. 5:14, NIV).  
"...The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love"  (Gal. 5:6, NIV, emphasis mine).  
DEFINITIONS:  RELIGION IS KNOWLEDGE OF A CREED; CHRISTIANITY KNOWLEDGE OF A PERSON

Some philosophers reduce moral living to living the good life (however they define it!), but this is impossible without getting one's thinking straightened out and beginning to think clearly to do it.  The path to enlightenment is not an easy one (Jesus said the truth would set us free) and once we've found it we want to share as contagious believers--you'll want to pass it on!  Our goal in life must not be our own happiness, but to unselfishly seek the happiness of others and to glorify God. The goal is spiritual and moral goodness which will have fruit, not to be on a blind pursuit of happiness which can have no anchor or moral compass but have the problem of excess or abuse.   Man always seems to do what is right in his own eyes,  but the Lord sees the heart and considers motive. (Cf. Prov. 16:2; cf. 21:2)  Happiness can be seen as the fruit of moral and right living as the byproduct not aim.   We all ought to live beyond reproach in order to have maximum influence and impact with our lives--to make a difference!

Ethics, then, is about the good life.  But goodness without God is evil because it's a sham.  Many have pondered, "How shall we then live?"  I'm not just talking about being a goody-goody or do-gooder but living a fulfilling life that counts.  If you just want to be a good person, any religion will do! Everyone has a religion or faith, and to some, they reduce Christianity to a code of conduct or ethics or make it simplistic like "My religion is the Golden Rule." We must not reduce Christianity to the universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man--it's simply knowing God and then making Him known, which brings Him glory and will be rewarded.  According to John Stott, Christianity is Christ, all else is peripheral or circumference.   But the valued spiritual life is about a relationship, salvation being the restoration of it, not just studying Him academically.   We don't study or read the Bible to increase our knowledge but to change our lives.

We soon discover that there's a moral center to the universe--God!   And that without Him life makes no sense!  Without God in the picture there's no basis of absolute right and wrong and character doesn't count--it's all relative.  But we all are convicted of the moral and divine order of the universe; that's why we see justice, love, fair play, courage, integrity, etc.).  But we all have the same weakness as far as morals go:  we tend to justify ourselves and hope we don't get caught or no one will know our flaws or faults.  We are a moon with a dark side no one sees!  Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!  Being a Christian isn't about rules or a list of dos and don'ts but dedication and commitment to Christ, who said, "Follow Me!"  Even Plato realized that to know how to live in reality, we must know what God is really like.   We experience God and grow in the knowledge of Him as we put it to use and apply what we know:  "Now that you know these things, blessed are you if you do them."  (Cf. John 13:17).

Now a good person learns to live according to faith, not feeling, which can be as variable as a weather vane in a storm.  There's no walking around on cloud nine or on some spiritual, perpetual high either.  He doesn't necessarily feel on top of things all the times, or even in control, but keeps the faith--he does 't go by feelings.  He doesn't know all the answers or what's going sometimes but knows the Answerer and the One in control.   He learns to know right leads to thinking right, which leads to doing right and finally feeling right.   The good life is the byproduct of being focused and living on purpose to glorify God and never for oneself.  The only truly happy people, according to Albert Schweitzer, are those who've learned to serve.  We never know how bad we are until we've tried to be good, and we cannot be good without realizing how bad we are!            Soli Deo Gloria!

Can Man Live Without God?...

"Men have forgotten God." (Alexander Solzhenitsyn)
"A person cannot live without worshiping something." (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

The whole concept of modern Secular Humanism is to exalt man (glory to man in the highest!) and to dethrone God and put Him in His place, as they see it. In other words, they proclaim: Up with man, down with God! Man has attempted to make a name for himself ever since the tower of Babel (cf. Gen. 11:4) and believes he can get along without God's intervention, grace, or providence. Man is deluded into thinking he can rule God out of the universe and doesn't need Him or He is irrelevant or unnecessary to explain reality.

Pertinent remarks by great thinkers: "Religion is indispensable to private morals and public order" (Cicero); "No society has ever been able to maintain a moral life without the aid of its religion" (William Durant). Humanism has been defined as "religion without God." And you don't have to be an atheist to have no place for God in your life, practical atheists believe in God, but live as though there is no God. Psalm 10:4 (HCSB) sums it up: "There is no accountability since God does not exist."

Humanist historian/philosopher (and author of The Story of Civilization) Will Durant posed the dilemma we face today as the postmodern philosophy (that "God is dead") that permeates society, and humanists try to be good without God in the equation: "The greatest question of our time is not communism vs. individualism, not Europe vs. America, nor even the East vs. the West; it is whether men can bear to live without God." People have no excuse not to believe in God (cf. Rom. 1:20), but they foolishly suppress the fact and are in a state of denial. They seem to think that God is no longer relevant, that we can solve our issues and problems without His input or intervention, and that we are basically good, not evil, or are perfectible. 

We live in an age when sinners decide that they are their own judges of morality and can make their own value judgments: "Everyone did what was right in their own eyes," much like Israel did, as recorded in Judges 21:25. Men find themselves judging God, rather than realizing He's their judge. Now the biggest problem nations face is that of keeping the peace, and there shall be wars and rumors of wars till the end, and when we reach peace we will no longer feel we need God. America is a so-called good nation by human standards as recorded by secular Alexis de Tocqueville, in his work Democracy in America, which he wrote after visiting the U.S, posited that our strength lies in our "goodness," and when we "ceased to be good we will cease to be great." This is not based on biblical nor historical precedent, but only personal deduction and observation.

Yes, America is different (we are probably the most religious nation on earth), yet we are failing on the world stage due to poor leadership and the good citizens (believers) cease to be salt and light and evil is winning by default, not because Christianity has failed, nor because its worldview is faulty, but because Christians fail to stand up and be counted, to take their stand for the right and to fly their Christian colors. It has been said by philosophers and historians that morality in a nation cannot be upheld without the aid of religion: George Bernard Shaw said that "no nation can survive the loss of its gods." George Washington said, "It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible." Christians ought to protest the secularization of a society that seeks to eradicate God from the public square and discourse. 

But we cannot silence God, though! If we try to go to war with Him we will lose and our nation will lose its blessing and providential hand. We fight this by speaking up against the evils of society, even if it entails becoming activists and doing whatever you can to mobilize the church and equip them for the battle. We are not to passively allow Satan to seize control!

When you take God out of the picture, there remains a vacuum that is filled with satanic activity. When we cease to worship God, we will ultimately find something else to worship, because man is meant and designed for worship!  No one actually worships, reveres, adores, or esteems nothing. God is the motive people have for good behavior because you see very few hospitals, orphanages, relief organizations, leprosariums founded by infidels. In India, they think that the suffering of man is caused by bad karma and you shouldn't interfere with another's karma!

We are at the point in our society where we don't know right from wrong and have lost our moral fiber because there's no moral compass and God condemns those who call good evil and evil good (cf. Isa. 5:20). There is an absolute standard to judge by and people do instinctively know right from wrong due to having a conscience and everyone is culpable to be blamed because of transcendent or natural law, which is above national law and even nations are subject to. You could say that the new battle is against God and the new war of independence is from God! People, in general, think that the Ten Commandments are obsolete or are the Ten Suggestions, and don't apply to a modern society and don't feel bound by them,  and they are free to make up their own rules as they go along to suit themselves. As long as they can think of some reason to justify themselves and have good motives, the reason that they are doing the right thing.

But goodness isn't defined by man, but by God and is in conformity with His nature. The basic diagnosis of man is that he does things his way and not God's way (as Isa. 53:6 says, "... we have turned everyone to his own way..."). We cannot know good without knowing God, for He is the final arbiter of it and will judge us and our standards of good versus His. Without God, Shakespeare summed up the essence of life as Macbeth mused in Hamlet: "... 'tis a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing." If we are not in God's image, we are mere animals and glorified apes: "Do you think we are mere animals? Do you think we are stupid?" (Job 18:3, NLT)--teach man he is an animal and he will act like one.

"Without God, life makes no sense," according to Rick Warren!"  If there is no God all things are permissible," according to Fyodor Dostoevsky, and there can be no absolutes or standards to measure perfection by. The world has nothing against religion as long as it remains privatized, but we are to spread the word and be obedient to the gospel without suppressing it--it's a command to obey not an option to consider. The implications of atheism are profound: No judge to make us feel guilty; no Lord ot guide us, no lawgiver to obey; no ruler or sovereign to submit to, no creator to emulate, know, and love; no hell to shun; and no heaven to look forward to--how dismal and bleak an outlook!

Romans 1:18ff shows what transpires once a man leaves God out of the reckoning. In the final analysis, God will bless America by association again when the church repents and gets back on track fulfilling the Great Commission (not the Great Suggestion), and not when it tries to implement sharia law or usher in the Millennial Kingdom, in order to "advance the cause of Christ" through legislation or government, though this may be the trend towards righteousness and a worthy cause. Soli Deo Gloria!

Can Man Live Without God?...

"Men have forgotten God." (Alexander Solzhenitsyn)
"A person cannot live without worshiping something." (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

The whole concept of modern Secular Humanism is to exalt man (glory to man in the highest!) and to dethrone God and put Him in His place, as they see it. In other words, they proclaim: Up with man, down with God! Man has attempted to make a name for himself ever since the tower of Babel (cf. Gen. 11:4) and believes he can get along without God's intervention, grace, or providence. Man is deluded into thinking he can rule God out of the universe and doesn't need Him. 

 Pertinent remarks by great thinkers: "Religion is indispensable to private and morals and public order" (Cicero); "No society has ever been able to maintain a moral life without the aid of its religion" (William Durant). Humanism has been defined as "religion without God." And you don't have to be an atheist to have no place for God in your life, practical atheists believe in God, but live as though there is no God. Psalm 10:4 (HCSB) sums it up: "There is no accountability since God does not exist."

Humanist historian/philosopher (and author of The Story of Civilization) Will Durant posed the dilemma we face today as the postmodern philosophy (that "God is dead") that permeates society; and humanists try to be good without God in the equation: "The greatest question of our time is not communism vs. individualism, not Europe vs. America, nor even the East vs. the West; it is whether men can bear to live without God." People have no excuse not to believe in God (cf. Rom. 1:20), but they foolishly suppress the fact and are in a state of denial. They seem to think that God is no longer relevant, that we can solve our issues and problems without His input or intervention, and that we are basically good, not evil.

We live in an age when sinners decide that they are their own judges of morality and can make their own value judgments: "Everyone did what was right in their own eyes," much like Israel did, as recorded in Judges 21:25. Men find themselves judging God, rather than realizing He's their judge. Now the biggest problem nations face is that of keeping the peace, and there shall be wars and rumors of wars till the end, and when we reach peace we will no longer feel we need God. 

America is a so-called good nation by human standards as recorded by secular Alexis de Tocqueville, in his work Democracy in America, which he wrote after visiting the U.S, posited that our strength lie in our "goodness," and when we "ceased to be good we will cease to be great." This is not based on biblical nor historical precedent, but only personal deduction and observation.

Yes, America is different (we are probably the most religious nation on earth), yet we are failing on the world stage due to poor leadership and the good citizens (believers) cease to be salt and light and evil is winning by default, not because Christianity has failed, nor because its worldview is faulty, but because Christians fail to stand up and be counted, to take their stand for the right and to fly their Christian colors. It has been said by philosophers and historians that morality in a nation cannot be upheld without the aid of religion: George Bernard Shaw said that "no nation can survive the loss of its gods." George Washington said, "It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible."

Christians ought to protest the secularization of a society that seeks to eradicate God from the public square and discourse. We cannot silence God, though! If we try to go to war with Him we will lose and our nation will lose its blessing and providential hand. We fight this by speaking up against the evils of society, even if it entails becoming activists and doing whatever you can to mobilize the church and equip them for the battle. We are not to passively allow Satan to seize control!

When you take God out of the picture, there remains a vacuum that is filled with satanic activity. When we cease to worship God, we will ultimately find something else to worship, because man is meant and designed for worship! God is the motive people have for good behavior because you see very few hospitals, orphanages, relief organizations, leprosariums founded by infidels. In India, they think that the suffering of man is caused by bad karma and you shouldn't interfere with another's karma!

We are at the point in our society where we don't know right from wrong and have lost our moral fiber because there's no moral compass and God condemns those who call good evil and evil good (cf. Isa. 5:20). There is an absolute standard to judge by and people do instinctively know right from wrong due to having a conscience and everyone is culpable to be blamed because of transcendent or natural law, which is above national law and even nations are subject to.

You could say that the new battle is against God and the new war of independence is from God! People, in general, think that the Ten Commandments are obsolete and don't apply to a modern society and don't feel bound by them, free to make up their own rules as they go along to suit themselves. As long as they can think of some reason to justify themselves and have good motives, the reason that they are doing the right thing.

But goodness isn't defined by man, but by God and is in conformity with His nature. The basic diagnosis of man is that he does things his way and not God's way (as Isa. 53:6 says, "... we have turned every one to his own way..."). We cannot know good without knowing God, for He is the final arbiter of it and will judge us and our standards of good versus His. 

 Without God, Shakespeare summed up the essence of life as Macbeth mused: "... 'tis a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing." If we are not in God's image, we are mere animals and glorified apes: "Do you think we are mere animals? Do you think we are stupid?" (Job 18:3, NLT)--teach man he is an animal and he will act like one.

"Without God, life makes no sense," according to Rick Warren! "If there is no God all things are permissible," according to Fyodor Dostoevsky, and there can be no absolutes or standards to measure perfection by. The world has nothing against religion as long as it remains privatized, but we are to spread the word and be obedient to the gospel without suppressing it--it's a command to obey not an option to consider. The implications of atheism are profound: No judge to make us feel guilty; no lawgiver to obey; no ruler or sovereign to submit to, no creator to emulate, know, and love; no hell to shun; and no heaven to look forward to--how dismal and bleak an outlook!

Romans 1:18ff shows what transpires once man leaves God out of the reckoning. In the final analysis, God will bless America by association again when the church repents and gets back on track fulfilling the Great Commission (not the Great Suggestion), and not when the church tries to implement Sharia law or usher in the Millennial Kingdom, to "advance the cause of Christ" through legislation or government. Soli Deo Gloria!

The Generic Atheist

We have atheists, anti-theists, militant atheists, and even practical atheists who believe but live like there's no God and unwitting atheists who don't realize they are.  We see the rise of militant atheists out to eradicate Christ from the public square and public discourse as if they have an animus against a God who doesn't exist and whom they do not know.  It's like being angry at the little green men, though you cannot prove their nonexistence!  

Of course, all logicians know you cannot prove a universal negative:  you can neither prove the existence of God with smoking-gun evidence to the unwilling unbeliever nor disprove Him to the willing believers.  The only way to prove a universal negative is to be God (knowing all and being everywhere present). They don't offer proof there is no God, and evidence is hard to come by, but just offer their objections to Christianity and try to attack its credibility or freedom from hypocrisy. To be sure, no one can deny God due to lack of evidence!

There are plenty of motives to be an atheist: one doesn't have to shun hell, be accountable, regard sexual taboo or restriction, be judged, do the will of God, or worship in organized religion. In short, it's just very inconvenient!   But man is basically a religious creature that will worship someone or something regardless of religious affiliation or not.  Many atheists won't admit it, but they are embittered and believe God has done something unfair to them and they blame Him: the Bible says in Prov. 19:3 that when man ruins his life he blames God, but ironically we know he gives Him no credit for success while thinking he's a self-made man at that!  Why are they angry at Jesus; what did He do?  Even Pilate found no fault in Him!  Jesus died as the innocent Lamb, but His cruel death was not the end of Him--He lives in our hearts through the kingdom of God.

One anecdote has an atheist in Ireland and being asked whether it was the God of Protestants or the God of Catholics that he didn't believe in!  Blame sectarianism! They wondered the same question during the Civil War when both sides claimed to be praying to the same God for victory.  Even during WWI, they had a truce to celebrate Christmas.  How can this be brotherhood when we quarrel and even go to war?  We shall judge the world and angels; how is it we cannot settle petty disputes?  People say they cannot believe in "such a God" or a God who allows such and such a disaster--these are objections, not evidence.  When people say the Bible contradicts itself, it really contradicts them!

I venture to posit that most atheists disbelieve out of ignorance and of rejecting a God they know nothing of or have false impressions of it like erecting straw men in arguments.   In other words, if they knew the One that lightens every man and loves them enough to die, they would change their minds about the only God of love.  Even Napoleon called Christ the Emperor of Love.  Christ wants to conquer hearts through the Spirit and He has commissioned us to spread the Word, the gospel of God that is love.  Even Christians are known to be willing to die for a church they will not attend, much less must be the opinion of the church be to the outsiders--Spurgeon said that it has so little influence on the world because the world has so much influence on the church!

Most Americans don't realize that Buddha didn't believe in God and that Buddhism denies a supernatural Creator-God.  They are basically ancestor and Buddha worshippers.  It used to be that belief in the Christian God was the default position in academia, but now the so-called intelligentsia has succumbed to Postmodernism, New Age thinking, and Secular Humanism as an alternative takes on God and interpretation of reality.  It is generally believed that Darwin killed God and now God is dead and no longer relevant.  But science has not undermined the Bible or Christianity.  Christianity has always succeeded in out-thinking the skeptics and can answer their objections. It is a fact, that after two millennia, no objection is going to bring the downfall of this virulent faith and Christianity's God will not die.

The sad truth is that you must be oriented and aware of the truth to be living in reality and to know how to live.  Truth, according to John Locke, is what corresponds with reality.  The truth is becoming no more relevant as the personification of truth itself, Jesus, is being rejected--now they try to brainwash students into thinking it's only relative or cannot be known.  When we remove God from the equation we lose our bearings on reality and are thrown off course and the foundation of society becomes destroyed.  George Bernard Shaw said that "no society has survived the loss of its gods."

The atheist often attacks believers as having blind faith, but that means not knowing why you believe.  Most atheists have blind faith because it's a bankrupt faith that cannot be proved with sound evidence--and most atheists don't know why they even don't believe, they're just bitter.  John Stott said we must cater to their intellectual integrity [and answer objections], but must not pander to their intellectual arrogance.   Both positions require faith, either in God or in science and man's reasoning.  It's not a matter of faith versus reason, but which set of presuppositions one begins with.    Soli Deo Gloria!

The Freedom From Religion Foundation

The son of Pres. Ronald Reagan, unabashed atheist Ron Reagan, is a spokesman and advertises for the Freedom From Religion Foundation saying that he is "not afraid of burning in hell."  Actually, God doesn't seek to save us by scaring us to death or threatening us, though this does work for some (to others it's counterproductive), to convict us of our sin and need for Him--the unsaved see no need for God.  Hell doesn't just stand for fire and brimstone, but a place of torments, which is different for everyone.  God doesn't punish in hell beyond what strict justice demands and is known for tempering His justice with mercy.  The wicked get their comeuppance or recompense in hell because the earth is not adequate enough retribution.  Ron Reagan may not be afraid of the fires of hell, but there is something he does dread and is afraid of and God knows what that is.  I believe there are no atheists in foxholes--perhaps Ron Reagan has never faced death!  He's lived such a protected and sheltered life--what does he know of fear?  No one is completely fearless.

Now, back to Ron Reagan's stand against the influence of religion in America.  If he's an atheist, where did he get his sense of right and wrong from?  If there is no God, according to Dostoevsky, all things are permissible.  Without God in the equation there is no ultimate standard of right and wrong, good and evil--it's all relative.  Who's to say that religion is a bad thing?  But the fact is that this is an anti-American organization because the US Constitution doesn't grant freedom from religion but freedom of religion--two entirely different concepts.

Our nation cannot coerce nor establish a religion but recognizes individual rights to worship as one chooses.  These atheists have become anti-theists in their animus against the One they claim doesn't exist.  But Americans have the inherent right conferred by God as unalienable to practice their worship of God as they see fit.  But we also have the right to be an influence (the free exercise thereof) but not to enforce our faith on our society, just like any other group, which may be a reflection of our religious viewpoints. On the other hand, evolution is taught as a religion or anti-religion even so religiously.

Why is Ron Reagan so worried about the influence of religion?  Nearly every positive social movement has been done in the name of God:  from the end of the gladiators and slavery in Rome, to public education, to women's and children's labor rights, to voting rights, to freedom from slavery in the US (actually freedom is a gift of Christianity), to the founding of manifold institutions of higher learning, and even of such charitable organizations such as the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, leprosariums, and hospitals, among other relief organizations worldwide.  The list goes on and no one denies that Christians have made a positive impact on the world.  Just ask yourself, "How many relief organizations or noble causes have been founded by atheists?  Would you even go to a hospital for atheists?  It is not true that the world would've been better hadn't Christ been born.

The church admittedly has made mistakes such as the Inquisition, the Thirty-Years War, the witch hunts, and the Crusades, but look at the slaughter of millions done in the name of Marxism!  More evil has been done in the name of atheism bar none.  Secular historian H. G. Wells said in Outline of History that Jesus Christ is "easily the most dominant figure in history."  The track record of atheists speaks for itself, but the track record of Christianity also speaks for itself; even atheist Bertrand Russell said that "what the world needs is more Chrisitan love."  The notion that Christianity has contributed nothing good to the world, as Madalyn Murray O'Hair has suggested, is ludicrous.

The agenda of the Secularists is to remove Christianity from the marketplace and any influence in the public square. The high courts have established Secular Humanism as a bona fide religion and its influence in the public square is "religious."  Our forefathers were highly religious and sought the providence of God in framing our Consitution.  The secularization of society is something we ought to beware of and be on the lookout for, as well as be prepared for and informed for the fight.    

There is no "social gospel" but the Second Great Commission is to reform society and seek the betterment of the culture (cf. Jer. 29:7).  We are the salt and light of the sinful world.  The world is a better place due to the Christian impact and credit should be given where credit is due.  Secularists are fine with Christians as long as they keep their faith privatized, but when they apply it in the public square and preach in the open marketplace of ideas, they object and think that this is solely their domain.  We must not concede the world to the secularists, but declare our colors!  Soli Deo Gloria!

Are Christians Sabbatarians?

"If you want to kill Christianity, you must abolish Sunday."  --Voltaire   
"The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27, HCSB).  

There are Christian Sabbatarians--that's not an oxymoron!  Once, I was almost fooled by the Seventh-day Adventists as a teen but studied Luther to be set free from their legalism.  Now I consider myself free from any form of legalistic interpretation.  Point in fact: No place in the New Testament are we admonished to keep the Sabbath--search for yourself!  It is the only one of the Ten Commandments not reinstated in the New Testament.  Do not live in the Old Testament!  To some believers, Paul says, every day is holy and for the others, we are not to judge them.

It is wrong to assume that Christians changed the Sabbath to Sunday, for they observed it early on by tradition and custom, and eventually dropped the practice.  The Lord's Day was strictly in tribute to the Resurrection.  Note that John said in the Book of Revelation:  "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day."  There is ample evidence of Christians meeting on the Lord's day early on; they even observed the Sabbath in addition at first--old traditions die hard!

Though I agree with the moral equivalent of having a day set aside for rest as observing the Sabbath, these are not the same.  There is simple morality, and then there is spirituality and religion or Sabbath observance.  Sabbath observance by no means is to be a litmus test of spiritual orthodoxy.  We have no right to judge our brother in regards to a Sabbath (cf. Col. 2:16i).  But experiments with this day have proven unsuccessful:  The USSR tried to alter the seven-day week for eleven years and it ended in failure.  We are just hard-wired for this cycle of work and rest and need to lay aside a day for R & R spiritually, mentally, and emotionally, as well as physically.

Jesus did say that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (c. Mark 2:27) and that means not to let someone tell us what our day of rest should be used for.  The principle is so important to God that if we don't take due rest, He will give it to us anyway.  In principle, there is no hard-and-fast rule for what a Sabbath should require, or prohibits.  If you want to get technical, you shouldn't even go out to eat or buy fuel on the Sabbath because that requires others to work on your behalf.  The Spirit of the law prohibited the doing of business on this day of so-called rest--the Pharisees had redefined it with thirty-nine additional definitions of "work activities."

God promised that He would give us a permanent (spiritual) rest--we will work in heaven physically.  Israel kept the outward sign of the Sabbath but failed to enter into His rest, as noted in Hebrews 4:3, HCSB, as "... 'So I swore in My anger, they will never enter into My rest.'"  The important thing is that we rest for our labors as we rest in the Lord's and become empowered by the Spirit so as not to be working in the flesh or our own strength.

God condemns any work done in the energy of the flesh, no matter how good we deem it.  God said to Israel (if they would keep the covenant):  "My presence will go with you and I will give you rest."  Christians enter into this rest from their labors upon salvation and living by the power of the Spirit, not in the energy of the flesh.

The Sabbath command was a sign for Israel in Nehemiah 9:14, HCSB:  "You revealed Your holy Sabbath to them, and gave them commands, statutes, and instruction through Your servant Moses." God blessed the Sabbath and made it a special day for us too!  Note that it was given as a sign of His covenant forever.  Exodus 31: 13 says, "'Tell the Israelites:  You must observe My Sabbaths for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations so that you will know that I am Yahweh who sets you apart." Also, note Ezek. 20:12, 20, HCSB:  "I also gave them My Sabbaths to serve as a sign between Me and them so they will know that I am Yahweh who sets them apart as holy."  "Keep My Sabbaths holy, and they will be a sign between Me and you, so you may know that I am Yahweh your God."

What I am trying to point out, is that although there are applications to the general principle of  rest required for us and the way we are designed for it; however, its main intention was to be a sign for Israel to be a special nation, and it was so serious that there was a death penalty of stoning for violating the Sabbath.  As believers, we are not under the law (cf. Rom. 6:14) but under grace and are liberated from all demands of ceremonial custom and tradition and observe the Lord's day by the assembling together of ourselves (cf. Heb. 10:25).

We have liberty as Christian to hallow the Sabbath as stated in Romans 14:5-6, HCSB:  "One person considers one day to be above another day.  Someone else considers every day to be the same.  each one must be fully convinced in his own mind.  Whoever observes the day, observes it for the honor of the Lord...."   Above all, according to Col. 2:16, HCSB:  "...[D]on't let anyone judge ... in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. "

In other words, don't get legalistic about it and the faith you have, is to be kept to yourself (cf. Rom. 14:22), not to be used to spiritually bully others believers into your convictions, if you are free in the Lord, don't flaunt it, and if you are bound in the Lord, don't condemn.   There are always exceptions to the rule:  Necessity knows no law, as David exhibited by taking the shewbread in the temple to violate temple rules, and priests were allowed to "work" on the Sabbath.  Jesus asked the ultimate question:  Can we not do good  [works] on the Sabbath?  Christians are to be known by their love, not known by their Sabbaths like Jews:  Viva la difference!  

NB:  In 1929 the USSR exchanged the traditional seven-day week with a five-day one.  This experiment with a Sabbath lasted only eleven years before returning to normalcy!  In 1795, during the French Revolution, a new calendar was decreed with three ten-day weeks per month, eliminating Sundays and holidays, but after ten years it was terminated.  God's way is the best way!   Old traditions die hard!     Soli Deo Gloria!

Upsetting The Religious Applecart

"Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them.  Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them"   ( Mark 7:15, NIV). 
"You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act..." (Matt. 7:16, NLT).

Jesus was clearly antiestablishment and countercultural and was determined to overturn the tables on the Pharisees' religious turf.  He managed a revolution of topsy-turvy spirituality.  They had no notion of true spirituality, but only of externalism:  circumcision, tithing, offerings, sacrifices, festivals, Sabbath observance, fasting, handwashing, ceremonial duties, and whatever agreed with the outward show of religious piety but having no inward vitality or reality.  Jesus succeeded in internalizing religion and making it a matter of the heart and sin was on the inside that God could see.  The Pharisees were highly jealous of Jesus and protecting their turf was Job One.  Everyone wants job security, but this was too much for Jesus.  They sensed a threat to their authority and teachings, which Jesus referred to as the leaven of the Pharisees.

The people were burdened by 613 additional (248) commands and (365) prohibitions or laws of their legal system that made the Law of Moses a burden too heavy a yoke to carry.  Even the Sabbath with 39 additional activities regarded as "work" was nothing to look forward to anymore nor enjoy as a day of rest and spiritual renewal.  What really got them uptight and ill at ease was His popularity among the common people who heard him gladly and the miracles He was doing were both undeniable, and they had to come up with some explanation.  Jesus repeatedly made them out to be as fools and an embarrassment to their own cause.  Jesus seemed like a hero and authority the way He threw the moneylenders out of the temple.  They had every reason to fear His authority because He spoke like no man, not by authority, as one of the teachers of the law, (cf. Matt. 7:29), but with authority and they could not resist the Spirit by which He spoke nor answered His questions.

Jesus was against religion as they knew it.  The Pharisees were frauds at worship--just going through the motions with lip service and their hearts being far removed.  He saw the Jewish faith as one of knowing God, not of performance or a list of dos and don'ts.  The Pharisees were white on the outside but inside were as sepulchers.  They would strain a gnat and swallow a camel because they were so worried about the minor details of the Law but missed the main points of justice, mercy, and faithfulness.  Religion for them was mere show and Jesus despised it.

One thing that He wouldn't tolerate was duplicity and He saw this in the Pharisees they way they didn't practice what they preached. The religious authorities were never the same after Jesus was through with them and He changed the culture by changing people.  He was the light that shown on every man to see.  No one was unchanged nor the same after an encounter with the Lord.  The religious applecart had become an organization, not an organism, or living community of believers.

The major realignment in religion came as Jesus saw through legalism and hypocrisy and instituted undefiled and pure religion as coming from a sincere heart and motive.  Jesus saw through the veneer and facade!  The people needed to be set free from the burden and yoke of the Pharisees and their take on religion, in fact, most people didn't want to emulate them nor were they jealous, though the Pharisees were respected, Jesus saw their veneer and masquerade that they hid behind.

One sad commentary on the Pharisees was their tendency to exalt themselves and of having an air of superiority.  Jesus countered that the way up is down in God's economy and one must humble oneself first to be exalted in God's eyes.  He warned them that one must become as a child to enter the kingdom of God (cf. Mark 10:15; Matt. 18:3).

The normal Christian life was in contradistinction to the one of the Pharisees.  The Pharisees flaunted their faith and Jesus taught that people should not practice their righteousness before people (cf. Matt. 6:1) but keep their religious duties between them and God and to pray in their closet, inner sanctum, comfort zone, or private space.  The Pharisees were the ultimate goody-goodies who were working for God and kept up all appearance of propriety, but they knew not the Lord in reality.  Christ will say unto them that He never knew them at the Judgment.  But we all have feet of clay (flaws not readily apparent) and must repent of the Pharisee in us.  All our works are worth zilch if we don't love the Lord and do His will--"if I have not love, I am nothing."   Soli Deo Gloria!

Man, The Religious Creature

"I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:32, HCSB).
"... God have mercy on me, the sinner!"  (Luke 18:13, NASB--the sinner's prayer). 
"...But I am not ashamed, because I know the One I have believed in ..." (2 Tim. 1:12, HCSB).
"... My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection..." (Phil. 3:10, HCSB).
"If only I knew how to find Him..." (Job 23:2, HCSB). 
"Yes, You are a God who hides Himself..." (Isa. 45:15, HCSB).

Kids are taught in the schools they are animals, and is it any wonder they act like them?  But we are not animals!  Have you ever observed an ape building a chapel?  Man is incurably religious in his core being and nature and if he doesn't worship God, he'll worship something in its place: himself, fame, fortune, power, celebrities, heroes, an engrossing hobby, a sport or sports team, you name it!  Mankind is hard-wired for worship and religion--it's his nature!  Religion dates back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Even made themselves aprons of fig leaves--Operation Fig Leaf!  Mankind has been termed Homo religiosus or the religious being.  He's also been called Homo divinus, or the divine being.  It is really obvious that man has a spiritual dimension and inclination, which in itself is a sort of proof of God's existence, as when one feels the tug of a kite, knowing it's there.  We feel pulled toward God as if gravitating in His direction.  Man has always been on the quest to find Him but God hides Himself (cf. Isa. 45:15) only to be found by the diligent (cf. Heb. 11:6) and not triflers. He will authenticate Himself if searched for!

The answer though is that we cannot find Him unless He reveals Himself and He has in Christ. But a poll was once taken in the UK and they found out that a certain percentage of people actually believe in "the Force," of Star Wars fame, though it's fictional!  People grasp at each passing straw hoping for hope and light at the end of the tunnel.  And George Lucas, the producer of the Star Wars saga, said that he's come to the conclusion that all religions are right!  This is impossible due to the inherent contradictions of beliefs, but it is logically possible they all could be wrong!

As Pascal said, "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which only God can fill through His Son, Jesus Christ." Augustine said that our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God.  We are empty, unfulfilled beings without God in the picture.  We need God to find meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in our life.  Without God, life makes no sense--it's a useless passion.   The ontological proof of God is that He is worshiped in some manner in every culture around the globe.  All culture, it's been claimed, is shaped by religion.  The stability of society depends upon religion as the guiding light and principle of moral principle.  In fact, George Bernard Shaw, quoted by William Barclay, said that "no nation has survived the loss of its gods."

As a matter of fact, we are all inclined to think we can gain the approbation of God in many ways:  religion, morality, good deeds, philosophy, or ritual!  We aren't called to become do-gooders or goody-goodies or even Goody-Two-shoes!  Our good deeds or do-goodery amount to naught in God's eyes, even as filthy rage according to Isa. 64:6!  We must do all to the glory of God (cf. Col. 3:17, 23) and in the Spirit of God, not by might nor by power (cf. Zech. 4:6).  Religiosity accounts for zilch in God's economy and the way up is down, it's a matter of how low we can go, not how high we can attain on our own merit.  We all like to compare ourselves with others (cf. 2 Cor. 10:12) and think we are more "religious," righteous, or holy (cf. Isa. 65:5) than others, but God doesn't grade on a curve and we are all in the same boat--God has leveled the playing field.  We are all justly condemned apart from grace and fall short of God's glorious ideal and standard of holiness (cf. Rom. 3:23).

But God has not called us to a to-do list; He's called us to a to-know list instead. The bottom line is that man is incurably addicted to doing something for his salvation and wants to give himself some credit.  We don't need a to-do list and Christianity is not a catalog of rules or list of dos and don'ts, but it's a list of to-knows!  We need to know God, know we are saved, know the will of God, know Jesus as personal Lord and Savior, know the Word, know the gospel, know our enemy, know our calling, know Christian ethics, know sound doctrine, and to know the Lord first-hand not second-hand, and even to know ourselves for who we are, etc. But don't forget, in knowing, we must apply what we know!  Christianity is a religion of knowledge and we know that we know--we don't conjecture or surmise, but know by the testimony of the Word itself with certitude.  There are basically three ways of knowing something:  experience (the empirical), revelation, and rational thought processes and reasoning faculties--we have the revealed Word of God.

Christianity is a revealed religion, not one of religious imagination or concoction.  It's the only faith that is based on facts, history, and evidence and we can know for sure of what we are talking about or believing.  Many religions are referred to as "faiths," but only Christianity stresses this as the instrumental means of salvation--faith is stressed as the goal and primary virtue!  But note that it's the object of the faith that saves, not faith per se--we don't have faith in faith, but faith in Jesus!  Jesus is the only Savior!  We don't just acquiesce or agree to a creed or recitations, we know a person!  Christianity isn't selling some good work or philosophy of life, but freely offering the gift of salvation to all!  But note that Christianity has nothing to say to those who don't realize they are lost and in sin.  The prerequisite is being lost before being found!

But fortunately, Christ doesn't call us to religion!  The Bible even frowns upon the term itself and prefers to call our religion a "faith" or the Way.  We know the way to eternal life!  What we are called to specifically is a life of holiness, righteousness, good works, and fellowship with God.  We are called to walk in the light and be lights.  To be the salt and light of the world at large.  Our righteousness is as filthy rags and all our good deeds don't benefit God--He just turns everything to His glory, even making the wrath of men to praise Him (cf. Psa. 76:10).  Our righteousness, then, is God's gift to us--not our gift to God!  We have nothing to boast of, and nothing that we didn't receive (cf. 1 Cor. 4:7).

Man naturally wants to do something for his salvation and must receive it by grace as the free gift of God, unearned, and unmerited.  Salvation is much more than the offer of forgiveness for our past, but the power to live in the present, and hope for the future.  Only Christianity promises and delivers on that promise from the power of sin and also the freedom from its bondage.  We cannot pay it back nor do we deserve it--or it wouldn't be grace.  God owes no one salvation and didn't have to save anyone (or it would be justice), but freely chose to save those whom He foreknew according to His favor and will or purposes (cf. Eph. 1:5). As a result, we are all called to a life of walking with Christ in fellowship and getting to know Him personally and spreading this message--to know Him and make Him known as the marching orders.

Salvation is open to all and offered freely to all (cf. Titus 2:11) who realize their sinfulness and deem themselves unqualified and sinners by nature, birth, and choice, i.e., born in sin and a slave to it.  In fact, the only qualification is to recognize one's not being qualified!  We all need grace and no one is any more righteous than another--we cannot claim holier than thou type (cf. Isa. 65:5) attitudes.  The fact is, that we are never good enough to be saved and cannot do any so-called presalvation work to qualify--but we are bad enough to need salvation.  God has judged all under sin, that the gift of grace may be offered to all.  God doesn't grade on a curve and no one gets in automatically, we all go through the turnstile of salvation one at a time via the same formula:  by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and God alone getting the glory, while the Scriptures alone are the rule of faith and authority.

Christianity is more than a religion or philosophy--it's a more abundant way of life with Christ, knowing Him personally and putting this faith into action.  It was originally called the Way!  The phenomenon of Christianity is "changed lives" that cannot be attributed to anything but the work of God's transforming power.  And subsequently to translate creeds into deeds.  It would be an insult to tell a Christian that he has "found religion," when he has found the Lord! In principle, religion is based on human achievement, not a divine accomplishment; what we do, not what God has done!  Religion is man reaching out to God, not God reaching out to man. Religion is basically a do-it-yourself proposition and a lift-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps undertaking.  Viva la difference!  

Finally, there is no caste system, no elite, neither are there any spiritual classes to be conscious of (there's no class warfare!)--we are all saints and children of the King and members of the royal family of God as brethren of Christ. We're all one in Christ (cf. Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11).  We are all family in Christ!  (A word to the wise:  pure religion, as described in James 1:27, won't save; only Christ saves through faith by the grace of God.)   Soli Deo Gloria!

Who Needs Religion?

"In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God" (Ps. 10:4, NIV).
"There is no fear of God before their eyes"[no place for God in their worldview] (Rom. 3:18, ESV).
"The only system of thought where Christ will fit into is the one where he is the starting point." --Athanasius, Father of Orthodoxy

A chaplain was once told by a recruit that he had tried religion already and it didn't work for him, according to a famous anecdote, and then the chaplain retorted with the comeback that he had tried religion too--for fifteen years and it didn't work for him either; then he tried Christ!  Another anecdote:  A soldier in battle noticed the bravery of the padre and told him that if that's what Christ can do for you, then he wants Him too.  There's a difference between religion and Christianity and I just want to make the point that a lot of people don't try Christianity, not because it has failed people and found wanting, but that it's difficult and people don't want to commit!

The reason that Buddhism and Secular Humanism are so popular is that you can be good without God and that these faiths require no personal sacrifice--Christ demands that we give up or deny ourselves and follow Him, wherever He may lead.  That's what Humanism is:  deifying man and dethroning God and goodness without God.  They all contend that you can be good without God, so why invoke a Deity?  Islam is also popular for geopolitical considerations.

Yes, but God's standard is high and He raised the bar, and He looks at the motive--is it to gain the approbation of man or some other ulterior motive, bolster his pride, or to unselfishly please God?  Man cannot please God in the power of the flesh and all his righteousness is considered garbage or a menstrual rag in His sight.  Yes, in the eyes of mankind you can be good; look at Ted Turner donating $1 Billion to the UN, for example; but his motive wasn't to please God or do His will, but to bolster his self-righteousness and ego in the eyes of others.  The whole issue of goodness is that evil is the distortion of good and a guise of it and may contain the appearance of good, but it isn't.  Evil is privation or distortion of good (it's a parasite); it cannot exist independently.   It's just good enough to deceive and inoculate from the real thing!

But the problem is that you cannot explain "good" apart from God.  Just like they say your morals or ethics by the same token.  A moral or ethical person may not even believe in God for that matter.  But where did goodness come from but the source of all goodness--God?  God is the "moral center of the universe" and demands man's repentance and high morality, and gave him a moral compass, and he has no excuse to sin but culpability, which is for anything against God's nature, the virus affecting all mankind, and our so-called Declaration of Independence from God--our birthright from Adam.  According to Dostoevsky, "if there is no God, all things are permissible."

God is the Supreme Good according to Plato and the Ultimate Good as the standard of all, by which we measure our achievement.  He is the source of all goodness and blessing.  The problem with man is that he thinks he's all right and doesn't need Him, that he is already good, and Christians are called to be a light and show that they fall short with the help of the conviction of the Holy Spirit using the Word of God in the heart as seed implanted.

A person may say he can be good without God so why invoke a Deity, for what reason?  As Bertrand Russell said, "Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless." Christianity is not an AA pledge, the turning over of a new leaf, or a self-improvement course, but trusting Christ to make you into a new person from the inside out and a transformed individual.  It is an insult to say that a believer has "found religion" since there are so many contrasts between the do-it-yourself proposition of religion and the work of grace in Christ. The primary difference between religion and Christianity is "do" versus "done."

In Christ, the work of salvation is a done deal and accomplished fact to be availed by the believer in faith.  Christ sets us free from the power of Satan, sin, and self and gives us the power to live in the Spirit availing ourselves of this transforming power--"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection," cf. Phil. 3:10.  He's still in the resurrection business!  Paul said that he counted all else rubbish or manure in comparison to knowing Christ as his personal Savior.

Christ does all the work from start to finish--we cooperate as works in progress.  "Salvation is of the LORD," (cf. Jonah 2:9).  We just let God do His thing and have His way with us.  The biggest proof of the resurrection of Christ was the transformation of the timid, disillusioned, and cowering disciples and especially what happened to Saul on the road to Damascus--his testimony was heard in very high places far and wide across the Roman empire.

In sum, Christ didn't come to make bad men good (goody-goodies), but to make dead men alive;  Christ makes us good from the inside out we are transformed into new creatures in Christ, it wasn't a matter of human effort, turning over a new leaf, or an AA pledge, or New Year's resolution, but a surrender to God in Christ and a receiving of a new life as a gift in return. There are a plethora of religions based on human achievement--but you never know where you stand!  Christianity is based on God's accomplishment!   Bear in mind that our righteousness is God's gift to us, not our gift to God (cf. Isaiah 45:24)!    Soli Deo Gloria!

Commonality And Contrast In Religion

All religions teach basically the same thing in application, though their philosophies or worldviews may differ; however, Christianity is by definition, not a religion. Christianity is strictly a faith, seeing that is the virtue central to its plan of salvation, and that it holds to a body of faith.  Religions all instruct man to ingratiate himself with God or some deity or higher power and to gain this approbation by a system of good works, thus meriting salvation--they all stress salvation in their own way.  One must realize that all religions have an element of truth to them and just enough to inoculate a sincere person to the real thing!  Sincerity isn't everything though a requisite; however, there are many who are sincerely wrong.

We don't need to delineate all religions to see how they are all mutually contradictory and don't teach the same concept of God, salvation, or even make the same diagnosis of man's problem and the ultimate cure.  Dr. Karl Menninger, the psychiatrist who wrote Whatever Became of Sin?--yes, I read it and it's a good read and even a must-read for theologians and/or scholars--and this book shows Christianity's diagnosis of our dilemma as rooted in sin or rebellion against God, it's our Declaration of Independence from God, doing our own thing and going our own way--defined as "refusing the love of another [i.e., God]." This is a word psychiatrists are starting to use again in their quest for us being responsible and accountable for our choices--no sin means no ultimate accountability.

All religions have some noble goal to accomplish but they are optimistic about man's nature (i.e., he is basically or inherently good), and don't realize we cannot please God--all our good deeds are as filthy rags!  For instance, in Islam, they deny the Fall of man.  The point to note in a works religion, and all religion seeks to do some work for salvation, as man is incurably addicted to gaining God's approbation by good behavior, is that you can never know for sure whether you are "in" or not, in other words, of being saved and secure in it.  In contrast, only Christianity offers a full and complete assurance of one's destiny to heave, and even power over sin in the here and now. The only way you can be sure of your salvation or place in heaven is for it to be a gift, not something to be earned or deserved--not by merit, but grace alone.  If we had to do anything, we'd fail!  In the Bible, people would ask the question, "What must I do to be saved?" (Cf. Acts 16:30; John 6:28).  This shows his orientation towards works and that he doesn't realize it's a gift to be received.

Creeds don't save!  Faith doesn't save!  Christ alone saves and it's the object of the faith that matters, not the amount of faith.  Meager faith in Christ saves, while a lot of faith in the Pope or the Church will not!  We must turn our creeds into deeds though!  Christianity is not only concerned with orthodoxy or right belief, but orthopraxy or right behavior, and we are not saved by good behavior, but unto good behavior (cf. Eph. 2:10).  Not by works, nor without them!  The Reformers formula was "by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone."  We will not be rewarded according to the amount of faith we have (cf. Rom. 2:6; Psa. 62:12), but the quality of our works and whether they stand the test of fire--some will be saved as if by fire (cf. 1 Cor. 3:10).

All religions teach the same applications in principle (Christianity is superior though, for instance, of all 52 known virtues, they are all depicted in Scripture, but no other religion comes close to covering all these bases).  Christianity must be admired even on the basis of its superior morals and virtues.  When they say that all religions teach the same thing--and George Lucas has come to the conclusion that all religions are true--they are basically referring to the application, not the philosophy or worldview.  For instance, they all teach the betterment of mankind, the value of virtue, and the necessity of good works, though Christianity raises the bar!  The Golden Rule, as an example, is the highest code of honor and ethics one can attain, compared to the Brazen, Silver, and Iron Rules are known in this rat-race and the dog-eat-dog world of the law of the jungle.

People are more interested in what the religion does for you, not it's doctrines, though they are also important--teaching without application leaves one cold.  They said of Jonathan Edwards, probably the clearest-thinking of all American theologians, that his doctrine was all application, and his application was all doctrine.  The end result of the validity of a religion is its effect on the convert and what it can do for him.  We stress what Christ has done for us, not what we do for God!  The conversion experience is a miracle of transformation of the soul and only is apparent in the Christian faith, whereby the person becomes a new creature in Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17) and gets a new lease on life and a new start.

The contrasts are manifold:  religion says "do"--Christianity says "done"; Religion reaches out to God--Christianity is God reaching out to us; religion is all works based; Christianity is all grace-based and its a gift that cannot be earned, deserved, or paid back; Religion gives no assurance; Christianity gives full assurance; Religion teaches you to lift yourself up by your own bootstraps; Christianity says that God can transform your life in His control; Religion says works are in order to gain the approbation of God; Christianity says we work out of gratitude to please God and are therefore a "therefore," not an "in-order-to." Man tends to ingratiate himself fourfold:  morality, good works, philosophy, and ritual or religion!  Religion itself is all a "do-it-yourself" proposition! You can distinguish the person of religion simply by asking him if he's saved!  The religious person doesn't know!  You can be very religious and not be saved, or even have a formal religion!

God is not so concerned that we get all our doctrines straightened out or nitpick and split hairs on them, as He is that we love and serve Him.  What matters most is whether our hearts are in the right place.  Don't be content just to be doctrinally correct!  We cannot avoid doctrine and must not reject it, but it's not everything--God wants us to learn to love, serve, obey, and know Him as the ultimate goal.  Most important thing about knowing God is just knowing Jesus--what a concept--everything we need to know about Him is expressed in Jesus for us to see--if you've seen Jesus, you've seen the Father! In the final analysis, a person's eternal fate or destiny will be decided at Judgment Day by his view of Jesus and what he did with Him at the final audit of his life and work.  How did he treat Jesus?

Instead of learning all the minutiae of the different religions we need to see the Big Picture and how unique our faith is so that we can readily tell the counterfeit--the Secret Service studies the real thing so they can recognize counterfeit bills!   We believe uniquely in a personal God we can know, and that especially loves is and even is love and that's His essence and defining trait.  We believe sin is the problem but God has solved the sin question by the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.  We believe our salvation is complete, sure, knowable, and eternal in Christ and available to all who will believe.  We believe God's final word to man is in Christ and God became a man in the incarnation of Jesus to make Himself known.  We believe in the infallibility, inerrancy, perspicuity or clarity, sufficiency, reliability, accuracy, simplicity, authenticity, necessity, fidelity, integrity, inspiration, and authority of the Word--the battle cry of the Reformation was sola Scriptura, or by Scripture alone (as the sole rule of faith and authority).

Christianity alone postulates that God is a person we can know and is personal, has personality, and wants to get personal and go one-on-one with us as individuals He loves.  Our faith alone satisfies the deepest desire of man to have a meaningful relationship with our Creator, that just believing He exists or knowing about Him doesn't fulfill.  Contrary to popular opinion, the Golden Rule is not the essence of Christianity, but it's a faith that must be lived out and practiced by demonstrating it to the world by good works (as Paul would say, "I'll show you my works by my faith," and James would say the flip side, "I'll show you my faith by my good works").

The faith you have is the faith you show--is it any wonder that Mahatma Gandhi said that he'd become a Christian if he ever met one!  Even he admired the high ethics of Christianity, but Christians are not perfect, just forgiven works in progress, with perfection as the standard, but direction as the test!  In our faith alone, eternal life is equated with knowing God in Jesus' high priestly intercession in John 17:3!  Thus we can have a growing and living relationship with God as our Father, who loves us personally.

One must note the foundations of Christianity are based on fact and history, not fable, tradition, myth, or legend, no other religion can uniquely claim this; and as proof of Scripture's authority and of God's approval, Scripture alone has thousands of fulfilled prophecies--not just a few lucky guesses or self-fulfilling prophecies either.  Finally, with all due respect to world religions, Jesus alone claimed deity and no other founder did--not Buddha, not Confucius, not Muhammad, no one!  This is what turns people off to our faith: its exclusiveness and positing absolute truth that can be known through Christ as the personification of Truth with a capital T--i.e., truth is not relative, but knowable and fixed for eternity; we are accountable for it--willful ignorance is no excuse!  At Judgment Day one's fate will be determined by his answer to Christ's query to his disciples in Matt. 16:15, saying:  "Who do you say that I am?"  and He answered it in John 8:24 as, "Unless you believe that I Am ["He" is not in Greek manuscripts, stating His deity as the Great I Am], you will die in your sins." It doesn't matter what you think of these other false prophets, gurus, false teachers, the Pope, and even angels of light like Moroni, but it does matter what you make of Christ--whose Son is He?

One doesn't even have to believe in the Bible to get saved (as Paul found out on his missionary journeys to the Greeks), despite the fact that it's the only Holy Scriptures that claim God as the Author, saying over 2,000 times, "Thus saith the LORD," in the Old Testament alone!  The very existence and continuity of the Bible is a miracle in itself due to all the systematic attempts to destroy it throughout history, and it's fidelity and integrity are firmly established and plain to see.

To make things clear by contrast:  Religion lays down what man must do; Christianity lays down what God has done; religion is the best man can do; Christianity is the best God can do; religion is knowing a creed or the rules; Christianity is knowing a person; religion is a code of conduct, self-reformation,  a philosophy, or a catalog of rules; Christianity is a relationship, a renewal, and more abundant life!  Jesus said, "It is finished!" "Paid in full!" "Tetelestai!" This was stating that He had completed the work of our salvation on the cross and it's a "done deal" that only needs to be applied to believers who will receive it by faith as a gift in grace, undeserved, unmerited, and unearned.  You can be very religious without being a Christian and vice versa: you can be a Christian without being very religious! The ultimate question to ponder is whether one knows God, not has an opinion about some concept of God.

In sum, let me cite an old anecdote:  One preacher was interrupted by a man who said that he "tried religion for five years and it didn't work for [him]!"  The preacher countered that he "tried it for fifteen years and it didn't work, either!"  The man asked him to explain why he was a preacher then:  Then he "tried Jesus," was his telltale confession!   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Religious Creature...

"He [the Antichrist] shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action ["will firmly resist him," NIV; "shall be strong, and do exploits," KJV]"  (Daniel 11:32, ESV). 

Man is the only religious creature; i.e., monkeys don't build chapels!  He has been called Homo religiosus (man the religious) or Homo divinus (man the divine) by scholars because of this tendency.  Only man has the will to obey God, the heart to love God, and the mind to know God--as creatures in His image.  Dostoevsky said, "Man cannot live without worshiping something."  It's our nature and what makes us uniquely human.  We are hard-wired or designed for God and can only be happy and fulfilled in God.  Bertrand Russell said, "Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless."  Without God, we have no dignity or purpose and we can only find meaning in Him.  There's a void or "God-shaped vacuum" in man's heart that "only God can fill," according to Blaise Pascal, philosopher-mathematician.  And St. Augustine said, "You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts find no peace until they rest in You."

Conventional wisdom would tell you that the more gods you have the better off you are, and this was the assumption of ancient man, who worshiped a pantheon of gods and goddesses. The Israelites had resorted to henotheism, or that there are many so-called gods, but the LORD is the Most High.  They believed, for instance, that Baal was the fertility God, (flocks, field, and family) but the LORD was the God of their army and of victory in war (the Lord of Hosts).   But the Bible tells us that if we have God we have all we need and are complete in Him.

Man is empty without God and cannot live abundantly apart from His plan for our lives.  Jesus came to give us this complete and abundant life of fulfillment.  Man has always believed in a higher power and archeology proves this as fact, the belief in God is not mere superstition but universal--even to the point of having some sort of Creator-God or unknown God--and that man's concept of God has devolved, not evolved through the ages.  But we are to have no other gods before Him and acknowledge no other Savior (cf. Hos. 13:4).

Psychologists have tried to rationalize our faith in God as fear of the unknown, a throwback to our need for a father-figure, a method of evolutionary advantage, a mental virus, or as a system of contentment in hard times.  They think we invented God, as Voltaire said, "Man created God in his own image."  God is, by definition, the highest Being that can be (imagined or real). There can be no other so-called "necessary being," uncaused cause, or unmoved mover--someone began the chain link of cause and effect ad infinitum, since eternal regression is mathematically and philosophically inconceivable and impossible.  It has been proved now that man's earliest worship of God was of a monotheistic tradition, and not polytheistic, as first thought.  Man originally entertained the idea of the one true God, as Scripture unequivocally posits and depicts.

It should be noted that man is the only creature capable of being bored with himself and unable to entertain himself when he is down in spirits.  Boredom is meant for a reason, to show us we need God and to find purpose in life-- with purpose you seldom get bored!  This is only to show us that we need God in our lives for completion.

It is a fact that you can be religious without subscribing to a religion; Secular Humanism is a kind of religion without God, trying to be good without God's help or for the glory of God.  It is a proven fact psychologically that religious people tend to be happier than those who are not, and when we're not grounded in the truth we become highly superstitious and make up our own religion!  We all need to be set free by the truth and only the Son can do this (cf. John 8:32, 36).

It is a proven fact that society needs religion to maintain law and order and a precept of morality:  George Bernard Shaw said that no nation has survived the loss of its gods. Cicero saw religion's value in keeping public morals.  John Adams said, "... Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people...."  G. K Chesterton said our nation has the "soul of a church!"  Eisenhower recognized the need of religion to maintain our way of life, and any religion would do--the point is that man needs religious and moral guidance to keep evil at bay.  The Pax Romana (200-year peace of Rome) worked for this purpose until Christianity changed its moral roots.

Real worship is the offering of ourselves to God; however, when we surrender our resources and ourselves to anything or anyone else in devotion, it's a form of idolatry, taking from God what is His due, for He alone is worthy.  True worship of our Lord is defined as being Christ-centered, God-focused, Spirit-controlled-and-led when we get our eyes off ourselves and onto Jesus who alone is the worthy Lamb of God, our Savior--we must draw the line at homage like Daniel!

In the final analysis, the only cure for the sin of idolatry is to have an adequate concept of God, not putting Him in a box or making Him one-dimensional, and knowing your God personally and not just second-hand.  Soli Deo Gloria!