How Do You Know Your Religion Is The Right One?

 

Of all the religions in the world and all the different gods, why do you believe that yours is the right one?

Karl Broberg

·

September 12

Blogger/Bible teacher (10+ yrs), researcher, life coach

1. Mine is based in history (my God orchestrates it) and objective fact; ‘t’s historical, from the God of history, or it’s nothing, pointing especially to the objective, historical fact of the resurrection as the climax.
2. Mine has no scientific anomalies but has scientific facts ahead of its time.
3. Mine has subjective evidence of experiencing God personally (“Taste and see that the LORD is good”).
4. Mine is based on the miracle of the resurrection, arguably the most attested fact of antiquity.
5. Mine claims to be the only way to know God (truth is exclusive by nature).
6. Mine has no inherent contradictions, which have not been reconciled by scholars.
7. Mine claims to be knowable, absolute truth from the God of truth that gives the answer from the Answerer.
8. Mine is based on a holy book (the Bible) that is infallible and inerrant, and the only so-called scripture that contains predictive prophecy, even fulfilled ones.
9. Mine is based on a Savior who was without sin but understands us as a human, though still God.—the God-man; Jesus claimed to be God Himself in the flesh—no other religious founder made such claims.
10. Mine is based on inspiration and revelation, not speculation or conjecture.
11. Mine is the only one that solves man’s problem of sin, not ignorance, yet He respects our minds.
12. Mine gives purpose, dignity, and meaning in life, including suffering, and gives us hope for the future.
13. Mine has witnesses and martyrs who have died for its truths rather than deny them.
14. Mine has changed the course of history, even turning Rome topsy-turvy.
15. Mine has had a profound effect on Western Civilization, especially in absolute morals.
16. Mine is the only one that offers salvation by grace as a gift through faith, not of works.
17. Mine is the only one that says we can know God, not just believe He exists.
18. Mine is the only one that says God loves me individually.
19. Mine is the only one that gives me a claim to having human rights as in the image of God.
20. Mine is the only one that has a personal God that knows me and I can know in return.

How Can Jesus Be Holy?

 

How can Jesus be without sin when even the "holy" Bible tells us that he went around beating people he didn't like with a whip?

Karl Broberg

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Updated September 7

Blogger/Bible teacher (10+ yrs), researcher, life coach

Jesus was without sin because He wasn’t born in sin, He was born of a virgin, and also He is God and incapable of sin, and He proved it when He was tempted by Satan after fasting forty days in the wilderness.

God reserves the right to judge and the Father has given all judgment to the Son (cf. John 5:27). Jesus claimed this authority. It wasn’t just because He didn’t “like them” in a human sense. There is such a thing as righteous indignation and Jesus expressed this at the wicked moneylenders at the temple. He said it was “His Father’s house” and for such reason had motive to judge. In fact, in John 8:46, Jesus challenged anyone to accuse Him of sin.

The only sin the Pharisees were able to accuse Him of at His trial was blasphemy in their eyes because He claimed to be the Christ, the Son of God (cf. Matt. 26:63). This was deemed blasphemy and worthy of death in their eyes. Other false accusations were that He broke the Sabbath but He said He was Lord of the Sabbath,. And all of His disciples claimed that He was without sin (cf. 2 Cor. 5:21; John 8:46; 1 John 3:5; Heb. 4:25; 2 Pet. 2:22). They would’ve known for familiarity can breed contempt.

1. “He “committed no sin,” (cf. 1 Pet. 2:22).
2. “In Him is no sin,” (cf. 1 John 3:5).
3. “[He]had no sin,” (cf. 2 Cor, 5:21).
4. “yet without sin,” (cf. Heb. 4:15).
5. “who did no sin,” (2 Pet. 2:22).

Can Humans Be Perfect As Well?

 

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If Jesus Christ the human was perfect, why didn’t God make other humans perfect as well?

Karl Broberg

·

Updated Wed

Blogger/Bible teacher (10+ yrs), researcher, life coach

1. Jesus was God, that’s the only reason He was perfect and without sin and incapable of it.
2. Jesus was also human, but the perfect one because of His virgin birth.
3. Man was originally without sin (innocent, not perfect), but Adam and Eve chose to sin when given the free choice—that’s history.
4. Since Adam, we inherit Adam’s sin nature (original sin) and are born sinners, and in sin.
5. Even if we didn’t inherit a sin nature, we would still sin—we’d do as Adam did because we are in Adam as the head of the race (we’re human).
6. Believers in Christ will be restored to being without sin in heaven—ultimate sanctification and freedom from sin’s power and presence.
7. Unbelievers who refuse repentance will be judged and punished in hell.

The foregoing is orthodox Christian doctrine and not subject to debate.

NB: Perfect implies one cannot get worse because one is perfect and incapable of it, and one cannot improve for the better because one is already perfect. God is perfect in all ways, not just in His ways or works, but His entity and essence. God cannot create a perfect being, because that being would be God. He cannot create another God. “He cannot change for the better, for He is already perfect; and being perfect, He cannot change for the worse.” (St. Anselm of Canterbury).

Perfect Being Theology: a view of God formulated by Anselm of Canterbury that define God as “the greatest possible being” and “that than which none greater can be conceived.” That is, everything that it is better to be than not to be! God is something that we never could’ve imagined! “As for God, His ways is perfect,” Psalm 18:30; 2 Sam. 22;:31.

I am referring to St. Anselm of Canterbury, who defined the perfection of God that way. When I refer to Christ as perfect, I am contrasting Him with men, not the other members of the Godhead who are all coequal, coeternal, and coexistent, what is true of Jesus is also true of the Father, for they are One. God cannot improve for the better because He is already perfect and being perfect, cannot become less so—He needs no improvement. The perfection of Jesus means He was the perfect baby, perfect boy, perfect young man, perfect man: The perfect God-man. The phrase “No one is perfect!” doesn’t apply to Christ, the Perfect One to emulate as our role model in all things: the great Exemplar

Why Was The Book Of Ecclesiastes Written?

 To show that all in life is “vanity” or in vain, meaningless, and incomprehensible without knowing God and doing His commands. “Fear God and keep His commands, this is the whole duty of man,” as the conclusion, that’s all there is to life! (cf. Eccl. 12:13). The book has a preachy tone and attributes its origin to “the preacher.” This man had tried every known venture in life there is in search of happiness. Thus, the book is also quite philosophical and even cynical of life.

Solomon was probably in his declining years or mid-life crisis and had tried virtually everything to find fulfillment in life to no avail. It was a warning to others not to do likewise and hopefully, the reader can learn from his mistakes, the author had become a philosophe: do as I say, not as I do! He had learned the hard way in the school of hard knocks despite his wisdom, proving the wise can be foolish too.

If we can find fulfillment and meaning in our work and obedience to God we can in the will of God. “God in heaven assigns each man’s work” (cf. John 3:21, NLT). God has a destiny and plan for us and our times are in His hands (cf. Job 23:14 Psalm 31:15; Jer. 29:11). Jesus prayed: “I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do,” (cf. John 17:4, NIV). When King David died, it was said, “he had done God’s purpose,” (cf. Acts 13:36).

How Do You Prove God Exists To The Ethics Community?

 

How can we prove to the ethics community that God exists?

1. For ethics to exist there must be an objective standard of good/evil or right/ wrong.
2. Plato called God the Supreme Good because we measure all goodness by Him—He is the ultimate standard of perfection.
3. There must be someone to make the standards as the final arbiter of justice.
4. For justice to exist, there must be due punishment (even in an afterlife) for wrongdoers and reward for just; otherwise, evildoers can escape justice.
5. Even if God doesn’t exist, we must live as if He does for society to be possible, or to shun hell as consequences if wrong as some restraint on society and evil.
6. “If there is no God, then, all things are permissible” (Dostoevsky) and the law of the jungle, or that might makes right, is its logical conclusion.
7. If there is no justice, there’s no incentive to ethics; each man for himself.
8. The main purpose of government is to reward do-goodery and punish wrongdoers.
9. God instituted government to keep the peace and ensure justice.
10. God is the only solution to the dilemma of why we have ethics and the incentive

Nonintentional Sin

 The opposite of intentional sin is forced sin. No one can say, “The devil made me do it!’ God forces no one to sin. We are free moral agents. But all sin is willing in that we voluntarily choose to do it by a free act of our volition. But the difference with believers is that they really don’t want to sin, though they do by weakness: “Now I do what I do not want, I am no longer doing it, but it is sin living in me,” (cf. Romans 7:19). “And I do what I do not want to do, and I agree with the law that it is good, … what a wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?” (cf. Romans 7:16,24). “If I do that which I would not….” (cf. Romans 7:16).

After salvation, a person has a new power over sin (“Sin shall have no dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace,” cf. Romans 6:14) and is not the slave of sin but is still a sinner (He’s a justified sinner according to Gal. 2:17—both sinner and saved). But God doesn’t hold our sins against us (cf. Psalm 32:1)! There is no condemnation for those in Christ (cf. Romans 8:1) and also God doesn’t deal with us as our sins deserve (cf. Psalm 103:10).

But we must not become antinomians (lawless libertines) and disregard God’s law of morality but we will fall short, for “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” That is, you can experience God’s love, even taste of the Spirit of grace and of heavenly things and still not be saved! (cf. Heb. 6:4–5, 9). There are many so-called signs of salvation that don’t necessarily mean salvation or redemption has taken place (partakers of the Holy Ghost, tasted of the heavenly gift and of the word of God, etc. from Heb. 6:4–6).

But note that even King David prayed not to be led into “presumptuous sins” (cf. Psalm 19:13). We must not take advantage of the grace of God nor frustrate it (cf. Gal. 2:21). Note Psalm 119:133; Romans 6:14 “For sin shall not have dominion over you….” It is called the doctrine of perfectionism or entire sanctification that teaches one can reach a point of unintentional sin as a believer before entering glory in heaven, which I would label a false teaching though not a heresy, which is generally not accepted.

God Is Just And His Justice Will Not Sleep

God is the most just and holy too—more than mankind. But He must reconcile His justice and holiness with His love and mercy. He says, “I will have mercy to whom I will have mercy.” (cf. Romans 9:15). If you give mercifully to a charity, you are not obliged to give to all and if you don’t it doesn’t mean you are unmerciful. What does mercy mean but not getting what you do deserve—man deserves condemnation for his sin.

If God were obliged to be merciful to all and save all, it wouldn’t be mercy but justice. If a judge is merciful to all it isn’t even mercy, but overlooking justice. God could not claim to be just if He didn’t judge sin. God is in the position where He must protect His holiness and justice reputations too.

But God has provided a way of salvation from damnation through Christ and it’s his choice to accept it or not. A way to bring justice, mercy, and holiness all into play. The matter is so serious to God that it cost Him the death of His Son on the cross. And God is so holy that sin offends Him and He cannot even look at it—that’s why He did something. But this doesn’t mean God enjoys sending people to hell, it is uncomfortable to Him too. For God takes no pleasure in anyone’s death and He doesn’t willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.

Three things we can be assured of: God is unjust to no one; God tempers His justice with mercy; no one need to face the justice of God. Justice is giving what’s due, if no one gets their due, then there’s no justice. But God has good reason to forgive our sin and justify us because of Christ. We escape our just desserts in Christ.

We should ask ourselves: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (cf. Gen. 18:25). We must only challenge ourselves; If we really feel sorry for people headed to hell, we ought all the more feel obliged to preach the good news to them and lead them to salvation not criticize God; God is our Judge, we are not His judge. It is God who gave us the ability to discern good and evil with a conscience but we must acknowledge Him as the moral center of the universe, not us.

Absence Of Evidence

 

Is it true that an absence of evidence is not evidence of absence when regarding the existence of God?

Karl Broberg

·

Updated 3h ago

Blogger on worldview

It is true in general, much more regarding the existence of God. Just because you cannot prove God, doesn’t preclude His existence. But the principle applies much more in metaphysical matters than the physical. You cannot prove some premise is untrue just by stating there is no evidence, but you can refuse to believe it. Note that evidence isn’t always certain or conclusive but one goes in the direction of the evidence no matter where it leads with an open mind.

You cannot prove a universal negative according to logicians. You cannot deny the existence of love because you have never experienced it. Physically, there is no evidence of aliens—we have no tangible proof (though there may be legal evidence of testimony or witness), but that doesn’t prove they don’t exist. To prove a universal negative, you have to know everything and be everywhere at once. Only God knows that.

But in law, one must prove beyond a reasonable doubt for something to be considered true (absence of evidence holds water and sometimes the jury is still out), in historic matters, truth depends upon documents and corroboration, and in scientific matters, something must be repeatable, demonstrable, measurable, or observable in the real physical and natural world.

But if we are to make a claim and want to have credence, we must present evidence and plead the facts, if they are on our side. To some skeptics, there is never enough evidence for God’s existence, even though there is some (scientific, philosophic, historic), but no proof. God expects us to take a leap of faith. Proof and evidence differ. God will not force us to believe against our wills. God desires us to come to Him by faith not head first. But He respects our brains and doesn’t expect us to kiss them goodbye: “Come now let us reason together, says the LORD,” (cf. Isaiah 1:18).