Man and God
“A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.”
C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain.
Over the sixty plus years I’ve been on this earth I’ve listened to many people say there is no God. I know they are wrong.
To quote C. S. Lewis again,
“We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God.”
C.S. Lewis.
The other day a friend and I took our camera’s and went to take some photographs of the autumn leaves in the area. We ended up in a small nature trail a few hundred metres from the mighty Niagara Falls. There, there was in contrast to the mighty Niagara a series of tiny small falls, just a metre or so high connecting a couple of small ponds in which a group of ducks were swimming.
Compered to the roar of Niagara this was peaceful and quiet. Yet in it I could see the handiwork of God. The trees bedecked in their fall colours. The ducks quietly swimming. I cannot believe that all of what I seen was by chance.
God was at work. I’m not one to worry if it took a six billion years or six days to get this way. I only know in my heart that there was a divine creator behind it all.
I think the reason people cannot see God is that they have to varying degrees closed their minds to the fact that He exists.
We have become very much a people that demand concrete signs.
The apostle Paul said,
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
We as individuals want God to reveal himself using our rules. After all it would be far easier if God just appeared in the flesh standing in Jerusalem with a legion of angels demanding we worship Him. At least then we’d know for sure.
God however does not work like that. God asks us to have faith in him. The writer of Hebrews stating,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.’
Hebrews 11:6
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Hebrews 11:1.
And perhaps Faith in God is the hardest thing for a person to have in this day and age?
Please think about it.
Thursday 5 November 2015
Wednesday 4 November 2015
A Gentle Slope
A gentle slope
“The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”
C. S. Lewis.
I strongly believe many people in out society are on the road to hell. And I believe in part the church or at least those calling themselves part of the Church are responsible for it. That’s one of the reasons I write these blogs.
I believe the Church in part is responsible for it simply because some have wandered away from the primary message of the gospel.
At one end of the spectrum we have Churches and congregations that are far from God. Some going as far as saying there are many ways to heaven. When Jesus said,
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6.
Then there are churches that are so rapped up in their ceremonies and ritual, that have purpose when kept in prospective, but when not, turn people away from Christ. A person coming into such congregations see Christ and God as being a God of do’s and do not’s.
Then there are those both in the media and out who would say Christ wants you to be healthy, and wealthy. Yet the reality in any church anywhere in the world is that they run the spectrum from affluent to poor. From healthy to sick from any number of illnesses. This too turns people away because people coming from the outside do not see the reality of what’s being preached.
Add to that those again both in the media and out that attack or protest those outside their faith because they disagree with them. Which is against what the apostle Paul said when he wrote,
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
1 Corinthians 5:12,13.
The first century church was successful because it could not afford, nor did it ever turn away from the principle message of Christ Matthew recording,
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20
The message of the gospel, the message, the only message all Christians need to presenting to the world is summed up by Jesus when he said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”.
John 3:16-18
There are many diverse ministries within the body of Christ but the foundation of all those ministries must be showing the love of Christ to all people everywhere.
In order to do this effectively we need to be presenting the true unadulterated word of God in a polite fashion to all people.
We need to heed the words of the apostle Paul who said,
“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”
Romans 12:18
The Apostle Peter said,
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Dear friends,
I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.’
1 Peter 2:9-12.
A fierce light shines on we Christians. We cannot do anything lightly. We must stick to the scriptures and present the Gospel of Christ to all who will listen to us.
We must do this because our actions may determine the eternal resting place of those around us.
Please think about it.
“The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”
C. S. Lewis.
I strongly believe many people in out society are on the road to hell. And I believe in part the church or at least those calling themselves part of the Church are responsible for it. That’s one of the reasons I write these blogs.
I believe the Church in part is responsible for it simply because some have wandered away from the primary message of the gospel.
At one end of the spectrum we have Churches and congregations that are far from God. Some going as far as saying there are many ways to heaven. When Jesus said,
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6.
Then there are churches that are so rapped up in their ceremonies and ritual, that have purpose when kept in prospective, but when not, turn people away from Christ. A person coming into such congregations see Christ and God as being a God of do’s and do not’s.
Then there are those both in the media and out who would say Christ wants you to be healthy, and wealthy. Yet the reality in any church anywhere in the world is that they run the spectrum from affluent to poor. From healthy to sick from any number of illnesses. This too turns people away because people coming from the outside do not see the reality of what’s being preached.
Add to that those again both in the media and out that attack or protest those outside their faith because they disagree with them. Which is against what the apostle Paul said when he wrote,
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
1 Corinthians 5:12,13.
The first century church was successful because it could not afford, nor did it ever turn away from the principle message of Christ Matthew recording,
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20
The message of the gospel, the message, the only message all Christians need to presenting to the world is summed up by Jesus when he said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”.
John 3:16-18
There are many diverse ministries within the body of Christ but the foundation of all those ministries must be showing the love of Christ to all people everywhere.
In order to do this effectively we need to be presenting the true unadulterated word of God in a polite fashion to all people.
We need to heed the words of the apostle Paul who said,
“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”
Romans 12:18
The Apostle Peter said,
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Dear friends,
I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.’
1 Peter 2:9-12.
A fierce light shines on we Christians. We cannot do anything lightly. We must stick to the scriptures and present the Gospel of Christ to all who will listen to us.
We must do this because our actions may determine the eternal resting place of those around us.
Please think about it.
Tuesday 3 November 2015
Spoiled Brat Christians?
Spoiled Brat Christians?
I admit from the outset that this is about one of my pet problems with those who would call themselves “fundamentalist evangelical Christians” in North America. Sometimes I think they are spoiled brats.
I see and hear them all the time wanting revival. They want revival to come to the church. At the same time they are complaining that the government and other groups are trying to restrict what they can do in public.
Perhaps the solution to both problems the need for revival and the need to have people stop picking on them is one in the same.
Those calling themselves evangelicals and indeed the Christian Church as a whole need to return to “The Church” of the Bible. We need to be following the example of the founding fathers.
Remember when the church was founded it first of all was not part of the officially recognized religions of Rome and therefore susceptible to persecution and members could be arrest and put to death. The church underwent a lot of persecution in the first three centuries in particular.
Christians suffered a lot under Roman rule from time to time. Yet as we know the church not only survived but grew. It survived and grew for one very important reason. IT STAYED TRUE TO IT’S PURPOSE!
Jesus said,
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20.
Jesus did not say criticize other faiths. Jesus did not say demonstrate against anything you disagree with (anything that is not Christian is origin). He did not say speak out against those who have a different lifestyle.
He never told us to speak out against the government. He never told us to take sides in political events.
Jesus said,
“...go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you...”
He said,
“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”
Matthew 10:16.
The apostle Peter said,
“Dear friends,
I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”
1 Peter 2:11,12.
The Apostle Paul said,
“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Romans 12:18-21
The apostle Paul made things clear,
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
1 Corinthians 5:12,13.
James the brother of Christ said,
“Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom,
because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!”
James 2:12,13.
We must remember the words of the Apostle Paul to the Romans who said,
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8
We must remember that we were indeed sinners far from God at one time.
We must remember the message of the Church is summed up in the gospel of John when John quotes Jesus as saying,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”.
John 3:16-18.
We cannot get this message out if we are protesting. If we are criticizing others. If we are judging those outside the church.
We are blessed here in North America with freedoms other nations long for. We cannot afford to misuse those freedoms. We must use them to reach out in love with the purest form of the gospel we know. Reach out those around us and let God do the rest.
We must return to the example the first century Church set out for us.
Please Christians think carefully about it.
I admit from the outset that this is about one of my pet problems with those who would call themselves “fundamentalist evangelical Christians” in North America. Sometimes I think they are spoiled brats.
I see and hear them all the time wanting revival. They want revival to come to the church. At the same time they are complaining that the government and other groups are trying to restrict what they can do in public.
Perhaps the solution to both problems the need for revival and the need to have people stop picking on them is one in the same.
Those calling themselves evangelicals and indeed the Christian Church as a whole need to return to “The Church” of the Bible. We need to be following the example of the founding fathers.
Remember when the church was founded it first of all was not part of the officially recognized religions of Rome and therefore susceptible to persecution and members could be arrest and put to death. The church underwent a lot of persecution in the first three centuries in particular.
Christians suffered a lot under Roman rule from time to time. Yet as we know the church not only survived but grew. It survived and grew for one very important reason. IT STAYED TRUE TO IT’S PURPOSE!
Jesus said,
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20.
Jesus did not say criticize other faiths. Jesus did not say demonstrate against anything you disagree with (anything that is not Christian is origin). He did not say speak out against those who have a different lifestyle.
He never told us to speak out against the government. He never told us to take sides in political events.
Jesus said,
“...go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you...”
He said,
“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”
Matthew 10:16.
The apostle Peter said,
“Dear friends,
I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”
1 Peter 2:11,12.
The Apostle Paul said,
“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Romans 12:18-21
The apostle Paul made things clear,
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
1 Corinthians 5:12,13.
James the brother of Christ said,
“Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom,
because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!”
James 2:12,13.
We must remember the words of the Apostle Paul to the Romans who said,
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8
We must remember that we were indeed sinners far from God at one time.
We must remember the message of the Church is summed up in the gospel of John when John quotes Jesus as saying,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”.
John 3:16-18.
We cannot get this message out if we are protesting. If we are criticizing others. If we are judging those outside the church.
We are blessed here in North America with freedoms other nations long for. We cannot afford to misuse those freedoms. We must use them to reach out in love with the purest form of the gospel we know. Reach out those around us and let God do the rest.
We must return to the example the first century Church set out for us.
Please Christians think carefully about it.
Monday 2 November 2015
A dying declaration
A dying declaration
“One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?
We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’”
Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Luke 23:39-43
Here’s something to think about. The above quote from Luke’s gospel tells us not only of the reaction of the two criminals crucified with Jesus but about what Jesus said.
Jesus when faced with death said to the one criminal “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
This was something only God could guarantee. If Jesus was not the Son of God and simply a man why would he say such a thing. Especially as he was about the face death.
Remember Jesus before going to the cross had been whipped unmercifully. Yet he never recanted what he said about himself.
The apostle Paul makes the point,
“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:7,8.
Jesus was all he said he was the One and Only Son of God.
C. S. Lewis notes,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
What do you think?
Please think about it.
“One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?
We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’”
Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Luke 23:39-43
Here’s something to think about. The above quote from Luke’s gospel tells us not only of the reaction of the two criminals crucified with Jesus but about what Jesus said.
Jesus when faced with death said to the one criminal “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
This was something only God could guarantee. If Jesus was not the Son of God and simply a man why would he say such a thing. Especially as he was about the face death.
Remember Jesus before going to the cross had been whipped unmercifully. Yet he never recanted what he said about himself.
The apostle Paul makes the point,
“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:7,8.
Jesus was all he said he was the One and Only Son of God.
C. S. Lewis notes,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
What do you think?
Please think about it.
Sunday 1 November 2015
Speak an Act
Speak and Act
“Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!”
James 2:8-13
Sometimes I think Christians are their own worst enemy.
Many so called Christians in the United States seem to be under the delusion that because they have the motto “one nation under God” they are or were at one time a Christian nation. That is not true there has never been a Christian nation on this earth.
I hear those who claim to be Christians protesting against everything they disagree with. They say it is their right under the constitution. That’s true but the constitution is not the inspired word of God.
Christians see many things in the world we disagree with but we shouldn’t be out there protesting. There are many laws that Christians disagree with. Still providing they don’t restrict our rights or the rights of others to practice what they believe, we shouldn’t be protesting.
Both Jesus and the apostles were in a world that had many laws and customs they would not have liked. However they did not protest.
They lived within the laws of the Roman empire and as such were able to change the world.
They never attacked the beliefs of anyone outside their faith. They never spoke against the government of the day. Yet within seventy or so years of Christ’s birth Christianity had reached the entire Roman empire from the British isles to the borders of India.
We as Christians need to realize we are aliens in this world. The apostle Peter saying,
“Dear friends,
I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.’
1 Peter 2:11,12.
We cannot do this if we are protesting the evils of this world. We only come across as bigoted malcontents and trouble makers.
The apostle Paul set the example as to how we are to evangelise when he was in Athens.
In Athens he was presenting the gospel when some philosophers heard him. He perked their interest and he was invited to speak at the Areopagus the ancient equivalent of an a “Ted Talk” if you will. An intellectual form.
The book of acts states,
“So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.
A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?
You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”
(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.
For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill.
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”
At that, Paul left the Council.
A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.
Acts 17:17-34
This is how we as Christians in the twenty-first century need to be presenting the word of God to the world.
Please think about it.
“Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!”
James 2:8-13
Sometimes I think Christians are their own worst enemy.
Many so called Christians in the United States seem to be under the delusion that because they have the motto “one nation under God” they are or were at one time a Christian nation. That is not true there has never been a Christian nation on this earth.
I hear those who claim to be Christians protesting against everything they disagree with. They say it is their right under the constitution. That’s true but the constitution is not the inspired word of God.
Christians see many things in the world we disagree with but we shouldn’t be out there protesting. There are many laws that Christians disagree with. Still providing they don’t restrict our rights or the rights of others to practice what they believe, we shouldn’t be protesting.
Both Jesus and the apostles were in a world that had many laws and customs they would not have liked. However they did not protest.
They lived within the laws of the Roman empire and as such were able to change the world.
They never attacked the beliefs of anyone outside their faith. They never spoke against the government of the day. Yet within seventy or so years of Christ’s birth Christianity had reached the entire Roman empire from the British isles to the borders of India.
We as Christians need to realize we are aliens in this world. The apostle Peter saying,
“Dear friends,
I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.’
1 Peter 2:11,12.
We cannot do this if we are protesting the evils of this world. We only come across as bigoted malcontents and trouble makers.
The apostle Paul set the example as to how we are to evangelise when he was in Athens.
In Athens he was presenting the gospel when some philosophers heard him. He perked their interest and he was invited to speak at the Areopagus the ancient equivalent of an a “Ted Talk” if you will. An intellectual form.
The book of acts states,
“So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.
A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?
You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”
(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.
For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill.
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”
At that, Paul left the Council.
A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.
Acts 17:17-34
This is how we as Christians in the twenty-first century need to be presenting the word of God to the world.
Please think about it.
Saturday 31 October 2015
Why I talk about Jesus
Why I talk about Jesus
I believe Jesus like all Christians believe. I believe Jesus when he said,
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.
When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”
Matthew 13:44-46.
Think about it like this.
If you knew something that could change the life of someone for the better, or something that could save a life, wouldn’t you want to tell people about it?
That is what Christians believe. We believe that a true personal relationship with Jesus Christ can change your life. It can also assure you of where you will spend eternity.
Jesus said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
John 3:16-17
Being a Christian is knowing God the very creator of the universe. The gospel of John stating,
“In the beginning was the Word,(Jesus) and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life, and that life was the light of men....
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
John 1:1-4, 10-13.
This is why Christians want to tell everyone about their faith.
Jesus said,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30.
From a personal prospective I can testify that to the above statement. I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour when I was nineteen. I’m sixty plus now so I’ve had a life time of experience with respect to knowing what it’s like to follow Jesus.
In my life I have gone through many tragedies. I have survived cancer and I live each day with Bi-polar affective disorder (manic depression) along with an anxiety disorder, something that at times has drove me to the point of suicide.
I firmly believe that it is because of my personal relationship with Jesus that I have not committed suicide.
Jesus has been their for me through my darkest hours. I
I remember when I got the diagnosis for my cancer praying and asking for God’s peace. He answered my prayer and all went well.
A few weeks later as a side effect of the operation I was rushed to the hospital with blood clots on my lungs that almost killed me. Again I turned it all over the Jesus. Again I had a peace that passed understanding.
And remember through all of this I still had the Bi-polar disorder and the anxiety disorder that magnifies the worry, yet Jesus gave me peace.
I do not believe in forcing my faith on anyone. God gave everyone freedom of choice. That means they have the right to believe in Him and believe Jesus is the Son of God the Saviour of mankind, or not to believe.
The choice is yours. I can only say Jesus has had a profound effect on my life no matter the circumstance.
I leave the choice to accept Jesus into your life up to you.
Please think about it.
I believe Jesus like all Christians believe. I believe Jesus when he said,
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.
When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”
Matthew 13:44-46.
Think about it like this.
If you knew something that could change the life of someone for the better, or something that could save a life, wouldn’t you want to tell people about it?
That is what Christians believe. We believe that a true personal relationship with Jesus Christ can change your life. It can also assure you of where you will spend eternity.
Jesus said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
John 3:16-17
Being a Christian is knowing God the very creator of the universe. The gospel of John stating,
“In the beginning was the Word,(Jesus) and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life, and that life was the light of men....
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
John 1:1-4, 10-13.
This is why Christians want to tell everyone about their faith.
Jesus said,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30.
From a personal prospective I can testify that to the above statement. I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour when I was nineteen. I’m sixty plus now so I’ve had a life time of experience with respect to knowing what it’s like to follow Jesus.
In my life I have gone through many tragedies. I have survived cancer and I live each day with Bi-polar affective disorder (manic depression) along with an anxiety disorder, something that at times has drove me to the point of suicide.
I firmly believe that it is because of my personal relationship with Jesus that I have not committed suicide.
Jesus has been their for me through my darkest hours. I
I remember when I got the diagnosis for my cancer praying and asking for God’s peace. He answered my prayer and all went well.
A few weeks later as a side effect of the operation I was rushed to the hospital with blood clots on my lungs that almost killed me. Again I turned it all over the Jesus. Again I had a peace that passed understanding.
And remember through all of this I still had the Bi-polar disorder and the anxiety disorder that magnifies the worry, yet Jesus gave me peace.
I do not believe in forcing my faith on anyone. God gave everyone freedom of choice. That means they have the right to believe in Him and believe Jesus is the Son of God the Saviour of mankind, or not to believe.
The choice is yours. I can only say Jesus has had a profound effect on my life no matter the circumstance.
I leave the choice to accept Jesus into your life up to you.
Please think about it.
Friday 30 October 2015
Christians and Judging
Christians and Judging
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Matthew 7:1,2.
Do not Judge or you will be judged. This is one verse even most non-Christians know.
Not long ago I heard an evangelist say that this verse refers to hypocritical judgement and I believe him.
The evangelist went on to say Christians still need to judge. We need to discern between what is right and what is wrong. This too is true.
Unfortunately when it comes to the latter discerning between what is right and wrong, some Christians cross the line and heap judgement on non-Christians. Some go as far as pointing out the evils of the society around them. Criticize everything and everyone that hold a different view or lifestyle to them.
This should not be so. It is not the job of a Christian to judge the world. The apostle Paul made that clear when he wrote,
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
1 Corinthians 5:12,13.
Jesus gave us our job saying,
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20.
In order to do this we need to heed the words of the apostle Paul who said,
“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Romans 12:18-21.
The apostle Peter saying,
“Dear friends,
I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.’
1 Peter 2:11,12.
Please think about it.
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Matthew 7:1,2.
Do not Judge or you will be judged. This is one verse even most non-Christians know.
Not long ago I heard an evangelist say that this verse refers to hypocritical judgement and I believe him.
The evangelist went on to say Christians still need to judge. We need to discern between what is right and what is wrong. This too is true.
Unfortunately when it comes to the latter discerning between what is right and wrong, some Christians cross the line and heap judgement on non-Christians. Some go as far as pointing out the evils of the society around them. Criticize everything and everyone that hold a different view or lifestyle to them.
This should not be so. It is not the job of a Christian to judge the world. The apostle Paul made that clear when he wrote,
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
1 Corinthians 5:12,13.
Jesus gave us our job saying,
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20.
In order to do this we need to heed the words of the apostle Paul who said,
“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Romans 12:18-21.
The apostle Peter saying,
“Dear friends,
I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.’
1 Peter 2:11,12.
Please think about it.
Thursday 29 October 2015
A Christian Responsibility
A Christian Responsibility
We Christians have a responsibility before God that is greater than that of any other faith.
We cannot shelter ourselves by saying the eternal resting place of those around us is not my affair, because it is.
Jesus said,
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20.
Jesus made it clear,
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6
A fierce light shines on the Christian. We are the light upon The Hill.
We cannot do anything lightly.
God has placed in our hands the way to life eternal with Him. We cannot neglect the world beyond the walls of our church congregations.
We must present, not force, the saving grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in a loving caring manner to all whom we come in contact with.
In order to do this we must first and foremost Love God with all our heart, mind, and soul. We must also love our neighbours.
Jesus said,
“ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:37-40.
Not only that but we must love our enemies. Jesus telling us,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?”
Matthew 5:43-47
We cannot afford to show anything less.
Francis of Assisi said,
“We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home those who have lost their way.”
Francis of Assisi
Please think about it.
We Christians have a responsibility before God that is greater than that of any other faith.
We cannot shelter ourselves by saying the eternal resting place of those around us is not my affair, because it is.
Jesus said,
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20.
Jesus made it clear,
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6
A fierce light shines on the Christian. We are the light upon The Hill.
We cannot do anything lightly.
God has placed in our hands the way to life eternal with Him. We cannot neglect the world beyond the walls of our church congregations.
We must present, not force, the saving grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in a loving caring manner to all whom we come in contact with.
In order to do this we must first and foremost Love God with all our heart, mind, and soul. We must also love our neighbours.
Jesus said,
“ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:37-40.
Not only that but we must love our enemies. Jesus telling us,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?”
Matthew 5:43-47
We cannot afford to show anything less.
Francis of Assisi said,
“We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home those who have lost their way.”
Francis of Assisi
Please think about it.
Wednesday 28 October 2015
Are you content
Are you content?
“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
Philippians 4:12,13.
Are you content with what you have?
There is what I and many Christians consider a dangerous teaching circulating in evangelical Christian circles. That of “name it, claim it.” it sometimes goes by “seed faith.”
Simply put the teachers of this as my pastor puts it, “blab it grab it” doctrine, teach that if you give to God’s ministry (quite often a code for their particular ministry) God will give you back ten, a hundred, or even a thousand fold over what you gave.
They treat God like a sugar daddy or super banker giving unbelievable interest on what you give.
Many espousing this doctrine go further saying if you don’t receive the increase your faith is weak. If that’s the case then there are many Christians including pastors who’s faith is weak. Because by far the majority of Christians are not wealthy and when they give to God they don’t get the ten, hundred, or thousand fold increase.
The apostle Paul wrote,
“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:19.
Notice Paul states “And my God will meed all your needs”
The people he was talking to had helped him out and he was giving them a blessing stating God will give them their needs. Not necessarily make them rich.
Now there is nothing wrong with being rich. There are many wealthy Christians that help with the spread of the gospel. However Paul writing to Timothy warned,
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
1 Timothy 6:10.
It is precisely the love of money that have caused people to wander from the faith.
The writer of Hebrews states,
“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5.
Our faith must be in God not in money. Wealth comes with its own set of problems and as the apostle Paul said,
“Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
As Christians we need to be always striving to do better even in the area of wealth but the acquiring of wealth should not be the primary thing in our life. It should not pull us away from God.
I have known a lot of people over the years that have worked long hours to try and get the nice house and all the toys that go with it.
When it’s come to a choice to get more overtime to earn more money they have chosen it over going to Church and serving God.
Many Christians today are like non-Christians, they are heavily in debt and striving to make ends meet.
We as Christians need to heed the words of the writer of the book of Hebrews who said,
“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5.
Think about it.
“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
Philippians 4:12,13.
Are you content with what you have?
There is what I and many Christians consider a dangerous teaching circulating in evangelical Christian circles. That of “name it, claim it.” it sometimes goes by “seed faith.”
Simply put the teachers of this as my pastor puts it, “blab it grab it” doctrine, teach that if you give to God’s ministry (quite often a code for their particular ministry) God will give you back ten, a hundred, or even a thousand fold over what you gave.
They treat God like a sugar daddy or super banker giving unbelievable interest on what you give.
Many espousing this doctrine go further saying if you don’t receive the increase your faith is weak. If that’s the case then there are many Christians including pastors who’s faith is weak. Because by far the majority of Christians are not wealthy and when they give to God they don’t get the ten, hundred, or thousand fold increase.
The apostle Paul wrote,
“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:19.
Notice Paul states “And my God will meed all your needs”
The people he was talking to had helped him out and he was giving them a blessing stating God will give them their needs. Not necessarily make them rich.
Now there is nothing wrong with being rich. There are many wealthy Christians that help with the spread of the gospel. However Paul writing to Timothy warned,
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
1 Timothy 6:10.
It is precisely the love of money that have caused people to wander from the faith.
The writer of Hebrews states,
“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5.
Our faith must be in God not in money. Wealth comes with its own set of problems and as the apostle Paul said,
“Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
As Christians we need to be always striving to do better even in the area of wealth but the acquiring of wealth should not be the primary thing in our life. It should not pull us away from God.
I have known a lot of people over the years that have worked long hours to try and get the nice house and all the toys that go with it.
When it’s come to a choice to get more overtime to earn more money they have chosen it over going to Church and serving God.
Many Christians today are like non-Christians, they are heavily in debt and striving to make ends meet.
We as Christians need to heed the words of the writer of the book of Hebrews who said,
“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5.
Think about it.
Tuesday 27 October 2015
To North American Christians
To North American Christians
I write this largely to North American Christians. With whom I am most familiar as I live here. It is an observation I think if we as Christians are honest will agree with.
The other day I read an article by a Christian that noted that Christians, particularly evangelical Christians are called judgmental and always imposing their beliefs on others. He said in effect this was simply a fact of life for Christians. We would always be persecuted for our beliefs.
He argued that Christians had the right to say what is right and wrong according to the Bible. I agreed with him. The scriptures he quoted were all in context.
He pointed out that it is only by judging what is right and wrong by the scriptures can Christians keep themselves from sinning. This is true.
In all his scripture quotes however he missed one very important quote from the apostle Paul who said,
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
1 Corinthians 5:12,13.
Yes it is essential for us as Christians to study the scriptures and judge what is right and wrong behaviour for us as believers. But according to Paul in his letter to the Corinthians we are not to judge those outside the church. That is God job, not ours.
It stands to reason Christians shouldn’t be imposing their values as good as they are on non-believers. After all we would not want non-Christians to impose their beliefs on us.
It is when we impose our beliefs on others that non-Christians push back. Which immediately prompts some Christians to say they are being persecuted. This is not true persecution. It’s simply people telling those trying to impose their beliefs on others it’s not right. They would do it to any group not just Christians.
Christians need to be out of the judging business. Tony Campolo the American evangelist said,
“We ought to get out of the judging business. We should leave it up to God to determine who belongs in one arena or another when it comes to eternity. What we are obligated to do is to tell people about Jesus, and that's what I do.”
Tony Campolo
Dear Christian we need to be obeying the words of the apostle Paul, who wrote,
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
1 Corinthians 5:12,13.
Simply put keep our own house clean and leave the judging of others to God. For only God knows what is in the hearts and minds of others.
Please think about it.
I write this largely to North American Christians. With whom I am most familiar as I live here. It is an observation I think if we as Christians are honest will agree with.
The other day I read an article by a Christian that noted that Christians, particularly evangelical Christians are called judgmental and always imposing their beliefs on others. He said in effect this was simply a fact of life for Christians. We would always be persecuted for our beliefs.
He argued that Christians had the right to say what is right and wrong according to the Bible. I agreed with him. The scriptures he quoted were all in context.
He pointed out that it is only by judging what is right and wrong by the scriptures can Christians keep themselves from sinning. This is true.
In all his scripture quotes however he missed one very important quote from the apostle Paul who said,
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
1 Corinthians 5:12,13.
Yes it is essential for us as Christians to study the scriptures and judge what is right and wrong behaviour for us as believers. But according to Paul in his letter to the Corinthians we are not to judge those outside the church. That is God job, not ours.
It stands to reason Christians shouldn’t be imposing their values as good as they are on non-believers. After all we would not want non-Christians to impose their beliefs on us.
It is when we impose our beliefs on others that non-Christians push back. Which immediately prompts some Christians to say they are being persecuted. This is not true persecution. It’s simply people telling those trying to impose their beliefs on others it’s not right. They would do it to any group not just Christians.
Christians need to be out of the judging business. Tony Campolo the American evangelist said,
“We ought to get out of the judging business. We should leave it up to God to determine who belongs in one arena or another when it comes to eternity. What we are obligated to do is to tell people about Jesus, and that's what I do.”
Tony Campolo
Dear Christian we need to be obeying the words of the apostle Paul, who wrote,
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
1 Corinthians 5:12,13.
Simply put keep our own house clean and leave the judging of others to God. For only God knows what is in the hearts and minds of others.
Please think about it.
Sunday 25 October 2015
Jesus is
Jesus is
Flavius Josephus,(37AD-100AD) a Jewish historian, who became a Pharisee at 19, later commander, of the Jewish forces in Galilee. Who was captured by Romans and attached to their headquarters. Wrote this about Jesus,
“Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ, and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first, did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians so named from him are not extinct at this day.”
Does Jesus exist? Yes he does. There is no doubt in my mind that Jesus exists, but then I’m a Christian.
I know there are Atheist that claim he didn’t. There are people out there that dismiss out of hand all the historical evidence of Jesus both inside the Bible and outside.
That being said from all that I’ve read from credible historians the majority of Christian and Atheist historians both believe Jesus existed.
It, I believe is easy to say Jesus didn’t exist and say that the historical evidence is flawed. It’s much harder to believe he existed because once you admit he existed then you have to admit that what the bible says about him has to have some merit.
I believe Jesus existed not only because of the evidence inside the Bible but outside also.
I also believe the fastest way to turn people away from something is to make outrageous claims that if not true would turn people away and thus become counter productive to the movement one is starting.
Jesus made what to man’s way of thinking could be considered outrageous.
John in his gospel records this incident,
The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
I and the Father are one.”
Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”
John 10:24-32
Notice Jesus says “I and the Father are one”
That’s quite a statement considering in Jewish culture of the time making oneself equivalent to God was considered a heresy and punishable by death. As seen by the fact the Jews were going to stone him.
John also record an other incident this time with the apostle Philip,
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.
John 14:8-11
C.S. Lewis wrote of Jesus,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
In the end the choice to believe Jesus is all he said his or to reject him comes down to an act of informed faith.
You can read the evidence that Jesus existed from sources outside the bible. You can read what Jesus said about himself and what the disciples believed about him from the Bible.
Then you must make your decision.
Please think about it.
Flavius Josephus,(37AD-100AD) a Jewish historian, who became a Pharisee at 19, later commander, of the Jewish forces in Galilee. Who was captured by Romans and attached to their headquarters. Wrote this about Jesus,
“Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ, and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first, did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians so named from him are not extinct at this day.”
Does Jesus exist? Yes he does. There is no doubt in my mind that Jesus exists, but then I’m a Christian.
I know there are Atheist that claim he didn’t. There are people out there that dismiss out of hand all the historical evidence of Jesus both inside the Bible and outside.
That being said from all that I’ve read from credible historians the majority of Christian and Atheist historians both believe Jesus existed.
It, I believe is easy to say Jesus didn’t exist and say that the historical evidence is flawed. It’s much harder to believe he existed because once you admit he existed then you have to admit that what the bible says about him has to have some merit.
I believe Jesus existed not only because of the evidence inside the Bible but outside also.
I also believe the fastest way to turn people away from something is to make outrageous claims that if not true would turn people away and thus become counter productive to the movement one is starting.
Jesus made what to man’s way of thinking could be considered outrageous.
John in his gospel records this incident,
The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
I and the Father are one.”
Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”
John 10:24-32
Notice Jesus says “I and the Father are one”
That’s quite a statement considering in Jewish culture of the time making oneself equivalent to God was considered a heresy and punishable by death. As seen by the fact the Jews were going to stone him.
John also record an other incident this time with the apostle Philip,
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.
John 14:8-11
C.S. Lewis wrote of Jesus,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
In the end the choice to believe Jesus is all he said his or to reject him comes down to an act of informed faith.
You can read the evidence that Jesus existed from sources outside the bible. You can read what Jesus said about himself and what the disciples believed about him from the Bible.
Then you must make your decision.
Please think about it.
No Detour
No Detour
Hans Urs von Balthasar
“It is to the Cross that the Christian is challenged to follow his Master: no path of redemption can make a detour around it.”
Hans Urs von Balthasar.
Christians make no excuses about our beliefs. Paul writing to the Romans said,
“And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:5-8
We as Christians believe we cannot live a life good enough for God so God reached down to us in the form of his one and only son Jesus Christ.
C.S. Lewis said,
“The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.”
C.S. Lewis
Jesus said,
“...I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
John 10:10b
The apostle Paul wrote,
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Ephesians 2:8,9.
We as Christians believe God in the form of Jesus Christ reached down to mankind giving him a choice.
Jesus saying,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
John 3:16-18.
I know there are many out there who would disagree. That is their choice. However I as a Christian feel obligated by God to present to the world what I believe.
If I am wrong and there is many ways to heaven I will have lived a good and moral life. If I am wrong those who don’t believe as I do have something to fear.
However if I am right those who have read this and fail to believe have a lot to fear.
Please think about it.
Hans Urs von Balthasar
“It is to the Cross that the Christian is challenged to follow his Master: no path of redemption can make a detour around it.”
Hans Urs von Balthasar.
Christians make no excuses about our beliefs. Paul writing to the Romans said,
“And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:5-8
We as Christians believe we cannot live a life good enough for God so God reached down to us in the form of his one and only son Jesus Christ.
C.S. Lewis said,
“The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.”
C.S. Lewis
Jesus said,
“...I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
John 10:10b
The apostle Paul wrote,
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Ephesians 2:8,9.
We as Christians believe God in the form of Jesus Christ reached down to mankind giving him a choice.
Jesus saying,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
John 3:16-18.
I know there are many out there who would disagree. That is their choice. However I as a Christian feel obligated by God to present to the world what I believe.
If I am wrong and there is many ways to heaven I will have lived a good and moral life. If I am wrong those who don’t believe as I do have something to fear.
However if I am right those who have read this and fail to believe have a lot to fear.
Please think about it.
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