FAQ s of Faith. Questions & comments often proposed by new believers & Seekers

Transcription

1 FAQ s of Faith Questions & comments often proposed by new believers & Seekers

2 Questions & Comments Proposed by New Believers and Seekers What about the person who has never heard of Christ? It doesn t seem fair that he should be condemned to Hell for not believing in Christ, if he never heard of him. The person who has never heard of Christ is not being condemned to Hell for not believing in Christ. He is being condemned because he is a sinner (Romans 3:23). He is a sinner, even though he has had no exposure to God s law, because he responds sinfully to the information that he has. The creation alone gives us valuable information about God: we can see His invisible attributes (His divine nature and power) (Romans 1:20). A person who is exposed to this information should, and is morally required to, worship God and be thankful to Him (Romans 1:21), but the universal response is idolatry (Romans 1:23). Man concocts every reason to deny God s existence and fashion for himself a much tamer, less threatening god. It is for this blatant sin that they are condemned. God will judge them, concerning their punishment, based on the amount of information they have. Therefore we can be confident that God, in His justice, will more severely punish those who have been exposed to the Gospel and the Bible, and reject this level of revelation. Why is Christ the only way? Isn t that exclusive and intolerant? What about other religious leaders such as Mohammed or Buddha? Yes, it is exclusive and intolerant. But Jesus Himself teaches it: No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6). We live in a society that hates that. Everyone should be able to do his own thing, we say. But there is a very good reason why Jesus is the ONLY way: He is the ONLY person who has overcome our two basic problems of sin and death. He overcame our sins by being punished in our place, and dying on the cross as a payment for the penalty of our sins. He proved he overcame death through His resurrection. Also, consider this: God graciously made man (He didn t have to), and started out with only one rule: don t eat from one particular tree in the garden of paradise that He had created. God in His forbearance did not punish them immediately and wipe out the human race as He could have, but instead promised to save them. Man continued to sin and violate every commandment God gave them.

3 God still wanted to save some and make a people for Himself out of this rebellious people. He blessed them with His presence as the nation of Israel developed and prospered. They turned to the idols of the people around them. God sent prophets to warn them they killed the prophets. God finally sent his own Son, and they killed Him also. Even so, God continues to offer salvation to those who will worship His son as Lord and Savior and claim His sacrificial offering as their only hope for eternal life. And after all this, some still have the nerve to say that God didn t do enough, and should have allowed for numerous other methods instead. Remember, God didn t have to save anyone. He certainly doesn t have the obligation to save people on their own terms. No other religious leader has come close to fulfilling the requirements of being the Messiah. How do we know the Bible is the Word of God? There is overwhelming evidence that the Bible is all it claims it is. Some of them are listed below: The facts in the Bible have been repeatedly confirmed by archaeological evidence. This is especially true of facts that were originally seriously doubted, such as the existence of specific Kings or Kingdoms. The consistency of the Bible is astonishing, considering that it was written over a period of years by dozens of human authors. If God were not inspiring what was written, there surely would be some inconsistencies. The Bible has withstood the challenge of thousands (probably millions) of critics over the centuries, and not one error or fallacy has been identified. The Bible speaks to people from every walk of life, ethnic origin, and time period. God alone could foresee the needs of 21st century man and incorporate things in the Bible that address our needs directly. Science has proven statements in the Bible, even though it took science sometimes millennia to come to the same conclusions. The Bible is the only religious book that does not hide the weaknesses and sins of its heroes. I could go on and on. However a real hard piece of evidence occurs when a believer reads the Bible and feels it talking to Him directly. What happens when we die? Paul teaches us in 2 Corinthians 5:8, we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. According to the Bible, death is the separation of our spirits from our physical body. Our spirits then go home to be with the Lord, if we are a believer. This allowed Jesus to promise the thief on the cross, Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise. (Luke 23:43) There would be no delay. It would happen at the same time the thief died. There the spirits will be in paradise, in the continual presence of God, until at the final day everyone s bodies are resurrected. 1 Corinthians 15:52-53 states, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable. While other theories have been proposed, such as soul sleep, the clear teaching of Scripture is that when a believer dies his spirit goes directly to Heaven.

4 Christians (or the church) are hypocrites. Christians are sinners who have been forgiven and redeemed. Unfortunately our lifestyle does not always reflect the message that we want to proclaim. We still have a sin nature that tempts us to do things contrary to the will of God. Fortunately, God has given us His Holy Spirit to help us along with our sanctification, or becoming more like Him. This is a process that we never perfect. It is understandable that a person would think that we are hypocrites because we do the things that we say God does not want us to do. However, the church is a group of people who are trying to be transformed into the image of God (Romans 12:1-2). As we proclaim the gospel, we are not holding ourselves up as models of perfection, but rather inviting people to embrace Christ and join us along that journey. How can I be happy in Heaven, knowing that some of my loved ones are not there? This is probably one of the most difficult questions to answer. We all have loved ones who are not believers. We pray for them every day. Some of them die without ever becoming believers. We grieve tremendously about them here. It does not seem possible that we could be perfectly happy in heaven, knowing their condition. This is really where faith and trust come in. Although God does not explain in detail how we will handle this, He does promise that He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, (Revelation 21:4). Some conjecture that He will cause us to forget certain things about our earthly existence that might stand in the way of our happiness. Others say that in Heaven we will truly appreciate and understand God s plan so that we will understand why things are the way they are. I don t know the answer, and the Bible does not give us a direct answer. However, as we saw above, God promises us that we will be perfectly happy in Heaven, with no sorrow. I believe that. If God exists, why is there evil and suffering in the world? This is a profound question that, after all is said, still remains quite a mystery. The problem of evil has bothered people forever, and people have tried to figure out ways to explain it. A couple of things can be said for sure. God is not the author of evil. He doesn t generate the evil, or entice people to commit acts of evil. However, He also does not stop it. Being all-powerful, He certainly could have designed a world in which there was no evil or suffering. But He chose not to do it. The only conclusion we can come to is that He had a very good reason for allowing evil, and in the end, He is using all things, even evil and suffering, for our good, as Romans 8:28 tells us ( for those who love God all things work together for good. ) This is one of those areas that we have to admit remains a mystery to us, but in faith we know that God is in control and is orchestrating all of history according to His good purposes.

5 Why should I let you impose your beliefs on me? In presenting the gospel, we are offering God s truth. We are not imposing anything. It is entirely up to the hearer as to whether he will embrace those truths or not. If the person presenting the gospel seems overzealous, the listener must understand that he is very passionate about his beliefs. He is so sure that they are right that he desperately desires people who he loves and encounters to believe them with him also. But it is impossible for anyone to impose a belief on anyone else. God saves those who truly believe and embrace the gospel, not those on whom it has been imposed. I believe in God isn t that enough? No, according to the epistle by James, the brother of Jesus, that might only put you in the same spiritual category as the demons. They believe in God. They know for certain that He exists. (James 2:19) In order to be saved, one must love Christ, put his entire faith in Christ to save him from God s judgment, and demonstrate his faith by a changed life. That is what saving faith is all about. I already do Christian things (go to church, read the Bible, etc). How much more do I have to do? If you think that life with God is based on what you do, then you have missed the point of the gospel. We are all sinners (Romans 3:23), and can t do anything to earn our salvation. It is a gift from God (Romans 6:23). The only way to receive that gift is through faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). A true, saving means that a person loves Christ, puts his entire faith in Christ to save him from God s judgment, and demonstrates his faith by a changed life. That is what saving faith is all about. I am saved. I just don t think that it s necessary to go to church. God has saved us to be a part of a community. Heaven does not consist of people living like spiritual hermits in their own little room. They are gathered together worshiping God. God expects us, while we are on earth, to be preparing for heaven. He says we should meet together as a community of believers (Hebrews 10:25). The book of Acts and the Epistles of the New Testament show believers as a group of people in community. The book of the Revelation shows believers as a corporate group together engaged in doing the things of God and worshiping Him. I don t need it. (or, You do your thing, I ll do mine). The Bible was written by the God who made all of creation. Its proclamations apply to people of all places throughout all times. God warns people that all are sinners (Romans 3:23). They may not think that they are sinners, or reject the idea that they are sinners, but they are sinners according to God. This means that they have a serious problem. God says that each person will die because he sins. This includes physical and eternal death. There is only one solution to this problem, and that is to receive the sacrifice Christ made to pay for your sins. He died, even though He was sinless and, of Himself, could not die. The reason He died was that He had the sins of others placed upon Him, and God punish Him for those sins. Nobody else did that. No other religion or system of beliefs solves our major problems of sin and death. Whether you know it or not, you DO need Christ.

6 I believe in reason, not faith. That is for people who don t think for themselves. The Bible does not proclaim a faith lacking reason. We are called to love God with our mind (Matthew 22:37). We are called to renew our mind (Romans 12:1-2). We are commanded to give a reason and defense for what we believe (1 Peter 3:15). On the contrary, Christianity is based upon faith AND reason. They go hand in hand. Ours is not a blind faith, but a faith that is supported by history what God has done in the past and what He promises to do in the future. On the contrary, those who not believe God are the ones who are not thinking straight (Psalm 14:1, Psalm 53:1). There are so many different Bibles. How do we know which one is right? It is important when choosing a Bible to select one that attempts to make an accurate translation from the original manuscripts. Although we don t have any original manuscripts, we have tens of thousands of copies that have been meticulously compared and analyzed so that we are virtually certain of what the original documents said. When a new Bible translation is developed, there are generally three different approaches that could be taken. Literal translation. An attempt is made to translate word-for-word from the originals into the common contemporary language. Sometimes these are more awkward to read, but if you desire to know what the originals said, these are the best translations to select from. The ESV (English Standard Version) is an example of one of these. Dynamic equivalency. The idea presented in the original is faithfully preserved, but some of the phraseology is changed in order to make it more readable. Word order is changed, some images are changed, and other modifications are made while still attempting to hold to the original ideas. If this is done properly, the result is a highly readable text that is reasonably accurate to the originals. The NIV (New International Version) is an example. Paraphrase. Entire sections, or paragraphs, are reworded. Sometimes ideas are amplified in order to get a point across. Little attention is given to being accurate to the original text. Obviously, a reader is at the mercy of the interpretation of the committee that does this translation. While valuable for certain private study, one should always compare passages from a paraphrase with the same ones from more accurate translations to make sure that the paraphrase has properly conveyed the message. The original Living Bible is an example of an amplified paraphrase. The New Living Bible has attempted to get more in line with the original texts.

7 What about evolution? While this is an entire study in itself, I will merely say that the Bible teaches the opposite of evolution. God designed each creature for His purposes. We agree with the scientists that creation came into being at one definite time (similar to the big bang), but the scientists cannot provide a reason or explanation for the bang. We know it was the very word of God that started things going. We also know that death resulted from sin (Romans 5:12), so before sin entered the world through Adam, there was no death. Therefore, there was no time for creatures to gradually evolve through generations and generations of changes. And honest science supports the Bible. The more we learn about the complexity of atoms, subatomic particles, single cells, and complex organic systems, the more it becomes obvious that evolution is absurd. To say that happened by accident is just contrary to honest science. The fossil record supports the worldwide flood of Genesis. No transitional species have ever been discovered. For a complete and scientific analysis of these various matters, there are excellent materials available from Creation Scientists (many of whom started their careers as evolutionists, but when confronted with the true facts had to believe in intelligent creation). A relative of mine who was not a believer died. Is there any hope for him? The Bible is rather emphatic in teaching that only in this life do we have the opportunity to receive Christ and trust in Him as our savior. After a person dies, he stands before God to be judged (Hebrews 9:27). The Bible does not offer any second chances or appeals at that time. The Mormons believe that being baptized for the dead helps them. The Catholics believe that indulgences will reduce their time in Purgatory (a doctrine that is not contained in the Bible). However, the Bible only tells us that this, along with all of history and everything else that ever happened or will happen, is under the control of an all wise, just, merciful, loving, and fearful God. We must have faith that He is doing what is right, even though if we were God, we may have done things otherwise.

8 We are a community responding to Jesus call, Come follow me. Join us in pursuit of the gospel of Christ Yamato Road Boca Raton, FL hello@spanishriver.com spanishriver.com