Showing posts with label Christ Jesus. Show all posts

Faith Alone?

Question:

Many Christians claim that "faith alone" saves and that there's no need to lead a righteous life. I just want to ask them all, "are you sure you shall be saved?" I am more than sure that their case will be worse than that of atheists. They're just using Jesus to promote sin! They think that a simple faith in Jesus is the greatest thing a person can do on earth; it is by "GRACE" a person is saved and not by "FAITH". If a person is to receive God's grace, he should be righteous and should be following the words of God. By following the words of God alone one can prove his "faith" in God. It is not "knowing" Jesus' sacrifice that saves, but following the path he has shown that leads to salvation by grace of God through Jesus. Unless there is true faith (evidenced by following Jesus' words), no one can attain salvation. God is a righteous God and he loves righteousness.
The criminal who died with Jesus and saved is an example for a person receiving God's grace through repentance. It was his repenting mind that brought him salvation; not his faith. Faith without repentance and obedience means nothing. Hence, do not mislead people by letting them live in sin without fear of God since Jesus has died for them. No one shall be saved that way; the sacrifice of Christ is for those who truly repent and obey God.

My Reply:

My friend, I hear you, but I think you've combined salvation and discipleship into one. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. But it doesn't stop there, and this is what I believe you're arguing.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer has a book called "The Cost of Discipleship", that I think you'll like, for it talks about this. Many Christians today promote what Bonhoeffer calls "cheap grace". They accept Jesus, but continue in their sinful ways. They figure they're saved, nothing can harm them, back to business. But this isn't what salvation's about.
Salvation in Christ is what Bonhoeffer called "costly grace", for to be called by Christ is to be called to come and die...to follow in His footsteps, even to the cross (if needed).
I did a Bible study the other day where I learned that the word used for Peter's denial of Jesus is the same word that's used for when Jesus said that in order to be His disciple, one must first deny himself. Same word, same type of denial, same impact. Those who practice costly grace understand this. Those who practice cheap grace might say they do this and agree with you, but obviously don't practice it.

James said faith without works is dead, and one of the main frustrations in the early Church was idle Christians. Unfortunately, we still have a similar problem in the Church today.

So yeah, you're on target, but I think you need to reword your question. Check out that book, too (linked below).

---Pastor Andy

Proof of Jesus

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Question:

This question has been unanswerable by Christians, do you have the guts to give this one a straight answer? Their are like (lets say) 1,000 different religions in the world (actually a lot more). Each religion is no more valid than Harry Potter. In other words, each religion is as invalid as any other religion.
Here's the odd thing, Christians believe that if you choose to believe Jesus, you're saved. But if you choose another religion to believe in, you're doomed, disregarding all your virtuous acts!
It is the exact same thing as putting 1,000 tennis balls in front of you. The only difference is that each ball is marked with a different number. Only one tennis ball is the correct one (suppose ball 24), if you choose the wrong ball, you're doomed! So basically, Christians believe that by blindly choosing the right ball, you are saved! How hilarious!
And don't tell me that there's any proof to your bible. If you really believe there's proof, then Jesus would've just appeared for everyone to see, but he hasn't! The truth is that you believe that the Bible is true and every other religion is false with no basis at all. You just choose one ball and make up your mind that it's the correct ball with nothing to back it up.

My Reply:

Interesting analogy with the tennis balls. You're right to say that one would have to be the right one, and all the others would be wrong...at least you acknowledge the existence of A truth. That's further than most critics.
But now, in the case of the balls, let's say #24 is the right ball. Christians aren't the ones blindly choosing the balls, everybody else who believes that all the balls are also true are the ones choosing blindly. We Christians believe the right ball has been revealed to us, and so go to pick that ball.
Now, as for Jesus appearing before tons of people for them all to see: Jesus actually did, only you weren't there to see it. After His resurrection, He appeared to over 500 people at a time (I don't know if they were all clustered in one place or because He's omni present, He appeared in different places). But the point is, we can say, "Oh, well that's what the Bible says." Yeah, but when the apostles preached and wrote their letters about Jesus' resurrection, those 500+ people were still living, and could've disproved their story at any time. But they didn't. In fact, nobody was able to disprove their message, or even prove them wrong. They could only argue with them to confuse their listeners, which they did.
And it's not only Gospel writers who talk about this, but even secular writers of and just after their time have written about the resurrection, the faith, the followers, the beliefs, and the events that go with them.
Basically, if you don't want to believe in anything about Jesus, then base it on the evidence, not personal disbelief. But the evidence all points to Jesus' resurrection.

Check out Josh McDowell's book: "Evidence of Christianity". It's a long read, but no doubt has some of the answers to your questions explained. Or if you want a shorter book, then check out Lee Strobel’s book, “The Evidence for Christ”.

---Pastor Andy

Accepting Jesus in the 11th Hour?

Question: If Jesus will forgive all your sins, why not wait until the end of your life to accept him as you lord?

My Reply:

So wait until the end and wipe away all your sin at once? Unfortunately, some people do that. But they don't get the gist of it all.
In other words, if you accept Jesus as fire insurance, then it's really for the wrong reasons.
Christianity is all about a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. So as Christians, we're living life not alone, but with the Lord as friends (also). Waiting until the last minute doesn't allow you to experience this friendship during your life. Sure salvation is still available and attainable if you wait, but I guess my question is, why would you want to? Also, what happens if you wait, and get into an accident where you die instantly? It all went so fast that you missed out your chance to accept Him. Oops?

---Pastor Andy

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Why do atheists attack Christians without merit?

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Question:

This was actually an answer to a post in Philosophy that surprised me: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;…

Atheists, not scientists, believe its time to end religion. Science never proves or disproves religious origin and all unbiased scientists will cop to that. Only the hard-core atheists use science as evidence for their claims, but they are irrational about it.
The above was a great lead in for:
http://www.deism.com/dogmatic%20atheism.…
Then, a leading atheist, based on science, changes his position.
http://www.biola.edu/antonyflew/flew-int…
There is room for a creator!

My Reply:
I honestly find it odd that Atheists want to get rid of religions altogether, for Atheism seems to have turned into a religion of its own. Anyway, here's how I understand it all:

It's not that Atheists don't believe, but that they REFUSE to believe in the existence of God...they CHOOSE not to believe, even when the evidences are staring them right in the face. (Agnostics are those who just don't know).
But at the same time, we both (Christians and atheists) are out on a mission.
I heard a guy on the radio the other day who said, "When asked if there's anything better than going to heaven, most people say 'no'. But I say 'yes. The one thing that's better than going to heaven is bringing somebody there with you'." So you see, we Christians are out to introduce people to Jesus, the only one who can save them from death, sin, hell, etc., while atheists are out trying to save them from...(foolishness?) believing in a God that they refuse to believe exists.
I guess you could also look at it in the way that we each witness to people of other faiths. We tell them not of our own opinions, but of Truth, thus trying to persuade them to realize their need to turn to God and repent. Atheism, on the other hand, has become a faith that witnesses to people of God-believing faiths with their own opinions about God, trying to persuade them to NOT believe in God at all.
So in the same way that we believe in the urgency of getting the Word out about Jesus, atheists believe in the urgency to "save" people from what they consider as the "foolishness" of believing that God exists.
And so this, I believe, is why they attack us so much...we're “competing” for souls.
In terms of science, I agree that it's mostly about theories. But in trying to prove or disprove God's existence, many scientists have actually become Christians due to the results of their research, especially archaeologists. So as more and more discoveries are made about the evidences of God's existence, as well as events mentioned in the Bible, atheists may soon have to begin looking for a new source to back up their opinions.

---Pastor Andy

Why Did God Send Jesus?

Question: Why did God send Jesus?

I've never understood why. If He wanted to forgive our sins, why not just forgive them? Why make His son (or Himself, depending on which you think Jesus was) suffer and die so that He could forgive us?

My Reply:

It's all about a relationship with God as it was in the beginning:

In the beginning, God walked in the garden with His creation
Sin entered the picture, separating us from God.
All throughout the Old Testament, God tried wooing His creation back to Him, but everybody continued to push Him away and sinned against Him. (If you'll notice, the prophets and patriarchs had a close relationship with the Lord in the way that Adam and Eve did, but even with Moses, the Lord wanted to communicate with the people, but the people begged Moses to be their mediator instead).
The punishment of sin is death. The purpose of the Law was to show us where we sinned, thus bringing us to our knees in repentance and hopes of reconciling the relationship with God. But instead, people lost their hope and passion in trying to fulfill the Law.
God sent Jesus to accomplish what we couldn't.
Jesus, being the perfect and last blood sacrifice, forgave us of our sins, all the way back to the first one committed.
Jesus' resurrection allows us to come to Him through faith in Him.

The whole point was reconciliation, and also so that we may once again approach Him, and be in the type of relationship that He had with humans as in the beginning.

--To your question of why not just forgive us? God did forgive the Israelites, MANY times, even when they didn't deserve it. But when they got it, they took advantage of it. You don't take advantage of those you truly love.
God wants us to love Him back. He wants us to be with Him for all eternity, but because we WANT to be with Him. That's what makes salvation so confusing...all you have to do is repent and accept the invitation. But as you can see, many still prefer to reject God.

---Pastor Andy

Why Didn't Jesus Prevent His Own Crucifixion?

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Question:

Jesus turned water into wine and raised Lazarus from the dead. Wouldn't common sense dictate that he turn the crucifix into a horse that he could ride away on and escape or turn the crown of thorns into a more comfortable hat (or at least something along these lines)?
I’m not very learned when it comes to the Bible (I haven’t read it, but I did see Mel Gibson’s movie and have heard several recounts from friends). But I DO know that whenever Jesus encountered a problem (no wine at his friend’s party, he turned water into wine AND when his friend died he raised him from the dead)…my friend told me that Jesus solves all problems, but it seems that his biggest gaffe was not solving the problem of his own murder!

My Reply:

Although Jesus could have prevented His crucifixion, He didn't because it was the whole reason He came in the first place.
In His crucifixion, He took upon Him the sins of the world (yours, mine, everybody's!). But most of all, He had to be crucified (the worst way of dying in that time, also the most cursed way according to the Hebrew Law) in order to be resurrected, which is His main purpose. It was the only way we could be with Him for all eternity.
So today, people see His crucifixion as weakness, but it was actually Jesus' great strength, for He LET Himself be crucified. Jesus loves us enough and wants us to be with Him so badly that He paid the price that we couldn't pay...it's the power of genuine love. All we have to do now to actually be with Him is to accept His invitation whole (or broken) -heartedly.

---Pastor Andy

What is Manna?

Question:

What is Manna?

My Reply:

Exactly!

You don’t get it…OK, well you see, in the original language, "Manna" means "What is it?"
Manna is known as "bread from heaven". In the Old Testament, it was the food that God fed the Israelites during their 40 years in the desert. It's described as flakes of wafers and honey. It obviously had all the vitamins and nutrients needed to live on, also.

In the New Testament, Jesus called Himself "Manna", for He is the bread of life that came from Heaven...the only "food" we need to "live".

---Pastor Andy :}>+-