THEOLOGY & APOLOGETICS

Is God human?

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Christians — 1) First Century: Christ's disciples were terribly persecuted; all but one of the Apostles were brutally tortured and murdered for their faith. Plenty of people will die for a lie — Muslim jihadists, for example — but only because they believe it to be true. The disciples all knew for a fact whether or not Jesus died and rose from the dead. All could have saved themselves great suffering and death just by denying their story. None did. 2) Later Centuries: It's true that we Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven (Luke 1:77; 1 John 1:8-10). And certainly many who claim to be Christians are not. But Jesus said we could tell the difference between true and false Christians by their "fruit" or deeds (Matthew 7:15-23). And more than any other group by far, Christians feed the starving, heal the sick, rescue orphans and widows, build hospitals and schools, and sacrifice their time and money and even their lives to serve the poor, suffering people all over the world.

Alternatives — If Christianity is not true, then which other faith or religion is? A religion whose Founder states, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me" (John 14:6) does not leave room for any other religion. There are only three possibilities when it comes to the core doctrines and major claims of the world's many religions: 1) Either Christianity is true and all other religions false, or; 2) Christianity is false and one or more other religions true, or; 3) All religions are false. They cannot all be true because their doctrines directly contradict each other.

So which other religion? Buddhism with its quiet faith in the irrational, self-contradiction of reality? Hinduism, with its many provable scientific errors? Islam, with its dreadful fruit by which we know it? Taoism or Confucianism, with no claim as a way to heaven? Animism of Africa, with its world full of strange spirits and unappeasable deities? The nature religions of the Americas' aborigines? A modern cult founded on antichrist heresies, such as Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses or Baha'i? Modern pseudo-nature religions such as Wicca, witchcraft, or Gaia worship? Astrology, which is easily disproven by comparing the lives of any twins? Or what about the philosophies that make the same claims on our allegiance as religion: Agnosticism, which by definition, offers you an unshakeable faith in ignorance? Existentialism, with its mockery of divine planning and its insistence on creating our own purpose within an ultimately meaningless existence? Communism and its many godless mutations, each claiming to be the way to utopia — a way paved with tens of millions of slaughtered bodies? Atheism, with its easily debunked Bible of Darwinism (all his tests for his own theory have failed, e.g., the fossil record was not filled with transitional species and organs, nor with single organisms gradually evolving into millions; rather we see sudden massive appearances of fully formed species).

These are the main alternatives available for to Christianity for all people to to consider. All are easy enough to refute, whether by pointing out their holy books — unlike the Bible — are filled with provable errors, or their self-contradictory claims and inconsistencies, their lack of testable (falsifiable) claims, their lack of fulfilled predictions, their fruit of wickedness and misery, or their inability to answer the tough questions and provide satisfying solutions to all mankind's deepest problems. In some cases, all of the above!

In fact, they seem to me they represent the vast array of human and demonic errors, the darkness and hopelessness and misery, that God sent his Son to rescue the world from. Most appear to fit the Scripture: "They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity..." (2 Peter 2:19) One can see why Christianity alone has survived for 2,000 years intact, and received such a miraculous welcome — despite intense persecutions — wherever it has been preached. It is the only valid prescription for what ails our sick world, and you are invited by your loving Creator to accept the cure by faith (John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8-9), follow the plan He made for you alone for your life (Jeremiah 1:5; Psalm 139:16; Ephesians 2:10) and spend a glorious eternity with Him (Daniel 12:2-3; Romans 8:28-30).

So when the Bible also tells us the way — the only way (John 14:6; Acts 4:12) — to eternal life and joy in heaven, we can believe it! According to the Bible, every sin against God we have ever have committed or will commit — past, present, and future — is forgiven (Matthew 12:31) when we repent and believe (trust) God. It's a free gift of God's mercy and grace, not from any good work we've done (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 1:16-17; Galatians 3:1-13), paid for in full by the blood of Jesus shed for us on the cross (Romans 3:22-25; 2 Timothy 1:9; 1 Peter 1:18-20; Revelation 13:8). When we believe, we are permanently adopted into God's family as His own dearly loved child (1 John 3:1). We can then look forward for the rest of this life to our future eternal home filled with unimaginable joy and glory (Daniel 12:3; Matthew 25:21; 1 Corinthians 2:9; Revelation 21-22).

This is why for thousands of years people have been grateful to hear and believe the supernatural (not human) plan for their lives as the Bible reveals!

Image Credit: cocoparisienne; untitled; Creative Commons

Tags: Biblical-Salvation | Biblical-Truth | Controversial-Issues | God-Father | Witnessing-Evangelism

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Published 1-23-17