Jesus is Glorious

This was originally a response to the first comment on the previous post, but it got pretty long so I made it a new post. Now to the response:

God's not asking you to know that He exists. He's asking you to believe in Him. Belief is much more than knowledge. It says "God, I can't see you and I can't prove your existence, but I have faith you're there. I have faith that I will see you after I die on this earth. I trust you". So you ask, how is that possible? How do we get that belief?

First we'll start with why we don't believe:

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those are are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4


That's a pretty heavy couple of verses, so we'll break them down.

First, Paul's pointing out that the gospel is veiled to those who are perishing. He's mentioning that, as in your case, many hear the gospel and don't believe. On one hand, you don't believe because you are sinful and at enmity with God. Left in your state of unbelief, you will perish in hell. But, as Paul points out in the second sentence, there's more than just yourself keeping you from believing. The god of this world (i.e. Satan) blinds your mind from believing. More to the point, Satan wants you to perish, so he wants you to reject Christ.

Which brings me to the glorious Truth that I pray reaches your heart. You ask, "how do we know God exists?" and, "I want meaning in life, but does meaning really exist in life?" It's fantastic that you're asking these questions because they both ultimately lead to the same answer: Jesus Christ. How?

First, left to ourselves, we're going to doubt that God exists. We can search all we want through culture, science, literature, philosophy, and comparative religion, but we'll still come up short of authentic belief in God. He has to give us a new heart and a new mind to believe (1 Corinthians 2:14-16). That's where Jesus comes in:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
2 Corinthians 5:17

When you behold and trust Christ for who He is (God as a man, perfect in every way, he suffered and died in your place, and then rose from the dead), God makes a new creation out of you. In this, God enables you to believe that He is real. When you trust Christ, God washes you clean of your sin and lifts the blinders that Satan has put on your mind. Then you can enjoy God for who He is!

In this enjoyment, you find the meaning of life: worshiping your Maker. God made you not for yourself, but for His glory. When you don't believe in God through Christ, you end up placing your God-given desire for worship towards something less (another faith, sex, success, money, family, friends, drunkenness, etc). That's why life's been so unsatisfying and meaningless for you.

So, as Paul pleaded: [I] impore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20). Trust Jesus as your Savior, Lord, and God. Then you will not only know that God exists, but you will know your God personally. He will give you the meaning you're looking for because He made you. And this will reach its culmination when your faith becomes sight and you meet Him face to face in heaven =D

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free
John 8:32

P.S. If you're looking for somewhere to read in the Bible, I'd read the gospel of John. Find out who Jesus is.

Stop Playing the Fool

Last time we briefly talked about a remarkable verse in the Psalms:

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God"
Psalm 53:1a

Like we covered, this small sentence tells us that atheism is nothing new. It's been around for thousands of years! But that's not really the most important part of the verse. Now that your mind has had a chance to think, "Well, what is the most important part of the verse?", let's move on.

The most important part of Psalm 53:1 is that it unabashedly calls an atheist a fool. The title of fool is probably the worst one you can have in the Bible. It means you believe something or do something or think something even though you know better. The writer here is implying that declaring yourself an atheist is foolish. Period.

But, for the atheist or agnostic that's reading this, you're probably thinking, "It's the other way around! Christians are the fools! Where's the evidence for creation? Most of the wars in the world are started by religion! Why does God let evil happen? I mean come on, you say Jesus was born of a virgin and rose from the dead?!? Where's the empirical evidence for that? How dare you call me a fool! Look in the mirror!"

In other words, you probably say it's preposterous to believe in something that's obviously just fairy tales and bedtime stories. You'd like to tell the Christians in the world to stop playing the fool and get with the 21st century. After all, it's simply foolish to believe in some ancient book that contains a few stories about a man dying on a cross for people's sins, right?

We're not going to get into an argument or debate. But we will check out what the Bible says about this:

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God
1 Corinthians 1:18

Let's focus on the first part for now:

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing

Those who are perishing (i.e. those who don't believe in Jesus) think that the story of the cross is folly, foolish, and absurd. To the atheist, this verse tells you that your arguments that Jesus' death doesn't mean anything are nothing new and inventive. They're actually the status quo. It's the normal, sinful human reaction to think that belief in Jesus or salvation or the gospel or trusting God are foolish. To the believer in Jesus, this verse provides great hope that God addresses the issues of atheism and arguments against our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's move on to the second part:

but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God

See, for Christians, the gospel is not foolishness. It's actually quite the opposite: the power of God! God saves through the gospel. Anyone who believes in Christ believes because they've heard and embraced the word of the cross! What is foolish and stupid for many is precious and powerful for the rest.

Wrapping up, there are two messages here. First for the Christian:

Don't water down the gospel. Don't discount the word of the cross. It's by this that people are saved! It's not through bright lights or funny pastors or trendy music. So, preach the word of the cross. It's the power of God!

Now for the second message to the atheist:

You think the word of the cross is folly. What you don't realize is that the word of the cross is what saves you. The very thing you try and condemn is the very thing that saves you from condemnation. Stop playing the fool and contemplate Jesus. He really is God, He really did die for you, and He really can forgive you of all of your sin. He's asking you to see Him for who He is and to see yourself for who you are. You are a sinner, He is your Savior. Embrace Him. Seek Him. Find Him. He won't let you down.

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
1 Corinthians 1:20-21

The Ancient Religion of Atheism

I could be wrong here, but it seems like there's a growing idea that says, "As civilization and societies advance, there's less of a need for God. People invented God and religion to explain the world around them, so as we make more scientific discoveries and technological advances, God becomes irrelevant. Science reveals the answers that religion once provided, so God probably isn't real".

In other words, as our confidence in science grows, atheism becomes more viable. Atheists tout it as the "wave of the future" or the "result of humanity's advancement". It's described as a recent phenomenon and a shiny new way of thinking. The more secular a society becomes, the more advanced it is. Any trust in God or any faith in Him is simply primitive. An atheist's plea to us is to get with the times, jump on the "reason + science = no God" bandwagon, and abandon the backwardness of religion.

I'm not here to get into the "science vs religion" debate (check this post for some thoughts on that), but I am here to say that atheism is nothing new. In fact, it's even addressed in the Old Testament! Check out this verse (really part of a verse):

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God"
Psalm 53:1a

This verse was written sometime between 2300 and 3500 years ago! This verse's existence in this time period tells us two things:

• Atheists existed 2300-3500 years ago. If they didn't, this verse wouldn't exist.
• Atheism existed in a period far more primitive, with far less explained, and far less secular than today.

Therefore, atheists aren't on to anything new or fresh. Science, secularism, technology, and reason are simply new banners for the ancient religion of thumbing our noses at God.

To be continued...

Thinking About Death is Profitable

In light of my grandfather's funeral, it's only fitting that we talk about death. There are two verses in Ecclesiastes that sound strange at first, but have a lot of insight:

It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart
Ecclesiastes 7:2

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth
Ecclesiastes 7:4

Don't these cause a double-take? After all, why would someone say it's better to go to a funeral instead of a feast? Why is it wise to spend time in a house of mourning and foolish to spend time in a house of laughter?

I think the answer lies at the end of 7:2, "for this [death] is the end of all mankind". All of us are destined to the same fate of death. If we spend our lives in houses of laughter, feasting, and mirth, we're going to fool ourselves into thinking that death is far away. On the other hand, if we're at a funeral, the reality sets in that death is real and inevitable. So, funerals bring us to think about death, but why is thinking about death wise?

For the wages of sin is death...
Romans 6:23a

Thinking about death is wise because it reminds us that sin is real. It reminds us that we're evil at heart and have no hope of standing in the presence of a holy and perfect God. It illuminates the great problem that all people face: the wages of sin is death and eternal separation from God ( i.e. hell).

Two reactions come from this: 1) indifference and 2) despair. To number 1, I encourage you to contemplate this further and move towards number 2. To number 2, I bring the greatest news in the history of the world. Let's finish the verse we started above:

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord
Romans 6:23

See, God did something about our problem. He became a man named Jesus Christ who lived the perfect life that He demands and died an excruciating death that we deserve. To prove He was God, He rose from the dead! If anyone repents of their sin and believes that Christ's life, death, and resurrection are sufficient to bring us back to God, they will have eternal life! God's given us a free gift of salvation from sin and death in Christ, all we have to do is receive Him!

This is why many of us could experience joy at my grandfather's funeral. He believed these things, so death was not his end! He's alive and well today with Christ in heaven.

For those of you that don't believe in Christ, God has planned that you would sit in your chair, look at the pixels on your monitor, read these words, and respond to His invitation to eternal life. Life is not a pursuit of laughter and mirth. Life is a pursuit to know God. To know God, we must know Christ. So, please, take Him seriously and enter a life full of unending joy, everlasting peace, and eternal satisfaction.