Three Questions Asked of Christians

A Blog entitled "A Question for Christians - Please respond!!!!" from the Religion Forum of Amazon.com asks a three questions I want to address. I wanted to address the questions on the forum, but Amazon started asking for credit care information as I signed up. So I terminated the registration.

The first question is: “many do believe that Christianity is the one true religion. Only people who accept Christ into their lives are going to Heaven. For those of you that believe that - why do you believe that?”

Jesus himself asserted, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” John 14:6 (KJV). Either he was lying, or he was delusional, or he was flat out insane, or the person who wrote that he said that was lying, delusional, or insane, or it is the truth.

If Jesus is the Christ, then there is no need for others. The Christ accomplishes everything needed to bring about salvation. If there is a need for others, then Jesus is not the Christ. And frankly, a part from the wisdom of the writings of other faiths, their credibility is still questionable. I can find wisdom reading Freud, or Hawkins.

A basic assertion of Scripture is that human beings are born into sin, alienated and estranged from God, and Christ bridged the gap between God and human kind. I came to think of that as human beings being born into judgment. That is sense the Fall, all human beings come into the world alienated and estranged. We cannot for the life of us figure out how to overcome our estrangement. The Christian faith asserts that we can’t and don’t have to. That God overcame our situation through the life, death, and resurrection.

Now some apparently think that God should have done this another way. Yet, the New Testament asserts that God did it through Christ and that indeed this means actually establishes Jesus as the Christ. And as the Christ, salvation comes to the whole world. However, no one is forced to accept Jesus as the Christ. We can go down any spiritual trail we want to.

Others, don’t think God did work this way and reject the means and the methodology as absurd.

And of course others don’t think there is a God and that all this stuff is made up.

The second question is” Why do some get so bent out of shape fighting for this idea?”

I have two answers. The first is negative and the second, I hope is positive. First, believers are sinners. Sinners experience existential anxiety. We all allegedly do for differing reasons. Believing sinners sometimes feel threatened when people tell them that what they believe is not true. If it is not true then all are dead in their sins, their circumstances. There are those who get agitated by such a thought.

Second, believers are concerned that those who they interact with are going to hell. They don’t want people to go to hell. Some of these might be overwhelmed that they grasp that Jesus is the Christ, but that those they witness to don’t get it. Some of these may indeed get so baffled that they get “bent out of shape.”

I would actually hope that people would be that concerned about the spiritual directions that people might take.

Third, I also have to take note that while there are indeed Christians who get bent out of shape on such issues, there are also atheists who get bent out of shape because Christians and other people of faith assert their faith. People of faith have no corner of getting bent out of shape. Christians thus have no corner of getting bent out of shape.

The third question is: “why not just leave the judgment to God?”

As God’s love is manifested through the faith of Christians. It seems logical that God’s judgment would also be manifested through believers.

Personally, I am not a “we deserve to go to hell” theologian. Our situation as human beings is the same whether we deserve or not. I personally don’t know anyone I think deserves to go to hell. I have heard of many, but I haven’t met any. Yet, we all will perish whether we deserve it or not. We thus will meet our end one day. I assert that the Scriptures say why. We are born into sin and sin is not limited to immoral or illegal behavior. It is a spiritual state of being. We ultimately self destruct.

The notion of hell though is in Scripture. It is also in the tradition. However, it seems to me that the Cross and the Resurrection should be emphasized. “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” John 3:17 (KJV).

In Acts 16:25ff, Paul and Silas are in jail. An earthquake shakes the jail and allows them to go free if they so choose. However, they remain. The jailer thinking they have escaped prepares to kill himself knowing that he will have to take their place because they escaped under his watch. They stop him. In his awe the jailer asks, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? [31] And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” Acts 16:30-31 (KJV).

They didn’t say, do you know you will go to hell if you don’t accept Jesus. They didn’t say, you have to admit you are a sinner in order to be saved.

They simply said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you and your house will be saved.” Belief is far more complex than blindly following the proclamations of others. Getting to it requires more space and time than is far to use here.