Five and a Half Questions Everyone Must Answer预览

What do you believe and why?

“And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;” Acts 17:26-27

Jesus says that he is The Way, Truth and The Life. Many people find an inherent problem with such claims. How could any religion claim to have the only truth, leave alone any person claim such a thing of himself? It is the truth however that Jesus claims to be the only way to get to God. Do you believe that? If not, what do you believe? And most importantly WHY do you believe it? Upbringing? Casual familiarity? Deep personal conviction coming from intellectual investigation?

Religions these days are in no way in scarce supply. In fact, there are probably more people today than any other time submersed in various religions around the world. You have Sikhs, Buddhists, Bahais, Muslims, Jains, Taoists, Hindus, Christians, and many more. The Jains believe in perfection through successive lives. The Buddhist tries to transcend the individual self and attain nirvana. The Muslim tries to perform many good works to tip Allah’s scale for weighing deeds (al mizaan) in their favor. The Baha’ite believes all faiths are all a part of one overarching religion and therefore are essentially equally true. The Hindu believes in a cycle of life, death, and reincarnation. Various beliefs, various texts, various histories, but could Baha’ism be right, that all faiths being essentially one would therefore lead to the apprehension and experience of ultimate reality?

Islam teaches that God (Allah) has no children, Jesus wasn’t crucified, and Jesus is not God. If you believe any of those things you have committed shirk, which is an unforgivable sin. The Bible teaches that Jesus is the son of God, God in the flesh, and died on the cross for all of humanity. I find a problem with Baha’ism.

Another challenge people have with Jesus’ claiming to be the only Way, Truth and Life is that not everybody has heard of him, so how could that be? Acts 17:26-27 explains how every person on the face of the earth has been born exactly where God wanted them with one purpose in his mind, that they may ‘grope for Him and find Him’. The Bible teaches that revelation of the truth of Jesus comes by supernatural means. In fact, one of the most common explanations for devout Muslims converting to Christ in recent times is credited to the receiving of supernatural dreams and visions. God says of himself, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” – Jeremiah 29:13.

Jim Jones was a man (a preacher) who claimed to have “the truth” and in 1978, he convinced a large group of his followers to drink a cup of juice laced with cyanide. Jones spent years attracting followers into his organization (a cult, in reality) named People’s Temple. His fiery rhetoric and powerful personality drew many people; little did they know that by following him, they would be sealing their own fates. Tragically, on November 18th, 1978, their beliefs would be put to the ultimate test and they would be forced to drink the deadly poison, and in some cases, they even did so voluntarily. In all, over 900 people, including children, women, and men, lost their lives that day. It was a shocking and catastrophic event that was covered by all the major news media at the time. With estimates listing up to 3,000 cults in America (lynniezulu.com), it is important to know what you believe and why you believe it. Your life may even depend on it!

Jesus Christ claimed to be The Truth long before Jim Jones (and dozens of similar false Messiah figures) ever walked the earth, but he did not stop at that claim, remarkable as it is. He promises his followers – and even sceptics - that he is knowable, discoverable, and personable, and as Paul records, in Him, God is “not far from us”! Do you believe that today? Why – or if not, why not? You need to know - what do you believe, and WHY?