Twenty Questions (2)
No, not the party game.
Just 20 questions.
And 20 answers.
I have been working on an article lately that is taking a bit longer than expected, and so I decided to take a timeout to have a little fun and put together another "Twenty Questions" compilation, composed of questions I have answered on Quora over the last two years. As in the first edition, these are all manner of questions concerning God, the Bible, faith...you name it, and a few have been slightly edited.
So without further ado, I give you the second edition of "Twenty Questions."
Q1. How do we make sure that our children will never question the Bible?
Q2. What are Christians' real questions about Islam?
Q4. If Jesus could become God, then why not everyone else?
Q5. Is there a connection between Jesus and the Indian god Sai Baba?
Q7. How do people choose one religion to practice out of the thousands that exist?
Q8. Which atheist argument has most troubled your Christian faith?
Q9. Have you ever shown a Christian the flaws in the Bible?
Q11. What are things a Christian can tell an atheist to make them doubt their lack of belief?
Q13. Why do you have to be baptized to go to heaven?
Q16. How can you defend the existence of God without the use of the Bible and the earth itself?
Q17. Why can't more Christians better defend their beliefs from the Bible?
Q19. If God asks you on Judgment Day why you didn't believe in Him, what will you say to him?
Q20. How can I, as an atheist, explain theism to my children?
Q1. How do we make sure that our children will never question the Bible?
A. For goodness' sake, don't teach them to not question the Bible...teach them to question it and then study it to find the answers to their questions. If they do question it and then study it, they will come to an ever deepening realization that the Bible really is the prophetically self-confirming Word of the living God. But they will never get that assurance unless and until they study it. Why do you think we are commanded to do just that?
15Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
(2 Timothy 2:15 AKJV / emphasis added)
That's what pours cement into the foundation of people's faith, not the snappy, 30-minute pep talks that pass as preaching these days.
You don't have to settle for merely
believing the Bible is God's Word.
You can know beyond a shadow
of a doubt that it is God's Word.
By studying the Bible, especially the fulfillment of its prophecies, you can know that the Bible in its original form is the inspired, inerrant Word of the living God, down to the last jot and tittle. I mean you can know it like you know the sun rose this morning. You can know that it is true, and that every single word is there for a reason and not there for a reason.
My heart aches for otherwise sincere Christians who haven't studied Scripture enough to reach that point, and so must be content with just believing the Bible is true. Sincere as they may be, and as much as they wish they could defend the Bible, they are in some ways doing God's Word a great disservice.
The problem is that just saying you believe the Bible and leaving it at that puts Christianity in the same category with every flaky flimflam of a religion on the face of the planet. Muslims believe the Qur'an. Buddhists believe their sutras. Mormons believe a book that was translated by Joseph Smith with a magic stone from gold plates that he conveniently returned to the same "angel" who showed him where to dig them up. Scientologists believe something that would serve as the script for a grade B sci-fi flick.
And most Christians believe the Bible. Well, isn't that special.
People who take the time to question and study the Bible snicker at the most virulent attacks on its integrity, because they know for a fact that the people who mount these attacks have neither a clue what they are talking about nor a leg to stand on.
But you only get to that point by studying it—by questioning and seeking the answers to those questions in the pages of Scripture. You get that by interpreting the Bible as literally as common sense and context allow, letting Scripture interpret Scripture, and letting its track record of prophetic fulfillment speak for itself.
The bottom line is that God doesn't expect blind faith. Luckily, none is needed. God confirms His Word through fulfilled prophecy, and the Bible stands thunderingly validated as precisely that—God's Word.
The Word of God is like a lion. You don't have to defend a lion. All you have to do is let the lion loose, and the lion will defend itself.
— Charles Spurgeon
Q2. What are Christians' real questions about Islam?
A. But I don't have any questions about Islam. Why on earth would I?
I know Islam is just another false religion based on lies and oppression.
I know the Qur'an is about as divinely inspired as an unpaid parking ticket, and simply cannot be elevated to the level of the Bible—the prophetically self-confirming Word of the Creator of the universe.
I know Muhammed was about as much a prophet of God as Genghis Khan.
I know Allah is an amalgam of 360 pagan Arab deities that bears precious little resemblance to the holy, just, loving God that created the heavens and the earth and expressed His grace and mercy to sinful men through the atoning work of His Son, the man Christ Jesus.
The only question I have pertaining to Islam is how on earth any Bible-believing Christian can be so profoundly deceived as to entertain the absurd (but politically correct) notion that Christians and Muslims worship the same God (as per our pal Pope Francis), or that the Qur'an is theologically on par with the Bible (ditto).
Q3. How many of the world's 2.2 billion Christians are really what the Bible defines as a true Christian?
A. Most estimates from people whose spiritual discernment I trust (and with which I am in agreement) tend to hover between 200 to 300 million (let's be optimistic and go with 300 million). Out of the 2.2 billion people identified with the corporate church, that translates to approximately 13.6 percent of self-identifying "Christians" actually being people who have heard the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, responded to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, realized they were sinners whose sin had separated them from a holy, just, loving God, believed in simple faith in the finished work of atonement for sin that Christ accomplished on the cross to pay their sin's eternal penalty on their behalf, asked God to forgive them based on Christ's work of atonement and that alone, and believed that His literal resurrection promises them eternal life in heaven.
The moment you do that, you become a Christian.
And unless and until you do that, you are not a Christian.
The moment a person does the above, they are forgiven of every sin they have ever committed or ever will commit, they have Christ's perfect righteousness imputed to them by faith so that God now sees them as being as righteous as His Son, the Holy Spirit seals them until the day of redemption (i.e. the Rapture, at which point they will be perfected), and they have become a new creature in Christ. Regardless how many times the fall or fail, it cannot be lost or undone. It never needs to be done again. Their eternal destiny is changed from death to life, and God will complete the good work He has begun in them. From that moment on, they are adopted into God's family. They are His, and He will never let them go.
Sorry for the wordy answer, but it's necessary because so few people know the biblical definition of a Christian—including a tragically large percentage of so-called Christians. It is positively stunning to me how many people who name the name of Christ and call themselves "Christians" not only don't believe the gospel, but don't even rightly understand it.
When you read Gallup polls about some of the things many of the 2.2 billion so-called "Christians" around the world actually believe, you come to the sickening realization that at least 80 percent of them couldn't give you a coherent, biblically sound explanation of the essential elements of the gospel of Jesus Christ if you placed a Bible in their hands and a pistol to their head.
I admit 300 million could still be low-balling things a bit; but if turns out to be 20 percent or higher, I will be thrilled out of my socks.
Q4. If Jesus could become God, then why not everyone else?
A. Sorry, but you've got it wrong.
Jesus didn't become God—He has existed as God (as the second Person of the Trinity) since eternity past. Note what Jesus said at the Last Supper:
1Jesus said these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you; 2even as you gave him authority over all flesh, he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ. 4I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do. 5Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.
(John 17:1–5 / emphasis added)
By the way, that last sentence single-handedly demolishes the idea that Jesus was just a prophet. If Jesus had been a mere prophet (as claimed by the Qur'an), His disciples should have stoned Him on the spot and would have been thoroughly justified in doing so.
You and a large percentage of the rest of the world, especially the New Age crowd, have it backwards (a fact which clues me in to the true source of this idea, which is none other than the father of lies himself):
Jesus isn't a man who became God.
He is God who became a man.
Let me be clear: He wasn't a man who attained "Christ consciousness"—He is Christ. He is the Son of God, the second Person of the Godhead, born into the world as a man in a body of flesh to redeem sinful men.
By the way, the day will come when the idea of "Christ consciousness" and people striving to evolve to a higher spiritual level will leave the lunatic fringe of the New Age movement and go mainstream. This will happen after the Rapture, and will be part of the staging for the strong delusion.
Q5. Is there a connection between Jesus and the Indian god Sai Baba?
A. Why, yes, as a matter of fact there is. Follow along closely.
Jesus was the second Person of triune God, who stepped out of heaven and was born into the world as a man to live a sinless life in a body of flesh and be crucified to satisfy His Father's perfect justice on our behalf. As a result, every sinful individual who hears the message of the gospel and will repent of sin and trust in His finished work of atonement can be forgiven, have Christ's perfect righteousness imputed to them by faith, and be eternally reconciled to God.
Sathya Sai Baba (1926–2011), who was one of many tricksters in India today who traffic in deceiving gullible people into believing they have some type of supernatural ability, was one of those billions of sinful individuals for whom Christ died.
Two peas in a pod: The same thing applies even if you mean Shirdi Sai Baba (18??–1918), a well-known Indian guru whom Sathya Sai Baba claimed to be the reincarnation of and named himself after.
That's the connection between Jesus and Sai Baba (either of them).
And that's the connection between Jesus and you.
Q6. Why do non-Catholic Christians believe they know the story of God better than the church which introduced the world to God with the Bible?
A. I had to let my blood pressure go down a bit before I could write a measured response to this one. OK, here goes.
The Roman Catholic Church did not
"introduce the world to God with the Bible."
Au contraire, mon frère. The Roman Catholic Church did everything in its considerable power to keep the Bible out of the hands of the common people for a thousand years in order to conceal how badly they had twisted its teachings in their lustful drive for worldly power and wealth, and to continue doing so with impunity.
Thanks in part to the invention of the printing press in the 1450s, their efforts to keep the Bible from the common folk began to unravel, and within a few decades you had the Protestant Reformation. As Bibles became more readily available, people (like Martin Luther, et al.) began to see the Roman Catholic Church for the spiritual whore that it had become, and began to wake up to some of the fundamental truths taught clearly in Scripture that Rome had subverted and perverted under the cover darkness, as it were.
But "Holy" Roman Mother Church slumbers on. They make the specious claim that they "introduced the world to God with the Bible," but it is they who need to be introduced to both God and the Bible, because a simple, straightforward reading of God's Word lays bare the soul-damning heresies into which they have twisted its teachings.
Q7. How do people choose one religion to practice out of the thousands that exist?
A. People don't really "choose a religion." Unless, of course, they regard religion as little more than a codified morass of man's wisdom and air-brushed make-believe, filled with rituals and lofty moral principles that they imagine will make them better people—people worthy of a cushy afterlife with whatever nebulous "higher power" they take to be God.
Which is precisely what most people have been indoctrinated by the world to think of religion as.
On the one hand, you can (a) hear the message of the gospel, (b) respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and (c) ask in repentant faith to be forgiven of your sin because you believe in faith that Jesus' death paid its eternal penalty in full on your behalf and that His resurrection promises you eternal life. From that moment on, you are forgiven and hence reconciled to God the Father through faith and through the grace and mercy that He expressed to us through His Son, Jesus Christ.
On the other hand, you can do or believe something else. Anything else.
People either do what I just described, or they do not. It's that simple.
So you see, in reality there aren't thousands of choices.
There are only two.
People either avail themselves of the grace and mercy God the Father showed us through Christ for the forgiveness of sin, or they don't. And if they don't, it really doesn't ultimately matter what else they do, because they will die in their sin and face an infinitely holy God's perfect justice with nothing but a smile and a shoeshine, rather than with Christ's perfect righteousness imputed to them through faith.
Now, just to be clear, what I just described is not "choosing a religion."
It's a life-changing encounter with the living God—and you will never, I repeat, never be the same.
If you want to call that "becoming a Christian," or "choosing Christianity," knock yourself out. I don't care. I personally seldom use the word "Christian" with people unless I know they are born-again believers, because according to Gallup polls, an absolute minimum of two-thirds of the people in the United States who identify as "Christian" not only have never done what I described above, but in many cases don't even understand it. Why? Ask today's so-called "ministers" who spew politically correct, PowerPoint pablum instead of the anointed preaching of God's Word.
Oh, and as far as the 4,300 different religions and denominations that exist in the world today, this might help you understand why they exist and who created them.
Q8. Which atheist argument has most troubled your Christian faith?
A. Seriously? None! As in "not one."
It strikes me that you are giving atheists w-a-a-y more credit than they deserve—as if they had some truly substantive ammunition with which to assail God and the Bible.
Now, I confess that some their straw man arguments have made me smile.
Some have made me laugh until my sides hurt.
Some have broken my heart.
Some have made me scratch my head in utter bewilderment.
And some have made me pound my head against the wall in frustration.
But nary a one has ever even approached the level of having "troubled" me, assuming by "troubled" you mean caused me to have the slightest wisp of doubt concerning the reality of God, the truth of His prophetically self-confirming Word, and the grace and mercy God expressed to us through the finished work of atonement accomplished by Christ.
Incidentally, not only do you give atheists far too much credit, but you grossly underestimate the power of God and His Word.
Q9. Have you ever shown a Christian the flaws in the Bible?
A. Not exactly the subtlest loaded question I've ever seen, but I'll take a shot at it anyway.
I've had a few atheists try, but in response I patiently showed them that every single so-called "contradiction" they could throw at me can be readily dispatched by the ability to read at a high-school level, understanding the context, or in a few cases doing a nominal amount of homework to ferret out the real meaning of a passage.
It typically doesn't go over well, and at some point they simply begin to spew venom and show their true colors: All they actually want to do is mock anyone with the temerity to admit to knowing beyond all doubt that the Bible—in its original form—is the inspired Word of the living God.
Which is precisely what it is, all the ignorant, uninformed bluster the world can desperately throw at it notwithstanding.
This whole "The Bible is full of contradictions!" canard is something that biblically knowledgeable Christians chuckle at because in reality it's unsupportable to the point of being silly. But on and on it goes, because people who are not biblically knowledgeable continue to fall for it.
Q10. Can Abraham from the Old Testament be considered a schizophrenic psychopath? Would you ever trust people who are willing to murder based on voices in their head?
A. No. But I would trust someone who obeys God in absolute faith.
What you don't realize is that God had already promised Abraham that He would make his seed a great nation through his son Isaac. That means that Abraham knew that even if he had to actually slay Isaac, God would raise him from the dead to keep His Word. Notice in Genesis 22:5, Abraham tells the servants with him that he and the boy would return to them.
Abraham knew what kind of God he served, and the fact that he had enough faith in Him that he didn't even withhold his own son from Him is why Abraham is referred to as the father of the faithful in the New Testament.
But an angel stopped Abraham from harming his son that day, and so God didn't have to raise Isaac from the dead. It was only a dress rehearsal.
It was a dress rehearsal for what God would to His own Son on our behalf about two thousand years later to satisfy His own perfect justice and provide atonement for our sin and make it possible for us to be forgiven and eternally reconciled to Him, if we will but repent and believe in faith.
Q11. What are things a Christian can tell an atheist to make them doubt their lack of belief?
A. In my honest opinion, there is nothing you can tell an atheist that will make them doubt their belief (or the lack thereof, depending on how you wish to characterize it).
The reason I say that is because of what Paul wrote in Romans chapter 1. Paul makes the point that (a) the existence of God is made manifest in creation itself, and that (b) people who steadfastly refuse to at least acknowledge God as Creator (foolishly worshiping the creation instead) are eventually given over to a reprobate mind. That basically means that they themselves have so hardened their heart to God and to the things of the Spirit that the Holy Spirit can no longer convict them of sin. That means they will never come to a place of repentance because they are no longer capable of repentance. As a result, they have literally placed themselves beyond the hope of salvation, and that is a sobering thought indeed. At least it should be.
At some point God simply allows them to continue in the way they have so stubbornly set for themselves, and lets 'em go, so to speak. What choice does He have? As much as God loves us and seeks to reconcile us to Himself through our repentance and belief in faith in His Son's finished work of atonement for our sin on the cross, He will not violate our free will. He forces no one to believe in Him or the message of the gospel.
In many cases atheists
have already dug their
own spiritual graves, and
are busy living in them.
God the Father loves us enough to send His only Son into the world to die to satisfy His own exacting justice on our behalf and take our punishment for sin in our place on the cross so that we could be forgiven if we but repent and believe in faith. All He requires from us is to acknowledge the fact that our sin has separated us from Him and that we are unable to save ourselves, and belief in faith that He is able.
Yes, He wants us to love Him—but love that is forced is no kind of love at all. That's why He had to give us free will in the first place—so we could respond to Him, as opposed to choosing to reject and rebel against Him.
In many cases atheists have already dug their own spiritual graves, and are busy living in them. And the saddest part of all is that they have done it to themselves, by their very own arrogant, self-glorifying, free-will choices.
On the other hand, there are atheists who may not have crossed that line yet, in a manner of speaking. They haven't yet placed themselves beyond the reach of the Holy Spirit, and given the right circumstances could still respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit and come to a place of repentance and as a result come to a saving faith in the gospel. We can never know for certain one way or the other, because only God looks upon the heart.
In a practical sense, there is essentially nothing you can say to atheists that will change their minds because they firmly believe they've got it all figured out. They think they know the real deal, and anyone with the temerity to disagree is a brainwashed bozo.
• God is a delusion for superstitious simpletons who are afraid of the dark.
• The Old Testament is a ragtag collection of Bronze Age myths that has been tinkered with to such an extent that no one capable of critical thinking—or any kind of thinking—would actually believe it's the "Word of God."
• The New Testament is fiction dummied up by anonymous zealots several generations after the fact to elevate some (probably non-existent) character from Nazareth to messianic status, probably just to stick it to the Jews and create an excuse to persecute them. Oh, and they peppered it with liberal doses of prophetic "foolfillments" to sell their story.
• And it's accepted scientific fact that intelligent, self-aware life capable of pondering the existence of a Creator evolved spontaneously out of inorganic slime. So much so that anyone who dares question it will be mercilessly mocked and pilloried.
You can't win with them, so don't play their games by letting yourself get sucked into their inane arguments. They want "proof" while swimming in an ocean of it. They reject all the proof there is, and then demand more.
An atheist is like a flea who arrogantly proclaims,
"There is no Dog!"
Love them, pray for them, and attempt to answer their questions honestly if the situation arises. But that's about all you can do. The rest is on them.
Q12. Why do people sometimes say that Catholics aren't Christians? Doesn't believing that Jesus was the Messiah make you a Christian?
A. In a word, no.
Satan doesn't just believe Jesus is the Messiah, he knows it.
He should—they've met face to face.
What makes you a Christian is changing your mind about your sin that has separated you from a loving, just, holy God, acknowledging that you cannot save yourself, believing in faith that it is Christ's death and nothing else that atoned for your sins, and asking for the forgiveness that His death and resurrection makes freely available to all who believe in repentant faith.
You can believe, check that—you can know that Jesus is the Messiah until the day you die, and never come to that point.
One of the fundamental problems with the Roman Catholic Church is their dogmatic insistence on the doctrine of salvation by works. In other words, the blood of Jesus didn't quite get all the stains out, ya know? You still have to work for it. You have to be a card-carrying member of the Roman Catholic Church, and be baptized therein. You have to confess your sins to an equally sinful man on a regular basis, and all manner of formulaic folderol in order to maintain and keep your salvation, because according to the book of Hebrews "faith without works is dead."
What they fail to understand, however, is that the book of Hebrews doesn't teach that works are required to be saved—it teaches that works show that you are saved. Big difference.
If you believe that your human effort—above and beyond believing the gospel in repentant faith—is needed to obtain, maintain, or ascertain your salvation in some way, then you don't understand what the Bible clearly teaches. If it is, then heaven is going to be a mighty lonely place.
Q13. Why do you have to be baptized to go to heaven?
A. Uhm, you don't. Yes, we are told to be baptized as a public confession of our faith—an external symbol of an internal change that has already taken place. In other words, if you ain't saved when you go under, you ain't saved when you come up, hoss. All you got was wet.
We are also told to take Communion from time to time to remember His sacrifice for us, but that doesn't punch our ticket to heaven, either.
You can search the pages of Scripture until the Great White Throne Judgment and not find a single verse that explicitly conveys that we absolutely must do that in order to be saved and thus qualify for heaven.
It's not there.
So, what do we have to do to be saved and thus qualify for heaven?
16For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever BELIEVES in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
(John 3:16 / emphasis added)
36One who BELIEVES in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son won't see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
(John 3:36 / emphasis added)
4For Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who BELIEVES.
(Romans 10:4 / emphasis added)
8But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart;" that is, the word of faith, which we preach: 9that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and BELIEVE in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
(Romans 10:8–9 / emphasis added)
13In whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation—in whom, having also BELIEVED, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14who is a pledge of our inheritance, to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of his glory.
(Ephesians 1:13–14 / emphasis added)
I don't know about you, but I think I see a pattern developing.
On any one of a number of occasions recorded in Scripture, the apostle Paul and other New Testament writers—not to mention Jesus Himself—could have clarified once and for all any other requirements that we had to satisfy or standards of behavior that we had to maintain to be or to keep ourselves saved. Yet what is the operative word, again and again and again?
Believe. Believe. Believe.
Not "Believe and be baptized." Not "Believe and take Communion." Not believe and perform ritual X." Believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died and was resurrected to pay the penalty for our sin, and that He's done that for us because we have asked in simple, repentant faith. That's it.
Why oh why do people work so hard to complicate what God made simple?
Q14. Many say that Jesus existed as the Son of God before He was born of human flesh on Earth. Many argue the existence of Jesus begins here on Earth. What do you believe?
A. "What do you believe?"
Wrong question. How about:
"What does God's Word say?"
5Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.
(John 17:5)
So, it's that first thing—regardless of what anyone believes.
Q15. If you knew that Jesus was coming back soon, as promised in the Bible, how would you change your life?
A. It may come as a shock to you, but there are those of us who know with rock-solid certainty that He is coming back soon for His Church—His body of believers, living and dead. We know it because we have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to guide us and help us rightly divide His Word—and His Word makes it crystal clear.
To answer your question, first let me point out that there is no need to frame it in the form of a present conditional. So, allow me to rephrase it for you in a form better suited to people such as myself:
Since you know that Jesus is coming back soon, as
promised in the Bible, how should you live your life?
And here is your answer:
2Beloved, now we are children of God, and it is not yet revealed what we will be. But we know that, when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is. 3Everyone who has this hope set on him purifies himself, even as he is pure.
(1 John 3:2–3 / emphasis added)
11For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; 13looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ; 14who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.
(Titus 2:11–14 / emphasis added)
The hope of the Rapture is a purifying hope—it is to spur us to live lives pleasing to God. The hope of the Rapture is supposed to motivate us to purify our lives; to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts; to live soberly, righteously, and in a godly manner; to be zealous of good works.
So, as legions of people are trying to have their best lives now and turning local churches into vehicles for social change, a remnant of born-again believers are watching prophecy unfold and are looking up, and here's why:
28But when these things begin to happen, look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is near.
(Luke 21:28)
Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Q16. How can you defend the existence of God without the use of the Bible and the earth itself?
A. I;m gpnna havr to wa9it a couuple og munutes fro my husterica; lauhg5er to s8bside unti; I cna xontunue typimg.,.
Whew, I'm better now. OK, I want you to think about this very carefully:
What does this question telegraph LOUD AND CLEAR
to any reasonably intelligent, unbiased individual?
Go on, guess. OK, I can see you're completely stumped, so I'll help you out.
It broadcasts the obvious fact that down deep you KNOW BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT that it is in fact (a) the miracle of creation itself and (b) the prophetically self-confirming Word of God that provide all the evidence any unbiased person of reasonable intelligence needs to know that God exists (aside from their innate awareness thereof, of course).
And that's precisely why those two items must be strenuously excluded so atheists can "win" their fleshly, pea-brained arguments.
Boy, did you make my day! Thank you, tjank yuou, 6hamk y8o!
Q17. Why can't more Christians better defend their beliefs from the Bible?
A. In my opinion, the biggest problem is that people are not getting the anointed preaching of God's Word in the majority of churches today. More often than not, they get 30-minute pep talks with "life applications" that could have come from a pop self-help book, and in some cases probably did.
Too many pastors today are not feeding their flocks the way God intended, and they will answer to Christ for it. Although the problem begins in the seminaries, many of which no longer hold to the inerrancy of Scripture, the bigger problem is that churches have become businesses first and churches second. Pastors understandably feel pressured to fill the pews, and that means giving people what they want. "Seeker-friendly"—that's the ticket.
So is it any wonder that churches take down the crosses and tone down talk of sin and repentance? Is it really so shocking that sanctification has been trumped by social relevance?
When will pastors quit trying to make the gospel appeal to a fallen world's carnal, politically correct sensitivities? When will good ol' Pastor Jimbo forget about trying to make the gospel inclusive and tolerant?
• The gospel is inclusive and tolerant of all those who repent of sin and believe in faith that it is Christ's death alone that provides them forgiveness and His resurrection alone that promises them eternal life.
• It is exclusive and intolerant of all those who don't. Deal with it.
Pastors, preach the Word—that's your job.
Let the Holy Spirit do the rest—that's His.
Q18. Are Christians aware that essentially every part of Christianity is copied from pagan mythology?
A. Counterquestion: Are non-Christians aware that the basic elements of God's plan of redemption for mankind were established by God in the Garden of Eden (see Genesis)? In light of that fact, why is it so shocking that some of those ideas, like the basic concept of the Creator sending a God-Man to earth to save us, spread with the growth of the human population and hence show up in one form or another in the beliefs of various ancient people groups?
News flash: Surprise! The gospel of Jesus Christ wasn't "invented" out of the clear, blue sky 2,000 years ago. The framework of God's plan of redemption for sinful man accomplished by a Savior He promised to send us was communicated to man in the very beginning, millennia before Jesus was ever born and walked the earth.
So, as a biblically knowledgeable person, I would be perplexed—in fact I would be completely mystified if some of the basic elements of God's plan of redemption didn't show up in the belief systems of various ancient peoples.
So thank you! I deeply appreciate your pointing that out, because it merely serves to confirm what God says in His Word.
Q19. If God asks you on Judgment Day why you didn't believe in Him, what will you say to him?
A. On "Judgment Day" (which for the people in question will be the Great White Throne Judgment of Rev. 20:11–15), every moment of your entire life when your innate awareness of God's existence momentarily welled up in your spirit and you allowed your fleshly intellect and your carnal nature to squelch and dismiss it will be brought back to you in living color and paraded before you. God isn't going to ask you why you didn't believe in Him—He won't have to. I believe He's going to show you all the times during your life when He tried to get your attention and you just hardened your heart and tuned Him out. God is the Righteous Judge, and a righteous judge wouldn't condemn someone without the admission of damning evidence.
And you will have nothing to say.
I once heard the late atheist author and speaker Christopher Hitchens quip that in such a situation he would say:
"You didn't give us enough evidence!"
Really? That's your 50-dollar defense, Christopher? That's gonna be your grand, philosophical counterpunch? You imagine that will have God sitting before you, nonplussed, scratching His hoary head, and finally conceding:
"Gosh, Christopher, maybe you're right. Maybe I should have given you guys a bit more evidence. After all, it's just too darn easy to believe that intelligent, sentient beings who instinctively seek to know their Creator evolved out of inorganic slime. Happens all the time, ya know?"
(Sigh...and we're the ignorant ones.)
But let's get to the nitty-gritty for the benefit of those who think they're doing God some kind of favor by deigning to believe He even exists:
Believing in God and $4.75 will get you a
Caramel Macchiato (Venti) at Starbucks.
Satan believes in God. He should—he used to work for Him.
One could effectively divide humanity into two groups: the vast majority who consciously accept the fact that God exists (whether they ever come to know Him or not), and fools (yes, fools, according to Ps. 14:1) who refuse to believe God exists in spite of the compelling cornucopia of evidence—specifically the absolute miracle of creation itself, reams of fulfilled prophecy that confirm His Word, and the innate awareness of His existence we are born with (but can flush out of our system with sufficient practice).
You heard me. Every human being is born with an innate awareness of God's existence (Rom. 1:18–23). But I'm not going to waste my time dealing with fools who deny God's existence—they've made their bed and there's nothing to be done except let them sleep in it. The point I want to make is the cold, hard truth that just believing God exists counts for absolutely nothing.
The entire point of your earthly existence is not to believe God exists—that's a given. The point of your earthly existence is to respond to the grace and mercy that God expressed to man through Christ. It is to believe the gospel.
The single most important thing you will ever do in your life on earth is to recognize that your sin has spiritually separated you from the Creator, that nothing you will ever do will make you good enough to meet His standard (which is perfection), and respond to the message of the gospel and the conviction of the Holy Spirit. God sent His Son into the world to live a life in a body of flesh, fulfill His laws perfectly because we never could, die as the perfect sacrifice to satisfy His Father's justice on our behalf, and then rise from the grave to eternal life—as will those who believe in faith.
The Holy Spirit is in the world today, convicting men of sin and pointing them to Christ. That's part of His job. When you sense and respond to that conviction, and humble your heart before God and ask in faith for the forgiveness that Christ purchased for you with His blood and believe in what He did for you, your sin is entirely washed away, you are reconciled to the Father for eternity, you are sealed with His Spirit as one of His own, you are adopted into His family, and you are guaranteed an eternity in His presence.
Just believing in God is nothing.
Believing the gospel is everything.
Q20. How can I, as an atheist, explain theism to my children?
A. Relax. Your children already understand theism better than you do.
And that's 20. As always, I hope you enjoyed reading these half as much as I enjoyed writing them, and that you were blessed in some small way.
If you were, then so was I.
Greg Lauer — NOV '18
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1. Adapted from Sunset Over Grass Field © AOosthuizen at Can Stock Photo
2. Questions and Answers © OutStyle at Adobe Stock
3. Adapted from 3a–3b:
3a. Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba © https://sathyasaiwithstudents.blogspot.com (cropped, resized, text added) [CC BY-SA 4.0]
3b. Shirdi Sai Baba (author unknown) [PD]
4. Bible Closed with a Chain Lock © vladischern at Adobe Stock
5. Scarecrow © CE Photography at Adobe Stock
6. Adapted from Puppy Scratching © Sergey Lavrentev at Adobe Stock
7. Adapted from Balloon Sword © Dmitri Stalnuhhin at Adobe Stock
8. Adapted from Satan Before the Throne of God by William Blake creator QS:P170,Q41513, marked as public domain [PD], more details on Wikimedia Commons
Scripture Quotations:
All Scripture is taken from the World English Bible, unless specifically annotated as the King James Version (KJV) or the American King James Version (AKJV).