Difference between revisions of "Christianity"

Revision as of 14:28, 18 January 2011

AI am doing the best I can and I’m sincere.</b></p>

Even if you could do far better than you are doing now you still can’t do well enough because you don’t please God by being good (Gal. 2:21), but by accepting Jesus (John 1:12). Sincerity is not the way to heaven.

What if you are sincerely wrong?

(Remember John 14:6?

If you are relying on your sincerity, then are you saying that because you are sincere, therefore you are good enough on your own to be with God." Don’t you see, to appeal to your sincerity is to appeal to pride, because you are appealing to something that is in you and not God for your reason to go to heaven. I am sorry, sincerity is not enough. You must have faith, in Jesus. How long have you been doing your best? Has it worked so far? Has it given you eternal life?

I am skeptical.

Are you honestly looking for answers? If you are, I would be very willing to talk with you more about Jesus, the Bible, or whatever else you want to talk about.

What are you skeptical about? Perhaps we can talk about some of the things that you feel keeps you from a saving knowledge of Jesus.

I tried Christianity once.

The Bible says that once you are saved, you are never the same again, you are a new creature (2 Cor. 5:17). If you have gone back to your old ways, then most probably you were never saved. If, however, you were saved, then God won’t let you stay in rebellion for long. He will deal with you in whatever way is necessary to bring you back into fellowship with Him.

Did you become a Christian by going to church or by asking Jesus to forgive you of your sins? The latter makes you a Christian, the former doesn’t.

I knew some Christians once and they wronged me.

Christians aren’t perfect. They make mistakes like anyone else. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive them. I think that is what they would do for you.

Maybe they didn’t know they wronged you. Was it something really bad or was it just a mistake? Have you gone to them and spoken to them about it? Maybe if you were to forgive them you would begin to understand the forgiveness God has for you. We all need to be forgiven, don’t you agree?

I’ll take my chances.

With what, eternity? Eternity is a long time to be wrong. Why would you want to take a gamble on something as important as your eternal destiny. It takes only a moment to trust Christ for your salvation. There will be an eternity of pain and regret if you don’t. You don’t take chances with guns do you? You don’t take chances and run red lights do you? Why would you take a chance on something that is far more important than these? Don’t take a chance on something eternal.

It isn’t worth it.

Jesus said He was the only way to God. He forgave sins, walked on water, calmed an ocean with a command, raised people from the dead, and rose from the dead Himself. No one else in all of history has done that. If He can do all that, don’t you think you should listen to Him.

I am not that bad a person.

Whether or not you feel you are bad or good is not the real issue. The Bible says that all have sinned (Rom. 3:23). If all have sinned, good or bad, then all will suffer the judgment of God. God does not require someone to be pretty good; He requires that he not sin at all. But He knows that you cannot be sinless. That is why He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

The Bible says that our good works are filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64:6). It isn’t saying that we might not try to be good, it is saying that whatever good we do, it is not good enough. It also says that there is none who does good (Rom. 3:12). The standard God seeks is perfection. We cannot please God on our own. That is why Jesus died on behalf of sinners. If you want to be good enough, then you must let God see you through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That is the only goodness that counts to God.

I am too old or too young.

You are never to old to trust in Jesus as your Savior. As long as you are alive you can call on Him to forgive you of your sins. He is as close as the call of your heart.

(Granted there may be some who are too young to understand the gospel message, but here we will address those who simply use that as an excuse.) Youth is a blessing from God. Don’t use it as an excuse to stay away from Him. If you can understand what sin is and your need for deliverance from it, then you are not too young to receive Jesus as your Savior. He saves everyone, young and old.

I can’t believe in a God who would send people to hell.

Hell was originally created for Satan and his angels. In the future it will contain those who join Satan in rejecting God. If you reject God’s provision for the forgiveness of your sins then you will join the Devil who rejected God from the beginning. Is that what you want? Could you believe in a God who would become a human, suffer at the hands of humans, and be killed by them, all so that His death could be the payment for their sins? That is extremely loving. God is saving people who deserve to go to hell—and we all deserve that. Remember that the same God that sends people to hell also died for them. If they reject what God has provided then what is God left to do? He would have to judge them.

Whether you believe in something or not does not change the fact of its existence. Jesus spoke often of hell (Matt. 25:41-46; Mark 9:47-48; Luke 16:19-31) and warned us so we would not go there. Would you say Jesus didn’t know what He was talking about? Are you implying that it is unjust for God to send people to hell? If so, then you accuse God of injustice. Sin is wrong and it must be punished. What would you have God do to those who oppose Him and do evil? Do you want Him to ignore that which is wrong? Do you want Him to turn His head and not be holy and righteous?

I will worry about it in the next life.

That you may very well do, forever. Eternity is a long time to be wrong, especially about Jesus. God has warned us in the Bible that it is appointed for men to die once, then judgment (Heb. 9:27). After death you will be judged. Do you want to face eternity without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ accounted to you? God hates sin and you have sinned. God will punish sinners if they reject Jesus. However, He loves you. That is why He sent His Son to die for sins. If you want eternal life, then you need to worry about it now. Eternity is a long time to be wrong, especially about Jesus.

There is no next life. Reincarnation isn’t true. The Bible says after death you face God (Heb. 9:27).

I don’t want to give up what I like doing.

If you become a Christian, are you saying you must stop doing what you’re doing now. That means you know it is wrong. Let me ask you something. If you were to become a Christian and God were to live in your heart and you looked back upon your life now, would you say to yourself, "I did a lot of things I wish I hadn’t done."? Probably so.

The Bible speaks about just such a thing. In Romans 6:21 it says, "What benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed, for the outcome of those things is death" (NASB). What you are saying is that God will require you to give up certain things that you like to do. Since God only wants what is good and right, and you say you don’t want to give up what your are doing, then you are saying you want what is wrong.

Will you let your pleasures get in the way of salvation? Is your life of sin worth an eternity of pain? Jesus said, "What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?" (Mark 8:36).

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Copyright by Matthew J. Slick, 1998. All rights reserved