Trust by faith alone?

April 25, 2003 @ 1:03 am by Pressed

Should we simply trust the Bible by faith alone or should we put it to the test? I think all religious writings and political writings both expect us to simply trust them by faith alone with no evidence and if something or someone teaches us to have faith in something that is simply not true then we could be holding on to very deadly beliefs. The idea behind many writings is to push a person to hold a particular belief which bypasses the persons critical thinking step to where they simply accept it as truth without seeking the truth itself. I do not believe that this is beneficial in many instances, and yet for most people it is too hard for them to actually think an issue through so they accept what they hear and see as fact.

The Bible commands us to “test everything” or more specifically, “Question Everything and Hold on to the Good.” (1 Thes 5:21) Even the Bible itself tells us to put it to the test! The Bible says to use prophecy to test if something is from God because only God knows the future (Deut 18:19-22; Is 41: 21-24; 1 Thes 5:20). The Bible itself contains over 600 historical prophecies and each one has been verified with evidence and NOT ONE has been wrong! Such detailed items as specific names and dates as well as events are foretold in the bible with incredible precision and undeniable accuracy that only God would know. There is NO other book that can make these same claims or even begin to compare to the accuracy revealed in the bible.

Certainly faith is a crucial thing, but only after the one true authority, God himself, has been accepted. But if you don’t believe it test it for yourself! Study it, seek it, and you will find it. I have spent many years now in the study of God’s word, and countless hours learning Greek so that I could properly translate the New Testament for myself. I still seek constantly to question everything and hold on to what I find to be true and accurate. Don’t take my words or anyone else’s to be instant truth, test it out for yourself. I encourage everyone to think critically about everything, whether politics or religion or simply everyday issues that people discuss. Don’t accept their words for truth instantly, instead consider their words, think about them and then search for the answers yourself and don’t stop till you have found what you know to be true.

For more info about the Bible visit, Evidence of God

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Pluralism Part II

April 23, 2003 @ 1:00 am by Pressed

I was writing a response to some of the comments in my first post, “Pluralism is a problem!” and it got to be so long that I decided to make it another post. Before reading this post please read carefully the previous entry and comments so that you will be well informed and able to critically think through this issue.

“Why do you feel the need to tell everyone else that they are wrong and you are right? Can you both be right?” - Rob

No Rob, both cannot be right because both religions contradict each other. You can be righteous, you can be meek, you can be pure of heart, you can be a peacemaker, you can be merciful and you can love your neighbor as yourself and still be completely lost and still go to hell when you die because salvation does not come from any of those things. There are many different religions and it is simply impossible for them to magically all be right. Jesus is the only way period and all other religions that do not teach Jesus to be the way to salvation are religions that are leading people astray and it is certainly right to say that anything that leads people away from God and makes them think they are saved when they are not is in fact evil.

Now is it right to go to a bunch of lost people and say to their face “your religion is evil.” No, that is not necessarily a good thing to do at first and in having only second hand knowledge I don’t know the context of which Rev. Graham was speaking, but it is certainly right to point to the truth of Jesus Christ and anytime you do that it will make someone else wrong and it will make them mad and that is fine. If you want to get mad then go right ahead cause it doesn’t concern me a bit.

Truth is not relative to the individual, and that is the point of this post. Jesus says “I AM THE TRUTH” therefore all other religions that reject Jesus as being the way to salvation and as being the divine son of God are in fact false. False religions do not lead you to God. They may lead you to being good, and meek, and gentle, and loving, and kind, and pure but in the end if you do not know Christ as Lord then you have not experienced salvation and that kindness and goodness and purity and gentleness will not amount to a hill of beans when you face the final judgment.

“seek the truth, don’t label it before you understand it. listen carefully.
and above all remember the new commandment: love your neighbor as yourself.” - Dave

Dave I found truth a long time ago when I found Jesus, and I do listen carefully by faithfully practicing 1 Thessalonians 5:21 “Question Everything, Hold on to the Good.” It concerns me that you left out the most important part of the new commandment, what Jesus calls the GREATEST command to “Love the lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your mind, and with all of your soul” Certainly love for our neighbors is important and something to be evident in our lives but it is not the most important thing. That is about all people ever emphasize. Never love for God, never love for his commands, never love for his truth, never love for his word, but instead the only thing you can do is emphasize love for your neighbor. That way anytime someone tries to speak of this truth you can say, “well you can’t teach truth because you have to love your neighbor! You can’t make people feel like they are being judged and you can’t make them feel like they are wrong so you can’t speak of truth.” Love your neighbor becomes the cry of liberals everywhere because speaking the truth is confrontational and un-loving and wrong.

Sad thing is Jesus spoke truth, and that truth made people angry, and that truth went against the very religion the people were practicing and they hung him on the a cross for it! Jesus didn’t back down because of the commandment, “love your neighbor as yourself.” He continued to emphasize the fact that he is the only way, not the law, not works, not religion, but himself period. The religious leaders didn’t want to hear that because they thought they already had salvation through the law of Moses so they called Jesus a blasphemer and hung him on a cross because he offended them, because he spoke against their religion, because he spoke truth. Does that mean that Jesus didn’t love his neighbor as he loved himself? No, that is simply ridiculous to say that you can’t claim Jesus as being the truth because it is not loving your neighbor.

Yes you are to be loving, yes you are to be kind and gentle and meek, but you are also to speak the truth. What is the truth? Jesus says, “I AM THE TRUTH!” So as long as I continue to make the claim that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation then that will always mean that other religions are wrong and I will not turn my back on the cross and disgrace the name of Jesus by belittling his name and by making light of his truth so that other people can be comfortable in their own religions.

“Should we follow the example of Jesus and love those who hate us, or follow the example of Rev. Graham and spew hatred about those who disagree with us?” - Rob

Well certainly I think we should follow the example of Jesus. The Pharisee’s hated Jesus. And what did Jesus do in light of their hatred towards him? Did he back down and shut up so that he did not offend them? Did he let them continue to think that their religion was right? He loved them by telling the the truth, he loved them by telling them that they were wrong, he loved them by telling them that they were going to die in their sins!

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’

The Pharisees challenged him, ‘Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.’

Jesus answered, ‘Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.’

Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”

‘You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also…….I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”

Jesus said to the Pharisee’s, those who HATE HIM, that he was the light of the world, that he was the only way period! So those who HATED HIM questioned him on how he knows he is right. “Who are you Jesus to say that our religion is wrong and yours is right? Your testimony is not valid.” How did Jesus then deal with those who HATED HIM? He told them about himself, about his authority coming from God, he told them that they did not know God and he told them that they were going to die in their sin! Hmmm, Jesus spewed hatred by telling the lost Pharisee’s that they didn’t even know God and that they could not come to heaven? After all these Pharisee’s were dedicated to the scriptures, they memorized the word front and back, and they even knew all the commands so how dare Jesus tell them that they didn’t know God, right?

Jesus told them the truth, he is the only way. Rev. Graham spoke the truth. He may not have done it in an appropriate place (I don’t know the whole story for sure), but the fact remains what he said was not a lie and was not hatred. If telling people they are wrong and that there is only one way to salvation is considered hatred and not love then Jesus and his apostles and disciples did a whole lot of hating.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)
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Pluralism is a problem

@ 12:54 am by Pressed

Religious pluralism involves accepting the beliefs taught by religions other than your own as valid. It implies that there is more than one kind of ultimate reality and/or truth and therefore more than one religion can be said to have the truth (way to God, salvation).

“Religious Pluralism is the view that all religions are equally valid as ways to God. Pluralists often refer to the fact that, just as there are many paths up Mt. Fuji, so there are many paths to God. Differences among the religions are superficial; they all lead to the same goal. This is the epitome of tolerance and relativism.”- Rick Rood.

“Pluralism is an affirmation of the validity of every religion, and the refusal to choose between them, and the rejection of world evangelism….”- John Stott, Anglican theologian.

“I think that the current notion of religious pluralism is stupid….The stupid concept is the idea that all religions are basically equally true. That is just flat out stupid.” - Gregory Koukl

“Many people today confuse traditional Western religious tolerance with religious pluralism….the latter assumes all religions are equally valid, resulting in moral relativism and ethical chaos…” - Robert E. Regier & Timothy J. Dailey

Religious Pluralism by its very nature is a foolish concept that has no validity. Every religion cannot be right, it is simply impossible. Jesus is either the divine Son of God or he is a finite human who was not God but simply a good teacher but he can’t be both God and not God, it is impossible and yet people want to take all the religions in the world that have completely contradicting beliefs, make a false claim that they are all valid and they all lead to God and then magically expect everyone in the world to see how logical and intelligent that is.

The following comments are from an excellent article written about Religious Pluralism. It is in response to another article that was written on January 27, where a Muslim thinker said something that sounded religiously pluralistic and people responded to it in the L.A. Times , Friday, February 10.

“As usual, I’m amazed at how frequently very sensible and intelligent people can make very foolish and absurd statements about the nature of truth…This person is commenting that the nature of religious knowledge is merely relative, not absolute. That’s what the Muslim scholar said, and Edward Tabash, who is writing this letter from Beverly Hills, agrees with him. Religious knowledge is merely relative. However, Tabash’s statement itself is a statement about religious knowledge, making it merely relative, not absolute, according to his own rules. See the problem there? In other words, here is an absolute statement about religion that says one can’t make any absolute statements about religion. The argument commits suicide. ” -Gregory Koukl

Gregory Koukl goes on to talk about the statement that all religious understanding is relative and that no one interpretation is absolute?” Koukl says, “Either God exists, or He doesn’t exist. It is the law of excluded middle. Either God or no God. One of two categories. One or the other has to be true. They both cannot be true because of the Law of Non-contradiction. Not at the same time. And they both can’t be false because of the Law of Excluded Middle. Simple. Either God exists or He doesn’t exist.

Did you notice, by the way, that both statements are religious statements? Now, maybe I don’t know which one is true, but I’ll tell you one thing, one of them is, which means there is such a thing, at least to some degree, as absolute religious truth. It is either an absolute that God does not exist, or it is an absolute that He does. One or the other. Therefore, it is a false claim that all religious statements are merely relative. Do you see that? This is not that hard. Here is a scholar, though, making a comment that is just absolutely foolish.”

Anyone who holds the idea of pluralism cannot argue its case without contradicting themselves. Koukl gives another example of that as he talks to a man who was accusing him of being hatful for telling others they are wrong, “Lee, a Jewish man, was reprimanding me in a very terse way for promoting the Christian idea that Christianity was true and all other religions were false. What was wrong with that? This view spreads hate, he said.
He said, “We shouldn’t criticize other people’s religions.” I said, “Then why are you criticizing mine?” He said, “It’s wrong to say other religions are wrong.” I said, “Then why are you saying my religion is wrong?” He said, “You’re encouraging hate by saying only your view is right and others are mistaken.” I said, “Then why are you spreading hate by publicly reprimanding me saying that only your view is right and mine is mistaken?”

Do you see how these arguments are self-defeating? And how this second version of tolerance is just silly? In order to tolerate somebody and be loving you can’t assert your point of view as being correct.”

These are some short excerpts from the transcript of a commentary from the radio show “Stand to Reason,” with Gregory Koukl. To read the full article click here. It is certainly excellent and I recommend that you read it.

I spent an entire year in a class called “World Citizen” learning the art of critical thinking. We learned how important it is to think critically and to “question everything and hold on to the good.” If you take two different religions such as Christianity and Islam and you do exercise critical thought about them you will see the contradictions and the problems and you will come to the point of knowing which one is worthy of belief. Pluralism and relativism simply encourages people not to use their brain. It encourages them not to think through the issues and not to think critically about conflicts or problems but just to except it all. Why is it that pluralism encourages people not to think at all? Doesn’t is seem strange that it encourages people not to seek truth?

“Isn’t it unusual that this view encourages people never to assess the truth value of their religious claims. It’s saying, don’t think about those things, don’t criticize, don’t say somebody is wrong. If you buy that, then you can’t criticize even the assessment of your own spiritual claims. Yet at the same time these are the folks who fault Christians who they think are blindly following the Bible. Religious truth claims must be challenged if we’re to have any confidence whatsoever that they’re true. If the truth claims of Christianity can be challenged–as they constantly are by these same religious pluralism devotees–why can’t the truth claims of other religions also be challenged? It seems to me that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”

Hmmm, maybe it is because in the end there is only one that can even stand up under critical thinking. That is because there is only one true religion, one true God, and one true savior.

I think this is the point Rev. Franklin Graham was making as he called Islam an evil religion. The politically correct want to make sure that they do not offend anyone so they accept religious pluralism with open arms and Graham certainly stood up to that by crushing the very idea of pluralism. Is it right to stand up and say that other religions are evil in front of people? Is it right to stand up and say there is only one truth, one religion, one God, and one way? I certainly think so. Isn’t that what God did when he inspired his own holy book? All other beliefs that are contrary to the words of the one true God are in fact evil so it is right to make that claim. I am willing to say that even God believes Islam is an evil religion, why, because it is contrary to His word. God hates sin and he hates false religions and he hates the claim that there is a plurality of ways to heaven because it directly contradicts His own words to us. There is only one God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, and there is only one way to the one true God and that is Jesus Christ the divine son who died and rose again.

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6)

Jesus is simply the only way and the only truth and all other claims are in fact evil because they lead people away from God not to Him. The idea of pluralism is a foolish attempt to distract people from finding the real truth by claiming truth to be relevant and therefore emphasizing the uselessness of critical thinking.

Pressed
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The Forceful Gospel

April 19, 2003 @ 12:36 am by Pressed

There is an issue that keeps popping up on some of my comments that I feel needs to be addressed with great detail. It is the issue of protestants being too forceful and judgmental because they have the audacity to tell other people that they are sinners and need to be born again.

joseph j fell and his crew (meaning all who hold the same viewpoint) have become disgusted with us protestants. He says, “due to my great disgust with people (mostly Protestant) running around telling non-Christians “you need to be saved, you need to be born again, you’re going to Hell, etc” and often coming off very judgmental and condemning when they do, i am becoming more and more Catholic in my beliefs.” He also mentions that, “when people go around and start talking about how you’re sinful, you need to accept Christ, etc,and doing so in a very forceful and in-your-face, confrontational manner, i dont think that’s very productive.”

I have been doing a study in Acts and these comments simply fly in the face of Paul, Barnabas and all of the disciples. Paul went from city to city telling people they were sinners and that they need to accept Christ, by the leadership of the holy spirit of God I might add. There is case after case where Paul was very forceful and confrontational and what you are saying is that Paul was not very productive because he told people that they are sinners and that they need to repent. The men of the Old and New Testament were very forceful and dedicated to the very word of God and they did not just go hang with the secular crowd and accept everything that everyone did because it was the “politically correct” thing to do. Paul didn’t look at lost people and say, “oh well it is their choice to do what they want to do so I shouldn’t make them feel bad by telling them that they are sinful and they will not spend eternity with God.” Instead he went to the lost people, both Jews and Gentiles, and reminded them that they are sinners, they have sinned against a living God who punishes sin, and they need to repent and believe in him who was sent to die for them. He did this because he had compassion for them and loved them and wanted to see them come to salvation knowing that there is nothing greater for them! No believer in the Bible practiced this weak, politically correct, mumbo jumbo that has been mentioned, not the apostles, not the disciples, and certainly not Jesus!

John the Baptist - “…You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance…” (Luke 3:7-8) That sounds rather confrontational to me. Now some may say, well he was talking to religious leaders not unsaved people… *cough* *cough* I don’t know that I would call the religious leaders at that time saved… but for the sake of argument John also rebuked Herod and his brother’s wife telling of all the evil things they had done. Shouldn’t John have just kept quiet about the Evil’s of Herod and let him do whatever he wanted to do? Why shouldn’t Herod take his brothers wife since he is unsaved anyway, right? So that was just wrong of John to do such a thing and exploit the evils of lost people, they have a right to do what they want and they don’t need no Baptist telling them they are wrong! I think it is safe to say that John the Baptist was very confrontational about repentance from sins and this was right in the eyes of God but not in the eyes of man!

Jesus himself says to preach of forgiveness and repentance of sins, “…and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations…” (Luke 47) - How can someone understand that they need forgiveness if they do not first understand that they are sinners? Isn’t it important to try and help people see that they are sinners and because of that sin they fall short of the glory of God?

Peter - “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…with many other words he warned them: and he pleaded with them, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’” (Acts 2:38,40) - Peter tells the people of Jerusalem that they must repent for the forgiveness of their sins! He called them sinners! “Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, ‘Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:18-20) - Peter also shows that it is obedience to God to speak in the name of Jesus, to speak about what we have seen and heard! The ‘men’ of the day thought that Peter and John should not be so forceful and should not be preaching in the name of Christ and telling people to be saved, and yet they obeyed God over man.

Stephen - He was stoned for being very aggressive and confrontational to the ‘unsaved’ religious leaders. He did show his care for them by asking God not to hold their sins against him, but he did not hold back from speaking the word of God, even if it was controversial.

Paul - Paul is also a great example of a man in the bible who went from city to city telling people about Jesus, about sin, and calling for repentance. “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?” (Acts 13:10) - Paul sounds very confrontational and judgmental to me!

If not telling people that they are sinners and that they need to be born again makes you a Catholic then certainly Paul, Stephen, Peter, and the rest of the disciples were not Catholic. Even though they told people they were sinners and that they needed to be born again they always did it in a loving and compassionate way, whether the people accepted it as that or not, and that is how we are to do it. In all things, as we share the Gospel we must share it in love, but do so without weakening the message and sugar coating the hard stuff!

It seems to me that in the Bible, telling people about sin, separation, repentance, forgiveness, and believing are essential elements in a believers life and that is the very thing that many people hate about us! Guess it all comes down to the question, do we obey God and therefore anger man or do we obey men and therefore anger God?

Pressed

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Lest We Forget

April 17, 2003 @ 12:22 am by Pressed

In a recent poll of French citizens, 88% agreed that:
America is the reckless bully in the standoff with Iraq.
They said America is the aggressor.
They said America is serving it’s own self interests.
They said they would not participate in a war of aggression.
They said they will ’sit this one out’.

U.S. Military Cemetery in Normandy, France. Number of Americans Dead - 9,387

U.S. Military Cemetery in Brittany, France. Number of Americans Dead - 4,410

U.S. Military Cemetery in Epinal, France. Number of Americans Dead - 5,255

U.S. Military Cemetery in Lorraine, France. Number of Americans Dead - 10,489

U.S. Military Cemetery in Rhone, France. Number of Americans Dead - 861

Unkown US Military Graves and Missing Americans in France - 18,000

Total Americans Dead Defending France - Over 50,000. LEST THEY FORGET!

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