A "Quick" Note

I decided to keep this separate from any other post, and it was too long to simply tweet. Two things are often posed to me in conversation and I figured it'd be good to list them here. One is use of Scripture and the is church attendance.

I think I mentioned it in an earlier post, but I'll repeat myself here. The point of this blog is to make arguments for Christianity, morality, and so on in a secular manner to show that the Bible is correct. Rather than do what many Christians do, my aim is to give unbelievers a reason to see consistency in Christianity. In terms of the faith, it's good to use the Bible to prove itself. However, if someone has no reason to find the Bible or the faith valid, then they'll need something else to do so. That's my aim here. The worst that happens is non-Christian people agree with me and Christians tell me Scripture I could use. Bombarding a nonbeliever with Scripture won't magically make them convert. Intellectualism will always attempt to be a substitute for Jesus Christ; my use or non-use of Scripture is not going to change that.

Secondly, church attendance. Nearly every ministry that I've spoken to a member of in the past few years will ask me what I believe, if I'm a Christian, and if I attend a church. Personal feelings aside, the big issue I see here is some "mustache growing." For unfamiliar readers, it's something I say instead of another male comparison. Anyways, I find that many ministries are interested more in numbers than anything else. With so many apostate churches, it's hard for me to take seriously very many claims by ministries.

This addition is mainly for Christians and "Christians": Asking me, or anyone else, what we believe, listening, and then asking if we have accepted Jesus when at least I, personally, already said I have in response to the first question, is a complete insult. Yes, some of us are intellectuals. We've all tried to be "normal" at some point (though I digress from that word now). We aren't going to want to attend your church if you undermine our entire thought process by assuming we're like the "intellectuals" that reject Christ. Never mind that many of us who scrutinize every detail won't attend a church with even a hint of apostasy.

I think you all get the picture, and I'm sure some of you, believers and nonbelievers alike, can relate. If something doesn't make sense to us who think in our way (mathematically in my case), we'll never get to the faith part. Ministries around the world are losing numbers by apostasy and limiting new numbers by alienating those of us who go intellectual->faith process rather than the opposite.

An Issue with Jesus' Parables?

Today a fellow named Tom Short and his ministry came by Purdue and basically did a Q&A on Christianity. During this time of five or six hours, one of the observers brought up a point. He stated that Jesus' parables were just redactions of Greek myth. Or perhaps of mythology in general, his phrasing was vague. This made me think for a moment: What's the point?

Indeed, what does that accusation accomplish? As someone who's dabbled in logic and is becoming a teacher, I don't see how this claim doesn't seem to harm Christ's message or Christianity as a whole. First remember the cultural context. By being culturally sensitive and using familiar stories, Christ made His work more relatable. This is a simple tool used in teaching; we take something students are familiar with and frame the new material within it.

Logically, this neither confirms nor denies Christ's existence, His work, or the Bible. You know, as someone who was an intellectual and not a true believer for awhile, I almost didn't include this. But then it hit me: in many cases, a complaint like this is exactly what it sounds like, a nitpick.

There are legitimate skeptical questions. How do we know the Bible is accurate? Where does it come from? Is it historically accurate? Sometimes it doesn't even take a Christian to see when a skeptic has a legitimate question or simply a  complaint, as I've shown above.

Intermission: HELL

Introduction

Oh yes, there's that word hell. Something some churches have removed to be more relevant is still just as relevant either way. Jesus Christ spoke on hell more than anyone else in the New Testament, such as in Matt 5:22, 7:23, 8:12, and others beyond the book of Matthew. It's quite clear to me that hell is a very real thing. So what is hell?

Hell and Unheard Ofs

Hell is the destination for those who reject God and the salvation offered through Christ's sacrifice. Separation and eternal torment are details of hell. Why would God, all-loving and perfectly just, send people to hell? Even if they choose to reject Him, what about others? This is a question I was asked this evening by a  friend of mine. Until now I had not taken it too seriously. After all, I just knew God meats out justice and knows what He's doing. But I never asked why, until tonight.

Specifically, I speak of others who have not or could not in their lifetime hear the Gospel. Secluded tribes, those who lived before Christ's resurrection, and anyone else who falls into this category would be damned, right? Not so. Let's look at Romans 2:1-16.

Here Paul begins talking about passing judgment. Those who judge but commit the same sin they judge will feel the wrath of God (verse 3). He then continues into God's judgment to those who are righteous and those who are wicked (verses 5 through 11). While no less important, many have already heard this in some such form. Stick with me here.

Look at verses 12 through 16. Those who obey God's Law will be justified, but those who don't will not. Verse 12 says those who have sinned without the law will perish without it. Not looking good yet, is it? Let's look closely at verse 14 through 16:

14 For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, 16 on the day when,according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.

It's clear here that those without the Law will be judged by Jesus Christ, through what is written on their hearts and consciences so long as their work is of the Law, even if they do not explicitly know of it. Recall in Matthew 22:36-38 Christ commands us to love God with all of our heart, mind, and soul. So long as those without the Gospel follow this, Jesus will judge them according to it and their actions.

To clarify, it seems that even if there are those who do not know God explicitly, they can still be saved if Christ judges them so. I do not claim to know how lenient this is. Will any believer of a deity with some attributes of God be saved? Or is it more specific? I don't know. Maybe it's just that gut feeling that there is One who rules over all. Whatever the case, God has a plan for them. He is perfectly just after all.

Conclusion

In closing, it is important that I remind my fellow Christians that we remain salt and light and continue missionary work. We can't suddenly slack off. After all, such delinquency could lead to blood on our hands, in soulish terms. We should not become lazy and deny others the joys of Christ's gift, let alone shirk our responsibilities!

Like, comment, share, read to others, read to your plants, just get this message out! I could not find such a write-up as this on the internet, yet many ask about hell and those who haven't heard the Gospel! Blessings, Lu.

Tagline Expose

I recently had a one-way discussion with two individuals on GameFAQS. They were defending Pokephilia (love of Pokemon, the creatures, in a sexual manner) and thus I attempted to debate them on terms of bestiality. At first this was agreed upon, but later one of them said he just wanted a definition and the other lacked a moral basis to make a judgment.

Biblical morality is indeed important. I am currently drafting a post to address this issue. In the meantime, I present a Tagline Expose. Here I will list my signatures I haven't  used on various forums because they could be misconstrued, hurt feelings, or are/borderline on ungodly. Without further ado, let us begin:

*Is it tolerance, or is it coercion?
*Atheism is an excuse for non-thinking. (This might actually be a quote I forgot)
*So here God's last name is dammit and people speak of ass a lot but it's offensive for me to call it like it is in terms of idiots? (This one is specific to GameFAQs due to how their censor works)
*You find my Christian worldview offensive? I can't even begin with you.
*I love the smell of BS in the morning.
*See that post I quoted? His/her idiot sign is flashing.

And the best of all:
*But I'm a straight, white, conservative, Christian, male, creationist, so what do I know?

Obviously these are all flippant to some degree which is why I don't use them. Some are indeed true, but that doesn't make them appropriate. I'm not sure which ones are moddable for any particular forum either. The point is, while we Christians, especially the younger ones, may come up with a good retort or smart-alec line, it isn't necessarily a good idea to use it. We should never back down from proclaiming Christ or living like Him. Keep these verses in mind to see how we should conduct ourselves.

Remember Proverbs 1:22

“How long, you simpletons, will you insist on being simpleminded? How long will you mockers relish your mocking? How long will you fools hate knowledge?

We shouldn't mock others or else we become the ones unwise.

Proverbs 11:12

It is foolish to belittle one’s neighbor; a sensible person keeps quiet.

Rather, we should show our wisdom found in Christ and uplift those who are lost:

Colossians 1:28

So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ.

It's hard to imitate Christ if we get caught up in petty arguments, online or not. It becomes even worse if we give such a bad first impression that others see us as the bad stereotypes of Christians! Further, to act so ungodly is not only sinful but perpetuates the "hypocrite" canard often used by non-believers.

Sharing the faith is our job. Thus professionality is of the utmost importance to properly show Christ-like love and wisdom. How can we be role models if we are too busy giving the enemy ground through immaturity? Who better a role model than Christ Jesus? I pray that this short entry is helpful. God bless, reader.