OPEN DIALOGUE:

My Friend Jeff wrote this recently in response to some relevant questions many people are asking today about Christianity:

"I am not an advocate of saying that Christianity has to be closely connected to politics. I was simply answering the question posted. For all I care, any religion can be closely connected to politics. This country wasn't founded on freedom of religion, but that's a different conversation. As for me, I am a Christian and that means that I believe in the Bible (God's Word) to be inspired by God. That means I believe it is infallible. God's Word, (not my word) says that it is only by the name of Jesus that any of us can come to the Father and have eternal with Him (John 14:6).

This is hard for any one to believe that doesn't have faith in God. No one likes to be told that there is only one way to anything, but it doesn't change the laws of God...and by the way, He is a good, loving, compassionate, and merciful God...not oppressive. I wouldn't want to be under the oppressive rule of the Church of England either. Man might have made Christianity oppressive, but then God's Word would say that people who have done that aren't Christians. 1 John 2:4 says: "Whoever says 'I know Him' but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in Him." People have come in the name of Christianity or in the name of Jesus and have done things that God HATES, and everyone sees what they have done and says, "Well, there you go, that's what Christians are like." But, if you took time to study the Bible, you would see that it is the farthest things from being oppressive...but it does say that: "At the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" Phillipians 2:10-11. This is oppressive to people who claim that they don't need anyone to be righteous, and to people who think they've got it all figured out.


If you believe that you can attain righteousness on your own, then this message will be foolish to you. But if you understand the inherent nature of man, you would say that we, on our own cannot make ourselves righteous. This is where The Bible says we must die to ourselves, give up our desires, and ask Jesus to come in to our lives and cleanse us from our filth. Then and only then can one experience any kind of enlightenment with God. Jesus, being perfect in nature, died on the cross to pay the price for our sin, then conquered death by raising up from the grave, and then ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father. that is why we can call on the name of Jesus and be saved from the consequences of our sin nature, which is the wrath of God. Because Jesus interceded for us, we can come before the Father and have fellowship with Him, and have true life with Him here in this life and after. We deserve death because of our sin, but Jesus took our place and offered to all who call on His name, perfect fellowship with God in eternity. That's not an oppressive message.


I submit to you, if you feel that Christianity is oppressive, then you have not seen a true Christian. The 2 greatest commandments that Jesus gave us were: Love God and love people! (Matthew 22:37-40)...and loving people isn't always giving them what we want. I love my son, but he's 5 years old and he wants to play with a chain saw. I will not let that happen because I love him. If he gets his hands on a chain saw he could destroy a lot of things, and possibly kill himself or others. In the same way, God loves us and wants us to live in truth so he has set boundaries around good things and bad things. As man, we have challenged God's boundaries and have reaped destruction upon ourselves and others.


God does not change, but we continue to think we can do what we want, believe in what we want and still get to the place we want to. 2+2=4. God says that there is only one way to Him, and we challenge that and say "that's not true". It's like telling your math teacher that 2+2=5. Your teacher will say no it doesn't. Know matter how much you protest or argue, then answer is still 4. If you answer 5 on the test, you will get it wrong. It is the same with God. The only way to eternal life with Him is through Jesus. If that's oppressive to you, then I pray that you wouldn't be offended, only encouraged to find out what really is true. God promises to reveal truth to all who truly desire to find it!" Shalom, Jeff