Monday, March 28, 2016
489 - Especially That Part
Spirituality Column #489
March 29, 2016
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
I read the Bible and believe it.
I’ve developed a relationship with Christ and know it.
Truth exists and I tell it.
Most folks I run into Sundays at church, and thankfully many more through the week – sinners, all of us – would cop the same plea: we get it, we know it, we tell it. And we pray to be better at spreading the word, telling the story, forgiving our enemies, loving our neighbors, changing the world, honoring Christ and glorifying God.
These are the simple truths of a life with Jesus.
Lots and lots of folks dispute, dismiss or detest the Christian life basics of scriptural belief, divine relationship and exclusive, objective, Godly truth. Modern secular inquiry sounds less like civil curiosity, “Why do you believe it?” and more like, “You must be an idiot to believe it!” Not, “How do you know it?” but, “You can’t prove it!” Not, “What is truth?” but a growling, hysterical, “That’s just your opinion!”
Society, academia, news media, the entertainment industry, political entities, unbelieving friends and relatives all may afford occasional lip service to Jesus, scripture, the church, and Christian faith. Yet society-wide acceptance of unchanging truth before God is absent. Instead we hear, “I don’t need church, or the Bible, or these myths about Jesus. I’ll do it my own way, thank you. I’m a good person and I’ll be just fine without messing it up with ‘religion.’ Don’t judge me. Don’t tell me what to do. Don’t think there is only one truth.”
I think that covers roughly half of what I see regularly on Facebook.
Actual “Christian life” truth requires a generally unwelcome and potentially destabilizing break with today’s post-modern intellectual status quo. And I’m continually struck by how many Christian antagonists nonetheless expect Christian things – the perks – like blessings now and heaven later.
Christian heaven is certainly attractive; nothing else is remotely like it. Read about it in the Bible and you will likely understand it less but believe it more. Honestly, I’ve no concrete idea what heaven will be, but I do know it will be about God’s glory, not mine. I also know that everyone has a shot at heaven – “…whoever believes in him shall not perish… (John 3:16) – and that there is only one way in – “…no one comes to the Father except through me…” (John 14:6). “Him” and “me,” by the way, are Jesus.
Folks challenge every bit of the Bible, and I believe every bit of it.
“Even the part about Jesus dying and coming back to life?” they mock.
“Especially that part,” I assert.
Why else would the rest of it matter?
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) worries less about specifics and more about truth.
March 29, 2016
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
Especially That Part
By Bob WaltersI read the Bible and believe it.
I’ve developed a relationship with Christ and know it.
Truth exists and I tell it.
Most folks I run into Sundays at church, and thankfully many more through the week – sinners, all of us – would cop the same plea: we get it, we know it, we tell it. And we pray to be better at spreading the word, telling the story, forgiving our enemies, loving our neighbors, changing the world, honoring Christ and glorifying God.
These are the simple truths of a life with Jesus.
Lots and lots of folks dispute, dismiss or detest the Christian life basics of scriptural belief, divine relationship and exclusive, objective, Godly truth. Modern secular inquiry sounds less like civil curiosity, “Why do you believe it?” and more like, “You must be an idiot to believe it!” Not, “How do you know it?” but, “You can’t prove it!” Not, “What is truth?” but a growling, hysterical, “That’s just your opinion!”
Society, academia, news media, the entertainment industry, political entities, unbelieving friends and relatives all may afford occasional lip service to Jesus, scripture, the church, and Christian faith. Yet society-wide acceptance of unchanging truth before God is absent. Instead we hear, “I don’t need church, or the Bible, or these myths about Jesus. I’ll do it my own way, thank you. I’m a good person and I’ll be just fine without messing it up with ‘religion.’ Don’t judge me. Don’t tell me what to do. Don’t think there is only one truth.”
I think that covers roughly half of what I see regularly on Facebook.
Actual “Christian life” truth requires a generally unwelcome and potentially destabilizing break with today’s post-modern intellectual status quo. And I’m continually struck by how many Christian antagonists nonetheless expect Christian things – the perks – like blessings now and heaven later.
Christian heaven is certainly attractive; nothing else is remotely like it. Read about it in the Bible and you will likely understand it less but believe it more. Honestly, I’ve no concrete idea what heaven will be, but I do know it will be about God’s glory, not mine. I also know that everyone has a shot at heaven – “…whoever believes in him shall not perish… (John 3:16) – and that there is only one way in – “…no one comes to the Father except through me…” (John 14:6). “Him” and “me,” by the way, are Jesus.
Folks challenge every bit of the Bible, and I believe every bit of it.
“Even the part about Jesus dying and coming back to life?” they mock.
“Especially that part,” I assert.
Why else would the rest of it matter?
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) worries less about specifics and more about truth.
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