Having studied philosophy and religion – all of that “stuff” – I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly that has come as a result of men’s thinking through the centuries. Academia has introduced to us the term “extremism” and the phrase “hijacked religion.” Is a so-called hijacked religion then not to be believed to be an actual religion? That is absurd.
But we could call Liberalism as it is applied to Christianity a hijack of religion. Liberalism removed the concept of personal salvation from Christian understanding and tried to make of Christianity a human effort to create a better world. Highlighted as the ultra important of Christian thought, Liberalism adopted the theme of the Sermon on the Mount and negated the theme wrapped in the Lord’s words: “For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish but hath everlasting life.”
Where is John 3:16 in the Liberal’s Christianity? Where is “For by grace are you saved by faith, and not by works, lest any man should boast!” Really, what place does the Savior have in the Liberal’s view?
Love and help for the poor has faired poorly because help was never intended Biblically to do less than jump-start people or leave them as poorly educated and poorly prepared to enter the workforce. Historic Christianity has always been best represented by hymns like “Amazing Grace” where personal improvement happened in lives that were touched by the Holy Spirit.
Real Christianity is exceptional because the God of all new beginnings came into the world on our behalf; to “Save our lives from destruction and to crown our lives with loving-kindness.” (Psalm 103)
Christians are encouraged – advised – to share to everyone the “Good News” that the only real God offers “Tender mercy” to us. We have all sinned and mercy or judgment are the only to answers. Christians are advised to share this Gospel of mercy offered, and to teach that God also offers all of us His “Loving-kindness.”
Education on religious matter has evolved slowly. Semantically words have been arranged by intellectuals and taught our children so they are now forbidden to think critically and to believe that all religion is good when it is not.
Not long ago, as secularism became embedded in public education, religion was debunked – and Biblical thought included – as ignorant superstition. But the religious feeling common to most people in all of history made the intellectual elite back off. So they went another route. Now without any critical examination; no comparisons or contrasting of the differences of ideas held in religious cultures; students were told the ideal of brotherhood is “fixed” in all religions and that all religions are focused on the same god.
Of course, the Bible reads rather, that there are false religions, false prophets, and that their gods are not gods at all. Jesus spent a great deal of time telling Jewish teachers that they were wrong, that they did not understand their own scripture: He called them among other things, hypocrites.
Not all religions teach about a merciful God. In fact none teach are about the One God who gave His Son whose death made it possible to ransom our lives and save us from the justice we deserve.
Terrorism has been a part of religion throughout history.
Terrorism is co-ersion; but so is playing around with the minds of our children. We must retain the right to teach the Gospel of God. That such teaching is exclusively the Christians message, was of Jesus himself, was of the Gospel writers is fact.
Why would any clear thinking person object to our saying that the Gospel of God offers forgiveness of our sins and a new infusion of God’s goodness into our being? This is the salvation message of both the Old and New Testaments. Actually, the greatest attempted hijack of religion ever in history was the Liberalism movement that raged against real Christianity in the 17th to 20th centuries and that traded the personal salvation message for a secular progressive philosophy that cannot work.
The Bible teaches and our personal life journeys tell us it is so, that sin has marred us, brought us close to ruin. Against this real life dilemma, those who care because they have experienced God’s amazing grace, share one-on-one that God will lift us from that lost condition if we will receive the only Savior anyone has ever mentioned. Jesus saves, we shout and proclaim, because we found it to be true. And it keeps on proving itself true: the Gospel of the God of the Bible is true.
Poor thinking has it that that there must be another way, because no one else speaks like the man who has been born again. And no one boasts of any one else, that He came into, upon, over, and through their very being. The Bible calls this “A cloud of witnesses.” Only deliberate foolishness or worse should keep a person from wanting to meet the Savior.
“My God is Great: My God is Mighty: There’s nothing that my God can’t do.” That is what we taught when my grandchildren attended our church. Our God is All – Mighty. There is none other. He is Savior. He rests His justice on offered mercy else we would all be condemned. Religion can’t save us: God has; but we must seek His salvation for we are already too far spent: we have all sinned.
Can we imagine a bank robber arguing that the little lady he helped across the street balanced the books concerning the charges rightfully levied against him? He robbed the bank; but he helped a little old lady. Should we pat him on the back, tell him it was very kind to help someone and ignore the other issue? He robbed the bank and he must pay.
Religion is that irrelevant and worse. We crime doers need the bank robbing potential removed. We could never be fit for the next life without God’s remedy for our sin potential. And we would pollute the next life the same as this life. Christian salvation does and is the answer. The Maker re-makes hard hearts to soft.
Actually, our sinning should bring us to repentance – as we see the hurt our sinning causes others as well as ourselves. God created us with a conscience. It is tender. It can be corrupted. We can harden our own hearts. But God orchestrated life such that we can be reached: guilt persuades us to turn to Him. With false pride we ignore the obvious need. We can turn our hearts away from the only real cure. The Gospel message is so exceptional that it stands out as a beacon of hope.
No religion ever conceived by man came up with the idea of a Ransom. No Person except Jesus of Nazareth made such claims about His own life. No Person except Him died so amazingly in control. None ever spoke like Him. None other ever defeated death. None other has been called “Master,” “Savior,” “Lord God,” a Friend to sinners. He did not shun the sinner, He came to them offering them deliverance and a new life.
Oh how marvelous, How wonderful – and the prophet wrote that His name would be Wonderful, Mighty God, the Son that was given – the child who was born of a virgin. Exceptional! What none ever has said or done. Amazing! Amazing Love! And that the real God Is, as Jesus taught, Love: amazing, a great relief that He will side with me, that it is HE who says, “Neither do I accuse you.”
Why should there not be good news? How can we remain thinking that the secular progressive intellectual elite are on the right path? The rulers over men’s thoughts won’t let us reason over and compare religious differences. They say exceptionalism is the problem but we know that the real God is quite exceptional.
Experiencing God’s mercy is not religious. Christianity was birthed on believing, not on “beliefs.” Soon after the resurrection of Jesus, hearers but not see-errs of Jesus, “Searched the scriptures to see if. . .” what the Apostles preached was so. They searched the same scriptures that Jesus used to argue against the teachers of His day. That scripture may be read by us today.
And we, like Jesus, will have some of those in authority telling us “it ain’t so,” that we can’t read the Bible plainly, that we need their special de-coding skills to actually learn the truth. Those teachers fell by the wayside – because they taught nothing exceptional.
The Jews led by them have gone from one earthen hell to the next. But the world was turned right-side-up by those who by experienced God’s salvation through His Son; who did learn from God’s word, who did preserve that word for us.
Today, any literate person can read the Bible, pray to God, and be found by Him. Those who cannot read can filter through television channels and find Joseph Prince, or David Jeremiah, or the Billy Graham classic: the Holy Spirit has never changed and will reach every sincere ear or eye.
Don’t argue. Do offer. We are continuously surprised by the many who are helped by the God who has shown Himself as our Friend. Our God is as the real God ought to be. He is there to lift us up, not to put us down. He is there with everlasting mercy, tender mercy – loving kindness.
Exceptional, Almighty. Omnipotent: God only wise. He is ours and we can be His. Why would anyone believe in a religion whose god is not exceptional?
Buddy
