Chapter 7. Why Have a Christian World View?

I'm a Christian because God told me (personally) that Christianity is the truth. Some might say, "Them's fightin' words!" I truly don't mean them to be. I weighed a bunch of things before I committed to Christianity. I loved the miracles He performed like multiplying the loaves and fishes, changing the water into wine, the healings, and the raising of the dead…

Joh 10:37 If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me.
Joh 10:38 But if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works so that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him. (MKJV)

I am a fanatic about Jesus' teachings as well. Christianity is not an easy religion and much must be taken on faith (until God has a chance to confirm the truth in your heart).

Joh 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me. (MKJV)

Of course, this world is filled with lots of people's points of view. And many other people throughout time have claimed to be very enlightened and even presented fine, humanitarian teachings (teachings that say we must love each other.) We, however, are all opinionated. This ability to make our own decisions came from Adam and Eve who deliberately rebelled against God and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, tainting their ancestors (us) at that point with the original sin of rebellion and the ability to know good and evil (judging).

God only sent One to help us all. He didn't send Buddha, He didn't send the prophet Mohammedan, He didn't send Confucius, He didn't send Mary Baker Eddy, He didn't even send Billy Graham, He didn't send Ghandi, and He didn't send Mother Teresa, nor did He send the Beatles. He sent Jesus Christ only. Everyone else, EVERYONE else, might have fine opinions and even some valid points (especially when they promote Jesus), but no one else gave His life for us…or on a more personal level, gave His life for my life and gave His life for your life. This is an extremely unique situation. Please consider this: No where else in human history does someone give their life in place of ours and then is raised from the dead. Forty days later He finally ascends into heaven where He takes His seat right next to God. By the way, people who reject the notion that Christianity is the only path, yet perceive Jesus as a good man, teacher, and even a prophet, are apparently unaware that it was Jesus Himself who said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (Emphasis mine).

I have been a New Ager. I understand metaphysics, channeling, fortune telling, meditation, and lots of other tricks of the trade. Nothing measures up to Jesus. Nothing. There is something that Christianity asks of us that many other belief systems simply can't (or won't) ask of us. It asks us for complete submission to God. Christianity also says we must be willing to give our lives for Jesus and be willing to love those whom, right now, we may not even like.

The Old Testament points to the coming of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. The New Testament tells the story of Jesus (through the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as well as Acts, and then tells the inspiring story of the early church through the letters of Paul and other early church leaders). This Authority, who proved His divine heritage by His death and resurrection, said He is the only way. He didn't tell us this, during His brief stay on earth, so that we would fight each other until one side or the other was proved right. He came AS THE AUTHORITY and told us what truth was. We all simply must follow Him based on Who it was that was here with us, the Son of God—and has promised to be with us until the end of the age.

There is another reason, besides simply opinion, why many do not choose to be a Christian. Many do not know how to categorize the crucifixion in their minds. They are unable to grasp it with their intellect. It is beyond them why someone would have to go through submission to one of the cruelest deaths the world has ever invented, for all of us. Let me simplify it for you:

God required it and He did it. Period. It took bloodshed to cover the sin and resulting sense of nakedness of Adam and Eve. (Where do you think God got those skins? How do you think God felt to have to kill one of his own precious creations? Why do you think He then received blood sacrifices? Because He wanted us to see the horrible cost of sin in a real graphic way.) It took bloodshed to redeem the earth from that sin. Now don't forget it! This is why you want to be a Christian. Jesus died for us. Before He died He taught radical love. He taught that we should not strive to save our lives, but willingly give them up, for Him. He taught that we should bear our crosses and follow Him. He asks us to love our God with all our hearts, souls, and strength and our neighbors as ourselves. Is there anything more challenging that we could do on this planet? Is there anything more worthwhile?

Once again, a very important reason people hate Christianity is it teaches a philosophy of submission—but not just submission to God; submission to the attack of others in this carnal world. Submission and a non-violent approach are initially detestable to your rebellious human nature. Turning the other cheek seems ludicrous. Pointless. We have so much to protect, and yet our meager lives here do not amount to a hill of beans, when it comes to eternity with the Lord. We must give up our small lives (die to self) everyday in order to obtain God's abundant life. We so often do not recognize the gift God sends us, in the form of our enemies (whether they are across the street or across the sea). We are not to fight people, we are to love them, we are to pray for them, we are to lift them up that they, along with us, might know the Lord and have His light bursting forth in their minds and hearts, too.

Truthfully, our lives don't make any sense here on this carnally influenced planet. We live for less than a wink of an eye before we are thrust into our permanent homes for eternity. I would like to live in heaven with Jesus, so I choose to follow Him and accept Him as my Lord and Savior. I do not want to dwell in hell. That would be ridiculously foolish and highly undesirable, to put it mildly, since it is described as a place of unquenchable fire, torment, weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Drop all that you have figured out by yourself (or with your parent's, guardian's or college professor's help) and just drop on your knees and accept for now what doesn't exactly make sense—Jesus Christ. Submit all to Him and let His Holy Spirit create your prayers and draw you closer to Jesus, showing you His reality as opposed to the world's reality. Let go of your stuff and grasp on to Jesus. Just do it. He will do the rest to make Himself known to you.

If we all did exactly that, there would be no more controversy regarding "religion" any longer. Jesus would be accepted and the entire world could celebrate the same birthday (Christmas), the same death and resurrection (Easter) and the same submission of all our burdens to Him. Wouldn't that be wonderful? But wait, something else is wrong. What is it? Oh, there are many people who find religion insulting to their intelligence. What can we offer them?

If that is you, please come down a peg or two. Stop trying to make it solely on your own. Stop trying to make sense out of this world of appearances. God is real. Your very life was created by Him. Accept, at least, that you didn't create yourself. Nor are you solely the result of the love of your parents. You were created by God and given an opportunity to accept Him in this world and this is the moment you can do this. Beyond what makes sense to you, beyond all the ducks you have placed in perfect order in your life, beyond all the intellectuals you read and value so highly, there is a man on a cross, who died for you. He would die for you alone, even if you were the last person on this planet. He loves you so much, He was willing to do this for you. Accept Him as your Savior, now. If the wisdom of men could save a single soul, why is this world in such a mess? It's our pride that makes us think we are so wise. The greatest of man's wisdom fails to prove itself. Science cannot create a single thing without using something that God already made.

Now we've got work to do. We've got to get completely behind Jesus. All of us here on this planet. Because there is no other way to the Father. Let's pray that everyone in the world bows down to Him in this life, before it is too late. And let us show them the love Jesus showed us. The Holy Spirit will take it from there and show them Jesus, as He truly is.

If we did this, newspapers, radio, television, the music industry, the movie industry—everyone could stop avoiding the truth and start living it openly. Persecution of Christians would end. We'd no longer have the oppressive dictates that we must be tolerant of each other's belief systems—forbidden to present ANY Bible-based belief system at all (odd, isn't it, that another religion, the religion of humanism—IS allowed to be taught throughout the secular world and in the schools). We are all Prodigal children and God wants us back! Jesus is the only way. We must all fall to our knees and claim Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We must all be Christians, now! Beloved, it is not the will of the Father that ANY should perish, but that all should be saved through the blood of Christ, shed on the cross. Sadly, however, the Word tells us that many will not humble themselves, repent and be saved. And this earth will have to be destroyed. What a shame that the salvation of every soul is one aspect of God's will that He has had to lay down, for the sake of allowing man to have his own free will.

My wife and I have a ministry today—God has supplied us with an angle, if you will. We are to emphasize the teaching of Jesus' commands, while He dwelled on this earth. (If we had the chance to share our message on TV, and it was the Lord's will, we would be thankful for an opportunity to spread Christ's teachings, even though we generally dislike the medium). He has given us a message for the lost and the Church to live out His Gospel and follow Him. Our ministry and calling is exciting to us. Yet we often find that being a true disciple of Jesus is somehow relegated to a very low position on everyone's "To Do" list. The bottom line is simply that after we've accepted our Lord and Savior into our hearts, and recognized the blood He shed for us removes our sins, we need to walk His walk and not just talk His talk. Our behavior needs to reflect Christ. We need to choose to actually love our enemies, as Jesus commanded us to do. There are many people who claim to love the Lord, but Jesus said, "If you love me, follow my commands." Therefore, there is a condition to our love of Jesus. We must follow His commands. Period. He also said if we don't love Him, don't follow His commands. We are puzzled by the many who say they love Him, yet they don't follow His commands. "Commands" don't mean "suggestions."

Jesus wouldn't have told us to follow Him and change our behavior if it weren't required that we do this. If we DID follow Him and changed our incorrect belief systems conforming to His, we could have prayer in school, we could have theatrical releases with plots that told stories of the power of prayer, we could have books that encouraged us to forgive each other, and all radio stations would play music that sang of the glory of God. There would be no secular radio or TV. All of us would be Christian—because Jesus said He was the way, the truth and the life and based on His authority and miracles and His completely unique death and resurrection, we, at last would all be on the same page.

Unfortunately, very few will recognize God's visitation on earth as being important. Though it is unsettling to think of changing our belief systems, keep in mind we aren't born with a belief system; they aren't genetic or embedded in our DNA, however I believe God DID place a spiritual hunger in us that compels us to seek Him. Belief systems are chosen--and they can be unchosen, and replaced with the one that reflects Jesus' miraculous birth, His completely unselfish death on a cross for our sins, His resurrection from the grave and, finally, His ascension into heaven. Add into the mix that, while on earth, Jesus taught a completely compassionate, caring and forgiving way of life, and we can safely come to the conclusion that there is no other way to the Kingdom of God. He really is The Way, as the early Christians used to say.

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