In these days, "Jesus" is often used as a swear word. Some people in this world, in fact, are more familiar with "Jesus" being a swear word than the name of one Person of the Christian Trinity.
This page is about the Person, not the swearing. I came to the conclusion that this topic is necessary for the following reasons:
- To aid in showing that the doctrine taught by Westboro Baptist Church is incorrect and does not represent any other Christian sect (or even represents other Baptists)
- To give the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who may have never heard of Him (or enough of Him), yet somehow find this blog in the vast ocean of information known as the internet. I know those people come here, unless Google Analytics is lying to me.
I cannot cover everything in such a simple page. Apologetics is a wonderful thing, but explaining everything takes up way too much space for a blog page. However, I am aware that some of you might not have been exposed to Christianity before, and therefore I will try to explain it in the simplest way I can.
But, before we can start with the good news (as that is what "gospel" means), we must start with the bad. Otherwise, the good news has no value.
It is amazing how terrible people can be. Adolf Hitler killed 6 million Jews, claiming that they were an inferior race. Josef Stalin, once a communist dictator of the Soviet Union, killed even more of his own people. American corporations outsource solely for profit, leaving the former workers unemployed. Evidence suggests that Congressmen were bribed to support the Stop Online Piracy Act.
Almost all of us can agree that such people are terrible and should be punished. Watch out, because you aren't entirely free of guilt yourself?
Was there a time you lied to your parents? Or stole something from the supermarket? Or got into a fight with your brother or sister? Or was dishonorable to your parents? If so, you are guilty of breaking the law yourself--except this law is a much higher standard: God's standard.
Many religions offer some way to pay for sin, or something like it. Muslims believe that if your good works exceed your bad, Allah will accept you into his paradise. Hindus believe in a karma system--good works get you good karma, and bad works get you bad karma. You reincarnate when you die, and who or what you reincarnate as depends on what you were in your previous life and how good your karma was overall. Buddhists also believe in a karma system of their own, and that men should observe the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.
All believers of these religions have failed to realize how dire sin is. If you have fallen short of the standard of a holy God, you have fallen short of the standard of a holy God. Period. If you can atone for burning an orphanage by building another orphanage, your god is nowhere near the northern end of the moral compass. A holy gold couldn't even look on sin.
Because we cannot pay for our sins, and because a holy god demands payment for our sins, there is nothing left but for us to be punished, unless someone as holy as God pays for our sins.
And someone as holy as God did pay for our sins.
But sin had to be paid for. Man couldn't just be elevated to God's level. God couldn't just take away man's free will and force him to obey. How, then, could the sins of mankind be paid for? God Himself would have to pay the price--only holy blood could wash away something less than holy.
There are three persons that make up the Christian God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. They are distinct persons, and yet make up the same essence we call God. The equation is not 1+1+1 = 3, it is 1 x 1 x 1 = 1.
So God the Son (not of natural conception, but in the Father's likeness) took upon Himself the name Jesus Christ, and took upon Him the form of a man with no sin. He lived a perfect life--a perfect example to the rest of mankind. Wicked men hated him and sought to kill him. Eventually, they did. But that was His plan all along--to pay the price for our sins by offering himself a sacrifice.
Some cultures are disgusted by sacrifices. If you come from such a culture, I beseech you to listen to me: there is no other way to pay for your sins. Please look beyond your cultural boundaries and see the truth. Jesus died for your sins because he loved you so much that he wanted to save you from your sins.
There is a hell. There is also heaven--God's own city. You can only go to one or the other when you die.
Because Jesus died on the cross, God can offer salvation from our sins. Salvation is a gift to all men. Anyone can have the gift, provided that they believe what I have just told you and accept it by repenting of their sins and placing their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.
But, before we can start with the good news (as that is what "gospel" means), we must start with the bad. Otherwise, the good news has no value.
All Men Have Sinned
It is amazing how terrible people can be. Adolf Hitler killed 6 million Jews, claiming that they were an inferior race. Josef Stalin, once a communist dictator of the Soviet Union, killed even more of his own people. American corporations outsource solely for profit, leaving the former workers unemployed. Evidence suggests that Congressmen were bribed to support the Stop Online Piracy Act.
Almost all of us can agree that such people are terrible and should be punished. Watch out, because you aren't entirely free of guilt yourself?
Was there a time you lied to your parents? Or stole something from the supermarket? Or got into a fight with your brother or sister? Or was dishonorable to your parents? If so, you are guilty of breaking the law yourself--except this law is a much higher standard: God's standard.
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God..."Sin literally means "to miss the mark". He who misses the mark has failed to live a perfect life with men and God. None of us are perfect. Therefore, all of us are sinners.
--Romans 3:23
Sin Must be Paid For
Many religions offer some way to pay for sin, or something like it. Muslims believe that if your good works exceed your bad, Allah will accept you into his paradise. Hindus believe in a karma system--good works get you good karma, and bad works get you bad karma. You reincarnate when you die, and who or what you reincarnate as depends on what you were in your previous life and how good your karma was overall. Buddhists also believe in a karma system of their own, and that men should observe the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.
All believers of these religions have failed to realize how dire sin is. If you have fallen short of the standard of a holy God, you have fallen short of the standard of a holy God. Period. If you can atone for burning an orphanage by building another orphanage, your god is nowhere near the northern end of the moral compass. A holy gold couldn't even look on sin.
Because we cannot pay for our sins, and because a holy god demands payment for our sins, there is nothing left but for us to be punished, unless someone as holy as God pays for our sins.
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity...
--Habakkuk 1:13
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
--Revelation 21:8
Thus, God offered Himself
And someone as holy as God did pay for our sins.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.Even though everyone has sinned against an all-holy God, God loved them so much that he did not want them to be punished for their sins. Their sins offended Him greatly... but the thought of His creation going to the sample terrible place that rebellious, wicked angels who had turned against Him were going offended Him more.
--John 3:16, 17
But sin had to be paid for. Man couldn't just be elevated to God's level. God couldn't just take away man's free will and force him to obey. How, then, could the sins of mankind be paid for? God Himself would have to pay the price--only holy blood could wash away something less than holy.
There are three persons that make up the Christian God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. They are distinct persons, and yet make up the same essence we call God. The equation is not 1+1+1 = 3, it is 1 x 1 x 1 = 1.
So God the Son (not of natural conception, but in the Father's likeness) took upon Himself the name Jesus Christ, and took upon Him the form of a man with no sin. He lived a perfect life--a perfect example to the rest of mankind. Wicked men hated him and sought to kill him. Eventually, they did. But that was His plan all along--to pay the price for our sins by offering himself a sacrifice.
Some cultures are disgusted by sacrifices. If you come from such a culture, I beseech you to listen to me: there is no other way to pay for your sins. Please look beyond your cultural boundaries and see the truth. Jesus died for your sins because he loved you so much that he wanted to save you from your sins.
Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
--The prophecy in Isaiah 53, written hundreds of years before Christ
But, because he is God, Jesus Christ did not need to suffer in Hell forever. He has power over death itself. On the third day after his death, Jesus rose from the very tomb he had been buried in. No religious leader ever claimed to be able to rise himself from the dead.
What You Must Do
Because Jesus died on the cross, God can offer salvation from our sins. Salvation is a gift to all men. Anyone can have the gift, provided that they believe what I have just told you and accept it by repenting of their sins and placing their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
--Romans 10:9-13
It is the right of every person to believe or disbelieve. God will never force a man to worship Him, because forced worship isn't true worship. Nonetheless, I beseech you--God wants to give you that gift. Call upon God to save while there is still time. You can't make a worse mistake than to reject such a great gift from such a great God, regardless of your circumstances. Death could come at any moment.
...As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die...
--Ezekiel 33:11
