Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
Listen to the talk by Bishop Michael Baughen on "Meaning Business with God".
|
|
Check out the book by Nicky Gumbell from HTB "Is God a Delusion?: What is the Evidence? and listen to the talks in this series "Has Science Disproved God?", "Does Religion Do More Harm than Good?" and "Is Faith Irrational?" |
This page contains a range of typical questions that are sometimes asked about our christian faith, including:-
Did Jesus Really Exist?
Is there a Heaven or Hell?
Who made God?
Is Jesus God?
How can I believe something I cannot see?
Did Jesus really exist?
How do you explain the Resurrection?
Has science disproved God?
Is the Bible True?
Isn't the Bible full of errors and contradictions?
Why does God allow suffering?
What about other Religions?
Isn't christianity just a crutch?
Won't a good life do?
What about all the hypocrites in the church?
Your Spiritual Journey - If you want to find out more about knowing Jesus.
The following text is mainly taken from the book "A-Z of Evangelism" by Steve Legg, the chapter entitled "Questions", copied by kind permission of the Breakout Trust. Text in brown has been added and is not part of the book.
top of page
Did Jesus Really Exist?
Barry Norman, the film critic, made a profound statement when he was reviewing a movie about the life of Christ:
"Very few people could have as magnetic a personnality as Christ, and no actor has that. You will always know you are looking at an actor pretending to be someone infinately greater than he is.... The whole point about Christ, if you believe in Christ, is that Christ is divine, not that he was a jolly good chap."
We know that Jesus lived. He was a man of history as well as a man for today. Tacitus, perhaps the greatest Roman historian, born in the 1st century, speaks of Jesus. Josephus, a Jewish historian, tells of the crucifiction of Jesus. A contemporary Bible scholar said that "the latest Encyclopaedia Britannica uses 20,000 words in describing this person, Jesus. His description took more space than was given to Aristotle, Cicero, Alexander, Julius Caesar, Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed or Napoleon Bonaparte".
Jesus was certainly something special. Lets look at just some of the evidence for his existence from different sources.
Jewish Historians
The most famous of these is Josephus who was born around AD37 in Jerusalem. He devoted a large part of his life to writing numerous books about the history of the Jews. One of these said:
Now there was about this time Jesus a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men received the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him many Jews and also many Gentiles. This man was the Christ. And when Pilot had comdemned him tothe cross, those who had loved him from the first did not foresake him for he appeared to them alive on the third day, the divine prophets having spoken these and a thousand other wonderful things about him. And even now, the race of Christians, so named from him, has not died out (Antiquities of the Jews, XVIII)
Pagan Writers
These unbelieving authors write about Jesus too. Tacitus, a Roman historian, for example, in AD112 writes about the reign of the Emperor Nero and refers to Jesus and the Christians in Rome (Annals, XV,44). Soon after this Pliny the Younger, once described as one of the world's greatest letter writers, penned an interesting letter about Christianity to the Emperor Trajan. In it he mentions the early Christians singing hymns, worshipping Jesus as God, and pledging themselves not to do wicked things but instead to live moral lives. This is what he said:
"They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light when they sand in alternate verses a hymn about Christ, as to a God, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to do wicked deeds, never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor dent a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up.".
The Bible
Many would automatically discount the Bible as a form of reliable evidence because of it's bias towards the Christian faith, or because it maybe has been added to or exaggerated over the years - almost like a version of "Chinese whispers". But it is not so. Researchers in Israel, after subjecting the first 5 books of the Bible to exhaustive computer analysis came to a different conclusion than even they had initially expected. Sceptics had long assumed the Torah (the first 5 books of the Bible) to have been the work of multiple authors, and not as Christians had always believed the work of one man, Moses.
But Scripture scholar Moshe Katz and computer expert Manachem Weiner of the Israel Institute of Technology discovered an intricate pattern of significant words in the books, spelled by letters separated at fixed intervals. The statistical probabilities of such patterns happening by chance would be 1 in 3 million. The material suggests a single, inspired author, in fact it could not have been put together by human capabilities at all. Adds Weiner "So we need a non rational explanation. And ours is that the Torah was written by God through the hand of Moses".
top of page
Who Made God?
When I was at school I always had an image of God as a Father Christmas look alike, with a bushy white beard, growing thin on top and wearing a M&S nightshirt. I don't know what images are conjoured up in your mind. Maybe they are similar, maybe not. But if there is a God in heaven somewhere how on earth did he get there? And for that matter who made him?
The answer's short and sweet. No one! I believe God has always been here and always will be there. In the 18th century the philosopher Jean Jaques Rousseau attempted to describe it like this:
"I know nothing of his having created matter, bodies, spirits or the world. The idea of creation confounds me and surpasses my conception, though I believe as much of it as I am able to conceive. But I know that God has formed the universe and all that exists, in the most consumate order. He is doubtless eternal, but I am incapacitated to conceive of an idea of eternity. All I can conceive is that he existed before all things, that he exists with them and will exist after them, if they should ever have an end."
Now the statement that God has always been there and will always be there might be a bit of a strange concept to get our tiny minds around. After all everything needs to be created. Yes thats certainly true for physical things like the chair I'm sitting on. But the Bible says that God is spititual, not physical. " He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together" (Colossians 1:17)
So it's not outside the realms of possibility to suggest that spiritual beings don't have to obey physical laws, and exist totally outside of these laws. Professor Sir Ghillean Prance who was the director of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew , said "Physical laws came into being because there is a Creator who made them".
I hope this has give part of the answer to this tricky question. Let me leave the last word to Andre Gide, the French Nobel Prize winning author, who said "I cannot tell where God begins still less where he ends. But my belief is better expressed if I say that there is no end to God's beginning".
Other material may be found at Who made God? and Is Jesus God? Read the sermon by John Metcalfe on Jesus - Son of God
top of page
Is Heaven Real?
How do I make sure I go to Heaven?Is Heaven Real? and Is there a Hell
top of page
How can I believe in Something I Cannot See?
Eugene Crenan, one of the American astronaughts who enjoyed the exiting experience of walking on the moon, said with wonder as he looked back at our planet from space: "Our world appears big and beautiful, all blue and white! You can see from the Antarctic to the North Pole. The earth looks so perfect. There are no strings to hold it up, there is no fulcrum upon which it rests". Contemplating the infinity of time and space he said he felt as is he were seeing the earth from God's perspective.
As we have already said of course you can't see God, or for that matter taste, touch or smell Him. But so what? There's electricity for example. You can't see it, though you can see the effect of it when you turn on the light switch. Then there are radio waves - you just know that when you turn on the radio sound will come out. What about microwaves? You can't see those either , but I know that when I put my half eaten vindaloo from the night before into the microwave to heat up, 5 minutes later it's piping hot and goes down a treat.
In the same way, though I cannot physically see God, we can see the effects of God all around us, in the wonders of creation for example. An article Jim Bishop wrote for the Miami Herald says it much better that I could:-
There is no God. All the wonders around us are accidental. No almighty hand made a thousand stars. They made themselves. No power keeps them on their steady course. The earth spins itself to keep the oceans from falling off towards the Sun. Infants teach themselves to cry when they are hungry or hurt. A small flower invented itself so that it could extract digitalis for sick hearts.
The earth gave itself day and night, and tilted itself so that there are seasons. Without the magnetic poles man would be unable to navigate the trackless oceans of water and air, but they grew there. How about the sugar thermostat in the pancreas? It maintains the level of sugar in the blood sufficient for energy. Without it, all of us would fall into a coma and die.
Why does snow sit on mountain tops waiting for the warm sun to melt it at just the right time for th young crops in farms below to drink? A very lovely accident.
The human heart will beat for 70 or 80 years without faltering. How does it get sufficient rest between beats? A kidney will filter poison from the blood, and leave good things alone. How does it know one from another?
Who gave the human tongue flexibility to form words and a brain to understand them, but denied it to animals? Who showed the womb how to take the love of two people and keep splitting the tiny ovum until , in time, a baby would have the proper number if fingers, eyes and ears and hair in the right places, and come into the world when it was strrong enough to sustain life?
Ther is no God??
Enough said.
How do you Explain the Resurrection?
Some years ago, Frank Morison, an American journalist, started to write a book to show that the resurrection never happened. After considerable research he realised that the resurrection really did happen, and he became a Christian. This is what Morison said in the introduction to his book, Who Moved the Stone? -
"This study is in some ways so unusual and provocative that the writer thinks it desirable to state here very briefly how the book came to take its' present form. In one sense it could have taken no other, for it is essentially a confession, the inner story of a man who originally set out to write one kind of book and found himself compelled by the sheer force of circumstances to write another".
When we sit back and think about it logically I've got to admit that the resurrection just seems too impossible for words. But once again, our belief isn't merely based upon a vague religious feeling, but on solid evidence to support it. The resurrection wasn't a 1st century legend; it really did happen. Lets' take a look at some arguments and suggestions as we try to unravel the five possible explanations for what might have happened over that first Easter weekend.
It Was Just a Hallucination
Without getting too technical, a hallucination is the experience of seeing an object or event that is not actually present to the human senses. In other words, seeing something that is not really there. I'm sure some people hallucinate from time to time, but not hundreds in one go. Remember, after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to around 550 people, once to 500 in one go, but hallicinations only ever occur to certain individuals at one time.
I'm sure you can think of the major flaw in this supposed theory anyway. What happened to the body of Jesus? It was most definitely gone, no one ever disputed that. The resurrection was no hallucination.
The Body was Stolen
Some sceptics have sugested that someone stole his body - but who would do such a thing? Certainly not the Jews or the Romans. Within a matter of weeks, all of Jerusalem was awash with rumours that Jesus had come back to life. Revolution was in the air on the basis of Jesus being alive. If the autorities had the body then why didn't they produce it to put an end to the rumours once and for all?
It is nigh on impossible to believe that the disciples had taken it. They were terrified and wer hiding out of the city. And anyway, how on earth did they get past the well trained and disciplined Roman guards? The guards would have faced the death penalty for losing a living prisoner, let alone a dead one! Why would they lie? What was the point? Remember most of the disciples went on to die for their belief that Jesus had come back to life - why die for a lie?
Maybe He Never Died?
Others believe that Jesus fainted on the cross, miraculously revived in the tomb and simply passed himself off as having come back from the dead. Don't forget that crucifiction was a common punishment, it was a slow and terrible form of death. History books tell us that in one day alone 6,000 men were crucified, so it is something that the Romans were very good at. They certainly wouldn't have been sloppy enough to have let Jesus survive, especially as their Governor, Pontious Pilot, had personally ordered his death. Jesus was dead, there was no doubt about that.
Anyway, think about it for a moment. Jesus had been brutally beaten, then endured a Roman scourging. He had been pinned upon a cross for six hours with nailes in his hands and feet. A spear was rammed into his side piercing his heart. His dead body was taken down and wrapped in yards of cloth soaked in spices and fragrances that would have hardened to arounf 34 kilograms. Then 3 days later, he woke up, and managed to move a 1.5 - 2 ton stone in front of a airtight tomb, fight his way past the Roman guard, and then walk miles to appear to his disciples as the conqueror of death. Need I say any more??
It was Just a Legend
This was nofairy story, we've already looked in detail at the evidence for this event from Jewish writers, Roman historians and the Bible itself. There's also overwhelming supporting evidence. Just one example to consider is the Garden Tomb that was discovered in 1885. General Gordon and his team were convinced that this was the place where the body of Jesus had lain. There is a traditional tomb inside the wall of the modern Jerusalem, but no certainty is attached to the site. This GardenTomb, hidden for centuries, was covered by rubbish 20ft high. When they first cleared the site with great caution they gathered all the dust and debris within the tomb and carefully shipped it back to the Scientific Association of Great Britain. Ever part of it was analysed , but there was no trace of human remains. If this is the real tomb of Jesus, then Jesus was the first to be lain there, and the last.
It was a Miracle
The final option we have when we try to make sense of the resurrection is that it really did happen. John Singleton Copley, one of the great minds of British legal history and three times High Chancelor of England, wrote "I know pretty well what evidence is, and I tell you, such evidence as that for the resurrection has never broken down yet".
In the early part of the 20th century, a group of lawyers met in England to discuss the biblical accounts of Jesus's resurrection. They wanted to see if sufficient information was available to make a case that would hold up in an English court of law. When their study was completed, they published the results of their investigations. They concluded that Jesus's resurrection was one of the most well-established facts of history.
Of course we can never prove scientifically that the resurrection happened, but we can most definitely prove the facts of history. When you logically think through the possible alternatives that have been offered, youcan see the major flaws in their arguments. There'sonly one real alternative left, and that i that it actually happened as the Bible suggested. It was a miricle, because if God is God then why shouldn't he be able to do it! And the reason he did it was so that we could know him.
The Miracle of the Resurrection
How do you explain the Resurrection?
How can I Beleive the Miracles of the Bible
Hasn't Science Disproved God?
Start by reading the sermon by James Cooke Evolution or Creation? - Do we have to Choose?
Read the book by scientist Francis Collins "The Language of God"
It is scientifically impossible to prove the existence of God, though I may add that it is scientifically impossible to disprove it too. You just can't put God in a test tube and analyse him in a laboratory. So sorry, I'm afraid ther isn't any concrete proof that God lives.
Having said that, the Bible tells us that God exists. Christians believe that the Bible is much more than just a book; they believe that it is the actual "word of God". Christians also believe that God exists because of Jesus, who was God in human form. The Bible says "The Word (Jesus) became human and lived here on earth among us (John 1:14). The author goes on to tell us that "he (Jesus) has told us about him (God)" (John 1:18).
We can look at out world, and human beings, animals, trees and the weather. Surely it couldn't have all happened by accident? Our world bears all the hallmarks of a creator. The human body, for instance, is a masterpiece of incredible design. Beautifully engineered, it is governed by several hundred systems of control - each inreracting with and affecting the other. The brain has 10billion cells to record what a person sees and hears. The skin has more than 2 million tiny sweat glands - about 3 thousand per square inch, all part of the intricate system that keeps the body at even temperature. A "pump" in the chest makes blood travel 168 million miles a day - that's the equivalent of 6,720 times around the world! The lining of the stomach contains 35 million glands secreting juices that aid the process of digestion. And these are just a handful of the incredibly involved processes and chemical wonders that operate just to sustain life.
Science and scripture do not automatically cancel each other out. They simply look at the world from different perspectives which doesn't mean that they necessarily contradict each other. Professor Albert Einstein said this "A legitimate conflict between science and religion cannot exist. Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind".
Science can never prove that God is irrelevant to the universe. If God created it and set it up, as millions of Christians believe, then it is certainly most relevant. Science has never stopped belief in God, and many great scientists, including Einstein, Newton, Boyle, Faraday, Pasteur, Kepler and Copernicus believed in God. Eighty years ago a survey of scientists revealed that 40% believed in God. You might think that with all the scientific breakthroughs and discoveries since that time , this figure may have changed quite dramatically. But an identically worded survey recently recently published by yhe journal "Nature" arrived at an almost identical result - 4 out of 10 scientists still believe in God.
An article in the journal "Science" in 1997 declared "Recent signs point towards a thaw in the ice between science and faith", and in the summer of the following year the respected magazine "Newsweek" in its cover story proclaimed "Science finds God". Back in the UK, one modern British organisation Christians in Science, has members and contacts numbering some 1500, including university staff, scientists in industry and science teachers.
Remember, science asks how questions, Christianity asks why. The crux of the matter is this: the Bible isn't intended to be a science book, instead it's a book about loving God who created people to be his friends. Adam and Eve mucked it up in Genesis so God sent Jesus to make things right, so we could know him again - if we want to.
More information Creation & Evolution - Darwin's Birthday
Is the Bible True?
See also our page on the Bible History
Isn't the Bible full of Errors and Contradictions?
I often get asked this when working in schools. My immediate answer to the questioner is "which errors do you have in mind?" I can honestly say, with my hand on heart, 99 times out of 100, the person cannot think of any. They've heard someone else say that the Bible is full of mistakes, and they've swallowed the misconception hook, line and sinker.
Having said that, I have to admit that sometimes the Bible does appear to contradict itself, though time and time again apparent contradictions have been explained by archaeological discoveries. Dr Nelson Glueck, an outstanding Jewish archaeologist, while writing his book "Rivers in the Desert", made this remarkable statement "No archaelogical discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference". Bear in mind that this incredible statement came from the world's leading archaeologists.
Before we take a look at one such supposed contradiction, let's look at the definition of the word contradiction. It means "a statement of the opposite". For example, if the Bible says (which it doesn't) that Jesus died of strangulation, and that somewhere else he died of crucifiction, then that would be contradiction.
Anyway, onto a supposed contradiction. It concerns the angels who were in the tomb of the crucified Jesus. The 4 Gospel writers seem to report different accounts. Matthew and Mark relate that 1 angel spoke to the women, whilst Luke and John state that 2 angels were at the tomb. At first this would appear to be contradictory. However Matthew and Mark didn't say ther was only one angel at the tomb, but instead that 1 angel spoke to the woman. You see the difference?
It's a little like the other week when I popped down to the Rustington Sports & Social Club with my mates Carl, Scott and Bruno. We had a couple of pints and had a chat with my other friends Arthur, Chris and Andrew. Someone mentioned to my wife that they had seen me and Scott going into the club, then someone else mentioned that they had seen me having a conversation over a pint and a bag of pork scratchings with Arthur. Now of course both these witnesses are telling the truth, but these two accounts of my Sunday night out look completely different. They just come from different witnesses from different perspectives. Both statements, however, are completely true.
Anyway back to the Bible. Although some of the details are different, which you would expect from different eye witnesses, they agree on the important key points that Jesus was dead, buried and rose again. Wilbur Smith, a respected scholar, had this to say about the differences in the resurrection accounts: "In these fundamental truths, there are absolutely no contradictions. The so called variations in narratives are only the details which were most vividly impressed on one's mind or another of the witnesses of out Lord's ressurection, or on the mind on the writers of these four Gospels. The closest, most critical, examination of these narratives throughout the ages has never destroyed and can never destroy theit powerful testimony to the truth that Christ did rise from the dead on the third day, and was seen by many"
More information on the link Isn't the Bible full of errors and contradictions?
Why does God Allow Suffering?
What a tough question! This is one we have to be so careful about answering, so try to delve a little deeper to ask why this question is being asked before you trot off some glib, clever answer. A friend of mine lost his baby son through a tragic cot death a few years ago. He telephoned me in tears, asking "Why?" I couldn't give an answer, all I could do was pray and be a friend. There seemed to be nothing to say.
Surely if God is as great, loving and caring as Christians make out, why did their baby boy die, and why do so many innocent people suffer? The whole suffering question is so hard to answer, and sometimes even impossible. But let me try to give a few of my perspectives on this subject.
First, I'd say if we are really honest, we have to take the blame outselves for most of the suffering in the world. Whenever a child is abused, senior citizen mugged, a person murdered you have to point the finger at a human culprit, not God. The scientist Albert Einstein blamed humankind for the evil of the world "Evil is a problem in the hearts and minds of men. It is not a problem of physics but of ethics. It is easier to denature (change the properties of) plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man".
Even natural disasters seem to be on the increase, as the world seems to be quite literally falling apart. Yet God planned it to be so different. In the beginning he wanted mankind to in friendship with him. Hardship, disease and suffering were not on his agenda. I remember vividly in my teens watching the BBC report from the famine in Etheopia in 1985, and Bob Geldorf's comments as he stood and witnessed for himself the devistation and said "Don't blame God, blame man". For only 200 miles away, in the capital Addis Ababa, vast amounts of money were being spent on renovating the homes of senior government officials. More recently when hurricane Mitch devastated Nicaragua and Honduras, those unfortunate countries received around $5000 a day from the West for hurricane relief, yet had to pay back that same figure almost to the cent, in debt repayments. The suffering adults and children were no better off.
On a daily basis it seems, we turn on our TV's and see people killed in earthquakes and tornados and other horrendous natural disasters. In 1999 an earthquake that lasted just 45 seconds hit Turkey killing 45,000 men, wome, boys & girls. The survivors didn't blame God, they blamed the Turkish Government and they in turn blamed dishonest developers who flaunted building regulations, cut corners and turned buildings into death traps.
Ted Piedenbrock, an eartquake expert and structural engineer, sifted through the rubble in Turkey to find concrete that had bben made with too much water and also mixed with sea shells - a deadly short cut made to increase the profits of cow-boy builders that even the Turkish authorities labelled as "murderous". Piedenbrock told the BBC "It is not very difficult or expensive to design structures that withstand virtually any size of earthquake with thye minimisation of the loss of life. The problem is allowing "cowboy" contractors to continue building." This so called natural disaster was indeed man made!
But what of natural disasters that seen to occur so regularly and bring such pain and hardship? We can read in the book of Genesis how God gave people the freedom to love him, yet they chose to go their own way and do their own thing. The world seemed to go wrong from that moment on. Christians call it the "Fall" ; scientists call it "entropy" (from the 2nd law of Thermodynamics). Put simply, the world is in a tate of decay and that's why earthquakes, typhoons, cyclones, whirlwinds, erupting volcanos and the like cause so much damage today.
I have to say though that God is not detached from suffering, or indifferent to it. God tried to rectify the "fall" by sending his one and only Son, Jesus, into the world to try to tun things around. An anonymous piece called The Long Silence dramatically illustrates how God has experienced suffering himself, and I believe can help us through life's problems and difficulties. Another illustration is the Footprints Poem, which is a wonderous encouragement. God is there for us in the good times and the bad times, because he loves and wants the best for us. He wants that wrong relationship at the 'fall' put right, which is possible because of what Jesus achieved through his death and resurrection.
See more on the link
Why does God allow suffering?
top of page
What about Other Religions?
Don't all roads lead to God? I've hear that a hundred times before and it's a bit like saying that all roads lead to Rustington. The assumption is that people from different religions are experiencing the same God, yet expressing it in different ways.
I really believe that cannot be true. They're all so different. Let me give one example, of Jesus's words on the subject of forgiveness. "And when you stand praying, forgive him, so that yur Father in heaven may forgive you your sins" (Mark 11:25)
Powerful and forgiving words from the founder of Christianity. Now compare this with words of the Muslim leader Ayatollah Khomeini on the same subject about the author SR on the publication of his book, "even if SR repents and becomes the most pious man of all time, it is still encumbent on every Moslem to employ everything he's got to send him to hell". Do you notice the subtle difference?
I do have to say though that most religions, including Islam, have elements of truth and some excellent moral teaching. But we need to look at the words of Jesus again "I Am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6) - you can't argue with that! Christianity is not about going to church 25 times on Sunday, or watching Songs of Praise! It is about a personal relationship with God that is available only through His Son Jesus. Christianity is unique because it's founder is still alive. No other religion claims that. You can visit the graves of the founders of others. Jesus is the only one who is still alive.
Aren't all Religions the same?
Isn't Christianity just a Crutch?
Many people think Christianity is just a psycological crutch to get sad and weak people through the humdrum of life. So is it a crutch? Well the answer has to be "yes" and "no"
Yes, because knowing Jesus helps us through our lives. We all endure hardships and elements of suffering - Jesus is there for us and I believe can help us through the good times and the bad. He's there for us. "God has said,"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you". (Hebrews 13:5).
Then no, it's not a crutch, because as we have seen from previous answers, Christianity isn't just a nice story like "Postman Pat" or "Snow White" that cheers us up a bit when we are depressed. It's not like drugs or alcohol to perk us up temporarily when we're feeling down. Christianity is true! Jesus lived and was real. An anonymous author made this striking comparison of Jesus with others:
"His unique contribution to the race of men is salvation of the soul. Philosophy could not accomplish that. Nor art. Nor literature. Nor music. Only Jesus Christ can break the enslaving chains of sin and Satan. He alone can speak peace to the human heart, strengthen the weak and give life to those who are spirtiually dead".
So the answer to the original question is ,I guess "Yes and No". But either way, the Christian lifestyle isn't an easy option, but I've discovered that it is the best way to live your life.
Won't a Good Life Do?
Unfortunately, the Bible does not allow anyone to earn their way to heaven. Of course it's great to do good, support charity, be nice to people and generally be kind and considerate. But the Bible makes it clear: whether we like it or not, our good works and deeds, while being very admirable, don't actually bring us into a relationship with God. "He saved us, not because of our righteous things we have done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5)
Let me explain why just being good just isn't enough. I guess it's all to do with definitions. God's standard of "good" is perfection, and none of us can reach that. Even if we have never murdered, or stolen goods from the supermarket, however good we think we might be, we don't come up to God's standards of perfection. Paul, in writing to the Christians in Rome, made it crystal clear "All have sinned and fallen short of God's glorious standard" (Romans 3:2)
Now that's pretty depressing really. There's nothing we can do to get good enough to get to God. Before you stick your head in an oven and turn the gas on, let me give you the good news. Paul carried on his letter :"Yet now God in His gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins" (Romans 3:24).
The television presenter Anne Diamond was speaking on television about belief, and this was one of her comments she made"It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere". I have to say, with appologies to Anne, but that comment is utter hogwash! Sincerity has nothing to do with it at all. People can be sincerely wrong about things; does that make it right? I'm sure that Hitler, in his own deranged mind, was sincere about wishing to create a master race, and annihilating 6 million people in the process. Those devistating results proved that he was sincerely wrong.
Sincerity and doing good are simply not enough. That means good and bad people both need Jesus the same - whoever they are, whatever they've done, Jesus is the only way.
What About all the Hypocrites in the Church?
The infamous outlaw Jesse James killed a man in a bank robbery and shortly afterwards was baptised in the Kearney Baptist Church in the USA. He then killed another man, a bank cashier, and joined the church choir. Apparently Jesse loved Sundays , but didn't always have time to attend church as Sunday was the day he robbed trains. What a hypocrite!
A reason many reject Christianity is because of hypocrites in the church. Once again I have to admit that there are some as there are in all walks of life. Basically a hypocrite is a person who says one thing but does another.
As well as a personal hypocrisy, there is a more complicated form of hypocrisy of evil done through history in the name of Christianity; for example the Crusades, the Inquisition and the terrible troubles in Northern Ireland. I have to admit that Christian history does have a dark side, but we do not have to admit that those who performed these evil actions were real Christians. To put it bluntly, their actions represent the very antithesis of what Jesus was all about.
Jesus hated all forms of hypocrisy. This is what he said , or should I say shouted, at a bunch of religious hypocrites one day: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgance. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean (Matthew 23:25-26).
Jesus certainly got very angry about hypocrisy.
As I've said, unfortunately the church does have it's fair share of hypocrites and has done throughout history. But that never invalidates the fact that the Christian message is true. Let me give you a personal example of what I mean by that.
I am a big fan of Indian food, and whenever I travel I always make an effort to sample local cuisine, and on an annual basis make an award of my personal "Indian Restaurant of the Year". I was delighted to give the 1999 trophy to my local curry house, "Tandori Nights" in Rustington, and was pleased to feature in local newspaper and radio interviews about the award. I wold tell all my friends about the quality of food, the size of portions and friendly service. But could you imagine what would happen if I always ate my food at other restaurants? You might say "what a hypocrite". If I had believed all I had said then I would always eat there and nowhere else. Well, that's probably true (and in fact is, in this case!). Yet my being a hypocrite would not invalidate my claim that Tandouri Nights is the best. Do you see what I mean?
There are hypocrites everywhere in life and the Church is no exception. But we shouldn't write them all off. Just because there are a few football hooligans who seem to be hell bent on violence and destruction it doesn't mean that every football supporter is out for trouble. No Christians are perfect; we are all imperfect individuals at the end of the day. But that doesn't make us all hypocrites or frauds. It just makes us fallible people who need the help of forgiveness that Jesus offers. After all, if the great inventor Allexander Graham Bell had been arrested for shoplifting, would that make using the phone wrong? Of course not! I am pleased to say that Christianity does not stand or fall on the way Christians behave, or have behaved throughout history. Christianity stands on the person of Jesus, who was no hypocrite.
