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"There
are several motives why a large part of humanity has rejected
Jesus as their Savior. Read these and see if any fit you" |
It
is my hope that if there is someone on this list who is reading
only, or is searching for truth, that they pray the following
prayer and see what happens:
The
Skeptics Prayer
"God, I don't know whether you even exist. I'm a skeptic.
I doubt. I think you may be only a myth. But I'm not certain
(at least not when I'm completely honest with myself). So
if you do exist, and if you really did promise to reward all
seekers, you must be hearing me now. So I hereby declare myself
a seeker, a seeker of the truth, whatever it is and wherever
it is. I want to know the truth and live the truth. If you
are the truth, please help me."
The
"Skeptic's Prayer" is a scientifically fair test of the Christian
"hypothesis", - that is, if you do not put unfair restrictions
on God, like demanding a miracle (your way, not His) or certainty
by tomorrow (your time, not His). The demand that God act
like your servant would not be a scientific fair test of the
hypothesis that there is a God who is your King. And you also
should be honest with yourself by asking, "Would I submit
to Jesus if it were indeed proven to me that it is all true?"
There
are several motives why a large part of humanity has rejected
Jesus as their Savior. Read these and see if any fit you...
One
motive people do not become Christians is because of hypocrites.
But just because the church contains hypocrites does not mean
that all Christians are hypocrites. The failures of the believers
do not invalidate the truth. Jesus Christ had very harsh words
for people who were committing the sin of hypocrisy, especially
the religious leaders of his day (Mt. 23:15). People can and
do enter the ministry for the wrong reasons, or they can compromise
the convictions of the faith. The fact that people have persecuted
under the pretext of following Jesus only goes to show that
those who said they were Christians did not possess the peace
of God and that they were not followers of Jesus' teachings.
Yes, the church still smells from the smoke if the Inquisition
which WRONGLY destroyed heretics in order RIGHTLY destroy
heresies. But Jesus himself warned that there would be those
who called him "Lord" but would act directly against the will
of God. Christianity does not stand or fall on the way Christians
have acted throughout history or are acting today. Christianity
stands or falls on the person of Jesus, and Jesus was not
a hypocrite. He lived consistently with what He taught, and
at the end of His life He challenged those who had lived with
Him night and day, for over three years, to point out any
hypocrisy in Him. His disciples were silent because there
was none. Since Christianity depends on Jesus, it is incorrect
to try to invalidate the Christian faith by pointing to horrible
things done in the name of Christianity.
Another
motive people do not become Christians is out of ignorance.
This is not ignorance that there is a God or a person named
Jesus Christ, but rather ignorance to the facts validating
Christian faith. Many times this ignorance is self-imposed.
Some people are not even bothering to consider the claims
of Christ, while others are actively refusing to believe.
Another
motive is the simplicity of the gospel.
It is so simple
to become a Christian that even a child can do it. In fact,
to enter the kingdom of heaven, Jesus taught that we must
become as children (Matthew 18:3). In simple faith, we must
place our trust in Christ whether we be college professors
or people who have never finished grammar school.
Further,
people don't become Christians because of the mistaken idea
of what really is a Christian.
Many think Christianity is a religion with a set of negative
commandments saying, "Don't do this and don't do that." They
get the idea that when you believe in Jesus, you resign yourself
to a life of unhappiness, restrictions, and boredom. Since
no one wants to live that way, they write off Christianity
as something to which they don't want to commit their lives.
The Christian life is anything but boring, because there is
the daily joy and excitement of knowing the living God and
experiencing all the good things He has in store for us.
Some
people don't become Christians because of guilt feelings.
They have lived lives in which they've committed many ugly
acts and crimes, and they don't believe they can be forgiven
by God and that a decent life can be given to them. However
the Bible clearly teaches that anyone without exception, who
seeks God and desires to be forgiven of his sins will be forgiven.
If you will come to Jesus, He has promised to forgive you
of your sins, and He will allow you to start over again with
a clean slate, no matter how corrupt you have been.
Another
motive some refuse to accept Jesus is because of some specific
sin in their life.
They realise that, if they become a believer, they will have
to stop committing that certain sin, and they do not want
to stop. Many people love their sin to the point that they
will miss getting into heaven. To become a Christian, a person
must repent (change his heart and mind) of his sins, and this
many people are not willing to do even though Jesus said,
"Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3,
KJV).
In
addition, people refuse to believe in Jesus because of self-centeredness.
Someone has said correctly, we believe - that Christianity
is the EASIEST religion in the world to believe, and it is
also the most DIFFICULT religion in the world to believe.
It is the easiest because God has done everything for us that
needs to be done, and it is impossible to add to the work
of Christ. It is the most difficult because we have to admit
to ourselves and to God that we cannot do anything to save
ourselves. Our pride does not like that, since we want to
work out our own salvation our way.
Human
nature desires that we dictate our own terms, but God will
accept us only on His terms, and this fact keeps many people
out of the kingdom. There are many motives why people reject
Christ, but there are no good reasons.
David
Mazur
mazur@stargate.net
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