All Roads?

What a great question - Do all Roads Lead to Heaven?

Here are some observations after studying the top religions in the world:

1. Every religion claims to be the only way to God.
2. Every religion has a different road.
3. Almost all the roads seem to lead to different places.

Christianity is the only religion that says that God did the work, not us. It is not about what we do to get save - it is about accepting what has been done for all to go to heaven.

 

It is a free gift from God. Here’s what Jesus says: To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – John 1:12

 

The gift is available to everyone, it’s free, because it’s been paid for. But God won’t force it on you, you have to receive it.

 

Be wise today and always - Believe and Receive

Christianity

This week the message from God Questions was, Do all roads lead to heaven? This is what was reported about Christianity.

#1 = Christianity 30% of the world's population

 Followers = 2 billion

Founder = Jesus Christ Who made a claim that no other major religious figure has ever made before or since: He claimed to be God in the flesh. (And did some amazingly convincing things to substantiate that claim.)

Jesus taught that God was One essence, expressing itself in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So that God was one, but three, which Christians called “The Tri-Unity,” or “The Trinity.” God is in community with Himself and loved that community so much that He expanded the community to include angels and humans who could experience community with him and with each other. So their View of God = Monotheism and Means to God = Atonement/Substitution

 

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. - 1 Peter 3:18

   View of Afterlife = Heaven A place in the presence of God Himself, where we will have meaningful responsibilities, full knowledge of ourselves and God, and unspeakable joy. The Bible says that when those who have trusted in Christ get to heaven: He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning  or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. – Revelation 21:4

Be wise today and always - know and accept the truth and love of God.

Don't Look Back

From time to time we are guilty of looking back in time and getting nostalgic for the "good old days". The older we get the more we do it. In our minds it may have been a happier, more simple, or fulfilling time. I'm pretty sure that even though we need to look in the rear-view mirror of life from time to time we cannot operate in the present or future looking backwards. Look at what the Bible has to say about looking back.

Genesis 19:17 - As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”

Genesis 19:26 - But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Jeremiah 46:5 - What do I see? They are terrified, they are retreating, their warriors are defeated. They flee in haste without looking back, and there is terror on every side,” declares the LORD.

Luke 9:62 - Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Acts 1:11 - “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Be wise today and always - keep your focus ahead to what Christ wants you to do today.

Prophecy Fulfilled

Today we will take a look at the last point of answering the God Question - Is the Bible True? by  examining - How prophecy compares with the Bible:

There are 332 prophesies in the Old testament that were all  fulfilled in Jesus’ first coming. These prophesies were written 400 to 1400 years before the birth of Christ. The probability that even 8 of these would be fulfilled in one person is 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.

here is a great illustration of these odds. Imagine you covered the whole state of Texas 2 foot deep with silver dollars. You then paint one silver dollar and put it in any of the stacks anywhere in the state. The odds that just 8 of Jesus' prophesies are true are the same as putting a blindfolded man in the center of Texas and him picking the painted silver dollar on his first try!

The probability that 48 of these would be fulfilled is 1 in 10x157.  - There are 10x66 atoms in the universe. The fact 332 prophesies were true is proof enough, but the only way for anyone to come to an honest conclusion about whether or not the Bible is really true is to read it.

You know what you’ll find when you read the Bible?

It reads you.

 

Be wise today and always - always trust in the Word of God.

Back to School

Have you ever taken a look at - How science and history compare to the Bible?

“Through the wealth of data uncovered by historical and archaeological research, we are able to measure the Bible’s historical accuracy. In every case where its claim can be thus tested, the Bible proves to be accurate and reliable.”  - Jack Cottrell, The Authority of the Bible

The following can all be found originally in the book of Genesis.

What the Bible says:               What people thought:             What we now know:

Earth is a sphere.                   Earth is a flat disk.                 Earth is a sphere.

Number of stars =                 Number of stars =                   Number of stars =

             more than a billion.                1,100.                                     more than a billion.

Every star is different.            All stars are the same.              Every star is different.

Light is in motion.                  Light is fixed in place.                 Light is in motion.

Air has weight.                           Air is weightless.                     Air has weight.

    Winds blow in cyclones.              Winds blow straight.                 Winds blow in cyclones.
                                                                                    
           Blood is a source of               Sick people must be                Blood is a source of
           life and healing.                      bled.                                        life and healing.

Be wise today and always - know the truths of the Bible.

Translation

 Today we'll continue in the God Questions series answering the question, Is the Bible true? Consider: How the Bible has been copied and translated:

The Bible was written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. 99% of the OT is in Hebrew. The second half of the book of Daniel is in Aramaic, because Daniel was living in Babylon, and that was the trade language used there. The NT is all in Koine Greek.

The Talmudim (Hebrew for, “students,”) shepherded the transmission of the Torah [Old Testament] from A.D. 100 – 500.

Synagogue scrolls had to be written on specially prepared skins of clean animals and fastened with strings taken from clean animals. Each skin had to contain a certain number of columns. Each column had to have between 48 and 60 lines and be 30 letters wide. The spacing between consonants, sections and books was precise, measured by hairs or threads. The ink had to be black and prepared with a specific recipe. The transcriber could not deviate from the original in any manner. No words could be written from memory. The person making the copy had to wash his whole body before beginning and had to be in full Jewish dress. The scribe had to reverently wipe his pen each time he wrote the word “God” (“Elohim”), and wash his whole body before writing God’s covenant name “Yahweh.”  The Talmudim were meticulous.

The Massoretes

The Massoretes, who oversaw the Torah from A.D. 500-900, adopted an even more elaborate means of insuring transcriptional accuracy. They numbered the verses, words and letters of each book and calculated the midpoint of each one. When a scroll was complete, independent sources counted the number of words and syllables forward, then backward, then from the middle of the text each direction, to make sure that the exact number had been preserved. Proof reading and revision had to be done within 30 days of a completed manuscript. Up to two mistakes on a page could be corrected. Three mistakes on a page condemned the whole manuscript.

These scribes treated the text so reverently that older manuscripts were destroyed to keep them from being misread. Prior to 1947, the oldest extant Hebrew manuscript was from the 9^th century. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls enabled us to check the accuracy of our current manuscripts against ones from 100 B.C.  When we compare the 100 B.C. Qumran scrolls to our 9^th century manuscripts (a 1000 year gap), we find that an amazing 95% of the texts are identical, with only minor variations and a few discrepancies.

If the Talmudim were meticulous, The Massoretes were MORE meticulous.

The New Testament has 24,000 manuscripts to compare, and The English Bible is translated directly from the original languages.

 

Be wise today and always - know what God's Word says.

Effects You

Today let us consider the Bible's uniqueness and - Its Effect on People.

 1. They never get through with it. - I've always said you can never get to the bottom of God's Word - It's too deep. We can keep learning and growing from it.

2. It alters their view of the world. - Once you have been exposed to the truth you will never look at things the same. You now have God's eyes and heart for humanity.

3. It changes their relating patterns. - It changes relationships because you relationship has been renewed with God.

4. It changes their values and ethics. - There is a right, wrong, and ultimate truth found in God's Word regardless if we accept it or not.

5. It changes their vocabulary. It's all about God and not about you! Words of kindness, caring, and love replaces evil, selfish, and hate.

6. It changes their view of eternity. You are promised eternity with God through belief in Jesus Christ. How awesome is that?

Be wise today and always - let the Bible change you forever.