This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Life is full of choices. From the moment we wake up, to the moment we return to sleep, we are faced with innumerable choices. Many of these are simple choices, like “Should I have eggs or cereal for breakfast”, while many are much more difficult, such as “Where should we go for lunch?”
The good news about this situation is that most of the choices we have to make don't really matter in the grand scheme of things. Most of the time, going to Chevy's instead of IHOP won't be a life changing decision. Well, if you somehow replaced the maple syrup at IHOP with Clorox, it probably would be. But I digress.
BUT, as humans, we are also faced with a variety of choices that do matter. “Where should I live?”... “Should I marry this person?”... “Do these pants make my thighs look big?” It is these choices that can have a tremendous impact on the lives we lead.
For the next few weeks, I am going to be doing a series called “Have You Chosen Wisely?” We're going to look at the spiritual choices we make, and how we can be sure that we are making the right decisions.
The name of this series comes from the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. For the three of you that have lived in a cave for the last 10 years, allow me to briefly talk about it.
Indiana Jones & his compadres are on a quest to locate the Holy Grail, the cup that caught the blood of Jesus at the cross. After a series of adventures where Harrison Ford does a bunch of uncharacteristic stunt work, they end up in the chamber that houses the grail. The knight who has been protecting the grail offers a stern warning. “You must choose.... But choose wisely. For as the true Grail will bring you life- the false Grail will take it from you.”
I wonder if the writers realized what an appropriate metaphor they were creating. Our choice about who God has the same impact on our lives. So how do we know that we have chosen wisely?
First, it's important to know that God does not call us to have a blind faith. In fact, Jesus specifically commands us to love the Lord with all of our mind:
Mark 12
29"The
most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O
Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.[1]
30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'[2]
31The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[3]
There is no commandment greater than these."
You cannot love something with all of your mind if it does not appeal to the logical nature of the human mind.
Let's look at the question most people first ask: “Does God Exist?” Some people will say that the existence of God cannot be demonstrated, as proof of the existence of God will invalidate the entirety of faith. Often cited by these individuals is Hebrews 11, which starts with
1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for.
But this is a misinterpretation of faith. As Paul writes in Romans 1:20, God provides clear and compelling evidence of his existence through His creation:
20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
Why would God offer such clear and visible proof of his existence, yet still desire us to have faith? To put it simply, faith is a process, not a single event. For example, if I sit down in this chair, I not only have faith that it will not disappear, move, or otherwise fail to perform its purpose, but as I continue to sit, I continue to have faith that the chair will support my ample carriage. I am able to observe that the chair exists, and as a result of this observation, I am able to deduce that, since there really aren't that many chair trees in the wild, someone must have constructed this chair from the raw materials. Clearly God can offer a variety of evidence of His existence to us, but at the same time, demand faith from us. One does not invalidate the other.
Of course, even if you still aren't convinced, it still is a good bet to believe in God. Blaise Pascal, a super-cool mathematician, composed a famous argument that has come to be known as “Pascal's Wager”
In Pascal's Wager, there are two choices, and two truths. The choices are to believe in God, or to reject God. The two possible truths are God exists and God does not exist. This makes 4 different combinations.
If we choose to believe in God, and He does not exist, then we maintain the status quo.
If we choose not to believe in God, and He does not exist, then we maintain the status quo.
If we choose to believe in God, and He does exist, then we gain eternal bliss.
If we choose not to believe in God, and He does exist, then suffer eternally.
When its put like that, it makes sense to at least consider believing in God.
Okay, so God exists. Woohoo. But what about Jesus and Christianity? Why is it the right choice? What about other religions that also believe in the existence of God. Why aren't they the right choice?
Humans are an interesting enigma. On the one hand, man has a tremendous capacity for evil and wretchedness. On the other hand, man also has a greatness and a potential glory. This dual nature is a difficult problem for all religions, except for Christianity. Paul addresses this duality in Romans:
Romans 3
23for all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by
Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of
atonement,[1]
through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice,
because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand
unpunished-- 26he did it to demonstrate his justice at the
present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who
have faith in Jesus.
Humans also face the challenge of trying to grasp an infinite God, even though we ourselves are very limited in that regard. Without Jesus, we simply could not “relate” to God. Jesus himself acknowledges this in the book of John, from The Message translation:
John 14
7If you
really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do
know him. You've even seen him!"
8Philip said,
"Master, show us the Father; then we'll be content."
9"You've
been with me all this time, Philip, and you still don't understand?
To see me is to see the Father. So how can you ask, "Where is
the Father?' 10Don't you believe that I am in the Father
and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you aren't mere
words. I don't just make them up on my own. The Father who resides in
me crafts each word into a divine act.
11"Believe
me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can't believe
that, believe what you see--these works.
Wow. Jesus really understands us humans. Exactly the point. God knew that the only way for us to be able to grasp such an amazing concept as Himself was to manifest himself in the form of a human.
Simply put, no other belief system offers a solution to the barriers of a “hidden” God, as well as an acceptance and explanation of man's unique nature.
The last thing I want to briefly mention is the argument many religions offer that Jesus wasn't the Savior, but merely a great teacher. As C.S. Lewis writes in Mere Christianity, this is a completely illogical conclusion. I'm going to read it verbatim, as it really speaks clearly to the heart of this issue:
...I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him, "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
Allow me to close with a quote from a letter that former President Ronald Reagan wrote to a California pastor about the divinity of Jesus. By the way, I liked this quote so much I put it in my blog, and used it as the inspiration for this message.
"(E)ither he was what he said he was or he was the world's greatest liar. It is impossible for me to believe a liar or charlatan could have had the effect on mankind that he has had for 2000 years. We could ask, would even the greatest of liars carry his lie through the crucifixion, when a simple confession would have saved him? ... Did he allow us the choice you say that you and others have made, to believe in his teaching but reject his statements about his own identity?"
Christianity is unique among all the world's religions in that it does not make any incorrect assumptions about who we are, or what our nature is. Jesus, as both God and man, paid the ultimate price to bridge the gap between His world and ours. My prayer is that we each take advantage of that bridge.
This
work is licensed under a Creative
Commons License.