God Among The gods

Today’s Reading:

• Micah 6:1-7:20; 2 Chronicles 32:1-8; 2 Kings 18:13-18; Isaiah 36:1-3; 2 Kings 18:19-37; Isaiah 36:4-22

Faith-Stretching Verse(s):

• “Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, ‘The LORD will rescue us!’ Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria? What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power? What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the LORD can rescue Jerusalem from me?” – Isaiah 36:18-20, NLT

Thoughts:

• It’s easy to wonder if perhaps our God isn’t so unique.

Obviously, if you’ve read anything I have written so far, you know that I am a Christian. I believe in the God of the Bible—of the Old and New Testaments—and I believe specifically that we are set free from our sins and invited to know Him through His Son Jesus Christ, who lived and died and rose from the dead and lives forever as the eternal God who also became a man. I believe that I have a relationship with God, and that His Holy Spirit lives in me and changes me and reminds me to look to Jesus day by day.

As a Christian, I also believe that this is the only true God. I deny that the God of Islam is the same God. I deny that those who follow Judaism know the true God, even though they share more than half of my Bible with me, because Judaism without Jesus Christ knows something about the true God but refuses to know Him as He has fully revealed Himself to be. I deny the many gods of Hinduism to be real gods—perhaps demons, but not gods. I deny the gods of ancient Greece, the gods of ancient Rome, the gods of animism, the gods of the cults, the gods that were worshiped by ancient Israel’s neighbors, and any other god or gods that anyone might claim deserve mankind’s worship. There is only one true God. And I know Him.

There. Now I sound really arrogant.

But more than that, in today’s world, I might actually sound stupid. Because in today’s world, with a whole academic field devoted to comparative religions, scholars have discovered not only that different religions are different, but that different religions and deity-related mythologies are eerily similar. For instance, see this video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljRKhZ81aqY. The argument in this video is similar to the argument made by Sennacherib’s “chief of staff” (NLT): “Gods are all pretty much the same. The LORD/Jesus is a God/god. Therefore, the LORD/Jesus is no more powerful or real than any other deity.”

How do we deal with this argument? In some ways, it seems to have merit. After all, even though we Christians call many beneficial events in our lives “miraculous,” most of the events we call miracles happen to unbelievers from other religions, and even to atheists. How many of our experiences have been brought to scientists and subjected to their thorough scrutiny to such an extent that even atheists have to deal with scientifically documented evidence of God’s work in our world? And even if we had a bunch of scientifically inexplicable stories, it may well be that people from other religions have some, too—stories which they would use to leverage people toward faith in their gods. And then we would have to deal with the reality that these stories are not the norm—even Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego admitted that God might not help them out of their fiery predicament (Daniel 3:17-18). Christians often go through experiences just as horrible as the experiences anybody else would go through.

I have a couple of suggestions for refuting this argument. First, we should examine (as I still need to do more thoroughly) similar stories to find out whether they were viewed as true earthly history or not. Second, we should examine what archaeology has revealed about our own God, in order to find out what kinds of evidence exist regarding His impact on earthly history. Third, perhaps we should take better notes on current miraculous events—scientists are doing studies to compare healings among prayed for people and unprayed for people, and those of us who have seen God’s wonders ought to be helping them explore the evidence we have experienced. Fourth, we need to turn back to the pages of our Scriptures to remember what the Bible says that God has done in space and time history—the list is very impressive, and we need to consider whether history could possibly have resulted in today’s world without God’s intervention.

Because the Bible’s claim is that God sometimes does intervene. In tomorrow’s reading (2 Kings 19) Hezekiah is saved from an army of 185,000 Assyrians in response to his prayers. If that’s just a myth, then don’t believe it. But if this really happened, don’t just call it a coincidence (even if God used some horrible earthly plague to defeat the huge army). If this is history, then God is not just one of the gods. He is exactly who He claims to be, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe who loves His people, who sent Jesus to save all who believe in Him, and who is making all things new in His time.

Even if others sometimes think of Jesus as just “one of the (false) gods,” the question still remains – Are they right or wrong? The benefits of knowing Him are nothing to sneeze at just because others claim He’s nonsense. Don’t miss out unless there’s nothing to miss out on. Pursue the truth.

For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.

Shepherd of Peace

Micah 5-7; Psalm 136; Proverbs 30:7-9

He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.

And he will be their peace. – Micah 5:4-5

Peace is not found outside of Jesus, and it is certainly not found in opposition to Jesus. But Jesus Himself, for those who put their faith in Him and follow Him as their shepherd, is our peace.

I’ve found peace in Jesus. Peace with God. And peace with everyone who accepts Jesus as God, as Creator, as Ruler, as Savior. Do I want peace with others? Yes. But not at the cost of losing Jesus and the peace that comes through Him. So I invite others to join me in this peace. And if they don’t? I still want peace with them. But the condition for lasting peace is Jesus. May the whole world turn to Him.

How has Jesus brought peace into your life?

Jesus is the Greatest and Only God!...Or is He?

Micah 1-4; Psalm 135; Proverbs 30:5-6

Here in Swanton we have a football team. I just moved here, and I haven’t seen them in action yet. But I hear that we rarely win. You know what, though? The town still cheers for them! Faithfully! The Swanton football team is OUR football team, and we’re going to stick by them, even when they lose!

Why can’t Christians be that faithful to Jesus?

I was talking to a man who called himself a Christian a couple of months ago. But as we talked, he said (without my asking), “I don’t believe that people from other religions, like Islam and Hinduism, need to believe in Jesus Christ to go to heaven. If they’re good people, they’ll be fine.”

I was shocked! So I proceded to ask him a series of questions:

Me: So you don’t believe in sin?

Him: Well, sure I believe in sin. But I don’t believe that good people are going to miss out on heaven.

Me: So you don’t believe that good people have sinned? Good people have never sinned?

Him: I suppose everyone’s sinned. But God’s not going to send someone who’s working hard to be good to hell. They may not know about Him, but if they’re trying to serve their own God sincerely, God will be pleased with them.

Me: So you believe they’ve sinned, but you don’t believe they need to be forgiven by the true God?

Him: Well, no. I mean, what if they’ve never heard of Him? Will God really hold that against them? Different religions dominate different areas of the world.

Me: So you don’t believe that the whole world is God’s?

Him: Well, yes, but that still doesn’t mean that everyone is going to know Him.

Me: But if the whole world is God’s—if He created it, and He’s the King over it all—don’t you think He wants the whole world to honor Him above any other God?

Him: I think He understands when people in other areas of the world don’t know Him.

Me: So you think that God only expects to be called King by people in countries like America, where large parts of the country are considered Christian? You don’t think He expects to be called King everywhere in the world, since it’s all His?

Him: Yeah.

Me: Doesn’t [your denomination] send missionaries? What’s the point of sending missionaries if “good people” who don’t follow our God will be in heaven? Why not just let the various teachers of false religions—Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, whatever—why not just let them teach their followers to be devout Muslims, Buddhists, etc.? Why send missionaries?

Him: I don’t know. But I still think they’ll be in heaven.

Me: If an American decided to help out Al Qaeda in attacking an American city, wouldn’t he be considered a traitor and sentenced to prison, or even death?

Him: Yes.

Me: So if someone created by God to be a member of His kingdom decides to rebel against God and serve a false god (and all false gods are Satanic), do you think God is going to let them into heaven for “serving their false god well”?

Him: Yes, I really do. I think God just wants people to live good lives.

Me (final question): Ok, let’s forget for a moment about whether people from other religions will be safely in heaven when Jesus returns. What do you think God has to say about people who claim to know Him; who claim to believe He created and owns the whole world; who claim to have found forgiveness through the death of His Son Jesus Christ—Jesus, who claimed to be the only way to the Father; who claim to have a hope of rising from the dead because Jesus rose from the dead; and who claim to believe that other gods are false gods; what do you think God has to say about His own people when His own people teach that it’s fine to follow those false gods? Is God pleased with Christians when they tell non-Christians that they don’t need to trust in Jesus Christ to go to heaven?

I think the implications are clear. God’s people should be GOD’S PEOPLE. Jesus Christ is the only God. And God’s people need to be faithful to Him, no matter how unpopular it is to say that other religions are false.

All the nations may walk in the name of their gods; we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever. – Micah 4:5

Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and many others may be following their own gods. Even though it’s not good and will lead them to eternal death, it’s understandable because those false gods are “their” gods. But we, the people of Jesus Christ, should hold fast to the teachings of our Lord and King. Unlike the Swanton football team, He is ruler of the entire world and tells us that those who follow other gods are idolaters. Even Islam, which has no imagery or sculptures in its worship, is an idolatrous religion because it worships a god of its own imagination rather than the true God. Christians who teach that such rebellious worship practices are “fine” are being unfaithful to Jesus Christ. Let’s walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever!

Your turn: What are your thoughts on what it means to be faithful to Jesus Christ?