Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15.5.

10:57 PM

My Plea to Non-believers

The World is sprinkled by numerous man-made religions, denominations and cults. These numbers are increasing by great numbers annually. Millions of people are decieved, many believe and give their lives for what they believe in.

What is the truth then? What is the real belief? Can we worship so many different Gods, in so many different forms, with different methods, rituals, food offerings, prayers and chants? How many real, true Gods are there? Many people say that all religions are good, and all good things come from God and since all religions teach good things, all religions are from the same God. And all religions lead to God. I remember hearing these words from the very mouth of someone I regarded as my best friend. How heart broken I felt then, when i remembered the verse:

James 1:17 "Every Good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from from the Father of Lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

With whom is no variableness. It clearly already states so clearly that there is no variableness in God. So how can he be so varied in his form, in his teaching, in his commandments and instruction in the way to heaven. Does God contradict himself? Is he confused? I certainly think not. My believing or non-believing friends often use bible quotes to tell me what i think is too rigid and wrong, that God is an all-loving God who will save everyone since he died for everyone. However, sometimes they quote part of verses without knowing the full verse. Those that read in parts will only know in parts. They will not get the full picture. How easy it is to misinterpret God's Holy word.

I did not write this post to condemn my friends thinking, or to poke fun at them. But, it is out of sincerity, and Love for you that I want to share with you what is the Truth.

What is the truth I want to share with you? The truth is that, no religion will save anyone. No religion on this earth will bring you to heaven. Not buddhism, not Hinduism, Not Islam, not Roman Catholicism, and not Protestanism (Christianity). No! Not one of them will get you to heaven. Every one of these religions teach good things. They tell us how to live lives that are good, How to stay out of trouble, what to do as a member of this religion. Some tell us, what we can do to get to heaven. What are the steps to take to help us reach heaven. The Criterias, the checklist... Being a christian myself, I tell everyone straight in the face, That no religion saves.

Then you must be wondering. Then why do I call myself a Christian, Why do i go to church, why do i follow some things the church says? I reply you with this. I go to church to learn. Its like school, I listen to the pastor(teacher) preach, I go for sunday school (Tutorial lesson)... Thats how I learn what the bible talks about. But, no matter how much time i spend in church, no matter how many sunday school lessons i attend, No matter how many activities I take part in Church, It will not get me to heaven.

I only call myself a Christian because it identifies me with Christ. The God that i believe in. So I'm follow after Christianity because it teaches me the ways of Christ, but not because It will help me get to heaven by following what it teaches.

You may ask, Don't all religions teach the same things?

But i'll reply you saying that only Christianity teaches that Jesus is the only way to God-and that is one very important difference between it and all other religions. Other religions are just basically philosophies of life. They teach moral values and views of the world around us, and their leaders or founders tell people in their writing what they think is Correct and what is wrong. Its the perspective of man not God. Christianity also gives man a philosophy of life, but it says more than other religions, saying that man is Sinful, and seperated from God, and as long as he dwells in sin, He cannot ever enjoy God's friendship. The only way we can restore this relationship with God, is to have our sins removed by believing in Jesus (God's Son- God himself). No other religion recognises Jesus in this manner.

Now. How do we know that christianity is true but all other religions are false?

We have to either examine the teaching of all other religions to see if they are consistant in their teaching, and whether it is logical and describes reality accurately. Or we can simply examine Christianity to see if it is consistant or not.

Christianity has lots of evidences proving that it is true. If you see these evidences, you'll find that the teachings within Christianity are internally consistent with each other. Then will you know that Christianity is true. Whatever consists of Contradiction is false. Where there are no contradictions, it is true. This is a simple applications of what Aristotle called the Law of Contradiction in Logic : Two statements cannot both be true if one contradicts the other. However, No matter how true christianity is, It is hard for man who are sinful to accept the truth. You can see the truth, but believing is a totally different thing altogether.

You may feel that i'm being intolerant of other religions and am directly insulting other religions saying that they are false. I understand that We have the right to believe in whatever we believe in, and to worship whatever God we want. But, I'm not forcing anyone to believe, because it will never work out. You as an individual will have to come to believe on your own. No amount of talking, preaching, begging, bribing will be able to make a person believe in something he refuses to believe. And If I as a true friend of yours, would like to tell you the truth, and tell you that what you believe in is wrong, or that unbelieving is dangerous, Would you trust me? Or consider me your enemy? I cannot keep quiet and accept it that people are believing in something that is wrong that will harm them, and cause them to lose their salvation. I cannot watch silently as the people i love perish.

But, many people believe in science. Science says this, science says that...

Its not safe and never safe to believe in science totally. Because science is always changing. One moment we have 9 planets, then we have 13 and pluto disappeared. Then we have theories that we evolved from monkeys and like came from a one-celled organism. But theories are theories... Thats why they are a theory. They have not and cannot be proven. Science has always kept changing. And new things are added all the time to science.

But Christ, God never changes. His teachings in the bible never changes. Religion does. So does christianity. The form of worship, the traditions and such stuff keep changing. Many denominations pop up, different sects, will appear. But ultimately, True christianity based on Christ, the Word, never changes. And whatever is taught was applicable in the past, in the present and even in the future. Moreover, the scriptures have survived over 2000+ years, and up till now, after hundreds of years of people trying to pick out mistakes in the bible, they have failed to do so. Seeing something that is so without error, how can someone still deny its authority?

Even if I could prove to you that the bible's history was all true, that the evolution theory is false and that Jesus is God, I will not be able to make you believe unless you first open your heart and mind to accept Jesus.

Now, again, Who is this Jesus I am talking about? And why on earth did he have to die for us?

In the beginning when the earth was formed, God made man, Adam and Eve to serve and worship him. But, they sinned against him by eating of the forbidden fruit that God had warned them not to eat of. Through sin, Man was seperated from God. God cursed man with death., suffering, pain, sickness. Over the years, whenever man sinned, They had to make an offering to God as a way to ask for forgiveness, and to remove their sins. It is said that these people had to lay hands on a clean animal, eg. a lamb or goat, they then symbolically pass their sins from themselves onto the animal. Through the slaughter of the animal and burning it to God, their sins are forgiven. However, man had to do this over and over and over again. Even Mary, Jesus mother had to offer 2 doves as a sin offering. Anyway, God saw that the world was full of people whos heart were far away from God. With their actions they worship God, but their thoughts didn't not reflect any true repentance of sins. So God decided that he would make one final sacrifice, such that all these killing of animals would no long need to be done, as people were just doing the act without true repentance and belief in God. As a final sacrifice, God decided to send his Son Jesus Christ, who was God himself to come down , in the Form of man to live amongst us, set an example for us to follow, and then give himself as the final sacrifice. God then chose Mary, a virgin as the vessel to bear his Son. Implanted in mary by the Holy Ghost, Mary got pregnant and soon gave birth to Jesus. Jesus lived a life of sinless perfection. He never did anything wrong, never thought any evil thought, never acted in an ungodly manner. He was totally perfect. Yet, people sought to kill him. They had him suffer, bleed and die on the cross, just as he had intended. God plan worked out perfectly and Jesus gave his life and blood to wash away our sins and rose again on the 3rd day showing us that death had no power over him, who was God himself. So now, all we need to do is to pray in repentance asking God to remove our sins, and he will.

Many people will still reject Jesus and not believe in him. Just as the bible says that None seek God. Well. the bible says that we do not choose God, but it is God that choses us. John 15.16a. "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you" But when God calls, How do you respond? Do you still reject him?

How many people in the world today are living without a purpose in life? Born to eat, sleep. study, work, retire and Die. What is your purpose? Do you live to die?

Only with God, then there is meaning in life. The purpose driven life. To live a spotless life within a sinful world, To be a shining light, the salt of the world. To keep ourselves pure, holy and acceptable to God. Going all out into the world, preaching the gospel to everyone. Seeking the Lost, helping the weak, being a servant to others.

Only with God will we learn to Love and forgive others. Only with God will you be able to find true happiness, true peace, true comfort.

Are you a non-believer? What is stopping you from believing in Christ? There are so much evidence supporting and proving that the bible is true and reliable and is the Word of God. And there is so much evidence that Jesus is the Son of God and God himself. There is so much proof that Jesus is the only way to heaven. Why are you still hesitating?

As you may realise, the devil will try and do things to stop the spread of the gospel, and to limit the chances for people to know christ. This is so true in the sense that so much prosecution is happening to Christians nowadays, Christian churches are being burned, Christians been killed, getting thrown into jail for sharing the gospel openly.

If you are a non-believer, ask yourself this question now. Is Christianity really such a bad belief? Is believing in Jesus and following his commandments a bad thing? Is it bad to teach people to be loving? Amongst all the other religions and beliefs of the world, is Christianity the worst of the lot? I doubt you would think so either... So, now consider, that Christianity is the most banned religion of the world. The world has great hatred for christianity. All over the world Christian websites are getting banned. Websites telling people about Jesus and sharing the Gospel are getting banned... The devil does not want people to believe in Christ. He is doing all these things to take away the Life-saving Gospel from you. No other religion is facing such harsh treatment. No other religion's websites are getting banned all over the world. Why? Even satanic websites are being accepted. But christian websites are getting banned. Do you find it a little strange? It is either you believe that the Devil is really at work, or you just brush it off as coincidence. Well... If you believe in Christ and you believe that the devil exist, and the existance of Heaven and Hell, You will probably understand that what is happening now in the world is not just coincidence but a real life show unfolding before your very eyes on how the world is slowly turning towards destruction. And we are part of that world.

In Future, we may not be free to worship as christians, and prosecution of Christians may get worse. People will not know Christ. Whos side will you be on then?

We as christians are slowing watching the prophecies in the bible come true one by one... its amazing to have such a book that people of no other belief have. Ours is the true living Word. Which other scripture can match up to the true word of God? As we watch these prophecies unfold one by one, We know the end is near. Soon, the end may come and you know not the day nor the hour. Will you be ready to meet your maker?

Now is the time to accept Jesus and make him your personal Savior. It is my personal plea to you if you're a non-believer to accept him today, and believe what he has done on the cross, shedding his precious blood for you, dying and rising again on the 3rd day. And that someday he'll come again and take you unto himself.

What a great promise of salvation. No other religion or belief can give you such great assurance and comfort. Not even being a Christian can, unless you have truely accepted Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. So, don't hesitate any longer. When God calls, respond in repentance. Come to him today!

I am filled with sadness each day seeing my loved ones reject Jesus and salvation. The pain I go through is so bad that I'm very emotional burdened. If you're heart is still hard after reading this post, I pray hard for you that God will show grace unto you and touch your heart soon.

I truly hope everyone of you will accept Jesus Christ into your heart, and with faith, trust in him wholeheartedly. And give your lives unto him, for his use, that others may be touched by your lives and many others will come to know the saving knowledge of our Lord savior Jesus Christ.

With this I end.
May the Lord be merciful upon all of us,
And Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus.
Amen.

Sunday, February 25, 2007

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