""Simply put"? A tangled explanation to avoid the obvious conclusions.
A. God is cruel
B. God is incompetent
C. God is insane
D. God is just pretend"
The above response was to a message I recently posted about why God allows people to die. I didn't respond to it because I figured it would just be casting pearls before swine and would only serve to start an argument. However, after looking at it, the author of the comment actually makes a point for the existence of God and why He allows people to die. If you say God is "just pretend" that means you do not believe He exists. Therefore, if He doesn't exist, He cannot be cruel, incompetent and insane. Now, nobody can deny the fact that cruelty, incompetence and insanity exist in the world. So, if God is pretend, and cannot be responsible for it all, then who is? It is mankind. The Bible says,
"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned (Romans 5:12)..." Sin is unbelief in God. In a sense, not believing God, not believing in Him or not believing He exists (i.e. pretend) is sin. The conclusion is that the sin of man is responsible for things like cruelty, incompetence and insanity being in the world. These things would not exist in a perfect world where God, and what He says, is believed. And since God does exist and is to be believed, not believing Him carries consequences. One of those consequences is death.
"Way" Off Base
While answering the question, "Why do you call yourself a Christian?" a lady responded that she calls herself a "Follower of the Way." As one church, that goes by a similar name states, "The expression "Followers of the Way" was perhaps the first title given to those who followed Jesus after His resurrection (Acts 9:2, 22:4, 24:14)." She went on to say that the term Christian was, in her words, a "derogatory term," given to the early church. Therefore, she doesn't use that term in order to be consistent with the early church. While she has the freedom to identify herself in any way she wants, I, personally, believe using this term of "the Way" is unnecessary and only adds confusion to an already murky, religious landscape. I could only imagine that most people would respond to her identifying herself in this manner by asking, "What does that mean?" or, if you are familiar with the term, "Why don't you just call yourself a Christian?" It could even lead to a sense of religious pride on her part or even more division with the body of Christ. As to her assertion that the term Christian was derogatory, it would seem that the term "the Way," was considered derogatory as well. The Apostle Paul said, "I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison (Acts 22:4)." It would seem that he once looked upon the "followers of this Way" with contempt. Therefore, it is reasonable to suggest that the term was derogatory. It just depends on who is using it. The apostle Peter would later say, "if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name (1 Peter 4:16)." Peter suggests that the term Christian is a badge of honor and directs believers to "praise God that you bear that name." This would seem to be evidence to the contrary of what the lady mentioned earlier. Regardless, a Christian is someone who is born again of the Spirit of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Believers in Jesus Christ have referred to ourselves as Christians for nearly two thousand years. The vast majority of the world refers to us as Christians. The word Christian already has a myriad of meanings and definitions depending on who you ask. To add a separate term doesn't help matters much and doesn't guide us toward unity. But, to each his own. God can still use it all.
Using the Wrong Bait
In a discussion on "Making the Case for Christ," the topic turned to how to attract people to Christianity or to church. I have two thoughts on this subject. First the premise is off. We don't attract people to Christianity or to church. What we do is bear the fruit of the Spirit the Lord is producing through us and as we do that people will be attracted to Jesus because we are loving them in the Lord. In fact, Jesus said, in referring to the manner of death He would suffer, "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself (John 12:32)." Another time He said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11;28)." The emphasis in both these statements is that the focus is to attract people to Jesus, not the Christian religion or to the church we attend. Nobody is saved by Christianity or by attending church. Christianity and church attendance, at best, are byproducts of first coming to faith in Jesus Christ. Furthermore, they shouldn't be the primary method we use in order to introduce people to Jesus Christ. The Lord said, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19)..." He did not say, "Go out and erect a building and invite people there to tell them about Me." The church is an organism not an organization. We go out into the world and tell people about Jesus. Yes, this can happen at a church or within the confines of religion, but it is not the manner in which Jesus commanded the disciples to declare the Gospel.
The second thing is that we usually treat others the way we believe God is treating us. On the surface we talk about the love of Jesus, His forgiveness and Grace. However, in practice we are focused on being obedient and repentant to laws designed to modify our behavior. This leads to a constant focus on our actions and our ability to live a life we cannot. The result is the feeling that God is disgusted with our inability to live up to His standards. And this is reflected in our interactions with the world. They see Christians leaving their churches, being hypocrites, being mean, unloving and nasty. Therefore, they want nothing to do with God, going to church or His people. It reminds me of the way Jesus talked of the religious Jews of His day. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to (Matthew 23:13)." The emphasis on behavior and religious activity is what creates hypocritical, unloving and nasty people. The impossible demands of trying to be perfect by what you do leads to people demanding the same out of others. The result is judgment, condemnation, fear, anger, confrontation and being ashamed. A person can only stand up under that for so long before they rebel. That type of teaching and behavior is what led to Paul saying, "If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other (Galatians 5:15)." The law is only worthwhile if you have somebody do compare yourself to. When you compare yourself to others, you are either better than they are or worse then them. One is pride, the other is condemnation. Both are from the pit of hell. The only one who "behaved" perfectly was Jesus. That is why we put faith in Him and not in ourselves.
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