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Why Christianity Makes Sense
I've heard many people complain,"Christianity makes no sense". They'll then say something in regards to common themes like,"Why did Jesus have
to die for me?" or "Why did God kill people when he is supposed to be a good God". To some people, they simply can't piece together why everything had
to happen like it did. To make matters worse, the enemy operates on lies, confusion and darkness trying to kindle the idea that,"Christianity makes no
sense." There is not much need to worry about the darkness though because light penetrates it and it flees. In this article, I hope to provide light
to your way(*v1) such that you might have a clearer notion of why Christianity indeed does make sense.
To start we must look at God's goal. Yes God's ways are above our ways, so it is impossible to understand what God is doing to bring about his
goal, but we may know what God wants to do. God's goal is for all beings to live together in love and peace without harming each other. God is love.
Because God is love, he wants to exist eternally with us in love. Love can build over time, so the longer you live together with other people, the
more you love them, and the more you want to do good with them. Conflict can also build over time, but as we submit to God as ruler over all to judge
conflict, we can be happy when he resolve the conflict. Without God to resolve conflict between people, that conflict might build, and love might be
lost and hate take up its place. If you had beings hating each other in the new Heaven, it would not be a place without suffering because harboring
ill feelings toward another is actually a form of suffering in itself.
Many people who have bad theology oftentimes think,"If God can do anything, why didn't he create us in Heaven without suffering to begin with".
The quick answer is,"We have free will, and in that free will gives us the ability to disobey God." Look at the Devil and the fallen angels, they
were in the original Heaven, but they disobeyed and are being judged now as a result. If we were created in Heaven originally, we might have fallen
too. But since we're on Earth, we have the ability to be redeemed through Jesus and enter into the New Heaven. Because God is merciful to us, we are
given the opportunity for redemption, so we eventually will live forever without suffering or second death.
Let us examine this method of redemption and why it makes sense. Jesus lived a life without sin, then died on a cross for our sins, was
buried, and rose from death three days later on Easter.
To kick this off, first let us examine a method of living forever that would not make sense. Let us say everyone who died gets to come back to
Earth at a certain date, but God was not ruling. Wouldn't the people that warred against each other still hate one another? One man will be like,"You
burned my village, killed my relatives and stole all our wealth. I still hate you! And then, the men would attempt to kill one another again."
Without the philosophy of forgiveness, there is no way for sinful men to get along together in the coming kingdom.
Next let us examine a method of living forever that would not make sense either. As was said earlier in this article, without God to resolve
conflict, even people who might love each other at one point may have a falling out and hate each other later. Most of us have seen this in our
lifetime. We see a couple who loves each other at one point, but then they're spiteful at the divorce proceedings later. Eternity is a long time, and
without forgiveness, even the most loving couples might have a falling out. With God to mediate conflicts though, both parties will be happy at the
resolution, so God is needed to resolve conflicts over the long haul for even people who love each other at one point.
So we found two things that are required for eternal living in peace and love: Forgiveness and conflict resolution with God as judge.
How does God earn the right to be judge? God earned the right to be judge because he was tempted and tried in every way a man might be tempted
to sin against another man, and to the most extreme, but did not sin. Let us say we were all together as mankind after we've been raised from death.
We're sitting around and going,"Who deserves to be judge?" A democracy might pick the most famous actor or someone at random. Let us say just for the
sake of an argument they picked someone who sinned in their life, for example, me. If I was the judge of all mankind, I would be a hypocrite. A
hypocrite has no right to judge, but let us examine why I'd be a hypocrite. One of the sins I have performed was that I have lied in the past. It is a very common sin. Now everyone who has also lied, I must not judge guilty, or I myself am guilty. I can only judge guilty those which have not
committed the sins I have done. This means if someone committed genocide and also once lied about his age, I need to either declare this man innocent,
or I must be a hypocrite by judging him guilty. If we look through all of mankind, the only man who never sinned ever was Jesus. Jesus has the right
to judge any man guilty or innocent without also being a hypocrite in the process. Thankfully he is also forgiving!
Now why did Jesus have to die for our sins? Well let us say we're raised from the dead sitting in judgment with Jesus as judge. A thief
enters into the courtroom, and he stole off someone who lost something precious to him. The accuser of this thief isn't going to let the man be
forgiven. And he knows that by declaring judgment on him, he is also sentencing himself to be guilty also. This accuser doesn't care, he just wants to see the thief punished so badly. Now someone needs to pay for the thief's sin for justice to be served here. Jesus being the loving being he is, does
not want anyone to suffer for their sins. This is why Jesus died for our sins, to take our deserved place at judgment. Jesus could say to the
accuser,"If you really must accuse severely to condemn someone else, you yourself cannot escape judgment yourself. A man has been punished to take the
place of the the accused, and that man was me."
Hopefully this is making some sense to you. Jesus earned his right as judge by being sinless. Jesus allows guilty men forgiveness by taking
their punishment for them. Matthew 7:1 GNT "Do not judge others, so that God will not judge you," You might find the "judge not lest you be
judged" scripture even more intense upon realizing what is happening here. When you condemn another person after they rise from death, you're really
condemning Jesus to die on the cross. We're all responsible for Jesus' death on the cross for we all have sinned. But we're not all saying that Jesus
is deserving of that punishment. So please... please do not harbor such ill feelings to anyone that you never forgive them. Forgive and love
everyone, no matter how evil they are. By all means restrain and imprison a maniac, but also forgive them.
If you're following this line of thinking, your very core might be being rocked. It is scary to think,"If I hate someone who is evil, I'm
getting really close to condemning Jesus and myself in the process!" It is scary because it seems so natural to love those who are good and hate those
who are evil. In Christianity we're called to love all. And I'll explain why this makes sense right now. Let us say someone was fed a bunch of
lies, and had all sorts of warped reasons why they committed evil. Then they find Jesus, turn around and do good, rejecting all kinds of evil. Their
soul is prepped for eternity to do good and love forever. It was only temporary they were doing evil regardless of how much evil they actually did.
If everyone forgives each other for the problems we inflict on each other in this world, and make a pledge to accept Jesus as judge and LORD forever,
we can live with peace and love forever. Yes, it is possible for one man to do more evil than another man, but if you look at the long term, it is
possible for both men to forgive each other and be at peace. It is even said Isaiah 65:17 GNT The Lord says, "I am making a new earth and new
heavens. The events of the past will be completely forgotten.
So looking at Christianity, we have the free will to rebel against God. But looking at how awful it is to do evil, hate, and harbor grudges,
why do we want to rebel to God? Instead, we should embrace God and his purpose for us. God just wants to be our friends and live with us forever in
Eternity. Many people have found a loving family member they think this would be nice to do with. But God loves us more than any human is even
capable of. Rest assured we'll be with both in Heaven. God is creative so he can make every day in Heaven new and exciting. God's purpose is for us to live in either the New Earth or the New
Heavens, whichever it is best for us to be in. I know a lot of people don't want to be all spirit and no body, but this is not canon, we will have
bodies when we're raised from the dead. And our future bodies will be glorious exhaulted bodies of strength and beauty.
Oh and just a quick response to the notion,"How is God a good God when he has killed many people." : Isn't a doctor with a painful cure better
than a doctor without any cure at all? If it had to be done this way to enable us to be able to live forever, isn't some finite suffering less than
infinite suffering? If we did not get to go to Heaven and live forever with God, we'd suffer infinitely. Thankfully God succeeded in his plan with
Jesus as his cornerstone for the church.
Oh yeah, also let us quickly look at,"Why didn't God wrap everything up on Jesus' resurrection and ascension into Heaven?" There are times
for everything in God's plan. This is why Jesus wasn't simply born to Adam and Eve. Sin wasn't as vastly saturated and pronounced as it was when the Romans were doing,"Enslave
or be enslaved" AKA the opposite of God's eternal plan for us. So in the same way, the time wasn't right for Jesus to return from Heaven right after
he ascended. Scripture says that angels are learning about God's redemptive plan and how it changes lives where Jesus is learned about. So it is good
for some time to pass such that a record of changed lives through Jesus is recorded over time. I'm not sure what role these changed lives have
exactly, but it could sway angels who aren't sure if they want to follow God or not. (*v2)
So I hope you think Christianity makes more sense than when you did prior to reading the article. Without a loving and perfect ruler in
Heaven, people would still be at odds with one another. But with everyone accepting Jesus as LORD, he can gently lead us into love forever. Rest
assured we have everything with God, and apart from God we have nothing. If it is best for us to have our own personal universe with infinite and interesting things to explore, that's what we
will likely have. God wants what is best for us, but selfish desires where you want to harm another for your own desires will not happen in Heaven.
If God sinned, he could not judge mankind properly. If God did not die for us, he could not take our punishment from accusers on judgment day. Thankfully
God never sinned and he died for us and lives again. God did all this because he just wants us as friends. Worship of God is not something that is forced, but when you realize what the guy did for you, it is something
that you can give at your own will. God just wants our love, and for us to love other people, which he loves also.
-Jim Sager
*v1 Luke 11:33 GNT "No one lights a lamp and then hides it or puts it under a bowl; instead, it is put on the lamp stand, so that people may see the light as they come in.
*v2 1 Peter 1:12 GNT God revealed to these prophets that their work was not for their own benefit, but for yours, as they spoke about those things which you have now heard from the messengers who announced the Good News by the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. These are things which even the angels would like to understand. 13 So then, have your minds ready for action. Keep alert and set your hope completely on the blessing which will be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14 Be obedient to God, and do not allow your lives to be shaped by those desires you had when you were still ignorant. 15 Instead, be holy in all that you do, just as God who called you is holy. 16 The scripture says, "Be holy because I am holy." 17 You call him Father, when you pray to God, who judges all people by the same standard, according to what each one has done; so then, spend the rest of your lives here on earth in reverence for him. 18 For you know what was paid to set you free from the worthless manner of life handed down by your ancestors. It was not something that can be destroyed, such as silver or gold; 19 it was the costly sacrifice of Christ, who was like a lamb without defect or flaw. 20 He had been chosen by God before the creation of the world and was revealed in these last days for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from death and gave him glory; and so your faith and hope are fixed on God. 22 Now that by your obedience to the truth you have purified yourselves and have come to have a sincere love for other believers, love one another earnestly with all your heart. 23 For through the living and eternal word of God you have been born again as the children of a parent who is immortal, not mortal. 24 As the scripture says, "All human beings are like grass, and all their glory is like wild flowers. The grass withers, and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord remains forever." This word is the Good News that was proclaimed to you.