PERSPECTIVES
By: Sy In short, no. This statement implies that Christianity is made up, not factual. Explanation of this would be extremely lengthy. But the heart of the question, “Is Christianity’s purpose to comfort people?” The fact is that Christianity does provide comfort, for our future. I can’t deny it. All religions comfort people. Islam promises certain desires, Hinduism offers peace and being able to be good enough to be united with the Brahman, Buddhism offers peace, and Atheism make people comfortable with doing the wrong things with no punishment. Christianity shows us that we are unable to be good enough. All religions have their own way of comforting people. By: Devon Karl Marx famously said, “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.” In order to respond to how opinions like this relate specifically to the Christian faith, we’ll examine the following points;
Christian persecution worldwide has reached violent, alarming, and unprecedented heights. Christian persecution right here in the U.S. is primarily social and cultural, but it is still very real and it’s growing rapidly. Jesus said that we should not enter into a relationship with Him lightly but rather we should consider the consequences and “count the cost” (Luke 14: 28-33). Persecution, tribulation, and self-denial are not comfortable costs to have to count. The next point to consider is one of the core tenets of the Christian worldview, that “…without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.” Hebrews 9:22. The necessary system of animal sacrifice was a bloody, meticulous, and continual method of dealing with the sins of the people. The ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Himself was excruciatingly painful, violent and humiliating. The blood sacrifice is not a concept that would have been conjured up to comfort people. We all have a choice about whether or not to believe in God and accept the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf. Those who believe and accept will spend eternity with God in Paradise, those who don’t will spend eternity without God in Hell. This is indeed a comforting thought when pondering our own eternal destiny. However, when we consider the fate of friends and loved ones who have chosen to reject God it is a reality that is painful far beyond what could be described as discomforting. Finally, let’s consider the historicity of the Christian Worldview. The Bible enjoys extensive support from anthropology, archaeology, biology, geology, history and literature. The field of textual criticism also supports the biblical narrative as do extra biblical texts including many of the opposing viewpoint. At the core of the Christian Worldview is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The minimal facts argument developed by Gary Habermas for the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus is one of the greatest, most solid arguments ever made on the topic. (Read the argument and watch the videos here.) We all know that truth is not always comfortable. The myriad of supporting evidence tells us that the Christian Worldview is true, and that it’s not always comfortable. By: R. T.
Denying the existence of God is the reason for a question like this. When truth is uncomfortable for someone they often choose to belittle it and the people who hold this truth to be valid. God does exist and can be seen in all creation. Criticizing Christians for their beliefs is an easy way to write off God and eliminate the need to follow His laws which allows unbelievers to live life the way they choose without feeling bad about their poor choices. This way of characterizing Christians was promoted by Sigmund Freud and Thomas Nagel. In his book, The Future of an Illusion, Freud wrote: “They are illusions, fulfilments of the oldest, strongest, and most urgent wishes of mankind... As we already know; the terrifying impression of helplessness in childhood aroused the need for protection – for protection through love – which was provided by the father.... Thus the benevolent rule of divine providence allays our fear of the dangers of life.” This seems to indicate that Christians are inferior in most every way so they create God to help themselves through life. Christians need protection and to be emotionally coddled. 2 Timothy 1:7 says: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” God has provided the answer to Freud’s text, Christian’s are given a sound mind through faith in Him and the Holy Spirit. We do not need to be coddled! In Nagel’s book, The Last Word, he made it clear that he didn’t want there to be a God: “I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn't just that I don't believe in God and naturally hope that I'm right in my belief. It's that I hope that there is no God! I don't want there to be a God; I don't want the universe to be like that.” I think this clearly shows that he would rather do the things that please himself and deny the existence of God to comfort himself. He indicates that Christians are intelligent and that makes him uncomfortable in his own beliefs. What he doesn’t seem to understand is his way of thinking doesn’t compare to the God of the universe, we see this in Isaiah 55:8-9: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” As Christians we choose to walk by faith in Jesus Christ and to submit our will to His in all things. Submission to God takes strength because we all want to do what pleases ourselves but to submit to God is selflessness. Psalms 128:1 says: “Blessed is every one who fears the Lord, Who walks in His ways.” It is a great joy and honor to submit to our wonderful God and our faith in Him is not a crutch but a blessing beyond measure! |
AuthorA variety of authors will be answering these questions. All answers are verified as truth. Archives
November 2020
Categories
All
|