​           Being a Christian in our modern world can be challenging.  Increasingly, Christian doctrine seems to be at odds with science and our changing social values.  Perhaps you are one of a growing number of Christians who is struggling to reconcile the faith in which you were raised with a creeping sense that all you were taught to believe is logically incoherent and cruel to individuals who are different and just want to live out their lives.  Perhaps you have reached the point where your inner sense of what must be right has led you to believe that Christianity is wrong.
                You would not be the first to walk away from your faith and you most certainly would not be the last.  But before you walk away, I would ask you to take a moment to reflect on what it was you believed before doubt crept in.  What was at the center of your faith?  Was it that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he died on the cross to save you from your sins and that he rose from the dead and promises you eternal life in Heaven with him?  If that was not the center of your faith, then I would submit that you never really were a Christian to begin with.
                But if it was what you believed; I would ask you to consider what you are about to give up.  You are giving up the hope of living forever in Heaven.  I am assuming that you are walking from Christianity to atheism or perhaps “hopeful agnosticism” as some have phrased it.  There is nothing hopeful about agnosticism.  God is indeed merciful, but God requires that you at least believe in him and in his promises.  No reward so great has ever had a bar set so low.  Agnostics like to believe that they can simply keep their options open and that their open-mindedness will be seen as a virtue to gain admittance into whatever the afterlife may be.  For starters, that seems like an awfully risky gamble to take with one’s eternal fate.  I suspect that deep-down, most agnostics like the idea of eternal life in paradise, but they do not like the cost of admission.  More on that in a moment.
                As for atheism, to fully embrace atheism one must accept the fact that there is no uniqueness to us as individuals.  We are merely inconsequential collections of matter that will decompose and be recycled into other collections of matter.  If you are walking toward atheism, you are walking away from any meaning as an individual.  All your hopes and dreams have no meaning in the grand scheme of things.  Your grand decision to leave behind your faith was just a random firing of electronic pulses in a carbon-based lifeform that will cease to exist forever when it expires.  But perhaps you have so fully embraced evolutionary science that you have resigned yourself to this cold reality.  Of course, accepting this reality should lead one to question other aspects of one’s life.  Why does a particular song move you?  Why do you care so passionately about whether a certain sports team wins or loses?  Why do you strive toward any achievement that is as equally as meaningless as you would claim striving to please a non-existent god is?  Perhaps your reality is colder than you think.
                If your doubts started the more you learned about science, it begs the question, did you ever believe in miracles?  One cannot be a Christian without believing in miracles.  The greatest miracle of all being that Jesus rose from the dead.  Why is it that the resurrection of Jesus was never a stumbling block for you, but the assertion that God created the universe and everything in it in six days is?  Well science proves the universe evolved over billions of years; you would say.  And what does science have to say about someone rising from the dead?
                My point is that for most people, it is the Creation story and not the Resurrection story that acts as the wedge between them and their faith.  Most of us want to believe in the Resurrection – the possibility of life after death.  It is also an area in theology where Christianity has stood firm, unlike the Creation story in which Christianity has attempted to strike some middle ground between the claims of evolutionary science and the Biblical account (i.e. redefining what “days” mean, suggesting that God created through evolution, etc.).  I would venture that when Christianity attempts to bend to the theory of evolution (and I would remind you despite the insistence its adherents make to its certainty, it is still only scientifically classified as a theory and not a proven scientific law) instead of standing firm on the miraculous power of God it loses credibility.
                I choose to stand firm on the miraculous power of God.  For me, the God that had the power to carry out the Resurrection also had the power to create the universe in six days.  Why would I think otherwise?  And if you too believed in the Resurrection despite its obvious scientific impossibility, why would you doubt that God could also do the scientifically impossible regarding creation?  Do you place limits on the power of God?  If you do, then again, I would say you never really were a Christian.
                But perhaps you would argue that there is so much evidence available to point to the fact that the earth is far older than the Bible claims it to be.  You would point to the fossil record and scientific dating methods.  I can point to flaws in all of that, but I would encourage you to do your own research and decide for yourself.  Look up “Answers in Genesis”, “Genesis Apologetics”, and “Is Genesis History” on YouTube and watch some of the videos.  It is the least you can do before walking away from a God who loves you and offers you eternal life.  The following is a link to a particularly compelling YouTube movie from “Is Genesis History”:
https://youtu.be/UM82qxxskZE
                It is here that I would like to make a point about searching for truth.  It is ok to have doubts.  But one must be honest in one’s pursuit of the answers.  More to the point, are you really looking for answers or are you looking for excuses to either justify your own behavior or your own desire to fit in with the culture around you?  You might never find the truth if you allow an agenda to guide you.
                It could be that you might never find exact evidence to absolutely prove the Creation Story.  But if you find enough evidence to cast some doubt on the facts surrounding evolution, shouldn’t God get the benefit of the doubt?  If there is a chance that there is a God who created you and loves you and sent his only son to die to give you eternal life, isn’t that a chance worth believing in as opposed to clinging to the chance that it is all a lie and that life is without meaning and there is no existence after death?
                Earlier I made a remark about agnostics being unwilling to pay the “cost of admission” into Heaven.  This ties into one’s motivations for seeking the truth about God.  Many Christians fall into agnosticism because they do not want to be tied to the moral code of Christianity – a code that is increasingly at odds with the evolving standards of our current culture.  Some people have genuine concerns over Christianity’s perceived harsh and intolerant view of homosexuals and those struggling with gender identity.  Others, quite frankly, just want to fit in, and these days culture is more embracing of someone who claims an open-minded “possibility of an undefined nonjudgmental higher power” than it is of someone who “clings” to traditional Christian values.
                I do not mean to diminish the strong pull of the desire to fit in.  The world can be a cold and unkind place when you feel lonely and rejected.  But that is why God has enabled us to have such a personal relationship with him.  He claims us as his children.  He sent his son to die for us.  He sent the Holy Spirit to comfort us.  If the desire for popularity or a wider circle of friends and influence  means more to you than what God is offering, then I do not know what to say to you, except that I hope you reconsider your point of view.
                And if homosexuality and gender identity are the wedges that have separated you from Christianity, I would ask you why would a God who has shown the ultimate love for us through the sacrifice of Jesus, take such a seemingly unreasonable stance against people who are just living out the feelings they think they were born with?  I would first ask if your turning away from God stems from the fact that because you view this as such a contradiction, God therefore cannot exist or if it stems from a more general unwillingness to believe in a god who would have such rules.  If you hold the latter view, then you are on some very perilous ground, for unless you are absolutely certain that God does not exist, there remains the possibility that whether or not his rules are just or unjust in your eyes, they are the rules of the creator of the universe and of the being that holds your eternal fate in his hands.  Sexual freedom might seem like a hill worth dying on when you are in the prime of your youth, but when you reach a point where you are forced to truly confront your eternal existence, you might find a new perspective.
                But is God being unreasonable when it comes to these matters?  Can you for one moment perhaps entertain the idea that a loving God perhaps has loving reasons to discourage homosexuality and the redefining of genders?  Could it be that there is a greater, better plan that he has and that homosexuality and gender confusion prevent those who engage in such lifestyles from living out that plan and reaching their full potential for both God and themselves?  Would you not concede that if God truly does exist, he knows far more than all of us?  Would you presume that the area of sexuality is the one area where you know more than him?  Have you considered that maybe when it comes to these issues of sexuality we are collectively behaving like the rebellious teenager who constantly rolls their eyes at their parents, only to find out that their parents knew best after all.  Was there ever anything you were so certain you were right about, only to find out that your parents actually were right after all?
                And just like the parent of a teenager, God loves us despite our constant rebellions and insufferable know-it-all attitudes.  But just like a teenager, if we choose to run away, we put ourselves at great risk.  We find that being all on our own is not all we thought it would be.  We find that even though we gave up Christian values, people still have other reasons to judge us and we still do not fit in as much as we had hoped.  We find the pleasures of pursuing the lifestyle of our choice ultimately pale against the gnawing dread of the possibility of what awaits when this life ends.
                There are four possibilities when you die.  The first is that you have spent your life failing to follow the true god.  Upon death you will face whatever punishment that god has for unbelievers.  The second is that there is no god.  If that is the case, then nothing you have done in this life matters.  You will not feel a sense of satisfaction for having gotten away with not following the rules of various religions nor will you feel a sense of regret over pleasures that were forgone in the name of obeying a god.  You will simply cease to exist.  The third possibility is that there really is some universal, undefined, higher power that will welcome all of us into a wonderful eternity regardless of what we have done or believed while living out our lives.  This is wishful thinking at its most ambitious.  The fourth possibility is that you have followed the true god and upon death you will receive the reward for those who believe.  The reward varies depending on the religion.
                As you review these possibilities you will see that the only one that really matters is failing to choose to follow the true god.  If there is no god, it does not matter what you do.  Likewise, if there is an all-accepting higher power, it does not matter what you believe or if you believe in anything at all.  But if there is a specific god with specific requirements for entering eternal life, there is nothing more important in this life than meeting those requirements.  Sexuality is not more important.  Fitting in is not more important.  The theories of human scientists are not more important.  Nothing is more important than doing what is necessary to please the god that holds your fate in his hands.
                But you might say that doing what is right is more important.  After all, Muslims think that killing unbelievers is what is necessary to please their god.  If Allah truly is god, then what they are doing is right.  If they are worshipping the wrong god, then they are wrong.  If there is no god, then it does not matter because if there is no god, nothing we do in this life matters.  If there is an all-accepting higher power, what they do does not matter either because there are no eternal consequences for their misguided violence.  They will be excused for their mistaken beliefs and receive the same eternal fate as everyone else.
                The human sensibility of what is “wrong” is the lie at the very heart of the Fall of Man.  God defines what is right and what is wrong.  His definition is not arbitrary or capricious.  It stems from his omniscience.  Because he knows everything, he knows the outcome of every action, therefore he knows which actions bring good results and which actions bring harmful or evil results.  Adam and Eve sought this knowledge when they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  But what they were really doing was attempting to establish their own authority to decide what was right or wrong, apart from God’s will.  God said that it was wrong to eat from the tree, but Eve, with some persuasion from Satan via the serpent, justified the action as right in her own eyes and overrode the command of God.  Likewise, Adam listened to Eve’s persuasion over the command of God and justified the action as right in his mind.
                Does this sound familiar?  In our current culture we are faced with commands from God.  We are also confronted with persuasive voices, tugging on our own notions of what is “right”.  Adam and Eve lost their place in paradise for following what they thought was “right”.  Are you so convinced in your perception of what is “right” that you would turn away from eternal paradise?
                God asks so little from us.  For Adam and Eve, he simply asked that out of all the plentiful trees in the beautiful paradise of Eden that they stay away from one tree.  He asked them to trust him when he said that tree would bring them harm.  He is asking you to trust him.  Trust that he loves you and wants the best for you.  His rules might not make sense to you, just as Adam and Eve could not conceive how the fruit from one tree could be so dangerous.  All God wants is your trust and your love.  He sent his son Jesus to die to wipe away all of your mistakes and all of the times that you might have struggled to trust him and follow his rules – rules that he put in place to help you lead a happy and fulfilling life.  Jesus died to save us from facing the separation from God that Adam and Eve faced when they followed their own ideas of what was right instead of following God.  Adam and Eve were forced to walk away from the paradise of Eden.  God has placed an eternal paradise before you if you would just trust in him.  I would ask you to consider trusting him before you walk away.
One final note – many Christians lose faith after suffering a great tragedy in their lives.  They cannot reconcile how a good and all-powerful God could allow such terrible things to happen in the world.  Perhaps that is the case with you.  The following is a link to an earlier post I wrote about my own experience with tragedy: http://jjbpost.com/blog/when-your-stars-fall-from-the-sky  I hope it brings you some comfort and perspective.  Perhaps the best answer to this question can be found in C.S. Lewis’s book The Problem of Pain.  If you are struggling with your faith for any reason, my hope is that you will hold on a bit longer and seek out reasons to believe.  The hope and peace of Christ are far greater than any promises this world has to offer.

​This post is intended for non-Christians, former Christians who have fallen away, or those of you who have friends or loved ones that fall into one of those groups and are looking for a way to reach out to them.  I would ask that you suspend all your doubts or negative views of Christianity for a moment and thoughtfully consider the proposition I am about to make.
 
Picture living forever in a place with no pain, no sadness, and no death.  A place where you are united with all those you love.  A place where you can realize your full potential.  If it was possible that such a place existed, is that something worth believing?  Or are you so very certain that such a place is impossible that you are willing to forego the opportunity to live in eternal joy and fulfillment and instead welcome the belief that all of your hopes, dreams, desires, and memories are merely meaningless constructs that will be forever extinguished the moment you die?
 
If you are at least willing to entertain the idea that such a place could exist, would you want to know how to get there?  If I told you that there was only one way to get there, would you want to know that way?  Or would you be so offended that there is just one way instead of multiple ways that you would abandon the idea of living forever in paradise and instead embrace a future of eternal nothingness?
 
If you are willing to accept the possibility that there is only one way to get to this wonderful place, would you be willing to follow that path?  Well that depends, you might say.  What exactly do I have to do?  My response would be, if the destination is as I described – eternal life in paradise – is there anything you wouldn’t do?
 
If I told you that you had to believe in a god, would you be willing to do it?  Perhaps the idea of a god just seems so ridiculous to you in our modern world.  If you were to create a god, what kind of god would you create?  Would it be a god that gave you free will to make your own choices, even if it meant choosing to not believe in him?  Would it be a god who knew everything and shared that knowledge by giving you rules to prevent you from hurting yourself and hurting others?  Would it be a god who even when you broke those rules or turned away from him completely, gave you a way to restore your relationship with him?  And what if that way was not some terrible price that you had to pay, but instead a price that was paid for you – a god that would sacrifice his own son to restore your place in the kingdom of God?  And what if this Son of God would make the sacrifice willingly because he too loved you so much that he would suffer in your place?  Is this not a god worth believing in?  Is this philosophy not superior to a cold fatalism of logic without hope?  Is this religion not superior to an egocentric hedonism that pursues pleasure without honor?  If the story of our universe was a movie, would not this be much more moving and stirring than anything else that could be imagined?
 
If all you had to do to live forever in paradise was to believe that Jesus, the Son of God, died to give you your place in this glorious kingdom of God, could you find it in yourself to do it?  This belief is all that it takes.  It does not require any immediate action or change on your part.  If God wants you to act or change, he will work in your heart to bring about those changes and he will help you every step of the way.  The only thing he wants is for you to believe in him.  To believe that he loves you and for you to love him in return.
 
Or perhaps you think that this is all too much to ask.  If it is, then you are free to not believe in any of this.  But if there is a chance these things might be true and the cost of believing is so little, isn’t it worth believing?

​We live in a world where increasing emphasis is being placed on self-affirmation.  We have made ourselves the center of our own universe and anything that challenges our constructs of self-worth is rejected, viciously fought against, and expelled to the outer void.  Nothing is safe from banishment.  Not truth.  Not centuries of accepted tradition.  Not religious doctrine.  Not scientific facts.

In a world ruled by self-affirmation, identity is king.  But more and more people are seeking their identity in all the wrong places.  They seek it in race.  They seek it in sexual preference.  They seek it gender identity.  They seek it in political affiliation.

But these identities alone don’t bring fulfillment.  And hence we must contrive grievances.  No failure is our own – it is the result of a bias against our identity group.  We inflate our self-importance by fighting for our group – and this battle can never end, because the day we declare victory we lose our excuses, we lose our preferred status as a marginalized group.  And so, we perpetuate a cycle of conflict that grows ever more vicious and ever more detached from reality.  And despite it all, the ultimate fulfillment we seek remains elusive.

But there is an identity that brings ultimate fulfillment.  It is an identity that we all can claim because it is our true identity.  This identity requires no excuses for our failures.  It requires no imagined conflicts to boost our egos.  It is the greatest identity any living being can claim.

It is the identity of being made in the image of God.  It is the identity of being placed in the world for the sole purposes of loving and being loved.  It is an identity that recognizes that we all fail but that our worth is so great that God sent his only son to die to redeem us and wipe away every one of our failures – no matter how great.  It is an identity that is eternal.  It is not extinguished by death.  It lives on forever, in perfected form in fellowship with the loving God who created it.
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Is not this identity far superior to any of the ones we have contrived?  Is not being a child of the one true God better than being one of an infinite number of genders?  Is not a place in an eternal paradise better than a spot on a float in a gay pride parade?  Is not allegiance to the Lord of all creation better than loyalty to a corrupt political party?
You can claim this identity at any time simply by surrendering your failed identity to God.  The choice is yours.  You can continue to seek fulfillment in all the wrong places, or you can find true fulfillment in the one who created your true, unique identity.

It has become fashionable for some Christian ministers to refrain from engaging in cultural battles.  I am sure they are well-intentioned, believing that taking stands on controversial issues can drive away the very people we are trying to draw toward Christ.  There is indeed a fine line between fighting against the detrimental impact sin can have on a society and being perceived as too judgmental or worse yet, hypocritical.

One thing that should be clear is that Jesus did set a precedent for confronting the culture of his day.  Too many people focus on his fellowship with sinners and outcasts and mistakenly think that he either condoned what some might think of as the worst aspects of his culture, or at least was willing to tolerate them.  The truth is, he held a different opinion of what the worst aspects of his culture were. 

A corruption had taken hold in the priesthood.  The leaders to whom the people looked for spiritual guidance had become hypocrites and abusers of power.  They had so lost sight of God that they couldn’t even recognize his son when he stood before them.  The fact that there were so many sinners for Jesus to associate with was an indictment on their spiritual leadership.

I would submit that the current state of our society is an indictment on the spiritual leadership of our age.  Before we talk about protesting a Drag Queen Story Hour event or boycotting a channel for showing a commercial with a gay wedding, we need to ask ourselves how did we get to this point?  How did a country that had a vast majority of Christians when this slide began, and continues to have a majority, end up at a point where we have men dressed up as hyper-sexualized women holding court in our public libraries reading stories to our children?  How did we end up with an infinite number of genders, “men” who get pregnant, and advocacy for abortion up to the very moment of birth (and in some cases after)?

None of this could have reached the level of normalization it has without the considerable participation of Christians.  This begs the question, where were Christian leaders - from televangelists to local pastors - when Christians were making these decisions that have so devastatingly shaped our culture?  I have my suspicions.  I suspect they were preaching a prosperity gospel – a give and get rich and healthy scheme.  Or perhaps they were busy guiding their congregation through yet another 5-part self-help clinic disguised as a sermon.

I am not against providing sound Christian counseling to help Christians get through the problems they confront in their lives.  But that is not what the pulpit is for.  Such topics should be reserved for one-on-one sessions, or small groups.  More prominent Christian leaders can and have written books on such topics.

The pulpit is the place where a minister should be engaged in two things: 1. Educating the congregation on the word of God and 2. Revealing what God’s word says about how Christians should navigate the world in which they live.  Too many ministers these days wrongly assume that their congregations are all diligently reading their Bibles and have a divine revelation as to how it all should play out in their lives.  The Bible can be complicated.  It can raise as many questions as it answers.  People need guidance and not everyone is going to take the time to attend a Bible study or adult Sunday School class.  A pastor needs to take advantage of the little time he has in front of his congregation to maximize the advancement of God’s will.  This means properly anchoring Christians in their faith and equipping them to effectively share their faith with others.

A pastor does not need to use his sermon to rally his congregation to march in front of an abortion clinic.  But a pastor does need to tell his congregation in no uncertain terms that abortion is wrong and that a Christian must not support it in any form.  A pastor doesn’t need to lead a protest in front of a library hosting Drag Queen Story hour.  But a pastor does need to tell his congregation that such an event is not something that Christians should participate in.

The fact is, there are too many Christians in positions of power that are making decisions from a position of Biblical ignorance.  Every day there are Christian women walking into abortion clinics.  Christians performing abortions.  Christian politicians voting to fund abortion clinics.  Christian voters voting for pro-abortion candidates.  Many of these Christians may go to church most Sundays.  Are they hearing anything there that pricks their conscience?  Most likely not.  It is easier to tell your congregation what God can do for them than it is to tell them what is expected of them, and for a Christian that means a rather lofty standard of conduct.  None of us can consistently meet that standard and that is ok.  That is why Jesus died to save us from our sins.  But we as Christians need to hold each other accountable – not in a condemning way, but in a way that reinforces each other and strengthens us when we feel week.  And if we should fall, we help each other up.

What we cannot do is enable each other and society at large.  And that starts at the pulpit.  Pastors need to be very aware that there is a vast marketing network that is at odds with Christian values.  Most Christians spend at most an hour or so in a church setting.  The rest of the time they are immersed in the world.  The pressure to fit in is enormous.  And when sin is deceitfully cloaked in love and compassion it is easy to find oneself on the wrong side of a moral issue.  It is the duty of Christian leaders to provide clarity.  Not so that their congregations can go out into the world and tell people how to lead their lives, but so that the members of their congregation know how to properly lead their own lives.
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If a Christian truly works to live a life that lines up with the will of God and works to lead others to Christ (in a graceful and unjudging way) society will be better for it.  But it starts with understanding what it means to lead a Christian life.  And that starts at the pulpit, with ministers who are willing to speak the truth to their congregations, even if it causes an uncomfortable confrontation with the culture of our time.

At this year’s Golden Globes Awards, actress Michelle Williams won a best actress award and used her acceptance speech to give what many are calling a passionate “pro-choice” message.  In essence she said that her choice to abort her unborn child enabled her to stay on the career track that led to her accomplishment.

There is no doubt that having a child is a life altering experience.  Even if you decide to give the child up for adoption, the act of bringing a child to term can sidetrack aspects of your life.  And if you keep the child and raise him or her, the changes and sacrifices you must make are even more profound, especially if it occurs in a time in your life when you are not prepared for it.

When a woman becomes pregnant, she is faced with an inevitable act of sacrifice.  She must either decide to sacrifice aspects of her future – her time, her career, a lifestyle to which she has grown accustomed - or she must sacrifice the entire future of her child by denying him or her entrance into this world.

In a perfect world, women would only get pregnant when they are ready to make the sacrifices in their own lives that are necessary to raise a child.  But we do not live in a perfect world.  And because we don’t and because, quite frankly, we are becoming an increasingly selfish and self-centered culture, women have become comfortable choosing instead to sacrifice their unborn children.

I don’t mean to imply that men are blameless in this.  Men have become every bit as selfish, if not more.  Our culture has enabled men to treat women like sex objects, satisfying their primal desires with no hint of responsibility.  We have somehow let men off the hook when it comes to sacrifice and that has made the burden on women all the greater.

In her moment of triumph, Michelle Williams revealed the tragedy of our time.  While there are many who disagree with my perspective, I can’t help but picture a much more compelling acceptance speech.  One that takes place on an alternate timeline, years from now, when the child Michelle Williams had instead chose to let live accepts a similar award and thanks her mother for sacrificing her career so that this child could grow up to achieve a moment of greatness.
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But alas, Michelle Williams exercised her right to choose.  And she chose to sacrifice someone else’s future instead of affecting her own.

As we start a new year, many of us will begin carrying out the resolutions we have made.  For some of us that means sticking to an exercise program.  For others, it means eating a healthy diet.  These are all worthy endeavors.  However, I would encourage you to examine your spiritual life and consider what you could do to improve it in the coming year.

Are you a Christian who has a sinful habit you just can’t shake?  I would encourage you to begin a serious daily prayer regiment and seek the support of fellow believers whom you trust.  Sin brings separation from God.  Fighting the sin in your life will bring you closer to God and as such there can be no better goal for the new year.

Another worthy resolution would be to share the message of Christ with others this year.  This can take many forms.  I am by nature a shy person, so my evangelizing most often is done through writing, although I am striving to become a better communicator so that I can in turn become a better messenger for Christ.  One of the most important ways to draw people to Christ is to lead a life that reflects his message.  A life defined by grace, charity and love opens the door for conversations that will enable you to share the reason for the life you lead.
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There are people in your life that you know need to hear the message of Christ.  I would implore you not to wait until it is too late to share the message.  There is no greater kindness that you can do for someone than to guide them to Christ, and as Christians, we have no more important duty in our lives than to carry out this mission.

On Christmas Day, I received perhaps the greatest gift I have ever received.  A family member told me that he had given his life to God.  There is no greater joy than knowing that you have played a role in not only changing the current life of someone but helping to unite them with the one who will give them eternal life.  To replace the grave doubt of wondering what will become of a loved one when they die with the certainty of knowing you will see them in Heaven is a wonderful thing.

So as you begin this New Year, I would encourage you to resolve to lead a live that serves God and to share his message of salvation with a renewed purpose.  In doing so, you might make this not only a life-changing year, but perhaps an eternity-changing year for others.
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And if you are reading this and you do not believe in God, or are wavering in your faith, I would encourage you to make this the year when you turn to him.  His earnest desire is that no one should be lost or perish.  He calls us all to be with him and is waiting to welcome you with open arms.  There is nothing you have done that he will not forgive.  There is no limit to his mercy and no end to his love.  All you need to do is accept the gift of salvation that God has given to us all through the sacrifice of his son Jesus Christ.  This gift is free for all who would take it.  Will you continue to leave this gift unclaimed or will you resolve to make this the year you claim that gift and change your destiny forever?

In its purest form, Christmas is the celebration of God sending his son Jesus into this world in mortal form to live a perfect life, making him worthy to give his life to save the human race from sin and death.  It was God’s amazing plan to bring reconciliation after Adam and Eve brought sin and death into the world by disobeying God.

But we now live in a world that has doubled-down on the grave mistake made by Adam and Eve.  They may have brought sin into the world, but we have embraced it, or worse yet, denied that it exists.  Some of us have made it a lifestyle choice, throwing parades for it.  Others maintain it as an unspoken, but ever-present part of their lives.

We all sin, that is why Jesus admonished us not to judge others.  But the absence of judgment is not intended to be a system of enabling, where I help to make you feel more comfortable in your sin and you in turn help me feel more comfortable in mine.  Sin is separation from God and there is nothing worse than being separated from God.  There is no greater harm you can do to your neighbor than to assist in the act of separating him or her from God.

Some would argue sin is an arcane concept, unfit for our modern world.  I would submit that God’s rules all serve a purpose, whether it be to protect our health, our relationships, or the well-being of society.  God is not a killjoy who punishes us for breaking his arbitrary rules.  His rules are not arbitrary.  They are intended to prevent us from suffering harmful consequences.

But now too many of us have decided which rules should continue to apply and which are outdated.  If some sins are no longer sins, then why should anything continue to be called a sin?  Perhaps your particular sin just has the misfortune of not having a compelling enough PR campaign or has yet to reach the point where it can be exploited for political gain.

And as we continue to give ourselves absolution for our sins by simply agreeing among ourselves that something is no longer sin, we diminish the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross.  If your sins really aren’t sins anymore, just the nature with which you were born, then did Jesus really do anything of value for you?

If we can lobby each other to erase the stigma of sin, do we really need a savior?  And if we don’t need a savior, what is left to celebrate at Christmas?  One could even say that the Christmas message is harmful, for it implies that some people have lived in a way that requires a savior.  Perhaps it would be better to ignore Christmas altogether so that we don’t run the risk of making each other feel uncomfortable.
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Or maybe, just maybe, we can agree to stop fooling ourselves and each other and truly embrace the message of Christmas – that we all need a savior and God graciously provided us with one.

​If you’ve gone through the public education system you have most likely been taught that life began in some kind of “Primordial Soup” whereby lightning struck a body of water containing the chemicals essential for life and set off a chain reaction that led to the first living organism.  From there mutations over billions of years incrementally increased the complexity and diversity of life.  The concept of “Natural Selection” holds that creatures with traits best suited for survival endured and passed on those traits, while weaker creatures died off.  In short, the Theory of Evolution would have you believe that through a random series of events over billions of years, a group of lifeless chemicals evolved into highly intelligent beings capable of designing computers and developing artificial intelligence.
 
There are several problems with this theory.  The first is the question of time.  Creationists are presenting an increasingly convincing case that the Earth is not nearly as old as Evolutionists claim.  I will discuss this more in a future post about The Great Flood.  But even granting them the billions of years they say their theory requires, they still face the problem of statistical probability.  The complexity of even a single living cell is such that the odds of a random process forming each structure and then organizing them in such a way as to allow the cell to properly function are so infinitesimally small as to be virtually impossible.
 
One must also ask the question why this spontaneous leap in complexity only occurs with organic materials.  If a highly complex human being can be produced after billions of years of evolution, why is it that a computer microprocessor did not form on its own?
 
And what of the claim that subtle mutations led to the advancement in complexity through Natural Selection?  Observational science reveals that mutations take away genetic information, they do not add to it.  Mutations can account for variations within a species – for example, it is reasonable to believe that modern dogs, wolves, and foxes all came from a common ancestor.  This is also consistent with the Bible, which says that God created all creatures according to their kind.  God created a wolf/dog “kind” and through subsequent generations of interbreeding and mutations we have the variety of creatures we see today within that species.
 
But observational science offers no proof of mutations adding genetic information.  This is important because all living creatures are based on information.  If mutations do not add information, then you can never have a less complex creature evolve into a more complex creature.
 
The way mutations behave is consistent with the Second Law of Thermodynamics which essential states that systems become less organized over time.  As creatures reproduce there exists the potential for genetic information to become corrupted and for some information to be lost.  This is consistent with what genetic scientists have observed.
 
If the way mutations behave is consistent with a scientific law and consistent with what can be observed, then why are Evolutionists claiming that mutations have behaved in the exact opposite way over the course of billions of years?  They do so because they must.  Their entire theory hinges on simple organisms becoming more complex over time.  So they are willing to contradict, or reinterpret scientific law and replace observational science with theoretical science.  And it is here that you see a disturbing trend among Evolutionists – the suborning of scientific law to prop up theories and tremendous stretches in logic to reach a preconceived conclusion.
 
Occam’s Razor is the principle that the simplest solution is often the correct one.  Everything we’ve learned about genetics and biology points to an intelligent design.  We have ancient manuscripts that have been preserved and reprinted throughout history that describe a process whereby a being designed the universe and everything in it.  Those same manuscripts contain prophecies that have proven to have come true and historical events that are becoming increasingly confirmed through archeological finds.  So one must ask oneself what is the simplest answer?  Is it a highly improbably leap in complexity followed by successive mutations behaving in the exact opposite way mutations would be expected to behave taking life from assorted chemicals to modern humans in billions of years?  Or is it that life is a result of an intelligent design by a creator God whose actions were documented in a book that generations have accepted as truth, including some of history’s most prominent scientific minds?
 
If given the choice between whether your smart phone was the result of an intelligent design created by a human or the result of random chemicals joining and then being struck by lightning, which would you choose?  Hopefully, the answer is obvious to you.  Then why would anyone believe that the being that created the smart phone was the result of the very process you deem impossible to have created the phone?  If the conditions by which evolution is claimed to have occurred could not have resulted in the creation of a smart phone (or even the box your smart phone came in) then how could they possibly have created an infinitely more complex human being?
 
The debate between Evolution and Creation is one that hinges on morality.  Creationists are transparent in where they stand on the issue.  We believe that God created the universe and we have entered the scientific debate to provide counter-arguments to theories that are being pushed as fact by those whose primary goal is to destroy the concept of God.  Evolutionists portray themselves as purely scientific, but there is a sizeable contingent among them that have a moral ax to grind.  That is why they cling to Darwinism with a sort of religious fervor.  That is why they will compromise scientific law and logic to keep the theory alive.  That is why they fight every attempt to put Intelligent Design on an equal footing with Evolution in the classrooms.  Their goal is not to find the best answer to explain our origins.  Their goal is to promote an answer that removes God as the source of our origins.  They do this because Evolution means no God and no God means no consequences for the way they lead their lives.
 
Unfortunately, despite having a compelling case to present for Creation, we are losing this fight – and it is a fight for Christianity in America.  The theories that are being presented as facts to our children in school are undermining their faith in Christ.  Today we are seeing a growing number of young people abandoning their faith as they enter their twenties.  One of the main reasons for this is the perceived incompatibility between the scientific theories they are being taught and the creation story in the Bible.  We are already seeing the ramifications of the cultural shift away from Christianity in the form of increasing immorality and increasing hostility toward Christianity.  This means that unless the trend is reversed, the next generation of young people will grow up in a society that has even stronger forces to pull them away from their faith.
 
Do not assume that your children will grow up to be Christian adults because you read the Bible to them and take them to Sunday School.  You need to educate yourself so that you can be an effective advocate for Creationism.  Do not expect someone else to properly inform them.  Answers in Genesis and Kent Hovind have many free videos on YouTube to help you begin the process of learning more about the case for Creationism.

The Big Bang Theory is the secular scientific explanation for the origin of the universe.  It is what is taught in schools across America as the absolute truth of how the universe was formed.  The theory holds that the universe came into existence suddenly out of nothing as a singularity 13.7 billion years ago. A singularity is defined as a zone of infinite density.  It is a point where gravitational pressure is so great that finite matter is compressed into infinite density.  This point is infinitesimally small and infinitely hot.  The theory cannot explain where this singularity came from or what existed before it.  Some have claimed that it came from nothing.
 
Right from the start this makes the Big Bang Theory an inadequate explanation.  Proponents of the theory are left with the gaping hole of being unable to explain from where this singularity came that started everything.  And for those who claim it simply came from nothing, that poses an even greater problem.
 
The First Law of Thermodynamics states that matter cannot be created nor destroyed.  Matter can only be converted into other matter.  Simply put, something cannot come from nothing.  This is a scientific law.  The hierarchy of the scientific method goes from hypothesis, to theory, to law.  Honest science would dictate that any hypothesis or theory that violates a law is flawed and therefore one must start over and develop a new hypothesis and build a new theory.  But instead, Big Bang Theory proponents have brushed off this contradiction by claiming that scientific laws themselves evolved and are not necessarily applicable at the start of the universe.  So it is ok for scientists to bend the rules of science to accommodate their explanation for the universe, but they afford absolutely no such accommodations to creationism (not that creationism necessarily violates true science).
 
There are three main problems with the Big Bang Theory that even scientists admit.  First is their inability to find magnetic monopoles in nature.  Scientists realize that the immense force of the Big Bang should have created an abundance of particles with only one magnetic pole (a magnetic monopole).  The problem is they have been unable to observe any such particles in nature.
 
The second problem is the Flatness Problem.  Almost all observational evidence indicates that the universe is flat, like a piece of paper on a table.  This means that the universe must have started at a point of extreme flatness with no curvature, because even the slightest curvature would have been amplified over the vast age scientists claim the universe to have.  This is important, because if the curvature of the universe was just a few percent off from perfect flatness within a few seconds after the Big Bang the universe would have either expanded so much that it would seem to be devoid of matter or re-collapsed before fusion ever began.  However, the probability that the universe started out at such a fine-tuned extremity is very low, which makes the claim that the universe is 13.7 billion years old questionable, to say the least.
 
The third problem is the Horizon Problem.  The observable temperature of photons in all regions of the universe is the same, based on what we’ve been able to measure thus far.  This is problematic, because one would expect significant temperature differences since the regions are separated by distances greater than any temperature transferring signal, including light, could have traveled in the time since the universe began.
 
Scientists have attempted to explain away the Flatness and Horizontal problems by creating the concept of inflation.  This concept holds that early on, the universe experienced a time of ultra-fast expansion.  This ultra-fast inflation would have expanded away any large-scale curvature of the universe, thus explaining why it is flat.  They also claim that the temperatures of the various parts of the universe reached equilibrium while they were close together before being pushed apart by the ultra-fast expansion, thus explaining the uniformity of temperature throughout the universe.
 
However, there are problems with the concept of inflation.  First, it requires conditions outside of known physics.  It requires a high density of energy that gravitationally self-repels.  This enhances expansion and causes it to speed up.  The problem is this inflationary energy is purely hypothetical and there is no direct evidence that it exists.
 
Another problem is that once inflation starts, it is impossible to stop.  This would result in a multiverse with an infinite number of universes.
 
Perhaps the biggest problem though, is that for inflation to have occurred requires conditions that would have been fine-tuned to a highly improbably degree – even greater than the improbability of the fine-tuning required for the Flatness problem it attempts to solve.
 
There are other problems with cosmic evolution including galaxies, planets, and moons rotating in different directions, the existence of comets that should have died out long ago, and spiral galaxies that indicate a universe much younger than claimed, just to name a few.  If you are interested in learning more about the flaws in cosmic evolution, I would encourage you to view the work done by Answers in Genesis and the Origins program on the Cornerstone Television Network – videos from both are available for free on YouTube.
 
The overarching theme regarding the Big Bang theory, and cosmic evolution in general, is one of scientists presenting a competing faith model as fact.  They feel free to mock the creationist view of a superior being (who we called God) creating the universe as unscientific but at the same time either compromise scientific laws, engage in highly improbably speculation, or simply make up concepts with no prior grounding in science to cling to a theory.  Faith is something that is meant to be clung to.  Scientific theories are meant to be tested and abandoned if proven unrealistic. 
 
What we are seeing increasingly in modern science as it relates to cosmic evolution is dogmatic thinking more akin to religious fervor than the open-minded, ever-curious attitude upon which modern science was built through sound observational experiments and honest conclusions.  It is just further evidence that when it comes to our origins, we are not engaged in a scientific debate.  We are in a battle of worldviews.  Which is why it is important for Christians to take steps to educate themselves and not trust everything coming from the scientific community at face value.  That’s not to say there are not good and honest scientists.  But we need to recognize that there is an agenda that permeates the field of science and it is an agenda that is against God.
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                “Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.  Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.  And God called the firmament Heaven.  So the evening and the morning were the second day.
                “Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so.  And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas.  And God saw that it was good.
                “Then God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind.  And God saw that it was good.  So the evening and the morning were the third day.
                “Then God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth; and it was so.
                “Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.  He made the stars also.  God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.  So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”
                Genesis 1:6-29
 
The second day of creation sees the creation of “the firmament” to divide the waters above and below.  What is this “firmament”?  It is later described as “the firmament of the heavens” where the sun, moon and stars are fixed.  To understand the firmament, you first need to understand the concept of three heavens.
 
                “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago – whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows – such a one was caught up to the third heaven.  And I know such a man – whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows – how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”
                2 Corinthians 12:2-4
 
These are the words of Paul and it is widely held that the man to whom Paul is referring is himself, most likely after having been stoned and left for dead outside the city of Lystra (Acts 14:19).  The first heaven would be the atmosphere of the Earth.  The second heaven is outer space.  The third heaven is the realm where God resides.  It is what we commonly think of as Heaven.
 
The concept of three heaven’s is critical in understanding the Genesis creation story.  The third heaven is the eternal realm where God resides.  It existed before the Earth and the universe were created and it will continue to exist when the Earth and the universe are destroyed in the future and replaced with a new heaven (universe) and new Earth.  It is a place that exists beyond our reality.
 
That is what makes the six-day creation possible.  God has the ability to take creative elements from beyond reality and insert them into his new creation.  Our minds cannot conceive the technology of God.  There are manufacturing plants throughout the world that can make things in an afternoon that would seem impossible to people who lived a century ago.  So yes, God can make stars, planets, and all manner of plants and animals over the course of a series of days.
 
On the first day God created the Earth and it was surrounded by water.  He then created light.  But this light was not the sun.  The sun was not created until the fourth day.  So what was the source of this light?  The Bible does not say for certain.  But we do know that it says the sun is not necessary for light.  When John is describing the New Jerusalem in Revelation he says:
 
                “There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light.  And they shall reign forever and ever.”
                Revelation 22:5
 
I imagine the source of light in the new creation described in Revelation is the same light that was present at the start of the first creation.  I don’t think that it is a coincidence that God placed the creation of the sun on the fourth day.  Most pagan religions contain an aspect that worships the sun and credits it with the creation of all life on the planet.  God starts creation with a divine light, perhaps the light of his own being.  This appropriately puts the focus of creation on God.
 
On the second day God created the firmament to divide the waters below from the waters above.  A more appropriate interpretation of firmament is expanse.  He created the expanse of outer space to divide the waters.  This left the Earth covered by the waters below.  But what about the waters above?  Some Christians hold to a theory that a canopy of water existed around the Earth and that the collapse of this canopy was at least partly responsible for the Great Flood.  But this theory is problematic in that we are told the sun, moon, and stars are set in the firmament and the firmament divides the waters.  The canopy theory places the celestial bodies on the wrong side of the upper waters.
 
To explain the upper waters, we need to go back to the concept of three heavens.  The only proper explanation for the upper waters is to place them between outer space and the third heaven.  In other words, there is a barrier of water between our mortal world and the eternal realm of Heaven.  It is likely this barrier is in the form of ice.  Consider the following descriptions of Heaven:
 
                “Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal.”
                Revelation 4:6
                “And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God.”
                Revelation 15:2
 
The sea of glass John describes in his vision could actually be ice.  The pattern of the Jewish Temple illustrates a barrier separating the mortal world from the eternal realm of God.  It is comprised of the outer court (representing the first heaven), the inner court (representing the second heaven) and the Holy of Holies (representing the third heaven) which is hidden behind a veil (representing the barrier created by the upper waters).
 
On the third day God gathered the waters on earth into a sea and dry land appeared.  As the land is exposed to the light all manner of plants spring forth.  Again I would point to the unknown technological power of God to create genetic programming for rapid growth and environmental conditions to foster that growth.
 
On the fourth day God created the sun, moon, planets and stars.  I know this is completely counter to everything secular cosmic evolution teaches.  As I stated earlier, God ordered it this way to put the focus on him as creator and not the sun or stars.  You may have heard secular evolutionists claim that we are made from stardust.  This stems from their theory that the elements from which the planets, and eventually life on Earth, were created were formed by fusion that occurred in the cores of stars and then spread throughout the universe as stars exploded.
 
In my next post I will address the flaws in the Big Bang Theory and cosmic evolution.
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