What Would You Say?

I was recently given the pleasure of being asked to respond to three questions for a lady who is taking a world religion course at her school. The questions were all about why I believe what I believe or how I might explain my position.

It made me think of how important it is to have an answer to those questions. And what would you say if you were asked these questions as well?

 Here are the questions you can answer:

1. Tell me about a religious experience you have had that made you who you are today.

 

Most spiritual journeys do not contain some flash of light or “Paul on the Damascus Road” moments. Most are built on a foundation of time or the very simple yet profound message of Jesus Christ and Salvation. My story is just that kind of story. I was raised in a home in which our life in the church was very important. It was a foundation for activity. Still my spiritual growth did not take off until much later. Though my attendance in church was impeccable I did not understand the true gospel message until much later when I was told the true meaning of Jesus Christ and His Saving Grace. It is then that I found out this real understanding. That God created man as an extension of His Glory and for His good pleasure, but man being created to freely choose to love or not love chose to not love by going outside the standard that God set. The true definition of love is seen by God’s creation when they choose to obey the God who created them. Having chosen to go their own way creation was subject then to sin and death b/c the Holy God of the Universe could not endure disobedience. Thus, he proceeds to carry out His plan to save that which through out history would continue to rebel. God seeing that man with every movement of the heart was bent toward sin had to provide restoration that would absolve man from the feeble attempt at reaching God’s Standard on their own power. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “we saved by grace through faith its not by works but by God so that no one can boast.” Having come to an understanding of my own sin and unfortunate destiny b/c of all the things I had done wrong be they large or small I came to an understanding that I needed the shed blood of Jesus Christ to cover my sins and redeem me before a mighty God. By going to the Cross and dying Jesus paid a penalty that I could not pay. Then he rose again the third day to defeat death. This is my story. No “experience” is complete unless a person comes to the realization that they have broken God’s commands just as the first people did and having been proven over and over again through out history that redemption on man’s efforts is futile God has provided a way to be saved, by falling at the feet of the cross seeing that only the gracious substitution in my place for what I have done wrong will save. That is the biggest and most important experience in my life.

 

2. Could you tell me a story or two that might attempt to describe your understanding of an Ultimate Reality or a higher power?

 

1. The first factor that brings me to a conclusion of an ultimate reality is the Bible. God’s Word proven time and time again both spiritually and logically to be inspired of God and from God in everyway. Its words speak practical and spiritual truths that have proved time and again to be the proper bases for a foundation of faith. No other manuscript can boast of its preservation and accuracy as this book. It is only by the maintaining hand of God that such a preservation is possible. The words found in it today are the same found at the very beginning. it is this Word that tells me God is real and the higher power that I rely on for truth.

 

2. The Bible tells us that creation itself testifies that there is a creator. When I see all that is created, despite the reality of the imperfection of sin, we see something that simply cannot be created out of circumstance or accidental occurrences. There is a intelligent hand in the creation we see around us. There must be more to it than happenstance. If we look around and even the simplest of cells or the dna of any animal we soon see there is a code and complexity that makes the smartest of scientist stand in awe of its design. So my mind logically cannot get around anything that is less than a Holy and intelligent God who created with His own power a universe that works in order and pattern. I simply don’t have enough faith to believe in an accidental explosion or nothing at all.

 

3. What might you tell other people about your religious or spiritual experience that is most important to know?

Question one is the best place to go back and answer this question from. There is no other beginning point than for them to begin by knowing there is a loving and caring Creator God who created us, but there is a need for redemption b/c this creation has turned from God. Only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ can one find Salvation from Sin and Death. Our own merit cannot do it, hope that another god might be the answer cannot save us, and we simply cannot rely on the hope that whether we make a decision to be saved or not God will just up and save us. We cannot be fooled into thinking we can just squeak in. If a person learns anything from what I say that is the first thing they should know.