One major excuse
that people use in their refusal to
embrace Christianity concerns hypocrites
in the Church, both past and present.
People like to point to past misdeeds done
in the name of Christ, such as the Spanish
Inquisition, witch trials, and other
horrible acts.
Then, there are the
present-day examples of preachers,
deacons, or church leaders who have been
caught in alcoholism, adulterous
relationships, or some other inconsistency
with what they say they believe. This type
of behavior has led many to say, "If
that’s what Christianity is all about,
then I don’t want any part of it."
It must be admitted that
there has been hypocrisy in the Church,
and today we are not exempt from people
who are hypocritical. A hypocrite is an
actor, one who puts on a false face. He
says one thing but does another.
However, just because the
Church contains hypocrites does not mean
that all Christians are hypocrites. With
every example of hypocrisy that can be
pointed to in the Church, a counter
example can be pointed out showing people
who are living consistently with the
teaching of Jesus Christ.
It is important not to
confuse hypocrisy with sin. All Christians
are sinners, but not all Christians are
hypocrites. There is a misconception that
a Christian is a person who claims that he
does not sin, but the truth is that to
call oneself a Christian is to admit to
being a sinner (I John 1:5–2:2).
All believers, including
the clergy, are fallible human beings who
are prone to all types of sin. Just
because a person is not perfect does not
mean that he is a phony. The distinction
between the two is important. The failures
of the believers do not invalidate the
truth.
Jesus Christ had very
harsh words for people who were committing
the sin of hypocrisy, especially the
religious leaders of His day. He denounced
them in no uncertain terms.
"Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye
compass sea and land to make one
proselyte, and when he is made, ye make
him twofold more the child of hell than
yourselves" (Matthew 23:15, KJV).
People can and do enter
the ministry for the wrong reasons, or
they can compromise the convictions of the
faith. When people do this they are wrong,
and the Bible denounces this clearly.
Christianity does not
stand or fall on the way Christians have
acted throughout history or are acting
today. Christianity stands or falls on the
person of Jesus, and Jesus was not a
hypocrite. He lived consistently with what
He taught, and at the end of His life He
challenged those who had lived with Him
night and day, for over three years, to
point out any hypocrisy in Him.
His disciples were silent,
because there was none. Since Christianity
depends on Jesus, it is incorrect to try
to invalidate the Christian faith by
pointing to horrible things done in the
name of Christianity.
The non-believer cannot be
excused from believing just because it is
possible to point to those who simply
pretend to be what they are not.
Hypocritical Christians cannot be excused
on the basis of not being perfect because
of the terrible effects hypocrisy has.
Let’s look at one
illustration of the reasoning involved in
this question. For example, let’s say
the president of a large car company is
always advertising and telling his friends
that a certain make of car in his company
is the best in the country and the only
car we should be driving.
In fact, a number of
automotive magazines and consumer groups
have backed up some of his claims. But
yet, when you see this man, he is driving
the competition’s leading model!
(Perhaps he likes their colors better.)
You say, what a hypocrite!
If he believed all that stuff about his
car, and he’s in a position to know,
then he’d be driving one. That is
probably true. Yet his being a hypocrite
does not invalidate the claim that
his car may be the best one in the
country.
The same is true of Christianity.
People may claim it’s true, yet have
lives inconsistent with their claim, but
this does not necessarily mean
Christianity is not true.
What
about those who have never heard?
No matter where we go or
what subject we are speaking on, this
question always seems to come up. Many
times it is asked to relieve the
individual of any personal responsibility
to God.
It must be kept in mind,
however, that the answer to this question
does not determine whether Christianity is
true or not. That matter has already been
solved in Jesus Christ by His resurrection
from the dead. The matter of authority has
been solved once and for all, and this
issue of those who haven’t heard is now
merely a matter of interpretation.
The best way to deal with
this question is to state certain truths
that the Scripture make very plain. The
Bible is very clear that no one can come
to God except through Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, "No one
comes to the Father except through
Me" (John 14:6, MLB). The only basis
for forgiveness of sin and life
everlasting is the way made by Jesus. Many
people think this implies that those who
have never heard about Jesus will be
automatically damned. However, we do not
know this is the case.
Although the Scriptures
never explicitly teach that someone who
has never heard of Jesus can be saved, we
do believe that it infers this. We do
believe that every person will have an
opportunity to repent, and that God will
not exclude anyone because he happened to
be born at the wrong place and at the
wrong time.
Jesus said, "If any
man will do his will, he shall know of the
doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether
I speak of myself" (John 7:17, KJV).
The Bible also reveals
that no one has any excuse. "For what
can be known about God is plain to them,
because God has shown it to them. Ever
since the creation of the world his
invisible nature, namely, his eternal
power and deity, has been clearly
perceived in the things that have been
made. So they are without excuse"
(Romans 1:19–20, RSV).
It is a fact that all of
mankind can tell that a creator does
exist, because His creation testifies to
it. This testimony is universal. Although
the people have enough information that
God does exist, they become wilfully
ignorant of the things of God because
their hearts are evil.
The Bible teaches that the
unbelieving individual is "holding
down the truth in unrighteousness"
(Romans 1:18, Lit. Trans). Moreover, the
Scriptures relate that man is not seeking
after God but actually running from Him.
"There is none that seeketh after
God" (Romans 3:11, KJV). Therefore,
it is not a case of God refusing to get
His Word to someone who is desperately
searching for the truth.
We also know that it is
God’s desire that none "should
perish but that all should come to
repentance" (II Peter 3:9, KJV). This
indicates that God also cares for those
persons who have not heard the gospel. He
has demonstrated this by sending His Son
to die in their place. "While we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us"
(Romans 5:8, KJV).
The Bible teaches that God
is going to judge the world fairly and
righteously. "Because he hath
appointed a day, in which he will judge
the world in righteousness" (Acts
17:31, KJV). This means that when all the
facts are in, God’s name will be
vindicated and no one will be able to
accuse Him of unfairness.
Even though we may not
know how He is going to deal with these
people specifically, we know that His
judgment is going to be fair. Just this
fact alone should satisfy anyone who
wonders how God is going to deal with
people who have never heard of Jesus
Christ.
The Bible itself testifies
to the fact that there are those who will
hear and respond out of every people on
the earth. "For you were killed, and
have redeemed us to God by your blood out
of every kindred, and tongue, and people,
and nation" (Revelation 5:9).
The Bible gives an example
of a man who was in a situation not unlike
many today. His name was Cornelius. He was
a very religious man who was constantly
praying to God. He had not heard of Jesus
Christ, but he was honestly asking God to
reveal Himself to him.
God answered the prayer of
Cornelius, and sent the apostle Peter to
him to give him the full story of Jesus.
When Peter preached to him, Cornelius put
his trust in Christ as his Savior. This
example demonstrates that anyone who is
sincerely desiring to know God will hear
about Jesus.
There are people today,
like Cornelius, who are praying the same
prayer to know the true and living God,
and they are being reached no matter where
they might live. Simon Peter stated,
"I perceive that God is no respecter
of persons: But in every nation he that
feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is
accepted with him" (Acts 10:34–35,
KJV).
The Scriptures contain
other examples of individuals who were
accepted by God, even though their
knowledge of Him was limited. Rahab, the
prostitute, had only the smallest amount
of knowledge of God, but the Bible refers
to her as a woman of faith, and her
actions were commended (Joshua 2:9;
Hebrews 11:31).
Naaman, the Syrian, was
granted peace with God because he
exercised faith, even though he was living
in the midst of a pagan culture (II Kings
5:15–19). Jonah, the prophet, was sent
to Nineveh, a heathen society, and they
repented at his preaching (Jonah 3:5).
No one will be condemned
for not ever hearing of Jesus Christ. That
person will be condemned for violating his
own moral standard. "For as many as
have sinned without law shall also perish
without law: and as many as have sinned in
the law shall be judged by the law; (For
not the hearers of the law are just before
God, but the doers of the law shall be
justified.
"For when the
Gentiles, which have not the law, do by
nature the things contained in the law,
these, having not the law, are a law unto
themselves: Which shew the work of the law
written in their hearts, their conscience
also bearing witness, and their thoughts
the mean while accusing or else excusing
one another;) In the day when God shall
judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ
according to my gospel" (Romans
2:12–16, KJV).
Based on the above
examples from Scripture, it can be seen
that God will fairly judge all mankind and
that no one can claim that he or she
received an unfair hearing. Therefore, the
people who ask this question should be
very careful not to use this as an excuse
for not coming to Christ.
What you think might
happen or might not happen to someone else
does not relieve your responsibility on
Judgment Day. Although we might not be
able to answer the question about those
who haven’t heard to the satisfaction of
everyone, there are certain things that
the Bible has made clear.
One person put it this way, "Many
things in the Bible I cannot understand;
many things in the Bible I only think I
understand; but there are many things in
the Bible I cannot misunderstand"
(Anonymous).
I
know people who are very religious and
totally sincere, but not Christians. God
will accept them, won't He ?
A person can be sincere,
but he also can be sincerely wrong. The
Bible says there is a way that seems right
to a man, but the end of this is the way
of death (Proverbs 16:25).
There are many cases each
year when someone jokingly points a gun at
someone else, sincerely believing it is
empty. The gun goes off and the other
individual is killed, with the person
pulling the trigger saying, "I
didn’t know it was loaded."
That person might be 100%
sincere in the fact that he did not want
to harm the other individual, but he was
sincerely believing something that just
was not true. Sincerity is not enough, if
the object of belief is not true, and all
the sincerity in the world will not bring
that person who has been shot with the gun
back to life.
The apostle Paul teaches
that simply practicing religion does not
excuse anyone, but rather it may compound
the person’s guilt. In examining the
pagan’s religion, Paul points out that
it is a distortion of the truth. He says,
"They exchanged the truth of God for
a lie" (Romans 1:25, NASB).
The glory of God is
substituted and replaced by the glory of
the creature. Their religion is one of
idolatry, and to worship idols is an
insult to the dignity of God. This is
something God has always detested.
"You shall have no
other gods before Me. You shall not make
for yourself an idol, or any likeness of
what is in heaven above or on the earth
beneath or in the water under the earth.
You shall not worship them or serve them;
for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous
God" (Exodus 20:3–5, NASB). Thus a
religious person has no advantage if he is
worshiping the wrong God, no matter how
sincere.
If a person attempts to
get into a movie theater and the price is
$4, it does not matter whether he has
$3.90 or 25¢; he is still short. If
someone is believing the wrong thing, it
does not matter how sincere he is, for he
is short of what God requires of men to
reach Him.
God sets the standard, and He will
accept only those who come to Him through
Jesus Christ. "Neither is there
salvation in any other: for there is none
other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12,
KJV).
If
Christianity is so great, why are there so
few Christians?
Christians are now and
have always been in the minority. Most of
the people presently living have not
trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior.
This, however, is exactly as Jesus said it
would be. "Strait is the gate, and
narrow is the way, which leadeth unto
life, and few there be that find it"
(Matthew 7:14, KJV). This has been the
case throughout all of history. There are
several reasons why a large part of
humanity has rejected Jesus as their
Savior.
One reason people do not
become Christians is out of ignorance.
This is not ignorance that there is a God
or a person named Jesus Christ, but rather
ignorance to the facts validating the
Christian faith. Many times this ignorance
is self-imposed. Some people are not even
bothering to consider the claims of
Christ, while others are actively refusing
to believe.
Many people claim they
have intellectual problems with the
Christian faith, when usually what they
have are intellectual or emotional
excuses. We are aware of many people who,
after having been presented the facts of
Christianity, have readily admitted that
they know Christianity is true, yet they
still refuse to become Christians.
This, therefore, is not a
problem of the mind, but of the will. It
is not that they cannot become Christians;
it is more of a matter that they will not
become Christians. The Bible teaches that
humanity is attempting to suppress the
truth of God (Romans 1:18). People are
ignorant of the credentials of Jesus, by
and large, because they want to be.
Another reason is the
simplicity of the gospel. It is so simple
to become a Christian that even a child
can do it. In fact, to enter the kingdom
of heaven, Jesus taught that we must
become as children (Matthew 18:3). In
simple faith, we must place our trust in
Christ whether we be college professors or
people who have never finished grammar
school.
The apostle Paul said
concerning the simplicity of the gospel,
"For ye see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the
flesh, not many mighty, not many noble,
are called: But God hath chosen the
foolish things of the world to confound
the wise; and God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty… That no flesh should
glory in his presence" (I Corinthians
1:26, 27, 29, KJV).
Paul taught, as did Jesus,
that Christians would never be in the
majority, and that not many prominent
people would believe in Jesus. Although
there have not been many great men and
women in history who have trusted Jesus,
there have been some.
Further, people don’t
become Christians because of the mistaken
idea of what really is a Christian. Many
think Christianity is a religion with a
set of negative commandments saying,
"Don’t do this or don’t do
that." They get the idea that, when
you believe in Jesus, you resign yourself
to a life of unhappiness, restrictions,
and boredom.
Since no one wants to live
that way, they write off Christianity as
something to which they don’t want to
commit their lives. It is a sad fact that
some Christians give the impression to the
world that their faith consists only of a
group of negative commandments. Nothing
could be further from the truth.
When a person trusts Jesus
as Saviour, he becomes truly free. Jesus
said, "If the Son therefore shall
make you free, ye shall be free
indeed" (John 8:36, KJV). Jesus
Christ is in the business of setting men
and women free from things that have them
in bondage so that they can be the type of
people they were meant to be.
As believers, we are free
to do what we want to do and not do what
we don’t want to do. The Christian life
is anything but boring, because there is
the daily joy and excitement of knowing
the living God and experiencing all the
good things He has in store for us.
"Delight thyself also in the Lord;
and he shall give thee the desires of
thine heart" (Psalms 37:4, KJV).
Some people don’t become
Christians because of guilt feelings. They
have lives in which they’ve committed
many ugly acts and crimes, and they
don’t believe they can be forgiven by
God and that a decent life can be given to
them. However, the Bible clearly teaches
that anyone, without exception, who seeks
God and desires to be forgiven of his sins
will be forgiven.
There is no sin that’s
too great to stop someone from going to
heaven except the sin of unbelief. If a
person refuses to believe in God’s
provision for his sin—the person of
Jesus Christ—then there is no hope for
him. Jesus said, "Him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out" (John
6:37, KJV).
The Bible says, "For
God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life" (John 3:16,
KJV). You and I are included in that
"whosoever." If you will come to
Jesus, He has promised to forgive you of
your sins, and He will allow you to start
over again with a clean slate, no matter
how corrupt you have been.
Another reason some refuse
to accept Jesus is because of some
specific sin in their life. They realize
that, if they become a believer, they will
have to stop committing that certain sin,
and they do not want to stop. Jesus said,
"And this is the condemnation, that
light is come into the world, and men
loved darkness rather than light, because
their deeds were evil" (John 3:19,
KJV).
Many people love their sin
to the point that they will miss getting
to heaven. To become a Christian, a person
must repent (change his heart and mind) of
his sins, and this many people are not
willing to do even though Jesus said,
"Except ye repent, ye shall all
likewise perish" (Luke 13:3, KJV).
In addition, people refuse
to believe in Jesus because of
self-centeredness. Someone has
said—correctly, we believe—that
Christianity is the easiest
religion in the world to believe, and it
is also the most difficult religion
in the world to believe.
It is the easiest because
God has done everything for us that needs
to be done, and it is impossible to add to
the work of Christ. It is the most
difficult because we have to admit to
ourselves and to God that we cannot do
anything to save ourselves.
Our pride does not like
that, since we want to work out our own
salvation our way. Human nature desires
that we dictate our own terms, but God
will accept us only on His terms, and this
fact keeps many people out of the kingdom.
There are many reasons why
people reject Christ, but there are no
good reasons.
A question we hear
often is, "Does it really matter what
I believe as long as I believe in
something?" Or, "As long as your
belief helps you, isn’t that all that
matters?"
The idea behind statements
such as these is that there is no absolute
truth to believe in, and thus the act of
believing is all there is. We all believe
in something, as Edgar Sheffield Brightman
states, "A thinker cannot divest
himself of real convictions, and it is
futile to pose as having none" (E.S.
Brightman in H.N. Wieman, B.E. Meland
(eds.), American Philosophies of
Religion, New York, Harper &
Brothers, 1936).
The idea of finding any
truth or meaning to life has escaped
modern man. This statement reflects the
inability to conceive of something outside
of one’s self: "There are no rules
by means of which we would discover a
purpose or a meaning of the universe"
(Hans Reichenbach, The Rise of
Scientific Philosophy, p. 301).
Even though we live in a
day in which we all have definite beliefs
about things, the climate seems to be the
act of belief rather than any real object
of belief. "Be not afraid of life.
Believe that life is worth living, and
your belief will help create the
fact," states pragmatist William
James.
Unfortunately, this is not
the case. Belief will not create fact.
Truth is independent of belief. No matter
how hard I may try, believing something
will not make it true. For example, I may
believe with all my heart that I want it
to snow tomorrow, but this will not
guarantee snow. Or I may believe that my
run-down old car is really a new Rolls
Royce, but my belief won’t change the
fact.
Belief is only as good as
the object in which we put our trust.
Someone may come to me and say, "Hey,
let’s go for a ride in my new
plane!" If I come to find out that
his plane hardly runs at all and he does
not even have a pilot’s license, then my
faith, no matter how much I have,
is not well-founded.
My faith won’t create a
great pilot out of my friend once we are
in the sky! However, if another friend of
mine comes along and makes the same offer,
but he is a certified pilot with a new
plane, then my trust has a much more solid
base. So it does matter what I believe,
for my believing it does not make it true.
The Bible also emphasizes
the fact that it is vital what one
believes. Jesus said, "If you do not
believe that I am He, you will die in your
sins" (John 8:24, MLB). We are also
told, "He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life: and he that
believeth not the Son shall not see life;
but the wrath of God abideth on him"
(John 3:36, KJV).
Thus, the stress of the
Scriptures is not so much on the act
of belief as on the object of
belief. What is emphasized is not so much
the one trusting, but rather the one
trusted. Jesus said, "I am the way,
the truth, and the life: no man cometh
unto the Father, but by Me" (John
14:6, KJV).
People today are believing
whatever they wish to believe, but this
will lead to their ultimate destruction.
The famous classroom story of the
philosopher, Georg Hegel, illustrates the
type of faith many people display, which
is entirely unbiblical. Hegel, as the
story goes, was expounding on his
philosophy of history with reference to a
particular series of events when one of
his students objected to Hegel’s view
and replied, "But, Herr Professor,
the facts are otherwise."
"So much worse for
the facts," was Hegel’s answer.
One of the darkest periods
in the history of Israel occurred in the
time of the kings. During this time, there
was a contest between the Lord God and
Baal, a highly regarded cult deity.
An altar of wood was
built, with pieces of an oxen laid upon it
as a sacrifice. The god who answered by
fire and consumed the sacrifice would be
acknowledged as the true god in Israel.
Baal went first.
If anyone could start a
fire from the sky, it was Baal—the great
nature god who controlled the weather
(e.g., rain, thunderstorms, lightning).
The priests of Baal paraded around the
altar all morning and until late
afternoon, beseeching Baal to respond.
These false priests jumped
all over the altar, cut themselves with
swords, danced into a frenzy, raved and
pleaded all day. Yet nothing happened. No
one can say they were not sincere or did
not believe.
After they were finished
and the altar was rebuilt, the Lord God
answered with fire from heaven and
consumed the altar and sacrifice. The
false prophets of Baal were then slain.
If sincerity and belief saved, then
these prophets should have been spared.
But they do not. These prophets had their
trust in the wrong object. They had never
chosen to investigate the truth. God
requires man to put his faith in Jesus
Christ; nothing less will satisfy either
them or Him.
Why
does a good God allow evil to exist?
One of the most haunting
questions we face concerns the problem of
evil. Why is there evil in the world if
there is a God? Why isn’t He doing
something about it? Many assume that the
existence of evil disproves the existence
of God.
Sometimes the problem of
evil is put to the Christian in the form
of a complex question, "If God is
good, then He must not be powerful enough
to deal with all the evil and injustice in
the world since it is still going on. If
He is powerful enough to stop wrongdoing
then He Himself must be an evil God since
He’s not doing anything about it even
though He has the capability. So which is
it? Is He a bad God or a God that’s not
all powerful?" Even the biblical
writers complained about pain and evil.
"Evils have encompassed me without
number" (Psalm 40:12, RSV). "Why
is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable,
refusing to be healed?" (Jeremiah
15:18, RSV). "The whole creation has
been groaning in travail together until
now" (Romans 8:22, RSV). Thus we
readily admit that evil is a problem and
we also admit that if God created the
world the way it is today He would not be
a God of love but rather an evil God.
However the Scriptures
make it plain that God did not create the
world in the state in which it is now, but
evil came as a result of the selfishness
of man. The Bible says that God is a God
of love and He desired to create a person
and eventually a race that would love Him.
But genuine love cannot exist unless
freely given through free choice and will,
and thus man was given the choice to
accept God’s love or to reject it. This
choice made the possibility of evil become
very real. When Adam and Eve disobeyed
God, they did not choose something God
created, but, by their choice, they
brought evil into the world. God is
neither evil nor did He create evil. Man
brought evil upon himself by selfishly
choosing his own way apart from God’s
way.
Because of the fall, the
world now is abnormal. Things are not in
the state that they should be in. Man, as
a result of the fall, has been separated
from God. Nature is not always kind to man
and the animal world can also be his
enemy. There is conflict between man and
his fellow man. None of these conditions
were true before the fall. Any solution
that might be given to the problems
mankind faces must take into consideration
that the world as it stands now is not
normal.
Although evil is here and
it is real, it is also temporary. Evil
will eventually be destroyed. This is the
hope that the believer has. There is a new
world coming in which there will be no
more tears or pain because all things will
be made new (Revelation 21:5). Paradise
lost will be paradise regained. God will
right every wrong and put away evil once
for all, in His time.
Christians have a
justification for fighting evil,
immorality, and corruption. The world was
not designed with evil in mind and the
believer has a real basis for fighting
social ills. He is not following the
belief that whatever is, is right. The
Christian does not condone wrongdoing by
claiming it is God’s world, neither does
he assume that everything that happens is
agreed to by God. God does not desire evil
nor does He ever condone it. He hates
evil, and the Christian also is not only
to despise evil, he is obligated to do
something about it. Even though sin is
real, it is not something that the
believer accepts as the way things ought
to be. By identifying with Jesus, the
believer has a duty to call things wrong
that are wrong and to speak out when evil
is overtaking good. The Christian is not
fighting against God by fighting social
problems. Natural disasters, crime, and
mental retardation should not be the
accepted order of things, because they
were never meant to be and they will not
be in God’s future kingdom.
However, some people are
still bothered that God even allows evil
in the first place. They question His
wisdom in giving man a choice in the
matter. Dorothy Sayers put the problem of
evil in the proper perspective: "For
whatever reason God chose to make man as
he is—limited and suffering and subject
to sorrows and death—He had the honesty
and the courage to take His own medicine.
Whatever game He is playing with His
creation, He has kept His own rules and
played fair. He can exact nothing from man
that He has not exacted from Himself. He
has Himself gone through the whole of
human experience, from the trivial
irritations of family life and the
cramping restrictions of hard work and
lack of money to the worst horrors of pain
and humiliation, defeat, despair and
death. When He was a man, He played the
man. He was born in poverty and died in
disgrace and thought it well worth
while" (Dorothy Sayers, Creed or
Chaos? New York: Harcourt, Brace and
Col, 1949, p.4).
The Bible tells us that
God’s purposes are sometimes beyond our
understanding. "‘For My thoughts
are not your thoughts, neither are your
ways My ways,’ declares 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’"
(Isaiah 55:8, 9, NASB). Paul, in a similar
vein, wrote to the church at Rome,
"Oh, the depth of the riches both of
the wisdom and knowledge of God! How
unsearchable are His judgments and
unfathomable His ways" (Romans 11:33,
NASB).
Although the Bible informs us how and
why evil came about, it does not tell us
why God allowed it to happen. However, we
do know that God is all-wise and
all-knowing and that He has reasons for
allowing things to happen that are beyond
our comprehension.
