Can’t There Be More Than One Way To Heaven?

What about other religions? Can’t there be more than one way to heaven?

Religions of the east, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, teach that there are many paths of enlightenment that lead to heaven (they would call it Nirvana). Now when we take this into consideration and look at all the religions of the world and say to ourselves, “all of these religions are ways to heaven. You should try your way and I’ll try mine,” we run into a problem. Jesus repeatedly made it clear who would go to heaven and who would not, and He made it very clear that you must go through Him.

And so, here’s the problem. If what Jesus said is true then all of the other religions are false and we must go through Jesus in order to see heaven. But let’s look at the person who believes that’s Jesus’ claim to be the only way to heaven is false. If Jesus is a liar then all of Christianity is a lie, but this also means the belief that all ways to heaven are acceptable is false because we’ve said Jesus is a liar. This leaves us with no other conclusion than there is a right way to heaven and a wrong way to heaven. All ways do NOT lead to God.

Whether you believe Jesus is the only way to heaven or not, logic shows us that following whatever “feels right for us” is not the path to heaven.

“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.’” John 14:6

I'm trying to write short answers (around or less than 600 words) to tough questions. These will find their way to www.verostudents.org under the Questions & Objections section (a total of 22 Q&O). Any advice, suggestions, or corrections are very welcomed. I've been studying apologetics for about 8 years so I thought it was wise to use some of the knowledge to share with students and parents with question, without writing a complete thesis paper on the subject.

What? Vision-Casting, Part 1

What? A vision begins with asking the question what? You need to know:

1. What is my purpose?
2. What is the church's (and/or ministry's) purpose?

You will not know what to do until you know what your purpose is!

Rick Warren, in his book The Purpose Driven Church, said "We believe a great commitment to the Great Commission and the Great Commandment will build and grow a great church" (I'm quoting that from memory so hopefully I quoted him accurately or close enough) and when I look over scripture I can not disagree.

Great Commandment

"Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40

Great Commission

(Jesus said) “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

From these two we can gather that the answers to "what is my purpose?" and "what is the purpose of the church/ministry?":

1. "Go and make disciples”
2. “Baptize them”
3. “Teach them to obey”
4. “Love your neighbor as yourself”
5. “Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind"

Also see:
Youth Ministry Vision-Casting, Part 1
Youth Ministry Vision-Casting, Part 2
Youth Ministry Vision-Casting, Part 3

The Start Of The Youth Ministry Team (Sunday Review)

For the past 3 Sunday evenings I had been teaching about what was dubbed "Introduction to Youth Ministry" although it was more of a "What Every Church Member Should Know". When I look back over the material I see some rather basic things, but many of these things most church members probably don't know or don't put into practice. I think the thing I stressed the most was commitment, but I'm sure everyone got something a little different out of it. A lot of ground was covered in the past three weeks and now we move forward.

After the meeting I asked for those who have been praying about being on the Youth Ministry Team I'm going to be forming to come forward and talk with me for a few minutes. Five, not including my wife and myself, came forward and we briefly talked. I can't wait to work with them!

We're going to meet briefly before Youth on Wednesday night where I'll be handing them an information packet and volunteer application (many of the questions are in there because of the culture we live in; including a background check and references).

Please be in pray for this team and me.

Won’t I Be Allowed Into Heaven?

I’m not a bad person. Won’t I be allowed into heaven?

How “good” of a person are you really? Let’s give ourselves a little self-test:

1. Have you ever told a lie? Even the smallest of lie counts.
2. Have you ever stolen something? This is pretty much anything you took without permission and never returned.
3. Have you ever hated someone?

If you have done one of these then you’re not as “good” of a person as you might think. As people we tend to determine whether we’re “good” or “bad” by comparing ourselves to the most hurtful and harmful people we can think of and by that standard we look pretty good. But God’s standard is perfection.

You may say “but that’s not fair, no one is perfect” or “if God is a loving God then He’ll forgive me of the little things I’ve done”. Imagine that you’re watching a court trial. The defendant has been asked to stand. The case has been made, the evidence is clear, and the verdict is about to be given. It’s obvious the defendant is guilty of his crime. Now let me ask you a question: would the judge be a good judge if he simply let the defendant go? Of course not! In fact, the judge would most likely loose his job because everyone knows that a price must be paid for every crime. A good judge does what is right. Everyone must pay the price. God is a good judge. He can’t just let us go.

But God is merciful and loving! Because of His great love He sent His Son to pay the price. It was as if the defendant received the verdict and at that time a man, who the defendant did not know, walked into the courtroom and said, “Judge, I love this man and I want to pay the price for his crime.” The judge then looks to the defendant to see if he will accept this man’s gift and awaits his response. God sent His gift for you to pay the price for everything you’ve ever did wrong; the Bible calls those wrongs “sin”. But you have to accept this gift.

Our “goodness” the Bible calls “filthy rags”, another words what we think is good is really our feeble attempt to look good compared to other people. Realizing that we’re not good and we are in serious need of Jesus to pay our price is among the first steps to becoming a follower of Jesus.

I'm trying to write short answers (around or less than 600 words) to tough questions. These will find their way to www.verostudents.org under the Questions & Objections section (a total of 22 Q&O). Any advice, suggestions, or corrections are very welcomed. I've been studying apologetics for about 8 years so I thought it was wise to use some of the knowledge to share with students and parents with question, without writing a complete thesis paper on the subject.

Tricia Is Listed!

Tricia has been placed on the list for her double lung transplant and is ready for the surgery. This means that the moment lungs become available (that match her and there isn't someone of higher priority) she will be receiving the transplant.

Now, I don't know exactly how this works. She might have to be prepped for surgery the moment a pair of lungs become available or it might work some other way. I'm sure Nathan will be explaining things when he's able to, but you can follow what's going on cfhusband.blogspot.com (or if you're new to everything happening with Tricia and you would like to catch up on what you may have missed then click this link). . .

. . .please be in prayer.

Does God Exist?

This is a question that tries to tackle too many questions at the same time. It tries to look at every possible quality of God and puts each one on trial, but let’s simplify this by starting at the beginning, creation. “Is there a Creator?” If we can agree that there is a Creator then we have answered the question as to whether God exists or not.

If you look at a painting, how would you know there was a painter? If you look at a building, how would you know there was a builder? Stupid questions, right? The painting is the evidence that there was a painter and the building is the evidence that someone built the building. To look at creation and not acknowledge a Creator is absurd. We know there is a creator because we can see the creation. The complexity of the planets, alone, points to a deliberate Designer who not only created our universe, but sustains it today.

“By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.” Hebrews 11:3 (NLT)

The complexity of the human body shows signs of a higher intelligence behind it. The human eye is far too complex to be the product of a random pool of ooze. Even Charles Darwin, the man responsible from the theory of evolution (macroevolution), when examining the human eye thought evolution was ridiculous:

“To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.” – Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species (1859)

What about evolution? First, you need to know that there are two forms of evolution, micro and macro. Microevolution says that we adapt in little ways, like developing immunity to chickenpox or developing a resistance to something. Macroevolution is major changes to a living organism, like one species turning into another species.

Microevolution is very true, upheld by facts, and is scientific. Macroevolution is quite the opposite. It’s completely untrue, has no facts to support it, and it’s important to remember that it is the THEORY of evolution which means it’s completely hypothetical and lacks the support of scientific facts. As far as facts go, macroevolution is actually disproved by laws of science (things in science that have been proven to be factual and always true): the First and Second Law of Thermodynamics, the Law of Cause and Effect, and the Law of Biogenesis. Check them out and see how they completely disprove the notion of macroevolution.

“From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused.” Romans 1:20-21 (NLT)

It’s important that you know that you are not a random creation. You were designed by a Creator who not only designed your body but He also created you with a purpose in life. Discovering that purpose begins with discovering Jesus.

I'm trying to write short answers (around or less than 600 words) to tough questions. These will find their way to www.verostudents.org under the Questions & Objections section (a total of 22 Q&O). Any advice, suggestions, or corrections are very welcomed. I've been studying apologetics for about 8 years so I thought it was wise to use some of the knowledge to share with students and parents with question, without writing a complete thesis paper on the subject.

Wednesday Night Review

Some things happened tonight that are leaving me sleepless, some of which I can share and some that I can't. But just know that the things I can't share are awesome. I'm just not at liberty to share them.

Sarah and I both had a good night of seeing God at work.

It started around 3 hours before the youth gathering began when I couldn't find some of the resources I needed for my lesson. I spent a lot of time searching in my office and home for them, but they were nowhere to be found. Needless to say, I became rather grumpy. I was well prepared for a lesson I would not be able to do (I might have to ask Nathan to burn me another copy of some videos he edited for me; hopefully he still has it).

Sarah had a meeting with one of the youth at Starbucks so she dropped me off at church for me to spend the next hour and a half trying to put something together. From what I understand, Sarah and the youth had a good time getting to know each other and talking. And Sarah brought me a white chocolate mocha just in time for youth. *yummy!*

About 15 minutes before it was time to start I see youth that I don't know. I have to admit that my first instinct was that they had arrived at the wrong church. Up until this point, for 4 weeks, the youth gatherings had been with only 1 or 2 youth. But tonight I had 5 youth plus a mother and father who wanted to check things out.

The lesson was supposed to be about love, Thursday was Valentines and all, but that didn't happen. Instead I talked about a God who welcomes the unwelcomed. My 5 youth interacted with the discussion and it went really well. From some of the things they said and the way their eyes and face reacted to parts I can tell they were catching the meaning of the lesson (hopefully they caught the application too). It is now obvious that this was the lesson I was supposed to teach tonight.

Afterward we started up a pool tournament (which will continue over the next few weeks; I have a feeling Harry is going to win unless the rest of us put some practice in) and spent some time talking. I heard two of the new youth commenting that they have a friend they want to bring next time week.

Now I can't sleep because I'm too excited and so I put some energy into the website (www.verostudents.org). Coding web pages for multiple browsers is a real pain (especially Internet Explorer)!