A Christian Thinker

By L. R. R.

Good question! Although this question misunderstands the entire concept of the Christian faith must nevertheless be properly responded. Assuming for a moment that the questioner is skeptic therefore the very nature of this inquiry doubts the reality and the objectivity of Christianity.

    For instance, “If heaven exist,” the skeptics ask, “why don’t you Christians commit suicide, after all isn’t heaven a better place?” and “But heaven is not real therefore you do not commit suicide.” There are lots of ways to approach this question though I decided to only chose a few. Let us analyze this question more closely.

1. If heaven exist as Christians believe,
2. They should commit suicide.
3. But no Christian commits suicide,
4. Therefore, heaven must not exist. 

    Premise 1 is true that Christians indeed believe that heaven exists but premises 2, 3, and 4 are false, and should not be taken as a valid conclusion. Premise 3 is false because there are Christians, sad enough, who commits suicide, though I believe that it has more to do with brain chemical imbalance, but not for the sake of getting to heaven pronto.

Breath of Life

    But what about the other premise such as 2 and 4? Are these valid? I do not think so for a moment. First of all, God intended for us to live as he has givin us “the breath of life,” not the breath of death. God created human beings to live and “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth” (Gen. 1:28).

    The command to “be fruitful, and replenish” implies having great responsibility, thus committing suicide will make Christians notoriously irresponsible!

Sanctity of Life

    Second, God commanded us to fully respect the sanctity of life, and He even forbade murder (Ex. 19:13). So if one commits suicide by which taking his or her own life is tantamount to 1st degree murder! Besides murder, suicide is also selfish, cowardice, and irresponsible.

Death Is Not Heaven

   Thirdly, Death is not a synonym for heaven. Likewise, death does not equal heaven as if these two concepts were the same. These two words have totally different meaning and different concepts. In fact, to even think, therefore that death = heaven is oxymoron or contradiction in terms. Death means losing life, heaven in the other spectrum means gaining life!

    Furthermore, one does not have to die in order for a Christian to be and or experience heaven i.e. prophet Elijah (2 King 2:11) did not went through death but went to God. The Apostle John “saw” heaven several occasions before his natural death.

Death as Curse

    Fourth, death wasn’t suppose to coexist with the living. Death “entered” when Adam and Eve rebelled and sinned against their God. Dying has become a curse and part of our existence. However, just because death has become part of life, it simply doesn’t mean interwined with life. As a matter of fact Jesus would have not said to be “the resurrection and life,” if death and life were one. Thus there is a great gulf between life and death.

Jesus Values Life

    Life is better than death, and no doubt Jesus Christ apparently valued life over death. This is illustrated in Jesus’ life by, for instance, raising his friend Lazarus (John 11:44), others, and himself from the dead. So, if dying means a ticket to heaven, Jesus and Lazarus would have remained in their graves. Thus, choosing death over life just to be in heaven will devalue life and would be in grave opposition to Jesus who is life himself.

Not All Are Going To Heaven

    Finally, not all are going to heaven (according to the Bible). Those who are going to be with God are those who are born again and accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. So, if you are to die today without Christ in your life, your are going to be condemned to eternal punishment which is hell. If you are living Christless then I beseech you to reconsider your life in Christ and ask for forgiveness.

Conclusion

The key word in this subject is life. God created and breath “the breath of life” not death. God gives us life and responsibility. Choosing death over life means irresponsibility. Death is not to be identified with heaven because this two has different meaning and significance. We also learned that death means losing life, while heaven means gaining eternal life. Jesus preferred life over death by raising others including himself to life. One does not have to die in order for him or her to get to heaven. Finally, Only those who are in Christ are going to heaven. And those without Christ and are living in sin are going to be in hell for eternity.

By L. R. R.

As a young child I really didn’t thought much about the “here after” or life after death question. I wasn’t concerned about this subject. Now that I became a Christian this motivate me to think about this matter all the time. My fiancé asked this question long time ago, “What happens when people dies?” Do we become unconconcious while dead?” and “What happens of the souls of unbelievers?” 

These questions are important and we should not neglect to ponder these questions. As an ambassadors of Christ, we ought to address questions and be able to answer (such as indicated above) to those who are seeking for the right answer. 

Since I’m a Christian (protestant) I’ll only answer this question in a Christian perspective and since the only real answer to this questions can only be found in Jesus Christ’s our only redeemer. 

So, “What happens when we finally die?” Once a believer in Christ dies, though his flesh or physical body remains buried, at the moment of death his spirit (or soul) undoubtly goes right away to heaven in the presence of his Creator God.

For information, death is a temporary cessation of bodily life and a separation of the soul/spirit from the body. This means that once we ceased to live our spirits separates apart from our bodies. 

Paul says, “We would rather be away from the body, and at home with the Lord.” (2 Cor. 5:8) Jesus told the thief who was crucified and dying next to Him, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43) 

This statement contradicts the teaching of Roman Catholicism on purgatory. Jesus said, “Today” (present tense). The dogmatic doctrine on purgatory is lethal, and dangerous. Purgatory is also unbiblical. In short, to be away from the body is to be at home with our Lord. 

The Bible does not allow the teachings of reincarnation (see. Is reincarnation Biblical? ). What about the doctrine of “soul sleep?” This doctrine goes, “That when a person die they immediatly go into a state of unconscious existence. But this is utterly false. It is clear that the spirit of the believers go immediatly into God’s presence and enjoys fellowship with Him there (read vv. 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; Luke 23:43; Heb. 12:23). 

In addition to our present discussion let’s say (for the sake of arguments) that the doctrine of “soul sleep” is true. Jesus would have said, “Today you will no longer have consciousness none whatsoever!”

But “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43) There really ain’t no need to place some abstract interpretation here. Jesus was very clear and precise and no nonsense (purgatory, reincarnation, soul sleep) should be added. “What happens to the souls of unbelievers?” 

Contrary to the teachings of reincarnations and purgatory that people who rejeted in this life Christ’s atoning death on the cross will never have a second chance to reconfess their sins. The writer of Hebrews emphasized this, “Just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgement.” (Heb. 9:27) 

Yet still the Bible nowhere says that the final judgement will depend on our deeds while we were still alive, but certainly on what has occured in this present life. Someone might protest by stating that “Eternal punishment comes only to those who consciously rejects Christ nad that anyone deserves a second change to accept Christ.” 

This idea is not supported by the Scripture; we are all sinners by nature and by birth. We actually do not deserve any of God’sgrace nor do we deserve to even hear the goodnews of Christ. 

We are already condemned not only because of a willful rejection of Christ. (John 3:18) Unbelievers bodies will not be raised until the day of The Great White Throne Judgement. 

Nevertheless, they will pass into the state of eternal punishment immediatly upon death. The bodies of those who rejected Jesus as their Lord and Savior will be raised and reunited with their spirits, as they stand before the great judge of mankind that is God. (see. Matt. 25:31-46; John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15 and Rev. 20:5,12). 

By L. R. R.

This is simply a case of generalization. While there is indeed money hungry so-called Christians (Benny Hinn and his company for instance), there are also honest godly Christians throughout history thousands of martyrs who happened to unselfishly devout that they give up everything for Christ, even unto their very last breath. 

Were everyone a fraud, you would still have no excuse for not becoming the Christian you expect others to be. You know you are not accountable before God for the actions of others. You are accountable, however, for your own actions – and especially for your response to Christ’s offer to die in your place.

By L. R. R.

This is true that most if not all are not willing to give up their sinful habits Jesus said: “Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). 

The sad thing about not giving up his/her sins is that this person knows what he/she is doing–doing sinful things. This is probably one of the many reasons not to become a Christian. As a matter of fact I agree that not anyone is willing to give up their old nature because Jesus Christ said: “Verily, Verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant [slave] of sin” (John 8:34). 

Will you let your pleasures get in the way of salvation? Is your life of sin worth an eternity of pain? Jesus said, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?” (Mark 8:36). 

But, if your willing to give up the habits that are contrary to God and be freed from them then do so it is not too late.

Again Jesus said that, “If the Son therefore shal make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). Only Christ can save us from our sinful nature. 

Christ is now seated at the right hand of the Father, and that He is able to save to the uttermost all that draw nigh unto God by Him, because He ever liveth to make intercession for them (Heb. 7:25).

By L. R. R. 

Fair enough, there are wars committed in the name of religion.There are awful events that had been committed by nominal Christians; the inquisition, witch burning, and the crusades. What else is there? Is these all the wars that had occured since the dawn of human history? I do not think so. I’m not that well versed in history so I’ll just cite those wars that have accord in the name of…wait a minute. 

Did the Babylonian War fought in the name of religion? I’m not sure about this are you? Alexander the Great conquered almost the entire continent of the face of the globe. 

But the question is did Alexander conquered and defeated his foes in the name of religion? Again, Im not sure are you? As a matter of fact is, that Alexander even allowed the Jews to worship their God without his intervention. How about the conquering Roman Empire did they invade Israel, Egypt and Greece in the name of gods? 

How about Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun did these two fellas committed the so-called religious war? How about Napoleon Bonaparte Was he defeated in Waterloo because of his insistance to convert other to his religion? 

The WW I&II was a great disaster when this wars occured. Hitler invaded most Europian countries but then again, did the WW I&II occurred because some particular religion did not submit to Hitlers religion? 

I do not think so. The notion that religious people are dangerous because they commit war and force unbeliever by threat to submit to their religion is utterly nonsense! As I have written above, those major historical wars was not committed in the name of religion. 

Further more, most genocide, murders have been committed by non believers or atheists. Hitler killed 11 to 16 million people. Joseph Stalin an atheist killed 40 million people. 

Mao Tze Tong killed 76 milion people! All in all if we summed this numbers one will come up with a number 130 million people eradicated by non religious men. More genocide in this century alone have been committed by atheistic leaders than in all other wars written in history.

By L. R. R. 

When I was a satanist I hated Christians because I believed then, that they were inconsistent with their supposedly good judgments and moral eloquence. Someone said that, “The best arguments against Christianity is Christians themselves.” This is indeed sad to here because not only that Christians damages their testimonies they also destroy Christ’s witness. 

Mahatma Gandhi once said that, “He could not be a Christian because he saw how inconsistent Christians are.” 

However, while this is indeed true that there are hypocrite Christians, this is not true that all Christians are hypocrites. This is an logical fallacy called dicto simpliciter an unqualified generalization. 

Also, one must understand that being a Christian (a follower of Christ) is not tantamount to being an angel. One must also understand that even if a genuine Christian sins, this is because that person is born in God’s family as a spiritual baby, not as a perfect adult Christian. 

Many infantile characteristics may remain if the believer does not grow in grace and in knowledge of Jesus Christ. We cannot deny that because many Christians do not study the Scripture and grow in knowledge they do not grow into mature Christians.

Finally, just because there are hypocrites in churches, and denominations this does not tells us that God, Jesus, and Christianity are false. Likewise, just because there are ill, sick people in the hospitals this does not entail the nonexistence of physicians! 

Hypocrites knows that every man must stand alone before God. He or she must answer for him/herself. Do not let these hypocrites stand your way from accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord! 

By L. R. R.

I thought that Christianity was for sissy. Ok, to be fair with you let me start by telling you that, Everyone who has missed the distinctive feature of Christianity feels this way. 

Non-Christian religions require their followers to reach a certain standard, but to become a Christian is to acknowledge that none of us can meet God’s requirements. Jesus has done it for us. 

The genuine Christian life, is not about laws of conduct. Nor is it about behaviorism but a new life with new desires, new attitudes, new purposes, and above all new destiny. 

It is Jesus Christ in the individual who is living out His life in the believer. The Scripture tells us the paramount picture of life. 

According to the Bible, every person is either saved or lost, either a child of God or a child of the Devil, either on his way to heaven or on his way to hell. Rejecting Christ is folly, for it means that you will die with your sin (John 8:24). The Bible also teaches us that, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov. 14:12).

By L. R. R.

Their are a lot of various religions out there, from Hinduism to Islam, and from Roman Catholicism to Protestant evangelicals. We can call all religions by their names, denominations, and by their church locations. But what we do not know is that these varieties of religions contains falsehood and mixes it with a flavor of ‘truth’. So if we are not careful enough we would certainly fall and be deceived to false gospel. The only way to descern false gospel is to use your baloney detector.

A good baloney detector can detect false gospel from a far distance. So if you are approached by Jehovah’s Witness, Mormons, use your baloney. So be on guard. The baloney detector would warn us if… They tell us that Jesus Christ was only a human, a good moral teacher, a prophet, guru, and a holy man. 

This is false gospel. If they claim that Jesus really never resurrected physically back to life, and that he never did do any miracles, then the baloney is on. They say that the Holy Spirit is nothing but a force or just an impersonal power, and he is not part of the triunity then the baloney is on. 

They tell you that you can merit your salvation by doing good deeds, being religious and being baptized will get you to heaven and that the atonement of Christ is not enough without doing our part, then the baloney is on. they say that God is not three different person in one God-head then the baloney of detector is on. 

My fellow believers in Christ, where ever you go please don’t forget to bring your baloney detector with you.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen… Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear (Hebrews 11:1,3) 

By L.R.R.

am skeptical to a person who says “I only believe in what I see other than that nothing is real” or I will believe in God if I see Him.” Is seeing believing then? This metaphisical theory (view of reality) assumes that all reality can be reduce to explained by physical matter–a crude materialism. In other words, for something to be sensed by our five senses (be real), it must be visible. 

The difficulty about believing in God is that he cannot be sense with our five senses. Think about this for a moment. Can you actually trust in a being who is beyond our senses? Who cannot answer our needs when we need Him the most. No audible voice from heaven telling us to be still for a moment, and wait for His graceful rescue. 

I understand my empiricist friends. How, can they believe and have faith in something or someone that is beyond their normal cognitive faculties. After all, only a mad man (so they think) believes in someone who does not exist at least to our senses. Is this true that only those we can see, touch, taste, hear and smell is all there is? 

Think again for a moment. Take a few second to get through your rational mind and at least try to rethink your materialistic thinking all over again. Did you come up anything that might change your empiricist thinking? 

Okay… This is how I think about me and God who happens to be ‘invisible’ for some but visible for others. First and foremost God is invisible. This is the reason that we cannot detect God with our eyes since He is a Spirit. Besides, this fallacy is what philosophers call a category fallacy.

A Category Error 

For example, it is a category fallacy to say about the taste of the color blue. Colors are not food. In addition, it is a category fallacy to fault colors by not having a taste. 

Likewise, it is a category fallacy to ascribe sensory qualities to God or fault him for not being a visible object. God is by definition an infinite Spirit. It is not part of the nature of a spirit being to be visible as any material object would be.. God doesn’t have shapes like we humans do or anything else that exist. 

I remember my experiences with typhoons. You would understand the damaging impacts of this phenomena if you ever experienced one. Typhoons are too strong that it can literally bend the strongest tree. 

It can even damage houses and buildings in a matter of seconds. Sad enough though, it can cause ruins to hundreds or thousands of human beings. Here is the catch, even the ablest sceptic and materialist cannot deny the existence of typhoons (especially if his/her house were evaporated). 

One cannot see the cause of it, though one can see the effects of it. There are things that exists independent from our normal cognitive faculties.

Some Self-Contradictory Statements

A Self-Contradictory statement both affirms and denies its own basic meaning. For instance, the proposition “I only believe in what I see” cannot itself be seen! This statement is neither visible to to our eyes nor detectable in science laboratory. Minds for instance cannot be located anywhere. Yet we know undoubtedly that minds exist. Are we then going to ceased to use our minds because we cannot see it? Only a nut case can deny the existence of mind. Philosopher and Christian DR. Greg L. Bahnsen has is right to the point when he said, 

“”All significant knowledge about the objective world is empirical in nature?” The most obvious and philosophical significant reply would be that if the preceding statement were true, then–on the basis of its claim–we could never know that it is true. Why? Simply because the statement in question is not itself known as the result of empirical testing and experience. Therefore, according to its own strict standards, the statement could not amount to significant knowledge about the objective world 1.”   

In Additon, can we really locate our minds somewhere? Can we put it in a jar or in test tube? Can we weight and measure it? 

No, I think not. How about love? Are we going to deny love because it is beyond our senses? Are we not going to love our spouses, parents, neighbors, friends because it cannot be seen? How about goodness? Can we touch it or see it? Are we going to reject the virtue of goodness because we cannot put it in a box or look at? 

How about magnetism, gravity, neutrinus, electricity numbers, these are scienctific related entities that cannot be seen but nevertheless are still considered a necessary part of what is real. God cannot be detected by our normal five senses yet we know that He exist. How? Through special revelation and in nature. 

The universe began to exist but who started it existence? The intricate design we see in the universe, nature and to ourselves must come from a genius architect which is God. 

Life must come from life. Mind must come from mind. He’s creation speaks clearly and loud of He’s existence. An intelligent mind is the best explanation of the existence of the cosmos.

Resources—————————————- 

1. Always Ready: Direction for Defending Faith, DR. Greg L. Bahnsen; Covenant Media Foundation (p.187) 

Philosophy Made Slighly Less Difficult, Garret J. DeWeese and J.P Moreland InterVarsity Press 

By L. R. R.

Denying God’s existence and not needing God are all together different issues. The former flatly denies the existence of God means that this person must have traveled the entire universe to assert such statement. While the latter consciously know that God exist yet denying God’s relevance in your life must be in grievous error. 

Because after all if you know that the God of the Bible exist then isn’t it obvious that you are trying to ignore someone such as God who accually holds your destiny. Isn’t this stupidity? No one could survive a millisecond without God. He holds the entire universe together, including every atom in your body. 

You are like a delicate fish in an aquarium blissfully unaware of its dependence because it thinks it is simply the nature of food to suddenly appear everyday and that water quality, temperature and aeration take care of themselves. 

For years you have acted like a parasite, sucking everything you can from the Creator and more or less treating him as if he doesn’t exist. 

God in his kindness has let you abuse his generosity, giving you time to come to your senses. Your time, however, is running out. You might survive a month without eating (but who would want to?). To live for years, however, you must have food. You might survive a hundred years without surrendering to God (though it would be a tragic waste). 

But to live forever, you must yield to Jesus. Besides, doesn’t He have the authority and power to do as He pleases and to send you to Heaven or Hell? It is foolish to say you don’t need Yahweh who is your Creator, who loves you and has provided the way for forgiveness of sin. You need God because only He can cleanse you from your sins.