A Logical Religion
Through many years as a Christian I have had questions about the apparent illogic of Christianity. I have studied the sciences and saw that they all follow logical paths. If we consider that the sciences are man's explanation of God's creation, as I believe is the case, then how could God be illogical, as most Christian religions have Him appearing. I hope the following will shed some light on questions that I have asked and found answers to in the Bible. I have used the Bible as the basis for these answers because it appears to be the logical place to find answers about God and Christianity.
The Bible is the logical place to find answers about God and Christianity. It is the only document from God that we have. The Bible states that it is the source of answers about God and that it is from God. First we must find proof of that. True, it is not pst find proof of that. True, it is not proper scientific procedure to use what a document says about itself to prove itself. Usually only doubt can come from using a statement in a document to prove that that document is what it says it is. But the Bible is not any ordinary document. It presents proof of itself in a way that no other document can. God put sufficient proof in the Bible to prove that the Bible is a message from Him. I have found the proof to be sufficient for me. Only you can decide if the proof that you find is sufficient for you.
In the Bible there are many prophesies written many years before they came true. And unlike the prophesies of man, all the prophesies that have already seen their time have been true and accurate. To see this you need to study the prophesies of the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation especially. There are other prophesies in The Bible as well but the two books mentioned have a wealth of prophesies that have been 100% accurate up to today and have elements that are to happen even into the future. We find ourselves situated near the end of the time depicted in these prophesies, but not yet at the end of them. Who else can be completely accurate at predictions other than God who has seen the future from the beginning? I believe that only God has seen all of time already. There have been no prophets that don't have God as their source of information, who have even approached 100% accuracy, and few have exceeded the level that can be explained by random draw, and then not by much. But so far the Bible has been 100% accurate. God didn't ask us to believe that the Bible is His without giving us plenty of evidence.
But to discover the accuracy of the Bible, it is
necessary to read and study it. Listening to others describe what it
says is dangerous. Below I have provided links to the Bible passages
that I refer to for every statement that I make. I don't ask you to
believe me. I ask you to believe God's word. You can use your Bible if
you prefer rather than my links to the BibleGateway.com.
(BibleGateway.com is not related to me nor this website in any way.) If
you use the links to BibleGateway.com your browser will open another
window. My website will remain. You may just close the new window of
BibleGateway.com to return to my site to continue.
False interpretations are in the majority. Just for an example - You have probably heard the Christian concept/phrase "The Law/Commandments have been nailed to the cross" meaning that we are no longer under the law of the Commandments. Some think that this concept means that you can do whatever you want. If that were the case, why did Jesus say "If you love me, keep my Commandments" in John 14:15. In Matthew 5:17,18, Jesus said "Think not that I have come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." The law that Jesus was talking about is God's Ten Commandments.
But we will not be saved by keeping the Ten Commandments. We are saved by faith, and even that is not our own doing. It is a gift from God. The Ten Commandments are also a gift from God. They serve to protect us and to be a mirror of our behavior. They serve as a guide to sinless behavior. That is possible, with God's help. But keeping the commandments is not a means to being saved but a manifestation of being saved. If we love God, we will want to keep His commandments.
If you are still not convinced that the Ten Commandments are still in effect, look at them in the New Testament. The Ten Commandments are generally considered to be stated in the Old Testament in Exodus 20:1-17. But did you know that The Ten Commandments are re-stated in the New Testament? The first is in Matthew 4:10 . Compare that to Exodus 20:3. The second is in Acts 17:29. Compare that to Exodus 20:4-6. The third is in 1Timothy 6:1. Compare that to Exodus 20:7. The fourth is in Hebrews 4:4,9,10. Compare that to Exodus 8-11. The fifth is in Matthew 19:19. Compare that to Exodus 20:12. The sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth are in Romans 13:9. Compare that to Exodus 20:13-16. And the tenth is in Romans 13:9 and Romans 7:7. The Ten Commandments in the New Testament are the same as the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament in Exodus 20:1-17. So what law was done away with? The one that was known as the law of Moses, also known as the ceremonial law. That was an Old Testament set of laws that regulated the priesthood , ritual, offerings, sacrifices, etc. And if you study deeper you will see that the ceremonial law pointed to Christ and His sacrifice.
But some people will say that some of the laws in the Ten Commandments are for another time, or that some are not important. What God has to say about that is in James 2:10 , "Whosoever will keep the whole law, and yet offend in one, he is guilty of all." That, of course is in the New Testament. After Jesus paid the price for our sins. After some say the Ten Commandments were "Nailed to the cross".
And the last point that I would like to make, but an important one, is that the Ten Commandments are a gift from God. If we had only ten civil laws that encompassed every possible problem, that would certainly be praised. Well, God gave us Ten Commandments that encompass every possible question of behavior. Only ten, and so simple that no complicated human interpretation is needed. Lawyers and judges don't have to argue and pick apart the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments is a guide for happy living, Proverbs 3:1,2, and Proverbs 29:18.
E-mail your questions or comments to jvernooy@yahoo.com