What is Religion?

One of the issues that humans have dealt with since the beginning of history is our place in the scheme of things. Does mankind have a purpose? Or are we just accidents of nature? If the former, then what is our purpose?

It is the nature of religion to try and answer that question. Religion is, by definition, a set of beliefs concerning the existence or non-existence of God or gods, man's relation to God or gods, and our origin and eventual destination, if any. And since, at least at this point in human history, no God or gods has chosen to come down from heaven and reveal Himself (or Herself) in an unequivocal manner that all can plainly see, religion remains a matter of faith. Nobody can prove the existence or non-existence of God. Nobody can prove whether there is or is not life after death. Nobody can prove whether or not human beings are special divine creations or hairless monkeys.

Therefore, if and when a person comes to the point of professing a religious belief, whether it be in God or gods or none at all, he or she has to make that decision based upon something other than science or the evidence of their eyes. It may be simply that they cannot conceive of any alternate explanation. It may be that they have a deeply personal experience that draws them to or away from God. Some people seek answers, others have "answers" thrust upon them. For some it is a matter of culture and tradition. For others it is an individual choice.

From the title of this page, it is obvious that I have chosen to believe in Biblical Christianity. This was not a decision that I came to until I was 17 years old, in spite of growing up in a Christian culture and attending church weekly. There were elements in my decision that are personal and I cannot share them with anyone. It isn't that I don't want to; just the opposite! Rather, they are the kind of thing that "doesn't transfer". I experienced it, but I cannot make anyone else experience the same thing. Other elements in my decision were based upon reasoned choice. In the paragraphs to come I would like to share what I can about what I believe.

The Bible

A few decades ago a young college student named Josh McDowell decided that he would engage in research regarding the Bible. His aim was to prove that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a myth, i.e. it never happened. To do this, he examined not only the Bible itself, but its origins, other relevant ancient documents, and more. In the end, he became so convinced of just the opposite that he became a believer in Christ instead. For many years Josh McDowell has had a vital ministry defending the Christian faith against skeptics.

What Josh pointed out at a gathering I attended while at the University of Arizona was that scientific proof is only one kind. There is another very common type of proof that is used in our society every day. This is called legal-historical proof. It is used in courtrooms as the main method of determining the guilt or innocence of the accused. Its chief feature is that it deals with attempting to determine whether an event did or did not take place, rather than attempting to determine the validity of a constant, regular process.

I will not attempt to reproduce Josh McDowell's work here. If you are interested, follow the hyperlink above to his ministry site and see for yourself. I will simply state that the legal-historical evidence that Josh presents helps support the belief that the Bible is more than merely another literary work of man; rather, it is the inspired Word of God.

The Bible was written over a period of around 1600 years, by various authors, using various styles. It contains historical records, such as the annals of the rulers of Israel. It contains prophecy, a more direct "thus says the Lord" type of writing. It contains teaching, poetry, sayings of wisdom and much more.

The Bible never attempts to prove the existence of God. Rather, the existence of God is a given, one of the foundational concepts of the Biblical writings. Instead, given the assumption that God exists, the Bible attempts to communicate His message to mankind.

The Bible is divided into two basic parts. The Old Testament is the record of the history of the Jewish people up through the time of the return from captivity in Babylon. The early chapters of Genesis set the foundation, describing the origin of this world, of mankind, and why we are the way we are. From there, it traces the ancestry and call of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the 400 years spent in Egypt, and the subsequent liberation of the Jews and founding of the nation of Israel. For the Jew, the Old Testament is the Holy Scripture.

But the Old Testament never offers a solution to man's basic problem. It looks ahead to the future when God will redeem mankind, but as the final chapter of Malachi ends, redemption is still unrealized.

The New Testament is the record of the life of Jesus Christ, and the subsequent work of His followers and His teachings. It ends with a prophetic view of a future world in which He sets up a kingdom that lasts forever, with paradise restored. To the Christian, the New Testament is just as vital as the Old, and together form the Christian Bible.

In this section, I have referred to "redemption" and Christianity and a few other basic assumptions of Biblical belief, but without any explanation. In the section that follows I would like to rectify that omission.

Christianity

One of the big questions that most, if not all religions attempt to answer is that of man's relationship with God. Does one exist? If so, what is its nature? And what about man? Is this life all that we have to look forward to, or is there another one to come? And if so, what is it? Heaven? Hell? Reincarnation? Something completely unknown?

One of the main premises of Christianity is that God is a Person. He is not a blind force or unfeeling robot. Nor did He create man and then go off on a celestial fishing trip, leaving us to flounder. Rather, God made man because He wished to have a relationship with him. So if this is the case, if we exist for His purpose, then why do so many people live as if He did not even exist?

The answer to this lies in our nature vs. God's nature. According to Christian beliefs (taken from the Bible), God is perfect. There is no flaw nor error in Him. This is not difficult to believe; most people who accept the existence of God acknowledge that His standards are vastly higher than ours. It is but a small leap from there to recognize that He is utterly perfect.

Neither is it difficult for most people to realize that we (mankind) are just the opposite. We are anything but perfect. The best of us not only makes mistakes, but at times harbors ill will, if not worse, toward others. The commonly accepted term is sin.

Sin is, very simply, disobedience to God. When we state that we are imperfect, that every one of us fails to measure up, what standards are we using? Whether we like to admit it or not, we are using God's standards of utter perfection. Why is it wrong to kill someone? Because God said it is. Why is it wrong to even want to sleep with your neighbor's wife? Because God said it is.

It is at this point where we arrive at the biggest junction where Christianity splits off from other major religions. All religions acknowledge man's sinfulness, at least to some degree. But they differ when it comes to the question of how this affects our relationship with God. And they further differ when it comes to the question of what to do about it.

A common belief among non-Christians is that people are "not all that bad". So what if we are imperfect? Surely God will overlook a few flaws. After all, none of us is an Adolf Hitler or Saddam Hussein. Often one will hear, "Hey, I never killed anyone. Surely God will let me into heaven."

However, the Bible makes it clear that God tolerates no sin whatsoever. In short, even if I never killed anyone, never stole very much (hey, I used to take candy bars from the local five-and-dime when I was a naughty kid, too), and went to church fairly regularly, it wouldn't be enough. In fact, even if I kept all ten of the Commandments from Day One, and was very conscientious in managing my thoughts, and in my entire life only entertained the idea of ripping off one candy bar, one time, it still wouldn't be enough. According to God's perfect standards, I would still owe Him a debt that would end up sending me to hell.

It is here that the second major junction occurs between Christianity and whatever is left that hasn't already split off, namely, the issue of what to do about this debt that I owe God for my sin? Every other religion in the world that acknowledges the debt believes that I would have to somehow work it out myself, that I would somehow have to do enough offsetting good works, sacrifice enough bulls, flog myself enough times with whips, or do whatever else, in order to earn my way into heaven.

Christianity says no.

The Bible makes it clear that no matter how many good works I do, no matter how many bulls I burn, no matter how much skin I flay off with a whip, or anything else that I do, it simply will not be enough. In short, I owe a debt that I cannot pay. So what is the answer.

The answer is Jesus Christ.

Jesus was the Son of God. If you cannot accept that, then there is no sense in reading on. You might as well click on the 'X' in the corner and leave. (Do come back if and when you change your mind, though.) If you can accept even the possibility of the divine nature of Christ, then read on.

Jesus Christ lived as a human being among the Jews of the first century. He was born of Mary, the wife of Joseph. He was not the son of Joseph; he was conceived by an act of the Holy Spirit. He grew up and learned the trade of carpentry from his stepfather, but at around thirty years of age left the shop to spread the message that his true Father sent him to bring to humanity.

But the most important thing that Jesus did was to give up his life. As I stated earlier, each of us owes a debt to God for our sin that we cannot pay. However, Jesus lived a perfect life and therefore did not owe God anything for sin.

So when he died, his death paid the debt to God that we owed for our sin.

And he rose again from the dead to prove it, because he himself had no sin.

It's as if the judge at a trial came off the bench and paid the fine for the defendant. With the legal requirement for penalty met, the man is now free to go. With our debt paid to God by Christ, we are free to enter heaven.

However, there is one "gotcha". Although the death of Christ paid for our sin, it is still up to each individual person to acknowledge it. God offers a priceless gift. But like any gift, the recipient does not actually take possession until he or she reaches out and receives it. It's the same with God's gift of life through Christ. Each person must individually accept God's gift of Christ's payment of the penalty for his or her sin. This is called "salvation", or "being saved" or "being born again".

And that is, essentially, the bare bones of Christianity. Sure, there are details. People spend years studying theology and related subjects in order to learn some of these details. And even without studying, once a person chooses to believe in Christ and accepts the gift, he or she must still live the rest of their life learning and growing. After all, receiving forgiveness of sin begins a new relationship with God, and like any relationship, it develops over time.

That is basically all I have to say at this point. If you are already a Christian, you already know all of this. If you are not, then I urge you to carefully consider the claims of Jesus Christ with regard to sin and salvation.

After all, compared with eternity, these mere seventy-odd years that we live if we're lucky are essentially nothing.

Missions

Three-Fold Challenge

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And sure I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20, New International Version)

The gospel message that I described in the previous section was not intended just for Jews, or for the people in the immediate region, or Europeans, or even Americans. No, it was intended for every human being in the world. And that is the essence of Christ's final command.

Bringing the word of God to our neighbors is relatively simple. We don't even have to learn a new language to do that. And these days, in many nations there are churches in just about every city and town. So why the need for missions, you may be asking. The answer is very simple.

First of all, the very fact that there are churches in so many parts of the world is a direct work of missionary activity in previous eras, dating back to the Middle Ages and earlier. But Christ said to take his word to every nation (ethnic group of people). We're getting there, but there is still much to be done.

There are nations in this world where another religion, such as Islam, is mandated by law. Christian evangelism, or even conversion, is forbidden. I will not go into details of how work is carried on in such places—indeed, for the most part I don't even know—but God still loves those people and He has a plan.

The other major field is the smaller groups, such as the indigenous peoples who are not a part of the ruling culture in so many nations of the world. These are the people targeted by Wycliffe Bible Translators, the organization of which I am a member. These people have often been overlooked for the simple reasons that they are small in number and generally considered second-class citizens at best in the nations where they reside. But again. God loves them, too.

So why missions? In a nutshell, for the very simple reason that God commanded it. He wants the message of Jesus Christ taken to everyone on the face of this globe, so that they can have the same chance of finding eternal life as those of us who are fortunate enough to live where the message is readily available.

The words of Christ that I have included here above, also known as the Great Commission, were given to everyone who is a believer. I therefore issue what I call a Three-Fold Challenge to all Christians: Pray, Give, or Go.