"Judaism has lost favor with God," someone writes. "To say that it is still a path to God makes a liar of Jesus and therefore of God." * * * While it is certainly true that no one will be saved except through the atonement Jesus has accomplished, that does not prevent God from saving many people by Jesus' atonement who lacked personal conscious awareness of that atonement in this life. Most Christians would place in that category all faithful Jews before Jesus, faithful Gentiles before Jesus, and babies and small children who die -- both before Christ and since. Can we not allow that a … [Read more...]
BUDDHISTS AND COMMON GRACE
A gracEmail subscriber asks, "I have a Buddhist friend who does not believe in God as I do, or in the necessity of Jesus for salvation. I see what look like fruit of the Spirit in her life which makes me want to find some kind of reconciliation between my beliefs and hers. Any thoughts?" * * * Every good thing comes from God (James 1:17), and God has not left any people-group totally without knowledge of himself. That includes the peoples of Japan, India, Hawaii and other places where Buddhism is prominently represented. Paul refers to this universal self-witness of God at least twice in his … [Read more...]
BUDDHA NOT SO OLD
A gracEmail subscriber writes, "My husband was witnessing to a co-worker today who said that the Buddhist Bible was written before any other Bible. He asked how anyone can convince a Buddhist to believe in anything else but their own Bible since it precedes all others. Can you offer any suggestion on how we can deal with this when trying to share Christ?" * * * Your husband's co-worker is a tad confused. Prince Siddhartha, the Indian philosopher and founder of Buddhism, lived in India from approximately 563-483 B.C., which made him a contemporary of the later prophets of the Old Testament. … [Read more...]
CHOPRA, ARISTOTLE OR JESUS?
A midsouthern Bible professor summarizes author-guru Deepak Chopra's message as "Don't trust the intellect; go to the heart," then asks whether the same mindset infects much contemporary Christian thinking. * * * Chopra is indeed one of today's most prominent purveyors and popularizers of New Age, Hindu-oriented, "Eastern" mysticism. As such, he preaches distrust of the intellect, so that the "heart" swallows up everything else. You are surely correct that Christians in any age are always susceptible to the tossing waves and swirling winds of their own intellectual environment. For that … [Read more...]
WHY MUSLIMS HATE THE WEST (1)
It is astounding to realize that millions of Middle-Eastern Muslims hate the West (and the USA in particular). I am not talking about the terrorists -- barbarian savages who launch suicidal attacks on innocent men, women and children. I am speaking of day laborers and artisans, mothers and school-children, regular people sometimes referred to as "the Arab street." Political correctness says they hate us because they disagree with our democracy, our capitalism, our cherished freedoms -- often summed up as our "way of life." That is a comfortable answer, to be sure, but it is also wrong. In … [Read more...]
IS ALLAH GOD?
A gracEmail subscriber writes: "Recently in Sunday school, our teacher said that Allah is not the same God that we know. I've always been under the impression that Allah and God were the same, just worshipped differently by Muslims and Christians. What do you think?" * * * In the Arabic language, Allah is the word for "God." The goal of devout Muslims is absolute submission (Arabic: Islam) to him. Muslims believe that Allah revealed the Qur'an to the Prophet Muhammad during the years from 610-622 A.D., dictating it letter by letter through the archangel Gabriel. Some Christians argue that … [Read more...]
CHURCH WITHOUT JESUS
There is a church in my town which features inspirational speakers, although they never mention sin or salvation through Jesus Christ. Sometimes they seem to say that we are actually gods. What, someone asks, do I think of that? * * * The Bible informs us that there is one true God, who made all that exists, including our own human kind. Nature is not God and neither are we. We are mortal, dependent creatures, who exist at God's will, through his power and by his grace. Although we consist of earthly elements, we bear the divine image. Yet from Adam forward, we humans have denied our mortal … [Read more...]
MORAL CHOICES AND MATURITY
A gracEmail subscriber belongs to a church group whose leaders give "advice" to the members on whom they may date, when, how often and so forth. Although our brother carefully follows scriptural teaching on sexual purity, he does not always agree with his church leaders' opinions in other details. Yet he feels guilty and unspiritual when he chooses not to follow their "advice." He asks my thoughts. * * * Is this group being completely honest in its vocabulary? It is one thing to offer "advice" or "suggestions." Wise Christians will listen to godly counsel from others who demonstrate healthy … [Read more...]
GOSPEL OF JUDAS (UPDATE)
Since writing the previous gracEmail on the "Gospel of Judas," I have viewed the two-hour television special aired on Sunday night, April 9, 2006 on the National Geographic Channel and have read the actual translation of this document. Having now seen the program and having read the "Gospel of Judas" itself, both of which confirmed the previous gracEmail, I add the following observations in this quick update. National Geographic certainly knows how to tantalize an audience even though its titillation is sometimes misleading. In discussing the "Gospel of Judas" found in an Egyptian cave in the … [Read more...]
REFORMERS WERE NOT GNOSTICS
A young minister in Canada suggests that the Gnostics, whom John denounced in 1 and 2 John as "antichrists," taught "faith only" and "eternal security," and that the Reformers Luther and Calvin were therefore "antichrists" as well since they also taught both doctrines. * * * It is absurd for anyone to compare the Gnostics against whom John wrote (and Paul, and the later Church Fathers) to the great Christian reformers Luther and Calvin, or to any evangelical or orthodox group of Christians today. The Gnostics (a very fluid term for a wide variety of individuals over a period of several … [Read more...]
