10 Reasons To Believe In God And Jesus

Whether you are an atheist, agnostic or a person who is struggling to believe, have little faith or great faith there is a set of logistical thinking that can be applied to understand the probability of God as indicated in the Old and New testaments. The following logic applies:
  1. The existence of God is a 50/50 probability. He either exists or he does not. God is either true or false. If true, then ALL true. If false, all false.

  2. Our decision to reject or accept the existence of God is also a 50/50 probability. Either right or wrong.

  3. Our decision has a potential twofold outcome: If God is FALSE, then whether we accept or reject God, the consequences is irrelevant. If God is TRUE, then our decision to accept or reject God will have eternal consequences.

  4. The same logic applies to Jesus Christ. The proposition of his divinity is 50/50 probability. He was either the unique, divine Son of God or He was not. It is either true or false. If true, all true. If false, all false.

  5. What if Jesus was a mad man who believed his own delusion? Or a liar? This is possible. But is it probable? While Jesus may have died on the cross as a mad man who believed his own delusion, what is the probability that his disciples, (who may have followed him knowing he was a lying mad man for some perceived potential power or political gain), would follow him to death?

  6. While one disciple, or even two could have been manipulated by Jesus’ charisma to die for him, what is the probability that 11 disciples (Judas killed himself) would willingly die for a mad liar?

  7. Re-framing the question: What is the probability they wouldn’t have died for a mad liar? All they had to do to avoid death was to deny Jesus as the risen Son of God after his execution. They did not deny the resurrection. All eleven apostles stuck to their testimonies until their death when executed by Jewish and Roman officials.

  8. The apostles must have seen something that compelled them to stick to their testimony to the point of death. That single something could only be the resurrected Jesus.

  9. While this does not factually prove the existence or truth of God or Jesus, it does slightly tip the scales of probability in favor of God and Jesus to 51/49 in favor of God.

  10. Given this analysis, if you are not a believer, perhaps you should rethink your decision to accept Jesus into your life. The decision you make will be either right or wrong. And there are only three possible outcomes: No consequence, eternal life or eternal death in hell without God, for eternity.

Monday, December 11, 2006

What Does The Bible Really Say?

The Message of both Old and New Testaments distilled to their simplest message is this:

  1. God created the heavens and the earth and man.
  2. Man sinned and was separated from God.
  3. God gave the Jews the law (10 commandments) which no man has or can or will fulfill, except Christ.
  4. Christ came to earth as God in the flesh.
  5. Christ was sacrificed to pay the sin debt, once for all, and his death is the all appropriation for sin.
  6. He was resurrected and has ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God and will return.
  7. The only way to be cleansed from sin and to receive eternal life is to receive and believe in Christ.
  8. That we should be baptized, confess our sins regularly and partake of the sacraments at least once and improve our walk, as best we can, before God.

That’s it. That’s the main message, and anybody can understand it. Yet, there are thousands of books written, both pro and con, about God, Jesus and the bible. All of man’s ideas, theologies, speculations, details, doctrines and denials are irrelevant and cannot alter this message to those who will believe it.

We each must choose to accept or reject it.

Posted by Jim Hart at 5:47 PM
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Sunday, December 3, 2006

The Key To Being Born Again--Life After Death

The term "born again" is often used by Christians to explain the phenomenon of the change of character that often (but not always immediately) accompanies a person when they accept Jesus into their life. While this is a widely used and accepted term to describe the change of mind and behavior a person experiences when they accept Jesus, it was not how Jesus described the term born again.

In the New Testament, a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus (a Pharisee) confronted Jesus as follows:

Joh 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
Joh 3:2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Joh 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, Verily, verily, I say to thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:4 Nicodemus saith to him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
Joh 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say to thee, Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:6 That which is born of the flesh, is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit.
Joh 3:7 Marvel not that I said to thee, Ye must be born again.
Joh 3:8 The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the sound of it, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Looking at what Jesus said it is clear that the term "born again" is a "literal requirement" to enter the kingdom of heaven. Consider:

Joh 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say to thee, Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Jesus was very specific that we must

1. Be literally born again.
2. Have a new body, which is constructed of "water and spirit".

Jesus reinforced his statement by saying:

Joh 3:6 That which is born of the flesh, is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit.

Is this a radical idea? No. Our flesh body is about 60 percent water, the brain is composed of 70 percent water, the lungs are nearly 90 percent water and about 83 percent of our blood is water. Water is critical to life and our cells are full of water, helping to digest our food, transport minerals and regulate our temperature. Without water there would be no life. Let’s be clear:

You (a spirit) were born into this world and live in a body that is about 60% water and 40% minerals. The inner you, your spirit, is living in this world in a flesh body made mostly of water now! If you are alive now, in a body composed mostly of water then why can’t you be literally born again, into the kingdom of heaven, in a new body composed of your spirit and a 100% water body?

Remember Jesus said:

Joh 3:7 Marvel not that I said to thee, Ye must be born again.
Joh 3:8 The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the sound of it, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

In other words, to get into heaven you have to leave your minerals behind when you die here on earth! It’s that simple! Now, just because you will have a new, spiritual body, does not mean you won’t like it! A spiritual body is vastly superior to our present bodies!

Jesus also said:

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that reviveth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Let’s think about something together: We have no idea where we came from before we were born, right? As far as we know, we did not exist until we were conceived through the act of procreation. But our conception was a competitive event—we fought our way into our mothers egg amongst thousands and thousands of other sperm cells all competing to get into the egg as they struggled for life. Sperm cells are pre-programmed to get into the egg—that is their singular mission, to get LIFE! Out of the batch of thousands of sperm, you were the most successful sperm (or you may be a twin, etc). The key is that you fought and got into your mothers egg—whatever you did in your fight for life was successful because you are here, reading this article and thousands of potential brothers and sisters are not.

Now, during the time we were in our mother’s womb, we were well fed, loved, cared for, warm and secure. During the 9-month gestation period we had it made! All our wants and needs were met and, we probably didn’t want to leave the world of our mothers stomach that we were so familiar with, where we were warm and secure, the only life experience we knew.

But we had to leave the world of our mothers womb to be born into this world! We didn’t want to leave! And we came out kicking and screaming, born into a harsh, cold, world of unknowns—we had no choice! We had to die to our mother’s womb to be born into this world!

Now we are here today and whatever your age, you know you are going to die someday.

We don’t want to leave this world which we are so familiar with, where we are loved, where we have everything we need like water, air, beautiful skies, changing days and all that mother earth offers. But we will. And most people are scared of leaving this world—of dying and all the unknowns we face in death.

The point I am trying to make is this: We struggled successfully as sperm to find life. We spent the first 9-months in the world of our mothers womb. We died to that world to be born into this one. And our present life is similar to the path we took as a sperm cell and the gestation period in our mothers womb. Here’s how: We have to find the path to life again or we will die forever, like the unsuccessful sperm cells. And if you stand back and look at all the people in the world as if you were 10,000 feet in the air, we would look like bacteria, like sperm cells running around here and there on the planet earth. Everyone is struggling to survive and figure out the spiritual path to eternal life through various concepts and religions.

Just as we had to penetrate our mothers egg to fertilize the egg and get life, we must be injected with God’s Holy spirit to get life. Just like the way we got this life, only in reverse. The only way God can penetrate us and fertilize us with the Holy Spirit is if we accept Jesus as our personal savior. We must have the pure Holy Spirit of God, only available through Jesus Christ. Every other form of faith and religion, while they may be very meritorious, do not lead to the pure Holy Spirit of God (required for life) that is only available through accepting Jesus as God’s Son who died for your sins on the cross, was resurrected and lives. Jesus said:

Joh 14:6 Jesus saith to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father, but by me.

If you think about what has been shared with you in this article compared to every other perspective, you should understand this message is the message that leads to new life after death. You were successful as a sperm cell to find the life that God provided for you in the beginning. Will you be successful in finding the life God has provided you now? It is simply a matter of opening your heart and mind to the concept of Jesus, asking Him to come into your life, and accepting Him as your personal savior.

My sincere desire is that you are able to lay down your intellect and be open-minded to things that require faith and not facts. Whatever you choose will be either the right or wrong decision.
Posted by Jim Hart at 9:46 AM
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