What About People Who Never Hear About Jesus?

One of the questions I've been asked in the past is "What happens to people who've never heard of Jesus?"  Clearly Jesus taught that he is the only way to heaven. Speaking to Thomas:

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." John 14:6

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him John 6:44

Here's a post on what William Craig Lane teaches about people who have never hear of Jesus at the Wintery Knight blog.

Links to recent read articles

A few articles that I found interesting last week....

Youth Need Apologetics
Why Isn't God More Obvious?
How Can We Show Love to Homosexuals? (Video)
Bad Objections: Nothing as a Cause of Something
A Case for Apologetics
Is Atheism a Faith?
Are All Religions the Same?
10 Principles Every Dad Needs to Know
What is the Trinity?
The Multiverse Theory

What matters more? Beliefs vs Behavior

In the last week or two I saw multiple posts on Facebook of the same saying.  It was a picture of a chalkboard with this written on it: Beliefs don't make you a better person behavior does. 

It does matter how we behave and how we treat others, I think that is pretty obvious to most of us.  However, the implication in the statement is that beliefs don't matter or that beliefs and behavior don't have anything to do with one another.  Is that really true?  Beliefs lead to behavior.  We may act contradictory to our beliefs (I recently wrote a post about that) but you can't just separate beliefs from behavior.  For example, the belief that certain people groups are subhuman led to Hitler murdering over 6 million Jews and 15 million others.  Yes, that's a counter example to the saying because that behavior clearly was not better than not murdering people but it shows that beliefs do matter.

We see things all the time where behavior was apparently good but the belief behind it wasn't.  Someone might do something nice for another person but the only reason they do it is because it will benefit them personally.  Suppose Bob wants something that Martha has.  Martha is a window and her husband had a really nice collection of tools.  Bob covets the tools but knows that Martha won't sell the tools to just anyone.  Bob doesn't particularly like Martha and in fact he can't stand her but he mows her yard and fixes a few things around her house with those tools.  Martha is very grateful and eventual asks Bob if he'd like to have her husbands tools at a price that's 1/2 of their value.  Bob of course buys the tools. 

Now let's take another look at this same situation and the reason Bob helps Martha.  Bob sees that Martha has lost her husband and needs help.  He's aware that her husband was quite handy around the house and had an extensive tool collection.  Bob sees that Martha's yard isn't getting mowed and her house needs some repairs.  Out of compassion he offers to mow the yard with her mower and fix things with her tools.  Martha wants to show her appreciation and offers to sell Bob the tools at 1/2 price and he buys them.

The outcome is exactly the same in both instances, the behavior doesn't change.  Someone on the outside looking in might say "Martha got benefit and so did Bob. It was fair."  But the question here isn't about fairness it's about whether Bob's behavior made him a better person or not.  In which scenario is Bob a better person?  The second one of course because we recognize that Bob's motivation (his beliefs) are good.  In the first scenario he is taking advantage of Martha and in the second one he is helping out of compassion.  Same behavior but different beliefs.

We've all seen this type of situation and if we're honest we've all done it.  It makes none of us a better person.  Behavior does matter and is extremely important but the beliefs behind our behavior are just as important and motivate our behavior.

The Things I Do

There are times when I wonder what I'm doing. It's the struggle of the person I am and the person I want to be. The times when I do things I don't want to do and those things which are inconsistent with what I believe as a Christian. It's a swear word or gossiping.  It's a sharp response in anger or an indifferent attitude towards someone in need or even worse behavior.  Paul wrote about this very struggle he had:

For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. Romans 8:15

For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. Romans 8:19

Paul wrote much of the New Testament and was a convert to Christianity when he met the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus. He traveled all over preaching and defending the gospel and was eventually martyred for his faith. Yet here he is admitting that he struggles to not do things contrary to his faith. It brings comfort to me every time I read this.

Much of the criticism Christians get is because they are seen as hypocrites. They are seen as saying one thing and doing another. However, I'm not sure I've ever known anyone who hasn't done this, Christian or not. I think a more fair measure is how does someone handle themselves after realizing they've acted contradictory to their beliefs. Do they justify or deny their behavior or do they acknowledge it, own it, and work to correct it?  

Knowing that Paul had these struggles helps to encourage me that I can make changes. It also reminds me that being a Christian isn't about being perfect. My shortcomings only point out to me my need for a savior. God's standard is perfection because He's holy. I am not perfect but Jesus is. All Christians should take heart when they have these struggles that they are not alone. The good news is none of us need to be alone with any struggles and if we accept Jesus' sacrifice we can have someone to always go through these struggles with us.

Animated tour of the cell

Here's a pretty cool video of the cell: http://bit.ly/OUYmJv

10 Principles every dad needs to know

Video here: http://bit.ly/MQqlHg

Why Does It Matter What We Believe?

Our culture is one that says it gives equal value to all beliefs.  You hear people say things like "Who are you to judge?" or "That might be true for you but it's not for me." or "Jesus works for you but you shouldn't force him on others." We see cars with the coexist bumper sticker where the letters are the various symbols from world religions with the implication being that all religions are equal or say the same thing.  However, our culture doesn't actually believe this in practice.  If you want to test this try giving an opposing opinion to someone who clings to 'all beliefs are equal' on gay marriage, abortion, or any other hot social issue.  Guaranteed they won't think your belief has equal value and you're likely to be labeled or thought of as intolerant or bigotted no matter what side you're on.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think all beliefs are equal or true.  I respect that others have a different belief but that doesn't mean I accept it as true.  That's because truth is true no matter what anyone believes about what's true.  For instance it's never ok to torture 2 year olds for fun.  Even if someone believes it's ok, that doesn't mean that it's actually ok.

I had a conversation with a Wiccan one time and it was her belief that we each got to decided what was right and wrong.  I asked if it was ok if someone decided it was right for them to rape her.  Of course she objected and said it's against the law so it wouldn't be right.  I asked then if it were legal to rape her would that make it right.  She said well it's not legal.  I said then based her belief killing Jews was ok.  She of course said no it's not, I don't think that's ok!  I said well Germany's leadership decided it was ok and they killed millions of Jews and it was legal in Germany so by your belief it must be ok.  She initially said it wasn't her business because they could do what they wanted.  I challenged her on this and said so you have no problem with the holocaust because Germany decided it was ok?  She back tracked and was stuck in her own contradictory belief.  I said would be ok if it was legal to kill Wiccans?  At this point she just wanted to stop the conversation and I let it go.

The reason she was stuck was because her belief system didn't even hold up to it's own standard.  She didn't really believe that what each person, state, or government decides is ok just because they agree on it.  There is never ever a time where it's ok to torture a 2 year old for fun or kill Jews because they're Jews, but yet her belief system when taken to it's natural conclusion allowed that it was ok if enough people in a social group decided it was ok. 

Beliefs when taken to their logical conclusions matter.  Beliefs which are contradictory or opposing can not both be true at the same time.  Jesus can't be the only way and not be the only way at the same time.  He either is the only way or is not the only way.  I think the evidence says that He is the only way and therefore anything that contradicts that is false.