Why believe in God?

A sign painted on the side of some buses in Washington DC, read, “Why believe in a god? ... just be good for ‘goodness’ sake.” After hearing that I thought, “How ridiculous! Man has been trying to be good for 6000 years and has not accomplished it yet!” ... even with God’s help, most of us have not conquered being good!

The ads, costing $40,000 and funded by the American Humanist Association, will run through December.

Starting in January, posters on buses in London, England will read, “There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

On Tuesday, October 21, British atheists announced the high-profile advertising campaign to put posters on London buses. By Tuesday night (not Tuesday a week later, but the same Tuesday), 3,400 people had shelled out $80,000 to help fund the advertising campaign. According to ‘justgiving’, an internet site, $120,072 has been donated to date.

TWO THINGS COME TO MIND:

1. If a Christian organization announced an ad campaign to promote Christianity on city buses, would 3,400 Christian’s pony-up $80,000 in less than 12 hours to pay for the ads? Probably not. What does that tell us about our enthusiasm for spreading the Word?

2. If there is no God, who defines what being good consist of? I suppose it would amount to each individual’s inner picture of what good means...which is a scary thought! Since few of us think alike on anything else what makes us think we’d ever agree on the definition of good?

WHY BELIEVE IN GOD?

First: Man cannot be good on his own. If there is no standard, or clear definition of ‘good’ to live by, the mark will be all over the board ... anybody can choose anything and call it good. There has to be a true definition of good or things become chaotic. That mark of distinction is very clear in the Bible.

REASON NUMBER TWO:

The power of sin cannot be conquered without a change of heart. The human race has failed, consistently, in changing a heart from bad to good. Only God can totally change a self-seeking, greedy heart to one of love and compassion. Jesus’ sacrificial death and sinless life is the only thing that could redeem us. We were powerless to be good on our own.

When we are covered by the work of Jesus on the cross, (the blood he shed for our freedom), the Bible declares us “not guilty” and free to approach the throne of God.

That is liberating. You no longer have to “worry and not enjoy life”. In fact, you can enjoy life to a greater extent because you are liberated. Believing in God sets you free! You are set free to not worry ... you can be confident that God is FOR you. Knowing God is for you takes away the anxiety of plain-ole everyday living.

Romans 8:31-39 says, “If God is for us, who can be against us”? ... how liberating is that? Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? The answer is, “no”. ...how liberating is that?

Why do you need to believe in God? Because you cannot be good on your own. You’ve tried. I’ve tried. All our attempts eventually fail. Does that mean you’re always good after you believe in God? Absolutely not. Every living Christian knows they are not ‘always good’, but they also know they are reaching for the prize of the high calling. At least, our goodness has a definition, and we are, through Jesus’ power, working toward what God defines as good.

We Believe in God because he can make the changes that we can’t make. You may DO GOOD and not believe in God but you can’t BE good. There is a difference.

Fred Edwords, a spokesman for the Washington DC humanist ad campaign, said their purpose isn't to argue that God doesn't exist, but they are trying to plant a seed of rational thought. (Fox News report). To me, it is totally irrational to think we can be good just for ‘goodness sake’. All you have to do to know that is to live in the world around other people. How many perfect people do you know?

REASON NUMBER THREE:

The third reason to believe in God is that it not only liberates us from worry, but it also brings a blessing in this life.

In the Old Testament in book of Ruth, Boaz not only redeemed Ruth, but he married her. He was rich and powerful and when he decided he wanted to marry her, he paid the price for her. From then on, she was blessed. She lived in the same house with Boaz and enjoyed his riches just like he did.

The same is true with Jesus. He is rich and powerful. He paid the price for us and now we are married to Him. Spiritually, we now live in the same house with him. And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:6).

Proverbs 10:22 “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it” (KJV). Rich is not necessarily money (although He will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus {Phil 4:19}). The blessing of the Lord covers everything you need like peace, comfort, understanding, hope, strength, and protection.

To me, it is absolutely irrational thinking for a human to refuse to believe in a Creator who will never leave them nor forsake them. Who would not want that protection and comfort?

Thanksgiving Is A Special Family Time

by Brian Burgess
Forefront Families

I remember our first experience of Thanksgiving in America. We had only been here three weeks and were excited to be invited to our friends’ celebration. They owned a country store complete with its own restaurant. Even though the store was closed to the public, that is where the family met to enjoy each other’s company on this special occasion. It’s great to celebrate and it’s even more important to be thankful. Sally and I have often been asked if we celebrate Thanksgiving in New Zealand. My reply is that I would love to be able to do that, but the Mayflower didn’t quite make it.

I know that we should be thankful at all times, but it is good to have an annual reminder. It seems to be in human nature to be critical rather than thankful. When did you last thank your boss for providing a job for you? When did you last thank your parents for all the hard work they put into helping make you the person you are? When did you last thank your pastor for the massive amount of spiritual input and encouragement he has given over the years?

I had my presupposed ideas what a Thanksgiving celebration would look like…Family and maybe some friends getting together around a meal table; the most senior person giving the Lord thanks for the family and food; at the end of the meal people sitting around and each person saying what they have been grateful for over the past year.

Not in this family gathering! Family members walked up to the food, sat down and ate it and disappeared as soon as they had finished. We couldn’t believe it! But then we were just ‘fresh off the airplane’ as the saying goes. What did we know about Thanksgiving? We declared that if we were to celebrate this event in the future we would do it differently. We have. “How good it is to give thanks to the Lord,” says the Psalmist. Our attitudes change when we are grateful. It helps create a positive environment in which people are encouraged and affirmed. We all need this.

One of the first things we are taught to say as babies after ‘Momma’, ‘Daddy’ is ‘Thank you’ or ‘Ta’ as we used to say. Having worked directly with young children and teenagers over the past 42 years I have noticed a significant decrease in manners over the last 20 years, especially now. Many parents appear not to be taking the time to teach and train their children on the use of manners. I was a school administrator. A Middle School student came to the Office and I did quite a bit to help her. She turned around and started to leave. Just as she opened the door I called out, “Oh, Thank you Mr. Burgess.” She replied, “You’re welcome!” Those in the Office cracked up laughing. She had no idea.

A mother was asked to come and see me because her son was often acting so ill-mannered in school. She told me it wasn’t her job to teach manners, it was the school’s responsibility! Something is very twisted here.

As parents, let’s be thankful and be great models for our children. Paul in one of his letters to the churches said, “Be grateful in all things.” Let’s ensure that we create thankful children, and that this Thanksgiving day we create opportunities around the table for family members to say at least one thing they are grateful for.

If you have any personal Thanksgiving stories you want to share with us please do so at management@forefrontfamilies.org

The year of the Jubilee

by Todd Hansen
Live a Full Life Ministries

It is no secret that the good ole USA is in the midst of trouble and turmoil both politically and economically. While trying to avoid letting it drive me into depression, I have thought a lot about the cause, the effects, and the path to recovery this past week. I have many thoughts I’d like to share and this will be the first in a series of teachings and editorials on the status of America as seen by Todd Hansen. Many won’t fit the inspirational nature of this column so be sure to look for them in my business column as well as my blog (www.fromoutsidethebox.blo gspot.com).

As I was pondering these thoughts one day this past week the Lord brought to my remembrance the Biblical and Hebrew custom known as the Year of the Jubilee. For all the details on this subject you need to do some serious study in the books of Moses, but the short version is that it set forth the concept that God owned everything and we are just stewards. Just as the week ended with a Sabbath every seven years the land was to be left fallow. After seven of these cycles came the year of the Jubilee in which the land again was fallow and it was a year of celebration. While there is a wealth of wisdom that can be gleaned from this there are a couple of points that I want to speak to today. Slavery was only allowed for a maximum of seven years and property was never sold but actually leased for no more than 49 years.

Whatever the situation that would force someone into slavery, which was most likely debt, the bondage would only last until the next Sabbath year, and then they would be set free. There is a certain amount of hope that the system would give. Also property was never really sold. In keeping with the concept that God owns it all property was in reality only leased until the next Jubilee, with the value going down each year in relation with the time of the lease.

During the Year of the Jubilee all property would go back to the original owner, or most likely their descendants. I know the Bible scholars among my readers will gasp at my over simplification of this principle (otherwise it would take a novel to complete this thought) but I hope they will forgive me.

While today this would be considered socialism can you just imagine how many of America’s problems the principle of the Year of the Jubilee would solve? While I know many would consider this teaching irrelevant because it is so far from the realm of possibility I do think there is much wisdom we can glean from it. Just as a football coach always goes back to training on blocking and tackling when his team is struggling we need to get back to the basics with the most basic being God is in charge. And if anyone tells you any different go back to rule number 1, God is in charge. Over the next few weeks I hope to share many more principles on how following God will not only lead you to heaven but help you overcome the hardships of life. As always, believe the full gospel and live a full life.

Say What??...

by Phillip M. Hazelwood

What do I fear?

Everything it seems. I might lose my lover, my children, my house, my car. I might lose my health, my strength, my sound mind. Hey, I might even die young before I can fulfill my plans, my dreams, my calling. What am I going to do? What would Jesus do? The Lord’s answer is always the same: Sit down. Listen. Calm down. Don’t be afraid. I am right here with you. Angels are all around you. Big strong angels. Picture a small child held high in its mother’s arms, but kicking and screaming at the sight of a small, but friendly, dog that just wants to be petted and played with. The mother knows no harm will come, but the child is very very afraid of the unknown.

Our enemy, Satan, is a real serious threat to our safety and well-being, but guess what? He can only do to us what God has given him permission to do. Remember Job. Satan knew Job’s name, address, how much money he had, how well-known he was, and how many children he had. He also knew God had a big fence around Job and his company.

The devil couldn’t penetrate it without God’s permission. Rebuild your hedge with faith and trust in His promises. Find His promises by reading the Good Book.

Jesus is my Protector