"....pursue Truth with all the reverence and tenacity in your heart, and so you will find fulfillment, for the lessons of Truth are the lessons of God." --Alan Cohen, "The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore"
Many people reject Christ because they believe that truth is relative. There are those who cannot fathom the idea that there is only one way to God and therefore reject that there is a God at all. I don't know enough about relativism or atheism to comment about these beliefs, but I do know about Truth because this is my belief. According to the dictionary for something to be true it is genuine, real or actual, accurate or exact. It is the opposite of insincere, false, or inaccurate.
The true test of any belief is how it is demonstrated in one's life. This is a basic scientific method. In science "the usual test for a statement of fact is verifiability, that is, whether it can be demonstrated to correspond to experience." This is why I believe everything that Christ said about Himself. His life demonstrated everything He claimed. Cohen says, "When Christ Jesus said, 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,'. . . .he was not speaking only of the Jesus, which was the physical form that was identified with the Christ. Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Mohammed, and the other great ones have all taught the same Truth: paths are many; the Truth is One."
I know that statement is upsetting to many Christians, but please hear me out. I still believe that Jesus is the only Way back to God because it was through His death on the cross that bridged the gap for all of us. That is a fact. Whether or not you accept this as necessary for salvation, it has nevertheless been done for you. Whether or not you believe it will determine your fate.
The Truth is, if you love others according to Scripture's definition of Love, you have God living in you--the Holy Spirit. It doesn't matter what you call yourself. You can even call yourself a Christian and believe that Jesus died for your sins, but if your life never demonstrates the kind of love that God says He is, then the Holy Spirit does not live in you. Even if you don't outwardly state it, you are by your actions rejecting the Christ if you do not love as He commands us to. It is the Holy Spirit in us who marks us as one of God's children.
If you call yourself a Buddhist, or Muslim, or nothing at all, and demonstrate the kind of love that God is, it does not matter what label the world puts on you because the evidence is there. . . because no man or woman can love like God loves unless he or she has the love of God in them. "If you say you love God, but hate your brother, you are lying." Labels don't mean anything. Labels divide rather than unite. We who live the Truth are all one with God.
God is Love. God is Truth. God rewards those who seek Him. He says that anyone who seeks shall find Him. Knock and the door will be opened. The many paths people use to start their journey will eventually lead to God, if they are indeed seeking the Truth. True believers can help prepare the good soil needed to show others the Truth by demonstrating with their lives that God who is in them is Love. Otherwise, people can be led astray by the tenets of the path they're on and never reach the only Way.
Father, even those of us who believe the Truth, and accept the forgiveness you offer us, and receive your Holy Spirit, are in danger of quenching the Spirit. We are human, after all. But let me not use that as an excuse to keep on missing the mark, which is what sin is. All I need do is always, always, always, look to You for help even in the smallest of things, for then I know my path will be made straight and I shall not fall.
Link to Scripture: 1 John 4:8
Take action:
Many people reject Christ because they believe that truth is relative. There are those who cannot fathom the idea that there is only one way to God and therefore reject that there is a God at all. I don't know enough about relativism or atheism to comment about these beliefs, but I do know about Truth because this is my belief. According to the dictionary for something to be true it is genuine, real or actual, accurate or exact. It is the opposite of insincere, false, or inaccurate.
The true test of any belief is how it is demonstrated in one's life. This is a basic scientific method. In science "the usual test for a statement of fact is verifiability, that is, whether it can be demonstrated to correspond to experience." This is why I believe everything that Christ said about Himself. His life demonstrated everything He claimed. Cohen says, "When Christ Jesus said, 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,'. . . .he was not speaking only of the Jesus, which was the physical form that was identified with the Christ. Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Mohammed, and the other great ones have all taught the same Truth: paths are many; the Truth is One."
I know that statement is upsetting to many Christians, but please hear me out. I still believe that Jesus is the only Way back to God because it was through His death on the cross that bridged the gap for all of us. That is a fact. Whether or not you accept this as necessary for salvation, it has nevertheless been done for you. Whether or not you believe it will determine your fate.
The Truth is, if you love others according to Scripture's definition of Love, you have God living in you--the Holy Spirit. It doesn't matter what you call yourself. You can even call yourself a Christian and believe that Jesus died for your sins, but if your life never demonstrates the kind of love that God says He is, then the Holy Spirit does not live in you. Even if you don't outwardly state it, you are by your actions rejecting the Christ if you do not love as He commands us to. It is the Holy Spirit in us who marks us as one of God's children.
If you call yourself a Buddhist, or Muslim, or nothing at all, and demonstrate the kind of love that God is, it does not matter what label the world puts on you because the evidence is there. . . because no man or woman can love like God loves unless he or she has the love of God in them. "If you say you love God, but hate your brother, you are lying." Labels don't mean anything. Labels divide rather than unite. We who live the Truth are all one with God.
God is Love. God is Truth. God rewards those who seek Him. He says that anyone who seeks shall find Him. Knock and the door will be opened. The many paths people use to start their journey will eventually lead to God, if they are indeed seeking the Truth. True believers can help prepare the good soil needed to show others the Truth by demonstrating with their lives that God who is in them is Love. Otherwise, people can be led astray by the tenets of the path they're on and never reach the only Way.
Father, even those of us who believe the Truth, and accept the forgiveness you offer us, and receive your Holy Spirit, are in danger of quenching the Spirit. We are human, after all. But let me not use that as an excuse to keep on missing the mark, which is what sin is. All I need do is always, always, always, look to You for help even in the smallest of things, for then I know my path will be made straight and I shall not fall.
Link to Scripture: 1 John 4:8
Take action:
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