Imagine 4 billion people being fooled into thinking that a "man" was resurrected!
Charles Colson, who was part of the Watergate scandal and later converted to Christianity, said this about the resurrection:
“I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Everyone was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren’t true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world- and they couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks. You’re telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.”
That was his rationale and his faith based on his experience. Like him, 4 billion people too have faith based on their own logic and experience. But you see, whichever way you look at it, it all boils down to faith. And what does faith lead to? Why is it essential?
1. Faith leads to a belief in God
How can we believe in a God we cannot see, cannot hear and cannot touch or feel. Why? Because of Faith. We have our own logic and experience that there is a power beyond, which creates, controls and protects and whose attributes we have experienced. Why does the sun not fall down? Why is the earth dependent on the sun? How is it that people are healed through prayer? Is it coincidence? In the professional physics community, they typically begin to accept a result as beyond chance or coincidence when the probability of it occurring by random chance falls below about 1 in 10,000. Healing prayer is much much above that, ruling out coincidences.
2. Faith leads to hope
How do we even know that there is a second death? That this death is not final. And if it be so, there is nothing to hope for. Yet, we believe that there is a second death, which means this physical death is temporary, and that I can be saved from that final death as a consequence of sin, which we call salvation, offered by Jesus Christ. We believe because we believe in JC and have faith that what he said is the truth. A d that faith is built strong through our experiences of Him as we live this life.
While hope is futuristic, faith is historical. Yet hope is based on faith.
3. Faith leads to love
Why should we not commit adultery? Why should we not murder? Because it will hurt not one person but many many people. Why should we care? Because we love others. And why do we love? Because we are social animals, have emotions and believe that we need each other. We love because we were made interdependent. We believe all of this because of the faith that God made us all equal and equal heirs to the world He gave us. We love others because Christ did and we believe in Him and have faith in Him.
4. Faith leads to happiness.
Unhappiness is when what you get or what you achieve, is much lower than what you expected or think you deserve. When you have faith in God, your expectations start getting matched to His grace and will, thereby leaving no room for you to build your own ambition. Therefore there is no disappointment or unhappiness. You will be happy in every circumstance.
5. Faith leads to world order.
Have you ever thought about where laws of democratic countries came from? If you do, you will soon realize that the source is the 10 commandments! Laws lead to world order, and laws are based on the Word of God. If we did not believe in God, we would not believe the commandments and therefore would not have laws which are fair to all. And we believe only through faith.
Finally, is faith blind? We don't think so. It is based on logic and a rationale and our experience or experiences. Anyone who has faith must have experienced God's grace which led them to believe in Him, Jesus, the resurrection and salvation.
Charles Colson, who was part of the Watergate scandal and later converted to Christianity, said this about the resurrection:
“I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Everyone was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren’t true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world- and they couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks. You’re telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.”
That was his rationale and his faith based on his experience. Like him, 4 billion people too have faith based on their own logic and experience. But you see, whichever way you look at it, it all boils down to faith. And what does faith lead to? Why is it essential?
1. Faith leads to a belief in God
How can we believe in a God we cannot see, cannot hear and cannot touch or feel. Why? Because of Faith. We have our own logic and experience that there is a power beyond, which creates, controls and protects and whose attributes we have experienced. Why does the sun not fall down? Why is the earth dependent on the sun? How is it that people are healed through prayer? Is it coincidence? In the professional physics community, they typically begin to accept a result as beyond chance or coincidence when the probability of it occurring by random chance falls below about 1 in 10,000. Healing prayer is much much above that, ruling out coincidences.
2. Faith leads to hope
How do we even know that there is a second death? That this death is not final. And if it be so, there is nothing to hope for. Yet, we believe that there is a second death, which means this physical death is temporary, and that I can be saved from that final death as a consequence of sin, which we call salvation, offered by Jesus Christ. We believe because we believe in JC and have faith that what he said is the truth. A d that faith is built strong through our experiences of Him as we live this life.
While hope is futuristic, faith is historical. Yet hope is based on faith.
3. Faith leads to love
Why should we not commit adultery? Why should we not murder? Because it will hurt not one person but many many people. Why should we care? Because we love others. And why do we love? Because we are social animals, have emotions and believe that we need each other. We love because we were made interdependent. We believe all of this because of the faith that God made us all equal and equal heirs to the world He gave us. We love others because Christ did and we believe in Him and have faith in Him.
4. Faith leads to happiness.
Unhappiness is when what you get or what you achieve, is much lower than what you expected or think you deserve. When you have faith in God, your expectations start getting matched to His grace and will, thereby leaving no room for you to build your own ambition. Therefore there is no disappointment or unhappiness. You will be happy in every circumstance.
5. Faith leads to world order.
Have you ever thought about where laws of democratic countries came from? If you do, you will soon realize that the source is the 10 commandments! Laws lead to world order, and laws are based on the Word of God. If we did not believe in God, we would not believe the commandments and therefore would not have laws which are fair to all. And we believe only through faith.
Finally, is faith blind? We don't think so. It is based on logic and a rationale and our experience or experiences. Anyone who has faith must have experienced God's grace which led them to believe in Him, Jesus, the resurrection and salvation.
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