Hard Questions?

“Did you ever notice that evil spelled backwards is live?”

(Anonymous)

I have had several students ask this question when I have held open air dialogues on their campuses. One student, Steve, stepped out of the crowd and asked, “If God is so loving, then how come there are starving children in Africa?”

I responded, “You seem quite concerned about the starving children in Africa Steve. I commend you for being so concerned.” He stepped back, shocked that I would even indicate that there might be something good in him.

“Steve, are you really concerned with the starving children?” He was not sure how to answer, so I answered for him. “ It does seem to me that you are. Let us see how concerned you are.”

“Steve, I know you are a college student. I wonder how much money you spent on going to concerts, buying music cd’s, and purchasing alcohol this past year?”

Steve replied, “ I don’t see what that has to do with my question?”

“Trust me, Steve, it has everything to do with it. How much did you spend?”

Steve replied slowly, “I guess about one thousand dollars.”

“That is great, Steve. Thanks for your honesty. Now you have just told me that you were concerned about the starving children in Africa, and that you have spent at least one thousand dollars on your going to concerts, buying music, and having a few cold ones every week. What I would like to ask you now is, since you are so concerned with the starving children in Africa, how much money have you given to help alleviate the hunger conditions in Africa this past year?”

Steve looked embarrassed. “Uh, I have not given anything.”

There is a new world coming where there is no death and disease, no sickness or pain.

The crowd standing around Steve began to accuse him of his hypocrisy. I quickly came to his defense. “Steve, I want to thank you for your honesty. I know it is embarrassing to discover that you are now part of the problem of the hunger in Africa. But so are all of us here today. When you asked the question, “What about all the starving in Africa?” you indicated by your question that the starving children were God’s problem. But now, when you take a good look at yourself, you find you are the problem.

God has given you the resources to help alleviate hunger, but you have not. Why? Because the Bible says that everyone one of us have sinned by refusing to follow God’s commands. As a result, this world is not a safe place to live.

In short, this world is filled with evil people, and evil people do evil things and people die. But it was not so at the beginning. The Bible says that in the beginning it was very good. Death, disease, and suffering are all a part of Man’s rebellion. This world in which you live is cursed and as a result you will all die at some time in the future because of your sin.

There is a new world coming where there is no death and disease, no sickness or pain. If you want to get to the new world, you must obey God’s Word which says to “Repent and turn to God that your sins and acts of rebellion can be wiped out so that times of refreshing might come from the Lord.” (Acts 3:19)

When you repent and trust in Jesus Christ, your sins will be forgiven, and you will find God giving you a heart to care for the starving children in Africa and to reach out to those who are hurting with the good news that this life is not all there is. Even though this life is under a curse, you can be set free from the curse and find a new hope in Christ and the promise of a new world to come.”

Steve and a few other students walked away looking embarrassed and ashamed.

Certainly, this does not answer all the questions of evil and suffering, but it can be a great launching pad for further discussion.

1. What questions do you still have about evil and suffering?

2. What do you believe God wants you to do about the evil and suffering in the world at present?

3. Who in your circle of influence do you know that is going through a period of suffering right now? Take a moment to pray for them and then ask God how He wants you to minister to them during this time of suffering.

4. Select a ministry that cares for those who are suffering and decide to take some specific action to meet their needs.

a. Crisis Pregnancy Centers

b. Hunger Relief through the International Mission Board, Attention: World Hunger,

P.O 6767, Richmond Virginia 23230-0767

c. Hunger Relief for North America; North American Mission Board, 4200 North

Point Parkway, Alpharetta, Georgia 30022-4167

d. Disaster Relief Ministries, State Convention Office

"I still say a church steeple with a lightning rod on top shows a lack of confidence."

Doug McLeod

C.S. Lewis says in his book Mere Christianity that of all the world’s most respected wise men only one claimed to be God: Jesus Christ.

A student asked at an open air dialogue one day, “Phil, how can you be so arrogant and narrow minded to say that Jesus is the only way? How can you be so sure with over 5,000 different religions out there?”

I replied, “That is a great question. There are thousands of belief systems out there and how can I know which one is the right one?”

For our study in this chapter, we can say that of the thousands of religions, all fit within one of seven or eight major groups: Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Islam, Judaism, Atheism, Pantheism, and Christianity.

Of all the world’s religions, how many of their founders made such claims as: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; I forgive your sins; I will be killed and on the third day I will rise from the dead;” “If you have seen me, you have seen God!”

Buddha never claimed to be God, Confucius never claimed to be God, Mohammed never made such claims. Of all the religious leaders, only one made such incredible claims and that person is Jesus.

Simply making such claims does not prove He was God and the only way to heaven. He could make these claims and be completely insane or deluded. What we must do is examine not just his claims, but also look at what he did to see if his actions gave credible support to what he said. Since the others in no way made such claims, we should not consider them as God based on their own testimonies. If they did not claim to be God, then why should we follow them as such?

There are many places in the New Testament where Jesus makes specific claims about his being equal with God. Among them are the following: Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 2:1-9; John 1:1-17; John 8:44-58; John 10:1-30; John 14:1-23. In these passages he says things such as: “If you have seen me you have seen the Father”; “Son, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven”; “No one takes my life from me I lay it down of my own accord”; “If anyone believes in me I will give him eternal life and no one shall be able to take them out of my hands.”

These are all statements that are ludicrous if the one who made them is not God. C.S. Lewis says in his book Mere Christianity that of all the world’s most respected wise men only one claimed to be God: Jesus Christ. If a great body of evidence supports his claims, then his claims should be counted as dependable.

Jesus told the disciples in the Upper Room just before his crucifixion, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but through me.” (John 14:6) If his claims are supported by a good deal of evidence, then it only makes sense to believe him when he says this. Some would say that Jesus did not mean that he was the only way forever but for his time only. Let us look at what the Scripture teaches.

10 "You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me, no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. 11 I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior. 12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed-- I, and not some foreign god among you. Isaiah 43:10-12 (NIV)

Even in the Old Testament God declared that there was only one God and there were no others, period.

Let us review this issue. How many of the world’s religious leaders claimed to be God? Only one. How many of the world’s religious leaders ever claimed to have the power to forgive sin? Only one! How many claimed to have power over death? Only one! How many demonstrated their omniscience by accurately predicting future events even down to the details of what the names of kings would be and what they would do? Only one! How many have a written historical record of their miracles that were observed by thousands of people of every ethnic and political and economic background? Only one!

So how many ways are there to find God and eternal life? Only one! Get the picture?

1. How certain are you that Jesus is the only way?

2. What questions do you still have concerning the exclusive claims of Christ?

3. Do you have a friend who is committed to another religion whom you need to share Christ with? Take a moment and pray that God will give you an opportunity to share with them this coming week.

4. Resources for further study:

a. True for You but Not for Me

b. Why One Way? MP3 from Southern Baptist

Seminary Collegiate Conference February

2003.

“An atheist cannot find God for the same reason a criminal cannot find a policeman; they are not willing to look for him.”

Therefore, everyone in the world has the same evidence as everyone else, but they all reach different conclusions about the evidence. Unless you have the person, who gave the code, as well as the person to explain the order and meaning of the code, you will never get it right.

A student at Western Illinois University stepped out from the crowd and asked, “What evidence do you have that God exists?” I responded, “There have been numerous books written to give evidence of God’s existence but none of them can give you absolute positive proof of God’s existence. I cannot prove to you that my wife loves me, or that the sun is going to come up tomorrow morning, but I can point you to some evidence that indicates that there is sufficient reason for believing such statements.”

“I have evidence of my wife’s love in that for the past forty three years she has not poisoned me when she has cooked a meal. Based on the evidence that she has not poisoned me for the past forty three years, I do not worry about eating her cooking. Also based on her record that she has not stabbed me in the back when I sleep next to her every night, I do not lay awake at night worrying about my safety sleeping next to her.

The evidence is that she has demonstrated over the past forty three years that she is committed to me, and she really does want what is best for me.

“I cannot prove to you that the sun is going to come up tomorrow, but the overwhelming evidence is that tomorrow when I wake up the sun will also rise to meet me. Therefore, I do not worry about such things.”

There is another even more compelling reason to believe in the existence of the God of the Bible. We find this information through the study of Information Science.

For matters of reasoning, let assume I give you a sheet of paper with B A T on it. What do you think you have on the paper?

Many will respond that you have the word “Bat” on the paper. But that is not accurate. All anyone can know, at first, is that you have some lines and globs of ink on the page that take a certain form. Unless you have someone to tell you what these lines and globs of ink represent (the code) you are left in the dark. An Australian Aborigine would look at the page and be completely clueless about the message.

Now let us assume that you have the letters S T A R on the page, and I tell you that they are English letters. Now what do you have? This time you are certain of what you have, and you answer quickly, “Oh, that is easy, you have the word Star.” Now I expose your prejudice and answer, “No, you do not have the word star. At the present you only have the letters S T A R. What could you have on this page?”

Some brighter student replies, “Rats!” To which I say, “You might possibly be correct.” Another student quickly speaks up, “Arts.” Again, my response, “You may be correct.” Now another student, even more brilliant than the others, “How can you ever know what the message means even if you have the evidence?” To which I reply, “Now you have asked the right question.”

Unless you have the code (S T A R) and understand that these are English letters, you will never be able to get the message. But even if you have the code, you still cannot understand its meaning (explanation of the Code) unless you have someone to explain and give order to the code.”

When you look at the phrase godisnowhere what do you see? It all depends on how you separate the letters of the code. Some will see God is nowhere! But for those who have the code and its meaning and order explained by the giver and explainer of the code, there will be a completely different conclusion, which is, “God is now here!”

As I was explaining this concept at an open forum with a philosophy professor at Southern Illinois University, a student asked, “Phil, what evidence do you have that there has been a God who has invaded history to give us the proper meaning of the code?”

What a great question! Some of the evidence we have is in fulfilled prophecy. I told the story of a student who had asked the same question several months ago at an open-air dialogue at the University of Illinois. Immediately after he asked the question, an Anti-Israeli demonstration marched right through our open-air dialogue with chants of hatred toward Israel. After the demonstrators left, the students at the dialogue were noticeably shaken. I turned to the student who asked for evidence of God invading history. I asked, “What geographical location on the globe are you thinking of right now?”

He replied, “Israel. But what has that got to do with anything?’

I asked, “Any specific city in Israel?”

“Jerusalem,” but I don’t see your point.”

“Let me explain. You asked for evidence of God invading history. Did you know that the Bible says that God knows every word on your tongue before you speak it? (Psalms 139) He even knew what questions you would ask this afternoon. He knew you would ask a question that needed evidence to support it. Therefore, He even arranged this demonstration to interrupt our dialogue so your attention would be turned to think about Jerusalem.

“Now, why Jerusalem? You see, 2500 years ago God knew you would need evidence of the trustworthiness of the Bible, so He predicted that as we approach the end of history all the nations would be focused on a little insignificant town from 500 B.C. named Jerusalem. A prophet named Zechariah made this prediction,

1 This is the word of the LORD concerning Israel. The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares: 2 "I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. 3 On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. Zech. 12:1-3 (NIV)

“The reason you thought of Jerusalem this afternoon is because God knew you would need evidence. He ordered these circumstances so you would have the evidence you need. It is in this area of fulfilled prophecy that we have sufficient evidence to support the integrity of the Scriptures and thereby the Scriptures tell us of our need for Christ. My hope is that you will turn from your sin and trust in Christ so you will be able to escape the coming judgment.”

Certainly, this does not answer all your questions about evidence, but my hope is that you will be stirred to study the Scriptures further and investigate their claims. Happy investigating!

1. What evidence did you have that helped you trust in Christ?

2. Who in your circle of influence needs more evidence? Take a moment and pray that God would order their steps so they too can see the tangible evidence of God’s working in history.

3. The greatest evidence Jesus gave us was in John 13:34-35. How can you live this out to give evidence to those without Christ?

4. Answers in Genesis produces some excellent videos that provide detailed evidence from the Scripture. They can be ordered from Answersingenesis.org

“I can think of nothing less pleasurable than a life devoted to pleasure.”

John D. Rockefeller

A student once asked me, “My life is really doing quite well, why should I have to commit my life to Christ if I am happy without Him?

For many, this question indicates that it is possible to have a life without Christ and be quite content. I do believe that it is possible to think you have it all together and have no need for Christ. It is quite possible to have all the pleasures of this world numb your sense of alienation from God. The Bible indicates something like this in Ephesians 4:17-19 when it says, “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. Eph 4:17-19 (NIV)

The sinful condition of man can numb him to his need for Christ. The pleasures of this world can drown out his understanding of his condition before God. We must share with people about the coming judgment on all who turn against God or live without committing their life to Christ.

Jesus speaks to an exceptionally good man who had everything going for him in Luke 18:18-30.

A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 19 "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'" 21 "All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said. 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me." 23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." 26 Those who heard this asked, "Who then can be saved?" 27 Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God." Luke 18:18-27 (NIV)

Here is a man who, on the outside, presented a very together picture of his life. He had all the things everyone thought was needed for life. He even looked like he possessed all the fine moral qualities by his own indication of keeping the commandments. If there ever was a person who looked successful and content, it was this man.

If you look at the very first sentence of this text, you will see that this man was concerned about living forever. This is why he seeks out Christ. When people present themselves to us as having it all together, we must remember this rich young ruler.

How does Jesus reason with this man who thought everything was fine? He presents him with the challenge of keeping the commandments. How does the ruler respond to the challenge? “All these I have kept since my youth.”

Jesus does not argue this point with him; he only says, “you still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.”

Why did Jesus take this approach with this man? Because this was the one point the man knew he was not ok on. He was wealthy, but he had not shown any real concern for the poor. He was stingy and uncaring. He was selfish and self-centered. He came to Jesus because he was only concerned for himself. How could he get eternal life.

Even though the ruler claimed to have met all the demands of the law, when given this one command by Jesus, he was instantly aware that he had not kept the commands. The Scripture says, “he went away sorrowful.” Notice when he first came to Jesus, he was very sure of himself and very secure in what he was trusting in for his security, but after encountering Christ he leaves sorrowful.

This is the function of the Law of God when applied to those who are trusting in themselves or their own efforts. When the Law of God is applied to a self-righteous person, it will always leave them sorrowful. When someone says they are quite happy without Christ ask them how good they have been at keeping the Ten Commandments and then leave them with this Scripture passage, “Be ye perfect even as your father in Heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48

We must learn how to apply the Law to people’s lives so they will see their need of Christ. Galatians 3:24 “So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”

Even though you may think you have it all together and see no need for Christ, when you judge your life by the Law of God you will be very much aware that you do not even come close to meeting God’s righteous standards. Even though you may have no awareness of your need for Christ, you still are in danger of experiencing the wrath of God toward all those who continue by their open and willful rejection of the truth. Remember the rich young ruler came to Jesus thinking everything was fine but he left extremely sorrowful. Do not allow your good feeling to deceive you into forfeiting your eternal life that is offered by Christ.

1. Who do you know in your circle of friends that looks like they have it all together? Pray for an opportunity to share with them the demands of God’s Law, the Ten Commandments.

2. Go through the list of the Ten Commandments and take the test yourself. How close do you come to following all ten of them? How did you fare? How many have you broken in your life? This week? What does this say about your hope of achieving eternal life yourself? Take a moment by yourself or in your group to pray short prayers of gratitude to God for what He has done for you in Christ.

3. Work at committing the Ten Commandments to memory so you will have them ready in your heart and mind to share with those who may need to know exactly what God expects of them.

4. Assignment: Ask at least one person to take God’s Ten Commandment test this week. The test goes like this: We are conducting a spiritual inventory on campus this week and we have just ten questions we would like to ask. Do you have time to answer about ten brief questions?

a. Do you believe in God?

b. Do you think you are following God the way He wants you to?

c. Have you ever used God’s name in an improper way?

d. Do you have a good relationship with your mom and dad at home?

e. Do you take one day a week to worship God and thank him for the life he has given you?

f. Have you ever told a lie? How many times?

g. Have you ever hated someone?

h. Have you ever stolen anything? How many times?

i. Have you ever lusted after another person?

j. Have you ever wished you could have what someone else has?

k. Considering your answers, how hopeful are you of going to heaven when you die?

“If there were no God there would be no atheists.”

G.K. Chesterton

I regularly hear from students who have grown up in Christian homes and go to college only to have their faith thrown on the rocks of the current cultural challenges. Amid so much uncertainty, is there any solid rock we can stand on?

Whenever I hear of students losing their faith in college, I discover there are usually specific events leading to the disappearance of their faith. The first and most predominant event is that the student begins to neglect private reading and meditation on Scripture. Soon after this, they are presented with challenges from a professor of philosophy, or some other professor, as they openly ridicule the Bible and the Christian faith.

Since the student has not been trained in how to respond to these challenges, he or she begins to adopt the thinking of the culture. Some quotes from the culture about the Bible follow: “The Bible really is a good book, but it is not really different than Shakespeare or Plato”; “nice book but not directly from God;” a book written by male chauvinists to keep women enslaved;” “a genuinely nice but outdated religious text.”

When the pressure of studies overwhelms them, they slowly outgrow their discipline of daily Bible reading. And for a while nothing seems different. They get good grades, even though they neglect the Scriptures.

What does all this have to do with my assurance of my relationship with God? It has everything to do with it. The only place in the Bible where God specifically promises to prosper a person is in this area of Scripture meditation. These promises are found in Joshua 1:6-9, Psalms 1:1-3 and James 1:22-25. They all contain the thought that anyone who daily studies and meditates on the Scripture and seeks to obey its teaching will be blessed.

In John 8:31-32, 31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

I struggled with assurance for the first nine years of my Christian life. There were times when I felt like I was exactly on target and doing what God wanted me to do and during those times there was no doubt at all. But the times that were so distressing to me were the times when I was not doing the things, I knew I should be doing.

How do you find assurance when your life is not in perfect harmony with God? What happens when you know what you are doing is not right?

What I used to do when I felt guilty for not doing what I knew to be right was to make more promises to God that I would read more Scripture, I would talk to more people about Christ, I would fast more, and pray more. This all worked well for a fleeting time, but it never really took care of my lack of assurance. If I was faithful to following the disciplines, I was ok, but whenever I stepped off the righteous ritual wagon, I felt even worse. What sort of person am I that my commitment to Christ is so short lived? Did I really know Christ, or was I just deceiving myself? And on and on the conversation in my head went.

The freedom for me came at a retreat in May of 1986. I had been plagued by doubts about my conversion for the past year since I had become a campus pastor of a successful college ministry. Thoughts in my head constantly accused me of my lack of faithfulness to Christ. During this retreat I decided that I was no longer to play this game. I determined to stay up through the night and find my answer or I would resign from my ministry and do something else.

I began my quest for an answer around 10:15 p.m. I opened my journal and began to pour out my complaints to God. I wrote, “I need to know if I know you or not, God. If I do not, then I will quit playing this game and resign and do something else. I am going to stay up all night and seek after you. If I do not get my answer by sunrise, then I will quit.”

I began to read substantial portions of Scripture and pray and cry out to God. I searched my heart for what I really wanted out of life. I was married to a great wife, had a tremendous young daughter of eighteen months, was well thought of by many in the church, and on the outside looked like a successful minister with college students. What else could a guy want?

That was just it. I had it, but it did not satisfy the deepest longings of my life. I was still unsure of where I stood with God. I had prayed and trusted Christ over nine years ago, I had memorized generous portions of Scripture, and even regularly and openly shared about my faith in Christ with others, but the settled assurance was still absent.

Through the night, as I read and meditated over the Scripture that God had brought to my mind, I found my heart being renewed and strengthened. Around 3 a.m., I asked God to speak to me clearly. I needed to know. After I had prayed that prayer, a passage from Romans Chapter 7 came to my mind.

So how can you be sure that you know God? It will take time and a serious pursuit of the God who has pursued you to this moment. Why not plan this next week to get away with just your Scripture and spend some time seeking out after God?

15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:15-25 (NIV)

This was a passage I had committed to memory years before, not knowing how the seed of God’s Word would return to me years later. Around 3 a.m. I heard a voice, not audible, but nevertheless very real, which asked me a question. “Phil, there is no one else here at this moment. What do you really desire more than anything else right now?”

I thought about that for a short minute but quickly responded, “I just want to know you, God, I do not care about anything else. I do not care what else happens, I just want to know that I know you!”

The next question I heard was, “Phil, when did you first become concerned about knowing me?”

My response, “Nine years ago when I turned from my sins and received Christ.” The next thing I heard was, “Who do you think gave you that desire to know me?”

It was then that Romans 7:22-25 rose to the top of my mind. . “22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Romans 7:15-25 (NIV)

I knew then at that moment that I had connected with God for sure. He had placed that desire for Him in my heart nine years ago and now it was all making sense. Even if nothing makes sense in this world, I know that I know God. From that moment on I have never doubted my connection with God. I have, however, doubted His ability to use me in my fallen, imperfect state--but that is another question.

1. On a scale of 1-10, with ten being positive that you are rightly connected to God, where would you place yourself?

2. Are there any steps of obedience you have not yet followed such as:

a. Baptism

b. Regular intake of God’s Word

c. Time set aside to pray and seek after God

d. Confession of Sin

e. Other.

3. Can you point to a time when you vividly remember surrendering your entire life to Christ? If you cannot remember one, why not make that decision right now? Leave your group and get alone and surrender to Christ everything you have and are or will be. You may want to read and meditate over Romans 12:1-2 and respond accordingly.

4. Sometimes we find our connection with Christ grows stronger when we declare our love for Him to others. Who needs to hear about your life for Christ right now? Pray for them and then go tell them what Jesus means to you.