Life Here and There

Confession: Christianity is a mess! But that’s the tendency of religion isn’t it? We have too many denominations, too many moral failures among leaders, and too much quibbling over secondary issues. We argue about music styles, dress codes, and politics. Let’s admit it.

And while we’re admitting, let’s admit that we’ve also messed up the message of the gospel. We either water it down or muddy it up. We either leave out the parts about Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection and our faith and repentance toward Him, or we throw in extra and often confusing terminology and rules. Some who are inquisitive about the faith may walk away thinking that turning to Jesus is more difficult than filling out a tax return.

So let’s straighten this out:

1. You and I have sinned. We all have. No denying it. We’ve broken the rules of our Creator.
2. We deserve punishment for our sins, separation from God in hell to be exact.
3. God loves us in spite of our sins and willingly allowed His Son Jesus to come to earth and to die on the cross to pay the penalty of our crimes. He died for us.
4. He rose again.
5. Turn to Him and trust Him as your Savior, and you’ll be saved forever.

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I’m deeply concerned. Jesus made a bold statement once about the influence of believers when He said, “If the salt loses its savor, it is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under the foot of men.” I’ve just finished reading an article by Al Mohler that gives an articulate voice to a rising concern within Christianity – are we losing our savor?

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I just read a news story about an atheistic group in Washington state that has placed a sign in the state capital building promoting atheism. The sign is located adjacent to a nativity scene also paid for by a private organizations, and both organizations obtained permits for their displays. You can read more about the story here.

I am not opposed to either display – we live in a nation that celebrates the freedom of speech as well as the freedom of worship, so either of these groups should be well within their rights to express their views in a public setting, especially seeing that they’ve gone through the appropriate measures to do so. I do, however, think that the action raises an issue about atheism that has to be dealt with by anyone who is wavering between theism (belief in a god) and atheism (belief in no god), and that is that atheism is a religion.

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