Christian Love or Atheist Power?

.

Two crucial worldviews compete for man’s allegiance and control of planet earth: biblical Christianity and atheism. I don’t believe most persons fully or rightly understand the essence and implications of either. We can either be nice guys or mean ones since everyone’s influenced by their background, maturity, moods, circumstances, health, social conceptions and misconceptions. And sometimes, we don’t really know, understand or believe what we profess to believe. Could the above title capture the essence of each worldview? You may vehemently protest the suggestion and I affirm your right. But let me explain and you may see it differently.

.

Biblical Christianity and its Implications. 

.

Creation “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). If God created them, then God would have to exist before his creation and be an eternal, unchanging, self-existent, infinite, immaterial, intelligent being. Since God can’t create himself, he must be an eternal unchanging self-existent being. And since he created a material universe, he must be an immaterial (Spiritual) being who existed prior to and greater than the space-time material universe he created. And as science, good sense and the Bible shows everything didn’t just pop into being but are effects of an independent intelligent cause. So then, God is the Source, Sustaining and Unifying Explanation of everything that exists.

.

The Fall of Man.

.

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them” (Gen. 128). “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate” (Gen. 3:6).

.

God provided a perfect environment that met man’s every need. But Adam and Eve chose self over God, rebelled against God’s rule, and ate the one forbidden fruit in the whole garden. In that moment, man died spiritually being separated from his perfect Creator, Life-giver and Owner. Would you protest if the offspring you loved and provided for disobeyed you? God’s expelling them from the garden was another act of love since if they ate from the tree with the fruit of life they would have no further opportunity of redemption. The ground was cursed, man had to work harder to produce food, the woman now suffered pain in childbirth, and spiritual and physical death passed on to all Adam’s descendants since they inherited a sinful self-centered nature.

.

Critics can argue all day about how man’s creation and fall is no more than fairy tales. But how would they write an account that all generations and cultures could accept and understand? The Bible consistently teaches the creation and fall of man were real historical events and human redemption makes no sense unless they’re true.

.

Redemption in Christ.

.

“ God who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:1-3).

.

What could make it impossible of the universe’s Creator to take on the body and human nature of a man? Nothing! “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 3:16; 15:13

.

God spoke through prophets, apostles, angels, miracles, fulfilled prophecies, and last of all through his Son, the God-man who visited us here on earth and both claimed and empirically demonstrated that he is God. Only an unwarranted assumption amounting to infinite knowledge can deny these things. And honest research of Christ’s life will show more evidence for his existence than for Tiberius Caesar or Aristotle who historians have no doubt. No world religion gives the visible eyewitness evidence Jesus gave of his purity, love, wisdom, transfigured glory, and bodily resurrection.

.

Because Jesus arose from the dead, we know there’s life after death and he is God as he said--thus all he taught is absolute truth. He taught we’re in God’s image giving us the basis for human dignity, rights, freedom, ethical accountability, justice, love, life with ultimate purpose, and opportunity for eternal life. He gives us the choice to trust him for salvation and Heaven, or eternally endure our self-provided torments in the darkness of Hell. Jesus is hope and love.

.

Biblical Christianity provides the philosophical framework for interpreting reality. Experimental science took hold in Christian Europe. Modern science’s founding fathers were devout Christians such as Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Boyle, and Pascal. They believed God’s creation real, rational, orderly, dependable and good like its Creator. The Bible encouraged Christians to explore the heavens, subdue the earth, and to test and verify everything. Further, it provides the moral requirements as honesty, integrity, discernment, humility, and truth without which science would be impossible.

.

Prior to that time paganism thought nature to sacred, capricious, cyclic, illusory, magical, or fated which discouraged experimental investigation. If evolutionists hadn’t borrowed from biblical Christianity, it’s doubtful their belief in blind chance and mindless accident would result in scientific method. Naturalists simply take it all for granted today. Further, naturalists are willfully blind that matter, life, mind, personality, truth, order, rationality, and morality cannot evolve from nothing even in infinity--they require an eternal, self-existent, infinite, intelligent Creator.    

.

A Renovated World.

.

This world has been corrupted from the beginning by man’s rebellion toward his loving Lord. God once purged it with water and promised to purify it again with fire. All who enter God’s perfect new world will be like their Lord pure, undefiled, godly people acceptable to him and fit for Heaven. God’s people didn’t earn his acceptance by following rules, rituals, joining a church, positive thinking, doing good deeds as good as these things are. They humbly trusted in the promised Savior and then sought to live for God as scripture teaches.

.

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Cor. 2:9. See Revelation 21.

Atheism and its Consequences.

Whether they dress as socialists, humanists, secularists, naturalists, materialists or anti-theists, they are atheists who deny a god of any kind and have a SERIOUSLY different agenda. It denies the biblical Christian basis for faith, family, freedom and a secure future. Atheism prides itself on being rational and scientific and claims world religions, especially Christianity, are superstitious and ignorant. But you judge whether that’s true.

.

Atheists believe everything came about by chance and evolution and that man is really just the   soulless dirt he came from. Atheists say they are the superior informed elites. They must guide the ignorant masses to do what’s best for them. There’s no future world so we must make the most of the time we have and achieve what greatness we can for ourselves. And since there is always conflict in the animal world, it’s always survival of the fittest so the strong must vanquish the weak. Atheists must take what they can while they have time. And since there’s no higher authority, people always have conflicting opinions and preferences. So the government must assume strong control
and force citizens to obey less everything become chaos and anarchy. It may require elimination of obstinate and religious elements one step at a time or a revolutionary bloodbath as in Russia, China and other socialist countries. Without moral incentive within, atheist elitists must impose laws, penalties, and taxes to force their will from without.

.

Let’s not fool ourselves, nature’s essence is always might makes right, survival of the fittest, animal eat animal. Whoever atheist elites deem uncooperative may be mistreated, manipulated and murdered if they don’t comply for the greater good of the rest of us unbelievers. And it may be U and your loved ones.

. 

BUT, at every point: creation, man’s fall, redemption, and new creation, God in love seeks rebellious self-centered man. Yet, man fails to acknowledge his Life-giver or appreciate God’s wonderful gifts. Unlike atheism, love doesn’t force itself on others. So God gives many witnesses to and warnings of coming judgment—Christianity in essence is love. Atheist hurtful power or Christian helpful love--both have life and death consequences: it’s your choice! Pray, "I choose You Jesus as my Savior and Lord to live for You and tell others about You. Thank You Lord." Now show you mean it by sharing these articles with friends and loved ones so they may learn God's Word and be saved. God bless you in your work of faith and labor of love.  See the book list below.

.