Questions on Christianity

The movie Chernobyl is about the nuclear disaster at a power plant in Ukraine in 1986.  The cause of this disaster was a combination of poor decisions made at the power plant during a test and governmental officials hiding defects in the design of the plant.  At the end of the movie, the head scientist states that the scientists were so focused on finding the truth of the cause of this disaster that they failed to consider how few actually wanted to know the truth. Everyone was more interested in protecting their job and reputation than they were in finding the root cause of the disaster. [1]

This seems to be part of the human condition.  We see it all the time in government, business, and every other of our lives.  People are more interested in their own advancement than they are in what is right or true.

We even see it in religion.  In this blog and in my book, The Renovation of Our Soul, I document over 70 verses in the Bible which teach salvation is through means other than belief in Jesus and his death for our sins.  But the Christian community has, by in large, ignored those verses.  If they do, are they not ignoring the truth as expressed in the Bible?  Do they really what to know the truth of what the Bible teaches?

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[1]   Johan Renck, Director.  Chernobyl.  With Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, and Emily Watson.  HBO Pictures, 2019.

Andrée Sen Peterson aptly describes the bankruptcy of modern thought.

Truth is subjective—but my view is right and yours is wrong.   Values are impossible—but fight racism and sexism.  America is evil—but it’s unjust to keep anyone out.   Technology is ruinous—but it’s not fair that poorer people in the world don’t have it.  Tolerance is good—but Christianity is intolerable. [1]

While it should be obvious such ways of thinking are irrational and flawed, are not we Christians guilty of the same?  We acknowledge that God made us finite but we believe our theology is infallible and everyone who disagrees with us is wrong.  We demand that others “walk the talk” in their personal and public lives. [2]  However, we maintain that God has a different standard—all he requires of us to be saved is to believe in Jesus’ death for our sins.  God does not consider our actions to be essential for our salvation.

Before we Christians criticize the world’s ways of thinking, should we not first examine our own?

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[1]  Andrée Sen Peterson.  “Off to college”, World Magazine.  August 17, 2019, p. 63.

]2]   Mindy Belz.  “Walk the talk”, World Magazine.  August 17, 2019, p. 30.

Not many people are aware that Mark Twain wrote a very accurate historical novel about Joan of Arc.  It seems incongruous that the author who wrote A Pen Warmed Up in Hell should also write a very sympathetic novel about her life.  Joan of Arc, who, at the age of seventeen was made the Commander in Chief of the French army in spite of her lack of military knowledge and her illiteracy, was very clear that it was God who was providing her with guidance in her efforts to drive England from France.  Twain calls her “the most extraordinary person the human race has ever produced”. [1]

In one scene, Twain describes the reaction of villagers when the war passes through their village and leaves behind awful destruction.  Twain notes a common trait of humanity when he says:  ”. . .words will answer as long as it is a person’s neighbor who is in trouble, but when that person gets into trouble himself, it is time that the King rise up and do something.” [2]

Twain and the villagers are just stating what we all know—that deeds are more important than words.  So why in our Christian faith do we say that words are more important?  If all we have to do to be saved is to say we believe in Jesus and his death for our sins, are we not saying that our words are more important than our deeds?

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[1]   Mark Twain. Joan of Arc.  San Francisco:  Ignatius Press, 1899, p. 452.

[2]   Twain, p. 64.

Oshkosh, Wisconsin is the home of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA).  Every year about this time they have a week-long celebration of aviation which they call AirVenture and it is among the largest in the world.

A few years ago, a man from Nigeria was visiting AirVenture for the first time and he had lost his wallet which contained all his cash, credit cards, and the keys to his rental car.  Needless to say he was distraught.  He and another pilot looked for his wallet in the places he had been that day but came up empty.  The pilot then checked lost and found and discovered the wallet.  When the Nigerian gentleman examined the contents of his wallet, he found absolutely nothing was missing. [1]

It has been my experience that pilots are a very trusting and trust-worthy group.  A few years ago, another pilot and I stopped at a small airport in Missouri for fuel.  There was an aviation fuel pump but no attendant.  Instead there was a sign telling pilots to fill up and mail a check to a particular address.

There are many good people in the world such as the pilots mentioned above.  My question is:  Will these good people go to hell just because they do not believe in Jesus?  If your answer “yes”, then why does God place such an emphasis on our actions as well as our beliefs?

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[1]   Phillip A. Prossnitz, “The Spirit of Oshkosh”, AOPA Pilot, July, 2014, p. 75.

Prior to taking off in an airplane, a safe pilot will consider several variables—the condition of the airplane, the weather, the origin and destination airports, and his or her physical condition.  Now even if a pilot does all of the above, a recent article in an aviation magazine notes that:  “It isn’t that we don’t know that conditions are bad; it’s that we do know and choose to go anyway” [1]   So why would a pilot choose to fly knowing that problems will be encountered that will endanger the flight?

This is not just an issue for pilots; it is symptomatic for all of us.  How many times do we deliberately do what we know is wrong just because we want?  How many times do we rationalize doing what we know God forbids?  If we truly believe in God and in Jesus, why would we do something that they tell us is contrary to our long-term interests?

Just like the pilots mentioned above, we think we will find a way around the problems we encounter.  We think we will be able to convince God to overlook our deliberate transgressions.  Also, it tell us is that our soul is not God-like and that the process of salvation we have started is still woefully incomplete (2 Corinthians 2:15, Philippians 2:12, Hebrews 10:14).

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David Matheny, “There Is No Free Launch”, Sport Aviation, June 2019, p. 37.