Questions on Christianity

A certain segment of Christianity maintains that God wants us to be wealthy and healthy and all we need to be wealthy and healthy is by faith claim it.  They do have Biblical support.

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11 ESV).  Also see Matthew 21:22, Luke 11:9, John 14:13.

However, the Bible also says we Christians will experience difficult times.

“. . .but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger” (2 Corinthians 6:4-5 ESV).  Also see Romans 8:17-23, 1 Peter 4:12-14.

So how do we reconcile this apparent contradiction?  As we have stated in this blog and in my book, God’s primary purpose for us is the renovation of our soul so it becomes like him; it is not our earthly comfort.  God will use whatever it takes—wealth or pain—to accomplish his purpose in our lives.

I have heard people question whether God is omnipotent by asking if God can create a square circle.  C. S. Lewis gives the best response:  “. . .nonsense remains nonsense even when we talk it about God.” [1]

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[1]   C. S. Lewis. The Problem of Pain.  New York:  The Macmillian Company, 1967, pp. 15-16.

Many years ago, I worked for a company that utilized a large plant to make their products.  The plant was so large that I could not recognize a person who was at the other end of the plant.  However, I soon learned to recognize a person who was far away by their walk and other mannerisms.

Why do I bring this up?  My wife and I were talking about how, after we die, we will recognize our friends and relatives.  Our physical body will decay but God could make a duplicate spiritual body.  But what about those with physical deformities?  If God corrects those it might make recognizing them difficult.  I think a better solution is that we will recognize each other by our souls.  After all our soul is the sum total of our existence; it is more than our physical appearance.

We spend much time addressing the needs of our physical body including making it look as attractive as possible.  Do we spend as much time improving our soul?

I have been going through my Dad’s paperwork and came across a small book of catechism published by the General Conference of the Mennonite Church of North America in 1937.  In a section titled “By Way of Introduction” it contains the following observation.

One of the great heritages of the Mennonite Church is “The right of the individual to his private interpretation of the Scriptures under guidance of the Holy Spirit”.

Private interpretation of the Scriptures leads to diversity of interpretations.  This need not be a weakness, but may become a source of strength, provided that charity prevails, and diversity of gifts be recognized. [1]

God has given us free will which means each of us is responsible to ensure we interpret the Bible correctly because our beliefs help determine our actions.  At the judgement seat of Christ, we will not be able to blame others for our actions (2 Corinthians 5:10, Revelation 20:13).

And part of our judgement will be on how we treat those with whom we disagree.

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[1]   A Catechism.  Berne, IN:  Mennonite Book Concern,1937, p. 5.

WORLD recently published an article on faith and politics.  In the article they quoted a political scientist at a university as saying:  “. . .the label ‘Christianity’ doesn’t mean much anymore, at least when it comes to politics: while a majority [of candidates] claim to be Christian, defining what that means is complicated.” [1]

Why is it so difficult to define what it means to be a Christian?  What is complicated about being a Christian?  If God is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9), he would not make it complicated.  Instead, we have a multitude of different Christian denominations, and each denomination has pages of doctrinal statements each of which they claim is God’s truth.

True, Jesus does say the way to destruction is easy and wide and the way to life is difficult and narrow.  He did not say the narrow way was complicated (Matthew 7:13-14).

God is not the one who makes being a Christian complicated; we do.  One reason is that everyone wants to use Christianity to their material advantage.  Our Christianity is defined by what provides us with the most advantage in our material existence.  Instead, we should be striving to remake our soul so it becomes more like God.

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[1]   Elizabeth Russell and Christina Grube.   “Faith and politics”.  WORLD, September 2024, p.19.