Believe

Believe Opening Thought “Just because you do not understand a mystery does not mean you should not believe it.” “But how can I know what’s real? It has to make sense somehow, doesn’t it?” “Sometimes the only way to know a thing is real is to trust it.” “That’s circular argument.” He snorted with a grimace. And yet, upon reflection, he had to admit that something about it sounded true.” Why Consider Beliefs? • What do YOU believe? • Think of a basic, Christian idea… even the most basic – salvation. Do all Christians agree on the path of salvation? • What if you believe that salvation involves more or less than I do? • What does it mean if I’m comfortable in my own salvation but, by someone else’s standards, I’m still bound for Hell? Truth Do any fundamental Truths exist… or can we all be right? -Think of Christianity vs. other belief systems and -Denominations within Christianity Taking the Romans Path   Many ideas can be blanketed under Paul’s discourse in Romans 14. Some cannot! Think again on the salvation example, and others. Bottom Line: Examine how our beliefs affect our lives, yes, but more importantly: **How they impact our testimony to others!**  Beliefs and Ourselves What we believe affects how we serve, How we serve affects how we live, How we live affects who we are, Who we are impacts our testimony to others on behalf of Christ Beliefs and Others • We must evaluate: Is my testimony pushing people away?  Cannot compromise Truth just to make Christianity sound good. (1 Peter 4:16, Romans 12:14)  But is it possible that Christians sometimes misrepresent Christ by presenting unnecessary laws, an inaccurate picture of who He is and how He lived, etc.? OR Christians try to make Christianity into a “feel good” religion of all promises and no struggles, etc.?  What do we expect nonbelievers to do when they are faced with so many conflicting pictures of Christ and how we are called to live by so many different Christians? Challenge • Let us not settle for our beliefs as commonplace. Force the questions upon ourselves:   • What do I believe? Why do I believe it? The Bible  Essentially comes down to this:  How do you view the Bible?    Is it a book of stories that symbolize lessons written to help us live a good life? Is it about real people and real events that took place, but not necessarily so accurate as to be considered a history or science book? Is it the infallible Word of God that can be trusted completely to tell us about anthropology, history, science? Scripture and Viewpoints • Scripture can be used to argue many different viewpoints… maybe even the same Scripture for both sides of the same issue! We have to interpret the Word as a whole! • • Which is correct?  Study a passage, try to apply it to our lives, then interpret what it means Study a passage, interpret its meaning, then apply it to our lives OR  Interpreting • If God intended for us to interpret the Bible any way we choose, why would it have been inspired and preserved throughout history just to bear no authority in today’s times? Language barriers, cultural barriers, etc. can make some Biblical Truths difficult to grasp… but not impossible to internalize KEY: Continually remain in the Word and daily tear down our preconceived notions of what the Bible says • • Back to the Beginning   Think back to the first slide… “Sometimes the only way to know a thing is real is to trust it.”   ***Warning: This is only recommended for the experienced, well-grounded Christian. One who has personal beliefs about the Bible and many of the main theological issues.*** What if we tried this:    Look at someone’s beliefs and take them on as though they are our own Then ask: “What are the implications of these beliefs, to myself and others?” From there, work to prove or disprove the belief Success • Three things must happen to succeed in this: 1) Drop our denominational “safety nets” and the support of our heritage. It’s easy to blindly hold onto a belief because you’re surrounded by people in church who believe the same thing, or it’s what you’ve grown up believing 2) Make ourselves willing to unlearn old habits, feelings, lessons we’ve learned wrong, etc. Look to Christ to lead us in this process (John 21) 3) Use Scripture as our backing. The Bible commands us to be ready to give an answer for our beliefs (1 Peter 3:15) And the authority and necessity of Scripture are expressed in many places (2 Timothy 3:16, Psalm 19:7) Logic and reasoning are also great tools and gifts… but it should always be logic and reason that is grounded and inferred from Scripture! Why Apologize?    Apologetics – “apologia”: “to verbally defend” Many people have an issue with studying the historicity of the Bible, the scientific proofs for the Bible, logical defenses, etc. I see in myself two lines of defense for my faith:   Feelings Knowledge  Feelings can and will fail you!  “When our feelings can’t sense God, that’s when we should know that God is beyond our senses!”  True, grounded knowledge is much more impenetrable. Conclusion • As long as we have:     A deep thirst to know what God’s Word is really saying to us A willingness to examine our own beliefs (not faith! There’s a difference) A respect and consideration for others’ wellsupported views Most importantly: Love for one another! Then we can have an awesome semester of learning and growing together. Agape Love