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
OR
Study a passage, interpret its meaning, then apply it
to our lives
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’ well-
supported views
Most importantly: Love for one another!
Then we can have an awesome semester of learning
and growing together.
Agape
Love