Is Jesus the Only Way to God?

Of all the statements Jesus made, none rankles the non-Christian more than this exclusive claim of Christ. To the post-modern mind this statement seems both arrogant and intolerant.  But is Christianity intolerant? Is it wrong to assert that we, believers in Jesus, have the truth and that other religions are wrong?

After all, aren't all religions basically the same?  Don't all religions have as a foundation a message of love and good will toward one's fellow man?  Don't all religions point to God, if only from different perspectives with slightly different paths?

As you can see, we have a lot to explore on this important topic.

Blessing to you!

Bo

Is it reasonable to believe in God?

This is the question we will seek to answer this Sunday in our Answers series.Whitney, who will be handling this all-important topic, provides this brief intro.

When I was a child I remember playing a game called Domino Rally.  The whole object of the game was build an elaborate line of dominoes traversing stairs and slides, going up and down, snaking back and forth across the board.

After laboring for an hour to set it up the player gently taps the first domino, knocking it into the second, which falls into the third, and continues until the climax where one of the dominoes falls into a ball which rolls down a long ramp and into the mouth of a small plastic alligator.  Victory!

It was a great game.  And a great example of the evidence we see that God exists.  You see, our world is governed by an ongoing chain of cause and effect we get to discover through scientific inquiry.  We are watching dominoes fall all around us, and we discover more about our world every day by studying those cause and effect chains. But our world, just like those dominoes bears two important features:  impetus and design.

By watching the falling dominoes, there is no doubt that someone put them there to accomplish a particular goal.

There is also the inescapable fact that someone started this whole chain of events at some point in the past.  These ideas, impetus and design, are some of the evidence we will analyze on Sunday to answer the question, "Does God exist?"

Spoiler Alert: He does!

Band of Brothers this Saturday at 9

Band of Brothers is a men's group that gathers on the second Saturday of every month at the church to eat breakfast and hear an inspiring message on biblical manhood.  All men are welcome to join us.

Blessings,

Bo

D-Day

As I typed today's date I couldn't help but be reminded of what took place on this date 70 years ago.  June 6, 1944 was the day the Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy to begin the invasion of German occupied France.  Establishing a beachhead on the continent of Europe was an essential step in the defeat of Nazism during WW II.

In this, the largest amphibious assault in history, at least 12,000 soldiers lost their lives in this epic battle in order to help free a continent held in the grip of tyranny.  Let us never forget their sacrifice, or the freedom it secured.

In the same way, we must never forget those who gave their lives to ensure the gospel of Jesus Christ was taken to the ends of the earth.  Of the original apostles of our Lord, only John died of natural causes.  All the others died as martyrs.  Peter, tradition tell us, was crucified head downward.  James was killed with the sword, probably by beheading.  Thomas was run through with a spear while taking the gospel to India.

I used to wonder why it was necessary for the disciples to die such horrific deaths.  But then it occurred to me that by dying for their beliefs the disciples were communicating to all succeeding generations that the things they had heard and seen regarding the person and ministry of Jesus were really true.  As it has been noted, people don't die for a fable.

The Bible we possess contains the record of the life, death and resurrection of the One to whom these disciples bore witness with their lives.  And yet this Bible which has been treasured by followers of Christ for two thousand years is under attack.  This is nothing new.  The Bible has always been attacked, vilified, outlawed and even burned by those who reject its message. 

But today the attacks are more subtle, more sophisticated.  So-called biblical scholars in search of the "historical Jesus" claim that the Christ of Scripture bears little resemblance to the Jesus who actually walked the earth.  Some claim the Bible has been corrupted in transmission, or that the Gospels were written so long after the events they describe that they are nothing more than myths and legends put forth by those intent on deifying a mere man, a man they say never claimed to be the Son of God.

Can the Bible be trusted?

I'm sure that you, like me, believe the Bible to be the Word of God.  But can you tell people who question the truthfulness of Bible why you believe the Bible is the Word of God?  This Sunday at The Bridge we will be answering the question; can the Bible be trusted?  In this message we will provide solid, empirical evidence that Bible we possess is indeed trustworthy.

I don't believe it is hyperbole to say that the battle raging over the trustworthiness of the Bible is even more critical than the battle that commenced on the beaches of Normandy 70 years ago today.  On this battle for the Bible rests not merely the temporal lives of men, but eternal souls.

Be sure to be with us Sunday at The Bridge at either our 9:30 or our 11:30 A.M. service.

Blessings,

Bo