…to the 4^th Power

The Spiritual Skeptic

 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV)

“God doesn’t me to have fun!”

“All roads lead to heaven.”

“When I die I wanna come back as a blade of grass”

“I mediate in order to connect with my inner self”

These are some of the statements made by folks who can be spiritually misguided. Their thoughts on what is God like, how other religions are, what’s in the afterlife or the supernatural can be rather shocking to the born-again believer. I myself always make the joke about how I would like to come back as a lawn mower so that I may mow over those who want to come back as a field of grass or flowers. But if we are to defend the faith these kinda jokes don’t help the cause of The Cross. It certainly isn’t what Jesus would do.

In the workbook that goes along with his book “Meet The Skeptic” Bill Foster gives his thought on what the root of the problem is. “Good works get you into heaven. All religions and spiritual beliefs other than Christianity have this works-based Root idea in common. This reflects the worldview of Spirituality. People want to get into heaven by using their own power. However, we will see that spirituality is self-defeating because it relies on trusting one’s own flawed works as the way to reach a perfect place.” Guess that means that Nirvana is just a name for hand cream?

The founder of “The Church of Scientology”, L. Ron Hubbard made this statement, “For countless ages, a goal of religion has been the salvage of the human spirit. Man has tried by many practices to find the pathway to salvation. He has held the imperishable hope that someday in some way he would be free.” This is true in the sense that man wants to reach a place that’s better than this one but, c’mon let’s face it…Jesus Christ is The Way, The Truth and The Life. Our stairway to heaven starts with Him!!

In Ecclesiastes 3:11 we read, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” This would be that YHVH has already placed within us that a reality exists beyond this ball of chaos and disorder. The key difference for Christianity versus other faiths is the fruits of the Spirit. Good works may give honor to whatever deity they believe in but our display of the fruits of the Spirit is our response for God having reached us.

The question to ask here is “How good is good enough?” If heaven was to be populated with the “Basically Good” we could call that place “Disney World” (there’s a stretch for ya).  Basically good could get us into medical school, quarterbacking for the Eagles, pitching for the Phillies (I’m taking this too far ain’t I?) or working for Apple computer. But why would a basically good person be allowed to be in the presence of a perfect God and be allowed to stay in a perfect place, forever? Hmmm…basically it goes like this, we are not saved by good works, it’s by grace, through faith in God’s perfect Son, Jesus Christ. – Chris Hughes blogs weekly for Freedom Fighter and is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy

Daily Bible Reading: Psalm 37-39; Acts 17:16-34

Quote of the day: “Obeying the Ten Commandments and displaying the fruits of the Spirit are not formulas for reaching God, but are instead responses to God having reached us.”—Bill Foster Verse to Memorize: Your promise is well tried and your servant loves it. I am small and despised, yet I do not forget your precepts. Psalm 119:140-141 ESV