The Hopelessness of Life Without Christ

In this thread, I asked a commenter named David:

What's your destiny, David?

November 20, 2007 4:03:00 PM PST

His reply:

You're curious about my "destiny" are you? Well, Christine, my destiny is exactly the same as yours. We are both biological animals created by evolutionary processes that are well-explained, and proven, using science and logic. This evolutionary history explains not only our moral and social development but also explains the advent of religion. Religion as a cultural institution, was created by natural evolutionary processes to address our fear of death. Without this fear of death, we would likely not have survived as a species -- it gives us a distinct evolutionary advantage. It has also motivated us to build communities, start agriculture, and eventually create civilization. I understand that your fear of death is so consuming you will suspend logic and reason to believe in mythological beings such as "God". But no matter how much you try, you will someday die just like the rest of us. And when we die, that is it. We no longer exist. Our time on this planet has expired to make room for other evolutionary life to flourish. Some of us, namely atheists, have a more advanced moral development and do not live our lives in fear of death.

I'm sure in response you will try to tell me how wrong I am and how these mythological characters from a 3,000 year old book will try to punish me (a book, btw, written by slave-owning polygamists). I hate to disappoint you, however, as I have as much fear of "God" as I do the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, or the Tooth Fairy.

We are now quickly approaching a time in human history where religion has accepted defeat against truth and science. It is a war that religion has been loosing for 300 years now. You and your children represent the last Christian generation that will enjoy majority status. Only about 10-30% of American children are choosing Christianity as adults. A new study (search Religion News Service for details) of Americans age 18-29 demonstrated that 91% view Christianity as "anti-gay" and another 85% view it as hypocritical. Christians are doing an EXCELLENT job of ensuring their future irrelevancy. And this atheist couldn't be happier about it.
Happy Thanksgiving!! ;)

November 20, 2007 6:40:00 PM PST

David,

You have placed your faith in Darwinism and appear to have a certainty regarding your final destiny.

Evolution cannot address the reality of our eternal souls.

The Bible, Jesus Christ, and Christian faith informs us of the fact that there is life after death. Depending upon whom one places their faith (in your case, Darwin) in this life determines the ultimate destiny of the soul in eternity.

Perhaps you might be familiar with the humanist Bertrand Russell. In his book Why I Am Not a Christian, Russell writes:

Man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving,...his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs are but the outcome of accidental connocations of atoms,...no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling can preserve an individual life beyond the grave, and...all the labor of the ages, all the devotion, all of the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system. The whole temple of man's achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins. All these things, if not quite beyond dispute, are yet so nearly certain that no philosophy that rejects them can hope to stand. Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair can the soul's habitation henceforth be safely built.

Now...that's a rant on hopelessness and utter despair if I've ever read one!

Contrast such a belief with what the great philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote:

...life without an afterlife, like the marathon runner with no finish line, would be an absurd and meaningless joke. It would be, as Shakespeare so eloquently put it, "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Kant reasoned from the point of ethics. Everyone, he says, realizes right and wrong exist. Without ethics, life becomes meaningless and chaotic. Ethics, however, he reasoned, depend ultimately on justice. Why should we do right rather than wrong if there is no such thing as justice? If justice does exist, then there must be a life beyond death, because it's quite obvious that in this world evil people often prosper and the good suffer.

Kant didn't stop with an afterlife. This afterlfe, where justice is dispensed, must be ruled over by a great Judge. This Judge, unlike human judges, must be absolutely perfect in His knowledge. Therefore, He must be omniscient - knowing all facts, circumstances, and motives - if He is to judge justly. Once He has judged, He must also be omnipotent. He must have the power to enforce His ruling. That, of course, sounds very much like the Christian God, doesn't it? Kant said that without all this, life is meaningless. (fn1)


Did you know that you can know for sure that when you die, you will go to heaven? Here is what the Bible says:

"These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God" (1 John 5:13).

The brilliant scientist, Michael Faraday, the discoverer of magnetism, was asked on his deathbed, "Sir Michael, what speculations do you have about life after death?"

He replied in astonishment, "Speculation! Why, I have no speculations! I'm resting on certainties! 'I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.'" Only in Christianity is there such certainty, and this certainty is based on the veracity of God's Word. (fn2)

I have been studying the Bible for 21 years. Each and every year of study has solidified my certainty that Jesus Christ is whom he claims to be. The Messiah, Son of the living God, Savior, King of kings, and Lord of Lords.

Biblical Christian faith is a reasonable faith, based on an historical person named Jesus Christ whose death, burial and resurrection is a proven fact of history. God's Word points to the coming of the Messiah in the Old Testament, and the New Testament reveals Him. Most of the over 300 prophecies written about the coming Messiah in the OT were fulfilled by Jesus Christ. The rest will be fulfilled at his Second Coming. The odds of one Man fulfilling such a large amount of prophecies is astronomical and the revelation of all of these prophecies is unique only to the Bible.

Jesus performed many miracles (the miracle of the resurrection to life being the point and destiny of his mission) during his three year ministry on earth. Over 500 people saw the risen Lord over the course of 40 (I think) days.

I think that 500 witnesses to someone's resurrection from the dead would stand up in any court testimony no matter how many years ago it happened.

The life of Jesus Christ proves that God exists. Christ also had surprising character witnesses, including, some secular detractors who could not negate the reality of his existence, life, death and resurrection to life eternal. Several wrote about his life after the resurrection.

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the hope of the world. He overcame the problem of evil, sin, pain, and death; pointing to life eternal with God in heaven for those who believe in Him. He is the only way to be reconciled back to God the Father.

The question is who needs a savior?

The answer is everyone.

Why?

Because we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. If you are spiritually lost, you need the Savior.

No matter what happens in this world, even when all is dark, it's wonderful to know that my faith is built on historical facts and that those who went before me found the faith to hold up to death itself.

As Christian believers, it is precisely because the Bible is true and because we love and belong to God, that we should all examine our lives and our goals and the way we live. Our foremost goal is to glorify and honor God.

How do Christians do that? D. James Kennedy summed it up when he wrote:

1. Living a life worthy of His high calling, by obedience to His commandments, including the command to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love those people God has placed in our lives.

2. Keeping close to the Lord by daily Bible reading and prayer.

3. Striving for holiness, without which no person can honor the Lord.

4. Bearing witness to others and striving to bring them into the kingdom of God.

5. Making disciples, teaching and encouraging and helping our fellow believers.

6. Keeping our spiritual eyes open to see the good deeds He has prepared for us to do, so that in reliance on the Holy Spirit, we may do them to His glory. (fn3)

Such a life as this will be glorifying to God, and so we will then be able to enjoy Him forever in heaven when our lives on this Earth are over. All of this we know through the words of the Bible, which is verified from many different angles. We can know the truth and the truth will set us free.

"If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:31b-32

Footnotes 1,2,3:

Skeptics Answered by D. James Kennedy, 1997 Multnomah Publishers, Inc.

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Update:

See Dr. David Jeremiah's Living a Life of Wisdom

Excellent!!

Outline for Study:

LIFE WIDE OPEN

Dr. David Jeremiah

“Living a Life of Wisdom”

Ephesians 5:15-21
Eph 5:15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,
Eph 5:16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Eph 5:17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Eph 5:18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,
Eph 5:19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
Eph 5:20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Eph 5:21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.[fn3]



November 25, 2007

I. The Wise Walk Is a Diligent Walk – Ephesians 5:15

A. Walking Diligently Keeps Us from Defection

Psalm 14:1
Romans 1:21-22
Titus 3:3-6

B. Walking Diligently Keeps Us from Disobedience

Galatians 3:1,3

C. Walking Diligently Keeps Us from Destruction

1 Timothy 6:9

II. The Walk in Wisdom Is a Disciplined Walk – Ephesians 5:16

Colossians 4:5
Ephesians 5:15-16
Psalm 90:10
Psalm 103:15-16
James 4:14
1 Chronicles 29:15
Psalm 39:5
Job 7:6
Psalm 102:3
Psalm 39:4-6

III. The Walk in Wisdom Is a Directed Walk – Ephesians 5:17

Psalm 37:4
John 7:17
Psalm 32:8
Psalm 32:9

IV. The Walk in Wisdom Is a Dynamic Walk – Ephesians 5:18-21

A. The Command to Be Filled with the Spirit

Ephesians 5:18

1. Desire to Be filled
2. Denounce Sin in Your Life
I John 1:9
3. Dedicate Yourself Fully to Christ
Romans 12:1-2

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Update #2:

At the end of Dr. Jeremiah's sermon, he shares:

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for "wisdom" meant "skill" - used to describe the skill of a craftsman. In the Bible the term wisdom means "the skill of living life successfully".

In the book of Proverbs, the term "wisdom" is used to reveal the moral and spiritual failures in our lives; as well as how to avoid them.

The apostle Paul described Jesus as being the Wisdom of God. By knowing Him, we know the very foundation of wisdom itself.

1Cr 1:24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.