CLIMB to THE SUMMIT Formerly titled "The Most Important Thing"
If you don't read any other page on this site, I hope you'll investigate this one.
When I was in college, I was asked to write an editorial for the school newspaper on any topic I wanted. I thought about it a lot, and had a lot of topics I was psyched to write about. Ultimately, though, it came down to this...if you only have ONE opportunity, you should talk about the most important thing. The thing that makes all other things possible, and the thing that - if it's not taken care of in your life - nothing else really matters anyway.
Despite society's and the media's efforts to tell us that people of Faith are in the minority, every study I've ever seen on the subject says that 98% of people are aware that there is a God "of some sort." If nearly everyone believes this, then why don't we expend more effort trying to find out about Who God is, and why are we SO reluctant to discuss the topic with others? That's what this page is about. I wrote about how a person can find God, and all the garbage (like religion) that people create that gets in the way of knowing Him. I know it's a touchy subject for a lot of people.
I decided after years of interpersonal debate on these subjects that it might be better to write these thoughts than discuss them. Because...
Here's what I think happens during a face-to-face discussion on touchy issues:
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Even when people are presented with perfectly logical ideas that seem to contradict their own, there is a natural tendency to defend one's original position, often long after it's indefensible. I've done it myself.
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The potential embarrassment and heatedness on both sides of such interaction can be a challenge to friendships for many people, even if each of you do come to see the other's point later.
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I value my relationships highly, so I have decided to tackle such issues on this site. That way, people can explore the ideas anonymously, without feeling on the spot as some people do during a debate. It's comfortable here at Base Camp :-) So, here goes...
People are eternal creatures. We all have souls, and those souls have to spend eternity somewhere, and Earth is the place where you make the decisions that affect your eternal address.
You Already Know that We All Need God. When I said earlier that this page is motivated by concern for you, I meant that I am personally assured of my place in Heaven, so the motivation here cannot at all be selfish. It can only derive from concern for you. I'm set, my relationship with God is secure, and I am at Peace in that department. And I don't have some weird need (as many in society will try to tell you that Christians do) to have everyone be and believe "like me." I'm writing this for you because you can have spiritual security. God can be real and personal to you. You can - and indeed are meant to - exist free from the angst and worry that people feel before they find God. For me to keep the keys to all of this to myself - out of some fear of ridicule or outright rejection - would be selfish and cowardly. Many people will feel that it's arrogant for someone like me to believe that they have the only keys. But it really cannot be arrogance, because they are not MY keys, after all. If I had invented them from my own imagination - the way L. Ron Hubbard did with scientology, in order to sell books and make a fortune - then I would say you are right. I would be practicing arrogance. But in the Christian model, Christians are simply AWARE of the location of the keys and are telling others.
All of us are created with a God-shaped hole in our souls that only God can fill. That's why every culture in the world has their ideas of God, and why you've asked yourself all the questions you have about God. It's the fundamental question of our existence.
You Can't Invent God on Your Own. We should, of course, respect people's right to believe what they want and never try to force anyone to believe anything (as if we could do that anyway) but there is a Truth and a specific history to Who God is and how He went about creating everything. We can believe anything we want, but that won't change history. If I got up this morning and decided to start worshipping a Ken doll in a surfing outfit, would you respect my new "belief system" as the one that made the universe happen? I know that seems like an extreme example but it makes about as much sense as when anyone "invents a religion" of their own devising, rather than seek out the Truth of how it all actually happened. Christianity is the only Faith that offers Proof that It has the answers we've all been looking for all our lives (more on that as you read). Despite the fact that most all religions share a few themes regarding morality, they are at odds with each other on the Nature of God, how everything came to be, and how to reach Heaven. More on that later too...
Truth is not Relative: It is not logical to utter the ever-popular phrases "that may be true for you, but my truth is different" or "all religions are just different, but valid paths to the same place." If something is True, then all ideas that oppose it are false. That's just logical, as it taught even in a humanistic Critical Thinking 101 class. Truth is a narrow concept. Truth exists. It just is what it is, and our opinions on the subject only serve to muddy the waters. When two hydrogen molecules and one of oxygen mix, you always get water, whether your personal belief system wants helium to result or not. Why then, are moral and spiritual issues judged any differently that the physical world? Why is relativism applied to them when we know that the whole rest of the universe is governed by certain hard and fast laws?
I suggest that it is because of the perceived difficulty of observing moral and spiritual Truth. If we can't observe it, we have trouble believing it. We are logical people, so we need certain proofs before we can believe something. The great thing is that God knows this about us because He created us...thus, He has provided that proof for us in the Bible and through all His actions (For More about the Proofs that God Provides Us, click here. It's pretty amazing stuff). He has proven His existence, His Love for us, and the narrow fact that...
Salvation by Faith in Christ is the only path to Heaven. Okay, so now I've really pissed off some of you. You think that's a mean-spirited statement. I hope to show you that, in fact, that statement is anything but mean-spirited, because to say anything else is to muddle the Message of the only Hope any of us have for Salvation. Christ's sacrifice on the Cross for you and me is the most loving, amazing, and moving story ever told, and Faith in that story is the vehicle for knowing God, knowing True Peace, and securing a place at His table. By contrast, to deny God's sacrifice is a slap to His face, and the ultimate show of disrespect for Him. That's one reason that doing so denies your admittance into His Home. In the links from this page, I'll go into detail as to why that's True. I hope you'll explore this further, as the consequences for dying without a place at the table in Heaven is the most tragic and unnecessary thing that can happen to anyone. I'm not using fear tactics, I just don't want that to happen to you. That's honestly my only motivation here. I'm not asking for your money, and I don't even expect your esteem...as I will probably experience more ridicule than esteem by putting all of this "out there." But I will risk that if only one person who reads this is reached by it enough to find the Way to Salvation and avoid hell.
Why Christians Need to Share the Gospel: I know there are some "preachers" who go on TV and capitalize on people's gullibility and their need for God. Don't let these shysters (I hope I spelled that right) get in the way of your own path to God. How tragic to let a human being with such motives hinder your own journey to Peace and Salvation. To do that allows the shysters to influence you just as much as if you sent them your life's savings - with far more tragic results than just screwing up your retirement. Most of the Christians I know simply are aware that not sharing the Truth with you would be like having a diamond tree in our back yard, where every diamond it grows is an unlimited supply of seeds for other diamond trees. If we hoarded those seeds to ourselves, rather than give them away (which wouldn't even cost us anything), you'd label us as selfish and greedy and you'd say that we didn't care about anyone else's well-being. How much more selfish would we be if we didn't share God's gift of eternal Salvation for Heaven - far greater than anything as temporal and materialistic as a diamond - with all the people we could? I can't bear thinking that anyone might end up separated from God and suffering in Hell simply because I lacked the courage to face personal rejection or ridicule by telling them the simple way to avoid such a fate.
God Doesn't "SEND" Anyone to Hell: It's not accurate to say that God "sends" anyone to Hell. He doesn't. People go there by default because there is no other place to go if they don't CHOOSE the road to Heaven. There is, after all, a difference between going somewhere and being "sent" there by someone. If I go to the grocery store, I can choose to go or be sent there on someone else's bidding. With Heaven, you don't enter people's homes if you don't have a relationship with them. God came to Earth to secure your relationship with Him and call you Home. He went that far out of His way for you. That's what the life and Message of Christ is all about.
Heaven is a perfect place. For it to stay that way, only perfection can enter. And since we can't be perfect on our own, God came to us in human form to pay the price for our sins so that we could be made perfect so that we could enter into Heaven and be with Him when we pass on. How amazing that God would do this for us. What amazing value He places on you to do that for you. He suffered more than anyone ever has - all for you. His Word says that He would have done this even if you were the only person who came to Faith through His act. That's part of why being a Christian is a True source of immense Peace and confidence and self-worth. God Himself did this for each of us.
To Secure Eternal Salvation, the only thing God asks is that we acknowledge and accept His sacrifice as True. That really is it. Period. The end. It is man who has added all the conditions and the junk that we think goes with that acceptance (religion, rituals, "correct" behaviors and vocabulary - I call that "Church-ese," - etc). You don't have to become someone who can't make a cheese sandwich without praying about what kind of bread to use - and no one will come and insist you get a 1950's haircut and issue you a set of sweater vests for daily wear if you become a Christian :-)
Society and the media in our country often try to tell us that being a Christian means becoming such a stereotype. It doesn't. You can - of course - be yourself. God loves that self. He created your uniqueness, after all, and I know Christians from all walks of life and of all shapes and sizes. He just wants to transform your heart into one that knows the ultimate Peace.
Peripheral Issues: I love talking about all the peripheral issues around having a relationship with God. It's interesting and stimulating to know and discuss the minutiae of things like, "If Faith is all that's Needed for Salvation, then What is the Purpose of Christian morality?" or "What was Christ trying to say about Riches in His Parables." I take a crack at those things in other pages, but just know that a perfect understanding of all of that is meaningless if the fundamental question of Salvation is not taken care of in our lives.
That's why the key verse is the Bible is John 3:16 which says
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. That whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life."
It's really that simple. You can receive God's Salvation right now today, simply by acknowledging His sacrifice. Pray to Him and thank Him for it. Once you do, you are one of His children - a true child of the King of Kings. A chosen one. A member of the royal family. And it is open to all who ask for it. You don't have to become a fanatic, or a weirdo. Some people may take it to the extreme, as is true with anything. But don't let the fear of that stand in the way of True Peace in the here-and-now and an eternal place in Heaven. Thanks for reading, and for visiting BaseCamp.
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