God is not a Sugar Daddy.

An important part of college is living with people who are different than you. Whether it's your roommate, the people in your dorm or the people in your classes, everyone is different than you, yet, somehow we all manage to live together in a community.

I know we usually don't like to be around people with different opinions than us, but I think it is important to be around good people whose views differ from my own. There's a girl in my hallway who has opposite views than me on almost every issue, and I absolutely love it. We sit there and have long discussions about our views. It's amazing because even though we disagree, we are both heard and we respect each other's opinions. We never tell the other person that they're wrong, call each other names, or offend each other; we just have a conversation. It gives us a new perspective that we can each chew on and that might alter our overall view in some way.  Really, that is how society should be.

My friend and I are in the same Bible class, and we often discuss issues that come up because of that class. The thing is, my friend believes in God and that Jesus died so she could go to heaven. Here's the catch: she doesn't believe the Bible. She says she just doesn't trust it because of the potential for human error between what God intended and what the original writers wrote. Because of this and the fact that God gave her free will, she feels that she can do whatever she wants, even things that
I would consider to be a sin.

I disagree. I do not think it is possible to be a Christian without believing in and trying to follow the Bible.

First off, where does the idea of Jesus dying for us come from? The Bible. If you believe that, you already believe some of the Bible. She herself always tells me she hates it when people pick and choose from the Bible; she says either don't believe it or believe it. The problem is, by picking only the part about Jesus dying for her sins, she is picking and choosing. Our societies basic morals are in the Bible. If she believes in justice, fairness, love, responsibility, peace, and self-sacrifice in terms of charity, she believes in the Bible.

Secondly, after God chose people to write it, it was passed down through centuries of people, copied by hand and translated, all of which explain minor inconsistencies. Yes, there is a little human error, but it doesn't matter because of all the things that are constant. For a book written over centuries with several different authors from several different time periods, it is incredibly consistent. In several parts of the Bible, it is constant in its depiction of salvation by God's grace through faith in Christ.

Thirdly, is it that she really doesn't believe the Bible? Or is it that she doesn't WANT to believe the Bible? She is a very independent person, and I respect that. However, she wants to be able to do whatever she wants. She hates rules and being told what to do. Maybe she just doesn't like the idea of having rules or of being told a certain way she should be living, so she chooses not to follow the Bible.

Okay, moving on..

I have a few strange uncles on my mom's side. One, Uncle George, has schizophrenia. The other, Uncle Warren, is just.. well.. odd. I kid you not, he looks almost exactly like Si from Duck Dynasty: Beard, glasses, hat and all.

Si Robertson from Duck Dynasty. Actually, this could be Uncle Warren. I'm not really sure.

While he's odd, he's also very religious. He goes on "God rants" at family dinners, and, honestly, I usually zone out. However, sometimes he has some interesting words of wisdom. At Thanksgiving this year, he said something that stuck with me because I was surprised by a term he used: "Sugar Daddy." I don't know how he even knows what that is; I guess he must be more cultured than I thought. And even weirder was the sentence he used:

"God is not a Sugar Daddy." 

Of course not! How could God even be compared to one?

For those of you who are somehow less in-the-know than my uncle, a sugar daddy is a rich old man who lavishes gifts on a young woman in return for her company.

Think about it: How many people, like my friend, just hang out with God once in awhile, yanno, pray a few times just to let him know that they believe in him, and then just expect to be lavished with all of his gifts?

That isn't how it works.

Salvation is an undeserved gift from God. It isn't defined by our actions. However, when you are saved and when you are God-fearing, you have to go the extra step and try to live your life for him. He requires us to follow his commandments. God did give us free will, but with that he gave us a responsibility to his own.

Being saved doesn't end with the initial act. The act of being saved should inspire a change in your heart, which should change your life from living out actions of the flesh to producing fruits of the spirit. In other words, we need to stop doing bad things and instead, do good things because of what Christ has done for us. When you are truly saved, living sinfully just isn't an option because you convert to a new nature of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Not sin.

Therefore, you can not be a Christian and ignore the rest of the Bible.



Shoutout to my friend, Will, and his blog: Halfway to Perfect
You can't just say you're going to be fit and just magically be fit. Living a healthy lifestyle also requires working for it.

What About Them?

I've mentioned before how I was raised in the faith. My dad is a pastor, and my mom is a Christian. I've gone to church weekly my whole life, participated in youth groups, went to church camp every year, and just grown up with all of that influence. I have such a strong foundation, and it's been building up over the course of my entire life.

Not to mention the good fortune of where I was born: the United States, Land of the Free. We all have freedom of religion here, but even though we can practice whatever dang religion we want to practice, our country was founded on Christianity. Even our money says "In God We Trust."

It's safe to say the majority of Americans, about 70%, identify themselves as Christians, and even those who aren't Christians have still at least heard of Jesus. If you aren't a Christian in this country, it is most likely because you have heard about it and chosen not to follow that religion.

'Merica.

I don't know if you guys have heard of the Romans Road to Salvation, but it basically goes like this:

1. Everyone falls short of God's standard (Romans 5:8).
2. Penalty for sin is eternal death (Romans 6:23).
3. God sent Jesus to take on our penalty (Romans 5:8).
4. "If you confess 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9).

I hate to be this blunt, but according to my interpretation of what this says, if you don't do that last step, you will not be saved.

As I said, in the United States, if you don't follow Jesus, it's your choice. People here who have been given the opportunity and consciously rejected it are not saved, and I can live with that because they have chosen that for themselves. 

In other countries of the world, there is no freedom of religion. In other countries of the world, there are people who have no idea who Jesus is. In other countries of the world, people are raised in other faiths and are taught about other things that happen to them when they die. In other countries, people can't consciously reject the Christian faith because they don't know about it. 

What about them?

It doesn't seem fair to me that a person who has never had the opportunity, who has never had the chance to learn about Jesus, or who has been raised in another faith is going to spend all eternity burning and suffering in hell.

I'm not gonna lie, the idea of this makes me very angry. I mean, wouldn't the innocent still go to heaven? That would make sense, but the Bible says that you have to believe in Jesus in your heart and say you believe in him or you're not going to heaven.

I couldn't seem to come to terms or understand this, so, since he is clergy, I asked my dad.

He said,

"Good question. The important thing to realize is that God alone is to judge. So it's not up to me to say who goes to heaven and who doesn't. I can only say from what I think I should do. If freedom of religion is ever taken away from me, I would still be encouraged by scripture to speak up for Christ. Also, no one deserves to go to heaven. All of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. Scriptures say that Jesus died for the sins of the world. Those who don't know Jesus, I am sure will be treated lovingly and mercifully, but it really is up to God. CS Lewis said something like hell is reserved for only the people that want to be there. He said 'Hell is locked from the inside.'"

So what my dad is saying is that he feels that God would be merciful on the people who didn't have a chance, but really we can never know because ultimately, God is the final judge.

There are religions similar to Christianity, such as Islam. The Islamic faith also includes beliefs in God, heaven, hell, angels, spirits, a resurrection in the future, and even Jesus (although they think he was a great moral teacher). I often wonder if they will make it into heaven. It seems to me that they would, because they believe that they are. However, again, the Bible says you have to confess that Jesus is Lord and not just a great moral teacher. I really don't know what will happen to them.

Things like this are difficult to understand because God doesn't give us a straight answer. The reality is that God can do whatever He wants because He is ultimately the judge, and He doesn't have to justify Himself to us because His reasoning is beyond our own understanding.