“…One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” John 9:25b

“He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.” -Jesus, Luke 6:48

One of my most influential teachers, Dear Reader, explained that there are four philosophical elements that every worldview or belief system must answer: Origin, Meaning, Morality, and Destiny. In other words, “upon what foundation will you build the house of your faith?” The worldview given to to us in the Bible revolves around the essence of Jesus Christ: the person of God who came to Earth to save His people so they may follow Him.

Take the first four verses of the Gospel of John where Christ is described as the Word of God and take note of the underlined parts:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. (John 1:1-4)

Christ’s origin, like God’s, is in Eternity. There was never a time that Jesus was not. There was never a time that God was not. That is why the Name of God is I AM. When Moses asked God in the wilderness who he should say had sent him to free the Israelites, God said “Tell them that I AM sent you.” When the temple guards came to arrest Jesus in the garden (John 18:5) and said they were looking for Jesus, he responded “I AM he” upon which the power of His name repulsed them all backwards and caused them to fall to the ground. Christ is, was, and ever shall be and His name, the name above all names, is eternal.

What was Christ’s meaning, or purpose? He came to save sinners, for “there is no one righteous: not one!” -Romans 3:10. Without Christ, no one goes to heaven. He came to do something that we could not do on our own. Jesus did not come to Earth to heal the healthy: he came to heal the sick: the sin-sick souls of His chosen people so they may glorify Him for all eternity. In one fell swoop by paying the penalty of sin on the cross (as the wages of sin are death) and the evidence of His resurrection (Jesus conquered death to open the doorway of salvation to all of us) He allows us access to eternity and fellowship with the Father.

This sacrifice was a one time redemption. Think of it as getting a letter from a creditor saying “paid in full.” Your debt is over… done with. Similarly, once you accept Christ as your redeemer, you never have to approach to God as a wretched human being ever again, but as a chosen son. When Christ rose, it was, as he said in His final words “accomplished” and Christ reigns in heaven at this moment triumphant over death and hell. The Catholic Church, sadly, shows a wretched, battered Christ on the Cross, still suffering for our sins. That, Dear Reader, is not Biblical (dare I say heresy?) Christ has risen, Christ has conquered, and it is finished! The cross, as is the tomb, is empty. Take Him down from there!

Jesus came to give meaning to our morality as well. Without the guidance of the Holy Spirit that God gives us, we have no moral compass. Who is to say what is right or wrong or what is lawful unless you have a law giver? How do we stand on issues such as racism and abortion and murder unless you have a standard to go by?

If you say that morality is relative, then can you say that racism is wrong? If I feel, in my opinion, that one race of people is better than another, do you have any moral ground to tell me I’m wrong to feel that way? Atheism has no moral compass. (When they say they do, they have to borrow it from the Christians.) Stalin, an atheist, was responsible for the death of forty three million people with an estimated total of one hundred thirty million killed under various atheistic regimes. Is a philosophy responsible for that many lives morally wrong? If so, by whose standard? God is the source of all truth and morality, as His law is written on our hearts. (Romans 2:15, Jeremiah 31:33) We know what’s right and what’s wrong. We try to defend our own morality, but there is a higher standard we all will be held accountable to one day.

Finally there is the Christian’s destiny promised through Jesus Christ: Jesus proclaimed, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” In July of 2007 the patriarch of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI essentially said that “no one goes to heaven except through the Catholic Church.” My question to him, Dear Reader, is: “From what fortune cookie did you pull that little nugget of doctrine from? Where in your Bible does it say that? … I haven’t been able to find it!”

If what the pope said were true, where does that leave the faithful Old Testament Israelite? (Is Moses in Heaven?) Where does that leave the church in China, India, Iran, and other countries hostile to the Gospel where thousands die each year in His name? Are they in hell because they weren’t Catholic? More importantly, how could Christ say to the thief on the Cross with a straight face that “today you will be with me in paradise?” That man on His left never went to Church or was baptized or received communion: it was simple faith in who Christ was, and nothing else, that saved Him.

What the pope and other officials in the Catholic Church are saying with this, however, is that what they say is true overrides what the Bible says is true, (because they think they’re the ones with the authority to interpret it, not you) and if the Bible is the Word of God, I’m going to stand as far away from any Catholic Church building in fear of getting struck by lightning or swallowed by earthquake. If I have to make a choice between who I’m more scared of offending: God or Mr. Benedict, I’ll side with God.

There is freedom in the Gospel, not servitude. There is hope in Christ’s absolute power, without which there would be no hope of salvation.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. -Romans 1:16

If God is for us, who can be against us? -Romans 8:31

He wanted me to tell you that.

-Anthony