Back to Basics

My church is currently doing a two-part sermon on evangelism, the practice of sharing the Gospel message with others. The idea of approaching a stranger and sharing your personal worldview is intimidating for most people, especially when it’s in person and without the protection of internet anonymity. I can write a meaningful response when I have enough time to think and proofread, but I tend to flub when put on the spot. However, we as Christians are called to give an account for our beliefs, so we need to be prepared for it.

I’ve spoken at length in this blog about numerous Bible and faith topics, but I realized that I haven’t shared what my core beliefs are. If someone were to ask me, “Hey, Tim, what do you think about life and this world we live in,” what would I say? How could I convey it in its simplest form? This month, it’s time I went back to the basics.

I spent a few days trying to consolidate all the important details into an easy-to-understand statement. Here’s what I narrowed it down to:

God created mankind in perfect relationship with Him.
Mankind chose rebellion and fractured that relationship.
Mankind’s own efforts could not restore the relationship, so God made a way for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Now, all we need to do is to believe in that sacrifice and confess Jesus as Lord, and the relationship with God is restored.

Four sentences. Is this enough, though? Let’s break each one down.

1. God Created Mankind

I’d like to take a page from C.S. Lewis’s book Mere Christianity and start with a preliminary question: How did we come to be? Did we spontaneously generate, or did something, or someone, create us? Personally, I have three reasons why it’s the latter and not the former.

First of all, life cannot come from non-life. In 1665, physician Francesco Redi conducted an experiment with jars of meat. Some jars were left open, some were tightly sealed, and the rest were covered with cloth netting. He then waited to see if maggots would spawn within and consume the meat. Flies were attracted to the meat and laid their eggs in the open jars. The sealed jars were left completely alone, since the rotting meat could not be detected, and no maggots spawned there on their own. The flies were attracted to the meat covered in cloth, but because they could not reach the meat itself, they could only lay their eggs on the cloth. Maggots spawned on the cloth, but nothing came from the meat itself. Redi’s experiments proved that life was necessary to produce life. Nothing that is alive today could have generated from something that isn’t alive.

Secondly, the complexity of the natural world points toward some form of intelligent design. People have argued enough about living creatures and the theory of evolution, so I would like to address a different angle: the way our world works. For example, my fourth graders last year learned all about the Water Cycle. Rain falls to the ground or ocean, eventually evaporates into vapor, condenses into clouds, and starts raining again. This is a program, a system that moves and renews one of the most important resources we have on this planet. The Water Cycle, albeit a small part in the grand scheme of things, has numerous complex factors necessary to work. The chances are too infinitesimally small to happen on accident. Something, or someone, had to put it into order.

2. Mankind Chose Rebellion

The third reason there had to be intelligent design behind our creation is the concept of morality, how we view right and wrong. Revenge for wrongdoing has been observed outside of humanity, but not morality at a societal, community level. It’s interesting how universal our sense of right and wrong are. Regardless of nationality, culture, or location, we can agree on how we want others to treat us.

“But Tim!” I hear you protest. “Your morals may not be the same as mine. Truth is relative!” Well, let me offer a counter: Let’s say my morals tell me that it’s okay to steal your stuff. If I do, you can’t be mad at me, because truth is relative. Your truth isn’t my truth!

See the issue? We can all agree that stealing is wrong. You might be okay with stealing, but the moment someone steals from you, there’s suddenly a problem. Taking something that isn’t yours is frowned upon no matter where you go. There’s too much coincidence for this to develop worldwide without design.

3. Mankind’s Own Efforts

Continuing in C.S. Lewis’s approach, now that we’ve established that there had to be something beyond random chance behind our creation, we next need to zero in on which of the numerous faiths and religions point us in the right direction. I’ve talked about this at length before in my old post Basketball and Bad Religion, but here’s the TL,DR: Christianity is one of, if not the only, faiths in the world where salvation comes from God rather than ourselves. We have this standard of perfection, but we don’t meet it consistently. According to Christianity, God graciously gave us a much easier alternative.

The Bible’s overall narrative describes God’s master plan like this: when Adam and Eve sinned, the consequence was death, separation from God. In order to pay the price of that choice, a death of equal value had to be given. However, the sacrificial system that the Israelites used was insufficient. Animal lives could not cover human sin. Even human sacrifices could not cover it because a perfect person was needed (and, as we deduced earlier, none of us are perfect). Because we could not produce a perfect human on our own, God provided the perfect man in Jesus, God incarnate. He lived a sinless life, died for sins He did not commit, and rose to life under His own power.

4. Now, All We Need to Do

After all that, we’re left with one final question: Now what? God took care of our debt for us. What do we do now?

In Romans 10:9, the apostle Paul writes, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” This simple detail is often overlooked by those trying to earn their salvation. We don’t need to keep punishing ourselves or try to balance a set of cosmic scales. One of the thieves crucified with Jesus said, “Lord, remember me when you enter into your Kingdom.” He didn’t have time to pray X number of times. He couldn’t go out and do good deeds. However, Jesus still told him that he would be with Him in paradise. Why? Because he declared Jesus his Lord and believed He would not stay dead.

Now, this doesn’t mean we can just skate on by. Salvation is by grace through faith alone, yes, but as James chapter 2 explains, faith without works is dead. Our behavior changes when we choose to follow Jesus. The good we do is not to earn salvation; they’re a result of it. And the change won’t always be evident right away. The path to holiness is a process that won’t be complete until we meet Jesus face-to-face in Heaven.

These are my beliefs at their core, in their simplest form. God created mankind in perfect relationship with Him. Mankind chose rebellion and fractured that relationship. Mankind’s own efforts could not restore the relationship, so God made a way for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Now, all we need is to believe in that sacrifice and confess God as Lord, and the relationship is restored.