Three Reasons Why We Shouldn’t Raise Tax Rates

This week’s lesson explains why we shouldn’t raise tax rates or “soak the rich.” It counters the class warfare being waged by the current administration. To start out, go to the Three Reasons section, where I provide three short videos on the following topics:

1. Taxing the rich discourages investment and will cause tax revenues to fall.
2. Taxing the rich discourages spending.
3. If we taxed the rich at 100%, it would not reduce the deficit.

How Can There Be Only One Way To God?

In this presentation Robin Schumacher explains how there can be only one way to God.

In this presentation Robin Schumacher makes the following points:

• A look at exclusivity
  • All religions are exclusive
  • Exclusivity is common
    • in relationships
    • in government (democracy versus communism)
    • in economic policy (capitalism versus Marxism)
• Teachings on life and death
  • Atheism
    • Seek self-fulfillment
    • No life after death
  • Hinduism
    • Seek way of knowledge, devotion, good works
    • Cycles of reincarnation
  • Buddhism
    • Seek four noble truths and eightfold path
    • Cycles of rebirths
  • Judasim
    • Follow the Law of Moses
    • Heaven/Hell not well developed concepts
  • Islam
    • Follow Laws of Quran
    • Heaven/Hell based on decision of Allah and deeds of person
  • Christianity
    • Accept sacrifice of Jesus Christ for personal sin and follow guidance of Holy Spirit and Christ’s example
    • Heaven/Hell based on acceptance of Jesus Christ
• Main answers to objections
  • Place of birth
    • Culture is not determinant of truth
  • Exclusion of billions
    • Truth is not determined by how many people believe it
  • Intolerance
    • Every religion believes it has the truth

Only Christianity has a it right:

• Man is sinful
• God is holy
• Christ is holy and pays the price for Man’s sin
• Christ bridges the gap between man and God  

Why Jesus is the only way to God

Author Lee Strobel explains why Jesus is the only way to God.

Here are the points that Lee Strobel makes:

Jesus did a very unpopular thing revealed in John 14:6 where he said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Anybody can make a claim like that but only Jesus can back it up because he rose from the dead. This gives Jesus special credibility.

Does this make Christians narrow minded? Absolutely not. When a pilot lands a plane, he can choose to land it in a lake, or a street, or a runway. Is this narrow minded? No, he is choosing a path to life. So does the Christian when he responds to the reality that Jesus is the only way to eternal life.

Someone must pay the penalty for our sin that keeps us away from God. Jesus, by virtue of his sinlessness, is the only one qualified to be our substitute.

Does this make Christians arrogant for believing that? Actually the opposite is true. Consider two clubs. One only allows people in who have earned their membership, through superior wisdom or works. Many people are excluded. This is what most religions teach. The other club allows anybody admission because Jesus has paid for the membership. However, you must accept his gift first. The matter is entirely up to you.

Are All Religions Equally Wrong?

Do all religions only contain part of the truth, not the whole truth? Is Christianity narrow-minded if it claims the whole truth? Dr. Timothy Keller, pastor of Redeemer Church in Manhattan, addresses The Veritas Forum at UC Berkeley.

Dr. Timothy Keller makes the following points in his video:

Some people say, “You can’t say that Jesus is the only way,” because they think that all religions are equally wrong. Each may provide little bits of wisdom, but none see the whole picture. They say that all religions only see a little bit of the whole.

They often use the following illustration of the “Blind Man and the Elephant.” Five blind men come upon an elephant and each grabs the elephant in a different place. One grabs the trunk and concludes the elephant is long and flexible. Another grabs a leg and concludes the elephant is short and stumpy. Each blind man generalizes what the elephant is like from his narrow experience.

However, the underlying basis to the story is never told. Only a person with sight, who can see the whole elephant, can inform the blind men what they can’t fully grasp. The story is told by one who claims to see and know the whole truth.

You can only say that these men are blind if you are not blind. You can only say that all religions only see part of the truth if you see more of the truth than they do. You are claiming to see all of the truth and are claiming to possess superior knowledge. Your claim to possess knowledge that no one has is in fact an arrogant claim itself.

If you say that nobody should make exclusive truth claims, that in itself is a exclusive truth claim. Everybody makes exclusive truth claims. The narrow minded person is one who sneers at and belittles people who have different exclusive truth.

Are All Religions Equally Right?

Which religion is better: one in which God approaches us or one in which prophets help us approach God? Dr. Timothy Keller, pastor of Redeemer Church in Manhattan, addresses The Veritas Forum at UC Berkeley.

Are all religions equally right? Is there more than one way to heaven?

The leaders of all the non-Christian religions basically say, “I am a prophet to help you find God.” In contrast, the leader of the Christian religion, Jesus, is the only one who says “I am God come to find you.”

If what Jesus said was a fact and true, then he is the only way to God. If what Jesus said was not a fact and true, then he was deranged. Not all religions are the same. A fact is not narrow. It is either right or wrong.

Three Reasons That Jesus Is the Only Way to Heaven

This week’s lesson explains why Jesus is the only way to heaven. To start out, go to the Three Reasons section, where I provide three short videos on the following topics:

1. Exclusivity is common in life.
2. The Law of Non-Contradiction shows that all religions are not the same.
3. The Bible says that Jesus is the only way.

Devout Christian Founder: Elias Boudinot

Our country was founded by Christians. One outstanding example was Elias Boudinot. Learn more about him below.

Elias Boudinot (1740-1821) was a lawyer, colonel in the Continental Army (1777-1778), president of the Continental Congress (1782), elected to Congress (after adoption of the Constitution) from New Jersey (1789-1795), and Director of the US Mint (1795-1805). Boudinot also served as the first president of the American Bible Society (1816) and wrote a scathing rebuttal of Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason. ₁

The American Bible Society was established in 1816 and exists to this day. Its present location is 1865 Broadway, New York, one of the oldest office buildings in the city. The Society was committed to the spread of the word of God and the end of slavery. It provided the first Bibles in hotels and the first pocket Bibles for Soldiers during the Civil war. In 1817 it oversaw the first translation of the Bible into Native American language. Other prominent officers of the American Bible Society include John Jay, first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and Francis Scott Key, writer of the U.S. National Anthem. ₂

In 1794 Thomas Paine published the Age of Reason, which attempted to discredit the accuracy and infallibility of the Bible. In response, Boudinot, wrote The Age of Revelation, to defend the accuracy of the Bible and uphold Christian beliefs. First written as a letter to his daughter in 1795, The Age of Revelation, was later published as a book in 1801. Boudinot explained his motivation for writing the book when he wrote, “I confess that I was much mortified to find, the whole force of this vain man’s genius and art, pointed at the youth of America, and her unlearned citizens.” ₃

Boudinot, although not directly involved in the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, is considered an influencer. Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, in his dissent in Wallace v. Jaffree (1985) decision that dealt with separation of Church and State considered Boudinot as one of the Christian founding fathers whose views contributed to the First Amendment to the Constitution. In addition, it was Boudinot who proposed a resolution asking President George Washington to issue a Thanksgiving Day Proclamation in 1789. “Boudinot said he ‘could not think of letting the session pass over without offering an opportunity to all the citizens of the United States of joining with one voice, in returning to Almighty God their sincere thanks for the many blessings he had poured down upon them.’” ₄

Elias Boudinot is an outstanding example of the Christians who founded our nation.

To Read More

Elias Boudinot, The Age of Revelation: The Age of Reason Shewn To Be an Age of Infidelity (Powder Springs, Georgia-American Vision Press, 2011, originally published by Asbury Dickins, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 1801)

Edward J. Giddings, American Christian Rulers: Religion and Men of Government (Powder Springs, Georgia-American Vision Press, 2011, originally published by Bromfield & Company, New York, New York: 1889, 1890)

References

1. Elias Boudinot, The Age of Revelation: The Age of Reason Shewn To Be an Age of Infidelity (Powder Springs, Georgia-American Vision Press, 2011, originally published by Asbury Dickins, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 1801), vii.
2. History (American Bible Society, n.d.) Available at: http://www.americanbible.org/about/history(July 22, 2012).
3. as cited in Elias Boudinot, The Age of Revelation: The Age of Reason Shewn To Be an Age of Infidelity (Powder Springs, Georgia-American Vision Press, 2011, originally published by Asbury Dickins, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 1801), xi-x.
4. as cited in Ibid, viii.

Is Heaven Real? The Reality of Being in God’s Presence

Lee Strobel interviews author Randy Alcorn, who explains the reality of being in God’s presence. Watch the following video to learn more…

In the video Randy Alcorn makes the following points:

Revelation 22 speaks about seeing God face to face. We will see Him in all of His greatness. People who say it will be boring in heaven don’t know God. They don’t know how fascinating God is. Everything we love and enjoy is derived from who He is.

³No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. ⁴ They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

We don’t become angels. We are people, and when we die, we remain people. However, we do not remain married. The only marriage in heaven is Christ to His bride, the Church. In Matthew 22:30 it says, “ At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.”

John 14:6 “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” Either Jesus was wrong, lying, or He was right. Clearly the Christian faith is exclusive. No one comes to the Father except through the belief and acceptance of Jesus Christ.

Heaven Is for Real

Watch this video about 4-year-old Colton Burpo’s near-death experience and visit to heaven.

As described in the book Heaven is for Real, four-year-old Colton Burpo required emergency surgery in 2003 for a misdiagnosed appendix that had ruptured three days earlier and was spreading infection. As they were taking him away, Colton kept saying, “Daddy don’t let them take me; Daddy don’t let them take me.” His father Todd, pastor of Crossroads Wesleyan Church in Imperial, Nebraska, was angry with God and screamed, “Is this how you treat your pastors?”

After the operation, Colton told his dad that he had almost died. Four months later he began providing details. Colton said he visited Heaven. He described Jesus as wearing white robes with a purple sash. He described the “markers” Jesus had in the middle of His hands and feet, referring to the nail marks.

Later, Colton described meeting Todd’s grandfather, Pop, confirming that Todd was very close to Pop, who was killed in a car accident before Todd turned 7 years old. Colton told his mother that he had two sisters. He said. “You had a baby die in your tummy, didn’t you?” Sonja, asked, “Who told you I had a baby die in my tummy?” “She did, Mommy,” Colton replied. “She said she died in your tummy.” Colton said she came up to him in heaven and wouldn’t stop hugging him. Nobody had previously told Colton that his mother had a miscarriage before Colton was born.

Jesus told Colton that Colton needed to return and that Jesus was answering Todd’s prayer. Todd relates how humbled he was that God would answer his accusatory, bitter prayer. Today, Colton is a healthy boy.

Heaven: One Minute After You Die

We all wonder what lies beyond death’s door. Is there another world, another place? See what Dr. Irwin Lutzer, Senior Pastor of The Moody Church, has to say.

How long is eternity? It’s not comprehensible. “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (2 Peter 3:8 NIV).

Some people think that heaven will be one long church service. But, the Bible teaches that heaven is a place of activity. Pastor Lutzer thinks that we will continue to learn in heaven and continue to do research.

A great American theologian, Jonathan Edwards (1703 – 1758) said, “In heaven we are going to continue to study God because the ideas of God go on for all of eternity.”

In heaven we will communicate with one another, providing the opportunity to speak with famous believers, such as Abraham, Jacob, and others. We can spend as much time as we like with them.

We will be given assignments and responsibility. We will rule with Christ, perhaps over areas as large as galaxies. In (Luke 19:11-27 NIV) it states, “‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ (Luke 19:17)

Heaven will be an exciting place and not boring. So much so, that we will continually sing praises to God.