The heart of it...

What is the biggest cry of our hearts? What is our greatest desire? What do we want most in life? I don't simply mean, we want something nice to eat at the end of the day, or someone to value us. I mean what is at the core of our being, what are most films about, what was valentines day all about, what are they fairytales all about that you read as a little child - love! We all long to be unconditionally loved, to be told I love you, not because your good at something or because you have behaved well (we know we all haven't done that) but to be loved just for simply being us, warts 'an all.
Most religions say the only way you are going to get right with your creator is by behaving well, following a set of rules. This then gives rise to pride, I am better than everyone else because I am sooo good or rise to guilt, I am soooo bad I am never going to make it.
Jesus says come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. Turn to me and I love you so much I was willing to die for you. I know all of your sins. He spoke to a woman who had 5 husbands and had lived as an outcast, she acknowledged her sin and he welcomed her. Prostitutes came to him, tax collectors real scum of the society back then. Why did they come, the came because they knew they had screwed things up, they weren't proud. They came and he set them free from being a slave to prostitution, this grace so overwhelms people that their lives completely change. God has graciously shown me his love.
There is a story in the bible about two sons, one of them asks his father for his inheritance early. Basically Dad, I want you dead all I want is your money. He goes off with his fortune and squnaders it all on drink, women, fun and all that jazz. After a while he runs out of money and is desperate, he ends up living it rough until he decides to go back home and at least see if his Dad will give him a job somewhere. He knows he has to go back grovelling, he is going to have to work hard to make this right even if his father will talk to him. We then get this scene where the Dad is sitting out front of the house (paraphrased) and sees this figure a far off, he runs to greet him, he is overjoyed, there are tears rolling down his face, he is consumed with love for this lost son. They meet and he embraces him, he instructs the workers to get the best calf for a party, to give his son the best robe.
Now did he deserve that treatment, not at all. However the Fathers love is the centre piece of the story not whether or not he deserved it. The father is obviously God.
There was also another son in the story and he was fuming that the son should get all this treatment, but I have kept all the rules, I have been good. The son missed the point, the father loved him too but not because he kept any rules, because he was his son.
You cannot earn God's love. It is a gift, pure grace, underserved, all he asks is will you come to him.

How can you trust an old book?

The Bible, an out of date and out of touch book or the meaning to life? A big question. I know when I first started looking at Christianity I thought how can you trust a book, and so much of what is in the Bible goes against what I believe, isn't it a legend that has built up over the years, there are many good things in the bible you just shouldn't insist that everything is correct.

3 ways you can trust the bible - historically, culturally and personally.

Historically - the arguement goes, who knows who the real Jesus was, the stories were made up to create a following and build an empire. However, the new testament accounts are simply written to early for legend to be built up. The gospel of Luke says it is written as testimony from the eyewitnesses of the day. Paul who wrote some of the letters in the Bible wrote them within 15-20 years of Jesus' life. Most of the people would have been alive when he wrote this public document, he could only write that if it were the case. He even quotes a hymn that talks about who Jesus was as God and his resurrection, this hymn would have been written even earlier than Paul's writting. Therefore from the begining Jesus was being held up as risen from the dead as God. Imagine I said that there was an explosion today in London and two buses were destroyed, if this didn't happen (and it didn't) then it would simply be disregarded and never hold weight. In addition there are so many things in the bible that wouldn't have been put there if it was made up, the disciples are made out to be cowards, making silly mistakes, women as eye witness testimony when women held no credit at the time, if you were making things up you would never say things like that. There is loads more than this, too much to write here. There are so many prophecies in the old testament of the Bible about Jesus, there are over 5 seperate references to him. Including where he would be born, when, to whom, town, how he would die, what name he would be given and on and on....

Culturally - don't make the mistake of thinking our culture (whatever our culture might be) is the right one, just think back to 1800's and how silly we think their behaviour was, make no mistake in 100 years your family will look back on this time and think primitive. Our culture is not a dictate of the truth, these things are ever shifting. Also don't simply dip into the Bible and think that you have the teaching correctly understood, a bit like dipping into 2 minutes of the middle of a film and saying I will never watch it. If there is something you are struggling with, please ask someone or investigate it. There were so many things I thought when I first started out, this is weird and actually it turns out I was weird the teaching was totally opposite. A bit like when you are at school and your teachers tell you that you'll miss school when you leave or your parents say what till you have kids, the point being we let our surroundings give us blinkers and prevent us seeing more. Let me give you an example our culture may say what the bible says about sex is old fashioned, however what is says about loving your neighbour and forgiving people is great and helpful. However take that to the middle east and they would say the sex thing is great, but loving your enemy and forgiving is foolish. The Bible is going to contradict every culture at various points, that doesn't make it untrue.

Personally - SO many millions of people have had their lives transformed by the Bible's teaching it is untrue. Are these all made up? A trick of the mind? Just convinced a bit like a placebo? Turn that on its head, maybe you have been convinced by something? Who has the bigger motive here, I know for me the if the Bible was true then it meant a total change of life, that was reason enough for me to ignore it for a number of years! However once I came to God and said I give up, I need help, I surrender to you, wow, he got involved and has given me a new heart and it has cost me everything yet it has been everything.

I encourage you to visit these links for help and some typical questions, they are so helpful.

IS the bible reliable? - http://download.redeemer.com/sermons/Literalism_Isnt_the_Bible_historic.mp3

How can God allow suffering? - http://download.redeemer.com/sermons/Suffering_If_God_is_good.mp3

Don't we all just find the truth for ourselves? - http://download.redeemer.com/sermons/Absolutism_Dont_we_all_have_to.mp3

Drop me a line if you need anything - georgeosborn@hotmail.com