Morning Inspiration with Pastor Merritt I was reading about a teacher who was trying to help her kids learn how to spell. She told the class she wanted each one of them to tell what their father did for a living and spell his occupation and then tell what he could do for the class. A girl named Mary went first. She said, “My dad is a baker. B-A-K-E-R. If he were here he would give everyone a cookie.” Then, a boy named Tommy stood up. He said, “My dad is a banker. B-A-N-K-E-R. If he were here he would give everybody a dollar.” The third kid stood up and his name was Jimmy. He said, “ My dad is an obstetrician.” He tried several times to spell the word, but he just couldn’t do it. Finally, the teacher asked him to sit down and think about it while she called on someone else, so she called on a kid named John. He said, “My dad is a bookie. B-O-O-K-I-E. If he were here he would lay you 10-to-1 that Jimmy ain’t never going to spell obstetrician.” If I were a betting man I would lay you any odds you want that neither you, nor I, nor the Pope, nor the President will get to God unless they come through Jesus Christ. The reason is simple. Jesus tells us that the way to heaven is not a path, not a philosophy, and not a practice. It is a person and He is that person. Key Take Away: The only way to God is a one-way street that dead-ends at Jesus. There is more to this statement than meets the eye, because if what Jesus said is true there are some conclusions we have to draw that is going to rock a lot of worlds. One of them is this: We must realize religion is not the way to God One of the consistent threads that runs through every religion in the world is that religion is the way to God. This is one of the two predominate worldviews that dominate 21st century thinking about God and how to get to Him. Beyond that, it is not just religion that gets you to God, but the thinking out there more and more is that any old religion will do. Bill O’Reilly, who famously says when you enter into his venue you come into the, “No Spin Zone” violates his own rule when he made this remark, “I have found that any remark I make about religion is likely to make some viewers steaming mad, and the fundamentalists really hate it when I say something like this: the most important thing I could say about religion is that it is a good thing for all of us to have. It doesn’t matter what you believe – as long as you believe in something.” That statement is only true if this is true and that is that all religions are basically the same. Not only is that not true, but it is actually an insult to all other religions. To say that Nazism, Fascism, and Communism are the same as Democracy is an insult to every one of those worldviews. Even worse than that it is an insult to Jesus, because if all that is necessary to get to God is just to practice religion, regardless of what that religion is then how do you explain that Jesus even bothered to come to earth or die on the cross to begin with? With all respect, Good Friday becomes Dumb Friday. Why would a loving God allow His son to take on the sins of the world when it wasn’t even necessary? It is precisely because Jesus did die for the sins of the world and was raised from the dead that we know that religion is not the way to God. Share this with a friend. Give them the gift of God’s inspiration. #Jesus #Christian #Church #Faith
Posted on: Tue, 20 May 2014 12:30:01 +0000
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