Gambling With My Life
Betting On God To Be True

Friday, January 26, 2007

For those who have read my various web pages here on my personal website, I think it should be fairly evident that I have a deep abiding faith in Jesus the Christ, His sacrificial death on the Cross, His resurrection from the dead, His ascension to the right hand of the Father where He is seated on the throne ever making intercession for you and me.

It was my sin that nailed Jesus to that cross, and it was your sin that nailed Him there. We are all sinners in need of a Savior. You know the difference between right and wrong, and whether you call doing wrong sin or not, you know you have sinned.

I believe the Bible to be the inspired Word of God, and not only because one verse (2 Timothy 3:16) tells me that, but more importantly the Holy Spirit witnesses of Truth to my spirit. Others may question certain texts in the Bible, whether the story of the flood and other stories are accurate; they may argue regarding the dimensions of the ark or regarding the number of animals and food storage, and about many other Biblical accounts. They may question whether one text seems to contradict another text.

However, my faith is not in Moses or David or Jeremiah or the writers of the Gospels or Paul or any other person who wrote down what he was impressed by God to write. My faith is not in the translators from the Hebrew and Greek into English. And my faith is certainly not in any preacher. My faith is in God alone and the Finished work of His Son Jesus the Christ who shed His blood for me, and the inner witness of the Holy Spirit.

I am not a Bible scholar, and quite frankly I don't trust them either. Different so-called scholars have too many differing interpretations, and I will not get into debates over things that we or I don't understand. Even if human personalities and beliefs from the original writers, translators or modern preachers have had an effect on the message I read and hear, I must rely on the Holy Spirit to be my witness of Truth. I may question or otherwise not understand some things in the Bible, but it is not the Bible per se that I believe. It is the God of the Bible Who I believe.

I have experienced the agape Love of God and I have experienced the grace of God. I hear Him whisper to me of His Love for me. For me, I hear it mostly in old hymns, but also in other songs, reading, preaching, and everyday conversations with those who are truly His. I hear Him whisper truth to me in the blogs of others. I have heard God speak to me while reading a secular novel, and I have even heard God speaking to me while viewing an anti-Christian video on YouTube recorded by a confused and angry ex-Southern Baptist pastor whose fundamentalist religion of his youth has failed him.

My spirit soars when I hear many of the old hymns. No, it is not just emotion. I may experience deep feeling, but it emanates from deep within. I have times when I ask, "God, where are you?", but when I hear those hymns there is that inner voice speaking healing to me and assuring me that He is with me despite all of the so-called Christians who do not know anything about me, yet mug me with Bible verses about my same gender attractions. God assures me that in Him I am not under condemnation (Romans 8:1) and that His grace is sufficient for me (2 Corinthians 12:9).

John 3:16 (KJV) reads, "For God so Loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting Life." Most translations seem to group "believes in Him" as a phrase with no comma, but I submit to you that there indeed should be a comma and that the text should read "whosoever believes, in Him shall have everlasting Life." My life is in Him because I have believed that God gave His only begotten Son.

It is also important to point out the definition of everlasting as opposed to forever. Forever implies having no end, but the Greek aionios (Strong's G166) used in this verse is defined as perpetual time without beginning or end (used of past, present and future). When we believe we get much more than a "get out of hell free" card or "fire insurance". We have Life in Him in the here and now in this life here on earth; He has given us Life Assurance. Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10 KJV).

The Life that is spoken of in both John 3:16 and John 10:10 is the Greek word zoe (Strong's G2222), which is the very Life of God living in and through me. As Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me" (NASB).

If there is no God, if my faith is misplaced, if there is no Heaven and no Hell, if when this body falls dead there is no afterlife, then I will have lived out my life simply choosing to believe and loving as I have been instructed, and "that's all folks". However, if God does exist, if my faith is not misplaced, if there is a Heaven and a Hell, if when this body falls dead there is an afterlife, then my faith will be rewarded.