so i have this class assignment for my worldview integration class to write down what i believe "about God and life" as if i were talking to a stranger that i met in line at starbucks who has little to no church background- oh yeah and i have a meeting in 10 minutes.
hey i think it's a great assignment and all, or at least that's what i thought when my prof explained it. but now that i'm attempting to write it there's issue. problem isn't that i don't know what i would say to that person, the problem is i know exactly what i would really do in that situation. i would list off some short pat wish-wash answer that wouldn't aggrivate them too much and then i would probably end with something about this being what I believe and then i'd ask what THEY believe and likely leave it at that. somehow i don't think that's what my prof was looking for : )
but for the sake of hypothetical situations i suppose what i should tell that person is that despite what most of humanity seems to believe, i don't believe that people are born basically good. in fact, i think the opposite. because the Bible says that God created Adam and Eve as the first two human beings and they were perfect- perfect for God, perfect for eachother, perfect- the only thing God told Adam he couldn't do was eat from this one tree but a slimeball serpant told Eve that if she ate from that tree not only would God not kill she and Adam but rather she would then know all of the things that God knew. the serpant convinced her that essentially God didn't want them knowing all that He knew and that's why they couldn't eat that fruit. so eve went for it, she took a big bite and it was great so she passed it along to her husband and he ate. simple enough right? wrong. because of their disobedience there were consequences, God did not strike them dead at that moment, and they did in fact know more than they had before. they knew that they were naked, they knew that they'd done wrong. God punished them, banished them from the Garden of Eden, made working the land harder for adam, childbearing and rearing harder for eve and put a rift between man and wife.
now let's fast forward a bit, it's somewhat common knowledge that if someone does something wrong there are consequences and a punishment has to be served. if i were to rob the hypothetical starbucks i would have to serve jail time, or at least pay a fine and do some community service and get comfy cozy with a probation officer. well the same principle applies with God, ever since Adam and Eve we have wreaked havoc on the world He created. unfortunately we have nothing to offer God- i mean He created everything, what can we give Him that He doesn't already have? luckily a few thousand years after Adam and Eve God gave us a break. He knew that our measely sacrifices of sheep and goats and grain weren't enough to pay for all the wrong we were doing so He came up with a better plan. He sent His son to earth to be a man, but not just any man, because you see God's son is still completely God, and at the same time He is completely man. because He is God he lived a perfect life, never did anything wrong, He performed miracles and He preached all over. all the religious leaders at the time were so focused on rules and laws that they hated Him, they hated God's son because He told them that He was God's son and they didn't believe Him, they didn't like the way He healed people on the day of rest and they definately didn't like Him telling them that they were wrong. The religious leaders got so mad that they had Him killed. but you know what's so great about that? it was all apart of God's plan. You see, nothing is a surprise to God. At that point in time, in order to be forgiven for the wrong things they'd done a person would have to offer a sacrifice to God, such as a lamb, but not a small or sick lamb, the best lamb they had. and the death of that animal would pay for whatever they had done wrong. Well, in that sense, Jesus, God's son, was the perfect lamb. you see, when Jesus was killed it acted as the ultimate sacrifice, a complete payment not only for the terrible things that were done to Him but for every wrong thing that anyone had done or will do. And to top it all off, God's son didn't stay dead. 3 days after He died and was put into a tomb He rose from the dead and was seen by many of His friends. And after talking to His friends and telling them what He had done and explaining to them what it all meant He left. He told His friends that He was going to make a place for them, for anyone who believes that He is the son of God and that He was perfect and rose from the dead, and when He's finished He will come back and take us there to be with Him.
yeah, that's what i could tell them. the truth
changedfish- really need to be bold
hey i think it's a great assignment and all, or at least that's what i thought when my prof explained it. but now that i'm attempting to write it there's issue. problem isn't that i don't know what i would say to that person, the problem is i know exactly what i would really do in that situation. i would list off some short pat wish-wash answer that wouldn't aggrivate them too much and then i would probably end with something about this being what I believe and then i'd ask what THEY believe and likely leave it at that. somehow i don't think that's what my prof was looking for : )
but for the sake of hypothetical situations i suppose what i should tell that person is that despite what most of humanity seems to believe, i don't believe that people are born basically good. in fact, i think the opposite. because the Bible says that God created Adam and Eve as the first two human beings and they were perfect- perfect for God, perfect for eachother, perfect- the only thing God told Adam he couldn't do was eat from this one tree but a slimeball serpant told Eve that if she ate from that tree not only would God not kill she and Adam but rather she would then know all of the things that God knew. the serpant convinced her that essentially God didn't want them knowing all that He knew and that's why they couldn't eat that fruit. so eve went for it, she took a big bite and it was great so she passed it along to her husband and he ate. simple enough right? wrong. because of their disobedience there were consequences, God did not strike them dead at that moment, and they did in fact know more than they had before. they knew that they were naked, they knew that they'd done wrong. God punished them, banished them from the Garden of Eden, made working the land harder for adam, childbearing and rearing harder for eve and put a rift between man and wife.
now let's fast forward a bit, it's somewhat common knowledge that if someone does something wrong there are consequences and a punishment has to be served. if i were to rob the hypothetical starbucks i would have to serve jail time, or at least pay a fine and do some community service and get comfy cozy with a probation officer. well the same principle applies with God, ever since Adam and Eve we have wreaked havoc on the world He created. unfortunately we have nothing to offer God- i mean He created everything, what can we give Him that He doesn't already have? luckily a few thousand years after Adam and Eve God gave us a break. He knew that our measely sacrifices of sheep and goats and grain weren't enough to pay for all the wrong we were doing so He came up with a better plan. He sent His son to earth to be a man, but not just any man, because you see God's son is still completely God, and at the same time He is completely man. because He is God he lived a perfect life, never did anything wrong, He performed miracles and He preached all over. all the religious leaders at the time were so focused on rules and laws that they hated Him, they hated God's son because He told them that He was God's son and they didn't believe Him, they didn't like the way He healed people on the day of rest and they definately didn't like Him telling them that they were wrong. The religious leaders got so mad that they had Him killed. but you know what's so great about that? it was all apart of God's plan. You see, nothing is a surprise to God. At that point in time, in order to be forgiven for the wrong things they'd done a person would have to offer a sacrifice to God, such as a lamb, but not a small or sick lamb, the best lamb they had. and the death of that animal would pay for whatever they had done wrong. Well, in that sense, Jesus, God's son, was the perfect lamb. you see, when Jesus was killed it acted as the ultimate sacrifice, a complete payment not only for the terrible things that were done to Him but for every wrong thing that anyone had done or will do. And to top it all off, God's son didn't stay dead. 3 days after He died and was put into a tomb He rose from the dead and was seen by many of His friends. And after talking to His friends and telling them what He had done and explaining to them what it all meant He left. He told His friends that He was going to make a place for them, for anyone who believes that He is the son of God and that He was perfect and rose from the dead, and when He's finished He will come back and take us there to be with Him.
yeah, that's what i could tell them. the truth
changedfish- really need to be bold
posted by changedfish @ 10:31 PM
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