QUESTIONS ABOUT FAITH AND REASON
Chapter 41

Back to previous page

 

 

» What About All the Hypocrites in the Church?

 

ne major excuse that people use in their refusal to embrace Christianity concerns hypocrites in the church, both past and present. People like to point to past misdeeds done in the name of Christ, such as the Spanish Inquisition, witch trials and other horrible acts.

Then, there are the present-day examples of preachers, deacons or church leaders who have been caught in alcoholism, adulterous relationships or some other inconsistency with what they say they believe. This type of behavior has led many to say, "If that's what Christianity is all about, then I don't want any part of it."

It must be admitted that there has been hypocrisy in the church, and today we are not exempt from people who are hypocritical. A hypocrite is an actor, one who puts on a false face. He says one thing but does another.

However, just because the church contains hypocrites does not mean that all Christians are hypocrites. With every example of hypocrisy that can be pointed to in the church, a counter example can be pointed out showing people living consistently with the teaching of Jesus Christ.

It is important not to confuse hypocrisy with sin. All Christians are sinners, but not all Christians are hypocrites. There is a misconception that a Christian is a person who claims that he does not sin, but the truth is that to call oneself a Christian is to admit to being a sinner (1 John 1:5-2:2).

All believers, including the clergy, are fallible human beings who are prone to all types of sin. Just because a person is not perfect does not mean he is a phony. The distinction between the two is important. The failures of the believers do not invalidate the truth.

Jesus Christ had very harsh words for people who were committing the sin of hypocrisy, especially the religious leaders of His day. He denounced them in no uncertain terms:

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves (Matthew 23:15, KJV).

People can and do enter the ministry for the wrong reasons, or they can compromise the convictions of the faith. When people do this they are wrong, and the Bible denounces this clearly.

Christianity does not stand or fall on the way Christians have acted throughout history or are acting today. Christianity stands or falls on the person of Jesus, and Jesus was not a hypocrite. He lived consistently with what He taught, and at the end of His life He challenged those who had lived with Him night and day, for more than three years, to point out any hypocrisy in Him. His disciples were silent, because there was none.

Since Christianity depends on Jesus, it is incorrect to try to invalidate the Christian faith by pointing to horrible things done in the name of Christianity.

Let's look at one illustration of the reasoning involved in this question. For example, let's say the president of a large car company is always advertising and telling his friends that a certain make of car in his company is the best in the country and the only car we should be driving.

In fact, a number of automotive magazines and consumer groups have backed up some of his claims. But yet, when you see this man, he is driving the competition's leading model! (Perhaps he likes their colors better.)

You say, what a hypocrite! If he believed all that stuff about his own car, and he's in a position to know, then he'd be driving one. That is probably true. Yet his being a hypocrite does not invalidate the claim that his car may be the best one in the country.

The same is true of Christianity. People may claim it's true, yet have lives inconsistent with their claim, but this does not mean Christianity is not true.

» What About Those Who Have Never Heard the Gospel?

The Bible is very clear that no one can come to God except through Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6, MLB). The only basis for forgiveness of sin and life everlasting is the way made by Jesus. Many people think this implies that those who have never heard about Jesus automatically will be damned. However, we do not know this is the case.

Although the Scriptures never explicitly teach that someone who has never heard of Jesus can be saved, we do believe that it infers this. We do believe that every person will have an opportunity to repent, and that God will not exclude anyone because he happened to be born at the wrong place or at the wrong time.

Jesus said, "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself" (John 7:17, KJV).

The Bible also reveals that no one has any excuse:

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature, namely His eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse (Romans 1:19,20, RSV).

It is a fact that all of mankind can tell that a creator does exist, because His creation testifies to it. This testimony is universal. Although people have enough information that God does exist, they become willfully ignorant of the things of God because their hearts are evil.

The Bible teaches that the unbelieving individual is "holding down the truth in unrighteousness" (Romans 1:18, Lit. Trans.). Moreover, the Scriptures relate that man is not seeking after God but actually running from Him. "There is none that seeketh after God" (Romans 3:11, KJV). Therefore, it is not a case of God refusing to get His Word to someone who is desperately searching for the truth.

We also know that it is God's desire that "none should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). This indicates that God also cares for those persons who have not heard the gospel. He had demonstrated this by sending His Son to die in their place. "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8, YUJV).

The Bible teaches that God is going to judge the world fairly and righteously. "Because he hath appointed a day, in which He will judge the world in righteousness" (Acts 17:31, KJV). This means that when all the facts are in, God's name will be vindicated and no one will be able to accuse Him of unfairness.

Even though we may not know how He is going to deal with these people specifically, we know His judgment will be fair. This fact alone should satisfy anyone who wonders how God will deal with people who never have heard of Jesus Christ.

The Bible itself testifies to the fact that, out of every people on the earth, some will hear and respond. "For you were killed, and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation" (Revelation 5:9).

The Bible gives an example of a man who was in a situation not unlike many today. His name was Cornelius. He was a very religious man who constantly prayed to God. He had not heard of Jesus Christ, but he was honestly asking God to reveal Himself to him.

God answered the prayer of Cornelius by sending the apostle Peter to him to give him the full story of Jesus. When Peter preached to Cornelius, Cornelius put his trust in Christ as his Savior. This example demonstrates that anyone who sincerely desires to know God will hear about Jesus.

There are people today, like Cornelius, who pray the same prayer to know the true and living God, and they are being reached no matter where they might live. Simon Peter stated, "I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him" (Acts 10:34,35, KJV).

The Scriptures contain other examples of individuals who were accepted by God, even though their knowledge of Him was limited.

· Rahab, the prostitute, had only the smallest amount of knowledge about God, but the Bible refers to her as a woman of faith, and her actions were commended (Joshua 2:9; Hebrews 11:31).

· Naaman, the Syrian, was granted peace with God because he exercised faith, even though he was living in the midst of a pagan culture (2 Kings 5:15-19).

· Jonah, the prophet, was sent to Nineveh, a heathen society, and they repented at his preaching (Jonah 3:5).

No one will be condemned for not ever hearing of Jesus Christ. Based on the above examples from Scripture, it can be seen that God will judge all mankind fairly and that no one can claim he or she received an unfair hearing. Therefore, the people who ask this question should be very careful not to use this as an excuse for not coming to Christ.

What you think might happen or might not happen to someone else does not release you from your responsibility on Judgment Day. Although we might not be able to answer the question about those who haven't heard to the satisfaction of everyone, the Bible has made certain things clear.

One person put it this way, "Many things in the Bible I cannot understand; many things in the Bible I only think I understand; but there are many things in the Bible I cannot misunderstand" (Anonymous).

» Isn't It Enough Just to Be Sincere? A person can be sincere, but he also can be sincerely wrong. The Bible says, "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death" (Proverbs 16:25, NASB).

There are many cases each year when someone jokingly points a gun at someone else, sincerely believing it is empty. The gun goes off and the other individual is killed-and the person who pulled the trigger says, "I didn't know it was loaded."

That person might be 100 percent sincere in the fact that he did not want to harm the other individual, but he was sincerely believing something that just was not true. Sincerity is not enough if the object of belief is not true, and all the sincerity in the world will not bring that person who has been shot back to life.

The apostle Paul teaches that simply practicing religion does not excuse anyone; rather, it may compound the person's guilt. In examining the pagan's religion, Paul points out that it is a distortion of the truth. He says, "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie" (Romans 1:25, NASB).

The glory of God is substituted and replaced by the glory of the creature. Their religion is one of idolatry, and to worship idols is an insult to the dignity of God. This is something God has always detested.

You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God (Exodus 20:3-5, NASB).

Thus a religious person has no advantage if he is worshiping the wrong God, no matter how sincere.

If a person attempts to get into a movie theater and the price is $4, it does not matter whether he has $3.90 or 25v; he is still short. If someone is believing the wrong thing, it does not matter how sincere he is, for he is short of what God requires of men for them to reach Him.

God sets the standard, and He will accept only those who come to Him through Jesus Christ. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12, KJV).

» Is Christianity Merely a Psychological Crutch?

Every college, it seems, has the campus atheist who says, "Christianity is for the weaklings; it is just a crutch."

Karl Marx's famous line, "Religion is the opiate of the masses," is still a common view of many. Those who call themselves Christians are seen as people who need something to enable them to cope with the problems of life. Some people use alcohol, some drugs, others Christianity to get themselves through this difficult world.

The fact of the matter is we all do need a crutch to get by in this world. We are all crippled in some sense, and down deep inside there is a desire for something to sustain us. The real issue is, "Is this crutch we call Christianity true, or is it something on the same level as drugs or alcohol, invented to meet an admitted need?"

There are definite psychological needs-fear of danger, disease or death, for example -that might prompt us to invent God so we could feel secure. However, there are also psychological needs that might lead us to deny that God exists. The agnostic or atheist may be using agnosticism or atheism as a crutch to avoid the responsibility of God's demands.

The God of the Bible is awesome and a threat to mankind. A God who is all-powerful, all-knowing, righteous, holy and just, and who is going to judge the world for its sin, is an extremely imposing figure. Thus it is only fair to point out that some people need the crutch of denying God's existence in order to live their lives as they please without fear of judgment.

Aldous Huxley articulated this thought in Ends and Means: "For myself, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation, sexual and political."

The truth of the Christian faith is not based upon psychological needs for or against God. Yes, it is possible that Christianity could have started because people needed something to lean on, but the question is not how it could have started but how it did start.

We again are brought back to the real issue, which is the person of Jesus Christ. Does mankind need to lean on Him, or can we lean on something else? Jesus made the issue very clear:

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

And every one that heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell; and great was the fall of it (Matthew 7:24-27, KJV).

One could also state it this way. A crutch presupposes two things: (1) that there is a disease, sickness or hurt; and (2) that a person has been given some type of a remedy (this is why he has the crutch).

Two questions immediately arise. First, what is this disease? Is it real or imagined? And second, is the remedy the correct one for the disease?

With Christianity, God clearly states that the disease is sin, and that the disease is real. It is not a psychological, imaginary hang-up in need of a religious fix as Marx would propound. Rather, the remedy, instead of being a religious crutch, is a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Therefore, Christianity in one sense is a crutch. But it is more than a crutch; it is the sure foundation, the truth of life.

If Jesus Christ be God, and if He died on the cross for our sins, and if He created us to be in fellowship with God the Father through Him, then to call Him a crutch would be like a light bulb saying to an electrical socket, "You are my crutch." As a light bulb was created to function properly when inserted into the socket, so we have been created to function properly in a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

» I'm a Good Person; Won't God Accept Me?

In the early sixties, a song came out by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers, entitled "The Last Mss." The song is about a couple out on a date who get into a car accident. The girl dies in her boyfriend's arms. He mourns her death singing:

Oh, where, oh where, can my baby be? The Lord took her away from me. She's gone to heaven so I got to be good, So I can see my baby when I leave this world.

This song sums up the attitude of a lot of people. They think if they can live a good life, if the good works they do outweigh the bad, then they will have earned their way to heaven.

Unfortunately, the Bible does not allow anyone to earn his way to heaven. The Scriptures teach that good works have nothing to do with one entering into a right relationship with God. This relationship is nothing we can earn, because God has done everything for us.

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us (Titus 3:5, KJV).

For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8,9, KJV).

But without faith it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews ll :6, KJV).

If our eternal salvation was on the basis of works and we could earn it successfully, God would be our debtor: He would owe us something (Romans 4:1-3). The Bible teaches that God owes no man anything, and our own righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).

The simple reason is that God has a perfect standard, and all of us have sinned and come short of this mark (Romans 3:23). We like to compare ourselves to others, and thus we feel that we are not so bad after all. But God compares us to Jesus Christ, and next to Him we cannot help but fall far short, all of us, without exception.

This can be illustrated by the following example. Out in Southern California, there is an island off the coast called Catalina, 26 miles from the pier at Newport Beach. Suppose that one day three men are standing on the end of the pier.

One is an alcoholic, grubby, sick, living in the streets. The second is the average American, and the third a fine, upstanding, pillar-of-the-community person.

All of a sudden, the alcoholic leaps off the edge of the pier five feet out into the water. The other two yell, "What are you trying to do?"

The man in the water yells back, "I'm jumping to Catalina!"

The second man, the average man on the street, says "Watch me. I can do better than that!" He proceeds to jump, landing ten feet out, twice as far as the alcoholic. The third man, moral, upright, outstanding person that he is, laughs disdainfully at the two men in the water.

He moves back about fifty yards, takes a running leap and lands twenty feet out, twice as far as Mr. Average, and four times as far as Mr. Alcoholic.

The Coast Guard fishes them out of the water and asks what they are doing, to which they all reply, "We are jumping to Catalina." Mr. Average boasts of his beating Mr. Alcoholic, and Mr. Great boasts of his accomplishment in beating both of them.

The Coast Guard officer could only shake his head and exclaim, "You fools! You are all still 26 miles short of your mark."

Although modern man considers himself better than-or at least as good as-others, he is still far from the target God has set for us. It is impossible for anyone to jump from the pier to Catalina, and it is impossible for anyone to reach heaven by his own deeds -apart from Jesus Christ. As Jesus Himself puts it, "No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me" (John 14:6, KJV).

» Can You Prove Christianity Scientifically?

Many people try to put off personal commitment to Christ by voicing the assumption that if you cannot prove something scientifically, it is not true or worthy of acceptance. Since one cannot prove scientifically the deity of Jesus or the resurrection, then (these people feel) twentieth-century individuals should know better than to accept Christ as Savior or to believe in the resurrection.

Often in a philosophy or history class I am confronted with the challenge, "Can you prove it scientifically'?"

I usually say, "Well, no, I'm not a scientist."

You can hear the class chuckle, and usually several voices can be heard saying, "Don't talk to me about it"; or, "See, you must take it all by faith" (meaning blind faith).

Recently on a flight to Boston I was talking with the passenger next to me about why I personally believe Christ is who He claimed to be. The pilot, making his public relations rounds greeting the passengers, overheard part of our conversation.

"You have a problem," he said.

"What is that?" I asked.

"You can't prove it scientifically," he replied.

The mentality that modern humanity has descended to is amazing. Somehow, here in the twentieth century we have so many who hold to the opinion that if you can't prove it scientifically, it's not true. Well, that is not true! There's a problem with proving anything scientifically about a person or event in history. We need to understand the difference between scientific proof and what I call legal-historical proof. Let me explain these two.

Scientific proof is based on showing that something is a fact by repeating the event in the presence of the person questioning the fact. There is a controlled environment where observations can be made, data drawn, and hypotheses empirically verified.

The "scientific method, however it is defined, is related to measurement of phenomena and experimentation or repeated observation." Dr. James B. Conant, former president of Harvard, writes:

Science is an interconnected series of concepts and conceptual schemes that have developed as a result of experimentation and observation, and are fruitful of further experimentation and observation.

Testing the truth of a hypothesis by the use of controlled experiments is one of the key techniques of the modern scientific method. For example, somebody says, "Ivory soap doesn't float." So I take the person to the kitchen, put eight inches of water in the sink at 82.7', and drop in the soap. Plunk. Observations are made, data are drawn, and a hypothesis is empirically verified: Ivory soap floats.

Now if the scientific method were the only method of proving something, you couldn't prove that you went to your first hour class this morning or that you had lunch today. There's no way you can repeat those events in a controlled situation.

Now let's look at legal-historical proof, which is based on showing beyond a reasonable doubt that something is fact. In other words, a verdict is reached on the basis of the weight of the evidence. That is, there's no reasonable basis for doubting the decision. It depends upon three types of testimony: oral testimony, written testimony, and exhibits (such as a gun, bullet, notebook, etc.). Using the legal method of determining what happened, you could pretty well prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you were in class this morning: Your friends saw you; you have your notes; the professor remembers you.

The scientific method can be used only to prove repeatable things; it isn't adequate for proving or disproving many questions about a person or event in history. The scientific method isn't appropriate for answering questions like, "Did George Washington live?" "Was Martin Luther lung a civil rights leader?" "Who was Jesus of Nazareth?" "Was Robert Kennedy attorney general of the USA?" "Was Jesus Christ raised from the dead?" These are out of the realm of scientific proof, and we need to put them in the realm of legal proof. In other words, the scientific method, which is based on observation, the gathering of data, hypothesizing, deduction, and experimental verification to find and explain empirical regularities in nature, doesn't have the final answers to such questions as, "Can you prove the resurrection?" or, "Can you prove that Jesus is the Son of God?" When men and women rely upon the legal-historical method, they need to check out the reliability of the testimonies.

One thing that has especially appealed to me is that the Christian faith is not a blind, ignorant belief but rather an intelligent faith. Every time in the Bible when a person is called upon to exercise faith, it's an intelligent faith. Jesus said in John 8, "You shall know the truth," not ignore it.

Christ was asked, "What is the greatest commandment of all?"

He answered, "To love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind."

The problem with most people is that they seem to stop with their hearts. The facts about Christ never get to their minds. We've been given a mind innovated by the Holy Spirit to know God, as well as a heart to love him and a will to choose him. We need to function in all three areas to have a maximum relationship with God and to glorify him. I don't know about you, but my heart can't rejoice in what my mind has rejected. My heart and mind were created to work in harmony together. Never has an individual been called upon to commit intellectual suicide in trusting Christ as Savior and Lord.

 

Top of page   Print this
A Ready Defense Index