TFL: "Good News, Bad News, Part B" ***
- Pluralism: Truth is NOT in one entity
- Synchronism: blending of multiple entities
- In these mindsets there is always room for another God
- The Roman Empire when Paul preached was a pluralistic society
- Then why did they kill Christians?
- Because Christians would not just add Christ to the gods, Christians hold true that Jesus is the only way to salvation
- We live in a pluralistic culture today
- They (society) call us arrogant for saying that there is only one way to be saved
- But it is not arrogant if it is true
- If it is not true then it is just stupidity
- We should not preach Christianity on its pragmatic benefits, we preach on its truthfulness
- Pluralists can only tolerate pluralists and they are unmercifully intolerant to those who are not pluralists
- Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and nobody comes to the Father except through Him.
- John 14:6 (New Living Translation):
- 6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
- They (pluralists) cannot handle this.
- Christianity did not come to us, except through a great cost, ie the persecution of Christians throughout the ages. And Christianity will not go forward without a great cost.
Continued from “Good News, Bad News, Part A” – When you suffer unjustly:
- Do not be surprised.
- Do not be mistaken that all will be well if we give our lives to Jesus
- Romans 8:28 (New International Version):
- “28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,[a] who[b] have been called according to his purpose.”
- Do not give up
- “Do right because it is right to do right.
- When things go bad we will not whine and despair
- Do not take revenge
- Romans 12:19
- 17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[d]says the Lord. 20On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. 0n doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[e] 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
- Don’t miss the chance to help others
- Example of the depressed professor who was visited by a friend who told him to think back through the years and make a list of all those who have helped him and pick one and send a thank you letter
- He picked a school teacher who taught him the love of reading and wrote a thank you letter and it moved the teacher’s heart
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