Tag: Christian

Homosexual Marriage… What does the Bible say?

I received the following email from one, Joshua Suh:

It seems like the last two videos were about love? Is this in correlation to valentines day coming up?! hahah, what does contradict say about gay love? Not that I’m gay or condone gay marriage, it’s always so relevant though, this whole, ” progression” “down with the ignorant conservative” movement, but I would be interested in hearing contradicts opinion from a biblical perspective, aside from all the political banter, just biblical facts. It often happens people quote or misunderstand Bible Verses.. out of context about homosexual marriages! There is always the Inner ” Christian Circle” argument” between Christians who support gays and christians who don’t, which doesn’t really help our case if we can’t agree upon it ourselves..): But what would Contradict say about this?!!

gay marriage

What stood out to me was that he didn’t want to hear any politics, just biblical facts.

  1. On Judging – First, I have heard it said a lot that we shouldn’t judge others.  People who say this are likely getting this view from Matthew 7:1, which says, “Judge not, that you be not judged.”  When more of chapter 7 is read we see that, “For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”  This shows that we can judge others, only after we have addressed our own sins first.  If you notice, the judging in that situation is done with the goal of helping your brother remove the speck from his eye.  Matthew 7 also falls with the Sermon on the Mount which is leading us to see that none of us righteous enough to enter heaven.  We all need a Savior!  This means we can’t throw judgment upon others, while claiming that we are righteous on account of our own merit.
  2. Marriage in the Bible – Marriage is established in Genesis Chapter 2 at the creation of humanity as a relationship between a man and a wife.  Genesis 2:18, 21-24 reads:

The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him’…and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh.

Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.’ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

3. Homosexuality is a Sin – I pulled the following verses from a John MacArthur article that shows God opposing homosexuality throughout all of his Word to us:

– In the patriarchs (Genesis 19:1-28)

– In the Law of Moses (Leviticus 18:22; 20:13)

– In the Prophets (Ezekiel 16:46-50)

– In the New Testament (Romans 1:18-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Jude 7-8)

Of these I often cite, Leviticus 18:22 from the Old Testament, to show that homosexuality is a sin, which says, “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination,”  and I quote Romans 1:22-27, which I recommend all of you to look up and read directly.

Consider supporting my Kickstarter project for my second book, GP – God’s Promise.  The fundraising is all or nothing for meeting my goal and the deadline is July 15th, 2019.  Thanks. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/contradictmovement/gp-gods-promise

4. Division among Christians – Josh mentioned that there are divisions among Christians on this issue.  I firmly believe that if all the passages listed above are read, it’s unavoidable to come to the conclusion that God sees homosexual activity as sinful.  As we share God’s standard with others, I think we need to approach it as Jesus commanded, by removing the log from our own eye first.  We all have lusted, which means we all have committed adultery in our hearts (Matthew 5:27-28).  We all need a Savior and we all must come to repentance.  We all have sins that we will struggle with throughout this life.  The struggle against sin is a sign that we have faith in Christ.  Hebrews 10:26-29 says:

 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,  but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.  Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

Andy Wrasman1 Comment

Did you know that the Qur’an has a lot to say about Jesus?

Virgin Mary and Jesus, old Persian miniature. ...
Virgin Mary and Jesus, old Persian miniature. In Islam, they are called Maryam and Isa.

Did you know that the Qur’an has a lot to say about Jesus?

This link provides verses from the Qur’an that mention Jesus: http://www.quranfromallah.com/Topics/Quran-Jesus.html

Surah 2:136 and Surah 4:163 say Jesus is a prophet.

Surah 22:91 and Surah 23:50 say that Mary was a virgin who Allah made pregnant with Jesus through his Spirit.

Surah 4:157 says that Jesus was not killed, nor crucified, and the next verse, 158, explains that Allah raised Jesus to heaven (The Ascension in Christian terms) in both body and spirit.

Andy Wrasman2 Comments

Contradict Bumper Sticker Explanation

With every Contradict bumper sticker shipment, a double-sided page of explanation is also shipped.  The goal with Contradict Movement is to have as many Contradict stickers on cars, or laptops, as there are Co-exist stickers.  Beyond the sheer numbers, the goal is to also have the Contradict stickers represented by Christians who know and can share the information contained in the page of explanation.  This page of explanations is downloadable at http://www.contradictmovement.org for printing and sharing and Contradict stickers may be ordered at the site too.  Here is the basic explanation of Contradict, and please note that it supports religious freedom and calls for a certain type of tolerance and respect:

What does this Contradict sticker mean?

Tolerance and co-existence are both great! In fact, they are necessary.    If we are to live together in peace without hating each other, or worse physically harming each other, over differences in race, culture, sexual orientation, political views, and even religious beliefs, we all must have tolerance for one another.  However, we must recognize that every belief can’t be equally valid.   If two beliefs directly contradict each other, both of them cannot be true, no matter how tolerant we become.   This means it is false to say that every religion is true, or that every religion leads to God.  If people make such claims they are showing that they have not taken the time to study the world’s religions, because a brief reading of the sacred texts of only a handful of religions quickly reveals contradictions on fundamental levels.

Religious Contradictions

Reincarnation (Hinduism and Buddhism) contradicts the belief that this life is the only life before eternity (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam).

Pantheism (Hinduism) contradicts the belief that there is only one transcendent God (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam), and both of these beliefs contradict the belief that there is no God (Theravada Buddhism and Atheism).

Salvation from sin (Christianity) contradicts the belief that there is no sin to be saved from but simply pain that can be escaped through enlightenment (Buddhism).

Jesus is the incarnate, Son of God (Christianity), contradicts the teaching that he is just a prophet (Islam) or that he was a false prophet (Judaism).

Jesus died as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world and rose from the grave contradicts the belief that Jesus ascended into heaven while never dying on a cross, or facing death of any kind (Islam).

All religions that suggest that the merits of an individual can free a person from humanities ultimate problem of death contradict Christianity’s teaching that “we are saved by grace through faith in Christ, which is a gift, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8).

In light of these contradictions, all religions can’t be true.  They could all potentially be false, but they can’t all be true.

How can one know which religion is true, if any?

To discern if a belief is true, it needs to be testable.  The scientific method can’t test most of the claims found in the world’s religions, but science is not our only means of verifying the legitimacy of truth claims.  In the case of judging religious truth claims, historical-forensic evidence needs to be utilized. No other religion than Christianity has at its center, a historical event that can be evaluated in such a manner to prove or disprove the religious truth claims.  Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that if Christ did not rise from the grave that his faith is futile and his testimony about Jesus would be a lie.  If someone could prove that Jesus did not rise from the grave, then the resurrection would be considered a false claim and the Christian faith should be rejected.  On the flip side, if Jesus rose from the grave, it confirms that Jesus’ claim to be “the way, the truth, and the life, the only way to Father” (John 14:6) is true!  If he did not rise from the grave, then Jesus was a liar and Christians ought to be pitied above all men.

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Is there evidence that Jesus rose from the grave?

The good news for Christians and all of humanity is that the New Testament is the best attested ancient manuscript in terms of the number of copies it has, the dates of the copies to their original writings, and the accuracy of the copies.  In addition to this, the original Gospels were written by eyewitnesses, or written by people who wrote using eyewitness testimony.  This also means the authors were writing too close to the death and resurrection of Jesus for myths to have crept into the accounts.  Other witnesses, both friend and foe, would have known if the Gospel writers were telling lies and they would have revealed the Gospels to be false.  However, we have no such competing accounts from contemporaries.  We do on the other hand have non-Christian authors writing in the first and second centuries who affirm the claims of the Gospels, and no one in the first century was ever able to produce the bones of Jesus to disprove the empty tomb one Sunday morning.  The Jewish and Roman leaders and authorities had the motif and the means to disprove the resurrection, but they could not.  The best they could do was to persecute Christians as an attempt to stop the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The apostolic circle in which the claim of Jesus’ resurrection originated never recanted their testimony in the face of martyrdom as they continued to proclaim the risen Christ all the way to their deaths.

Exclusive Claims and Teachings Concerning Salvation within the Bible

Mark 16:16 “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”

John 14:6 “Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Ephesians 2:8-10 “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Acts 2:37-39 “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers what shall we do?”  Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins.  And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

Jesus is the Savior of all people.  He is the Savior of the Buddhist, the Hindu, The Muslim, the Jew, the Satanist, the Atheist, the homosexual, the heterosexual, the republican, and the democrat – all people.  To all who have received him, to all who have called upon his name, he has given the right to be called children of God! (John 1:12)  Repent and be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins. (Matt. 28:19 and Acts 2:38)

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Andy Wrasman3 Comments

Why does it matter what you believe?

How would you respond to this question, if you are a Christian?  Have you ever heard this question asked?  Do you have a solid reply?  Is it hard for you to reply to it, or to speak up when you hear questions like this asked against the Christian faith?  I hope these possible replies will help you.  I think it’s good to first validate the question, to the let the person asking it know that you can relate to their doubts or confusion.  But a question like this should never be validated without a proper, and immediate follow-up, unless we leave the person thinking that they are correct in their thinking.  Sometimes, we can lead a person to the Scriptural answer simply through asking questions, in which case I have provided some possible questions for you to use.  It’s also good to know where the Scriptural backing is for your answer and to always turn the conversation back to the Gospel after an objection is raised.

If you are not a Christian, and you are reading this, I pray that these answers will help lead you to receiving Christ as your Lord and Savior.  Let me know if you have further questions.

Validation:

I think I understand where you are coming from.  As Westerners we value personal freedom of choice, and in America we have built into our constitution that we all have the right to choose what religion we want to believe and follow.

Answer:

In many areas of our lives, our beliefs drastically matter.  If a person believes one race, or nationality, is inferior and exterminated and follows through with that belief, it causes a serious problem for the race that is considered to be inferior and for any other race who believes acts of genocide should be stopped.  (Many examples can be given similar to this in realms of morality, interpreting reality, or handling financial situations, and from any of these they’ll likely clarify that some beliefs matter, but in the realm of religion it doesn’t, or they’ll move into arguing that when it comes to religions the truth can’t be known, which is the next question on this list, but if they stick with this question, I’d continue with…)  It seems that you are treating religious faith as inconsequential preference choices such as what type of movies you enjoy to watch or what type of music you listen to, but religions pertain to matters after this life.  If Islam is true, I’d better submit to Allah and follow all that’s commanded in the Qur’an.  If Hinduism is true, I’m in for a rough reincarnation.  If Christianity is true, I’d better repent and turn away from sins and turn to Jesus for my righteousness and forgiveness.  If Atheism is true, then you’re right it doesn’t really matter what you believe, since we’re all destined to be worm food.

Socratic Method:

“What if someone believed that rape was OK?  Or incest?”

“What if someone believed that doctors and medicine should not be used because of their religion, and thus deny their children medical care that could save their lives?  This is a real scenario that has arisen in America amongst followers of Christian Science.”

“Are you afraid of death?  Do you believe that there is life after death?  What if religions teach contradictory ways to obtain life after death, would it matter which one you believed and followed?”

“Why do you think it doesn’t matter what you believe in the realm of religion?  Do you believe that all religions have the same core beliefs?”

Scripture:

Mark 16:16 – “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

Romans 10:9-13 – “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Back to the Gospel:

Have you heard the verse John 3:16 from the Bible?  It’s a verse that is oftentimes quoted by Christians because it contains a summary of the Gospel message, and Gospel means “good news.”  John 3:16 says, “”For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  According to this verse, belief in Jesus is necessary for salvation.  Later in the same chapter, Jesus says about having faith in himself, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him” (John 3:36).  If Christianity is true, what you belief concerning religion does matter.

Andy Wrasman1 Comment

How is Christianity Different From All Other Religions? – High School Students Answer

How is Christianity Different From All Other Religions? – High School Students Answer

Christianity differs from all other religions in more ways than one.  First of all, in Christianity God makes a divine intervention on behalf of all of humanity.  In other religions, Jesus not seen as the Savior.  Jesus is the perfect sacrifice for all of humanity.  In no other religions do you see a perfect, blameless God take on being a humble man sent to Earth.  You don’t see a perfect God being humiliated and tortured for our salvation.  In other religions, there are lists of works you must perform to be saved.  We, as Christians, are saved by God’s grace through faith apart from our works!

Christianity is different than any other religion.  Christianity does not require any good works for salvation.  Our faith isn’t even of our own doing.  In all the other religions we have studied so far we have seen a list of requirements to reach “enlightenment” or “nirvana.”  Christianity isn’t like that.  It doesn’t mean that if we slip up and don’t follow the law laid out by God that we will go to hell.

 

Christianity is different from other religions because of divine intervention.  Christianity is the only religion in the world where God stepped in to save man.  Christianity is not man’s attempt to reach God, rather God’s saving grace which he has made available for all.  While other religions will require strict adherence to a set of laws, rituals, or codes, the only thing required for a Christian is faith in Christ’s death and resurrection.  What also sets Christianity apart is that our future is certain.  There are no ifs, ands, or buts, if you believe in Jesus, you have been given the gift of eternal life in heaven.

 

Andy Wrasman15 Comments