Is This A “Christian Film”?
I don’t know. It is, and it isn’t.
I used to think “I don’t know” was a cop-out, but now I believe it may be one of the most truthful things you can say.
For example, what caused the Big Bang? (Which, by the way, HAPPENED.)
God? Or does ”I don’t know” pretty-much sum it up?
And isn’t this exactly the same answer?
As for me, I was raised a Catholic, but I don’t consider myself a Christian because I don’t believe in metaphysical stuff. As I like to say, “Where’s Heaven? Hang a left at Jupiter?”
And isn’t Heaven, really, just another “I don’t know”?
Do you think The Master Plan is a Christian movie? That’s what matters.
Something weird did happen about two years into editing, which had never happened to me on a video project before. I don’t have kids yet, but it must be like when your first child tells you “no”, and means it.
That is, I suddenly realized that something I thought was my creation turned out to have its own will, and didn’t particularly care about what I wanted. The movie was making itself, assembling itself in a way that I hadn’t planned, making itself different, and better. The Master Plan had its own mind.
Our movie is about evangelical Christianity, and science, and certain aspects of New Age philosophy, and conspiracy theory. I think Sarah is a Christian, and I know Nicole is an evangelical Christian. Most people involved in the movie (who are not Jewish) probably consider themselves Christians in a philosophical “I consider myself a good person” kind-of-way.
By traditional definition, I’m not a Christian, but I’m absolutely fascinated by religious belief. For me, the motivations behind why people choose to believe things are as profound as what they believe.
And isn’t that the same thing?
Aron Campisano
No…because God is different. Being Christian is different. Being Catholic…is altogether different.
When I asked God to show me if HE is real, He ansswered me. Slowly, wisely, lovingly He showed me Himself in ways that have allowed me to love Him in return. My motives were to know God in a personal way. To stop being afraid and or angry, to make sense out of chaos.
To look at ABSOLUTE TRUTHS…truths children have little difficulty with because these objective truths give an order to the disordered. A straight line etched through an extremely circuitous path.
My faith is an answer to a request for faith…with all of my imperfections and weakness and uncertaaintiee, a wisdom arises that is not mine but belongs to something higher…someONE higher.
It is a certain, yet inexplicable, hope where there was once dispair and a trust in a plan beyond my limited vision.
It is freedom from arrogance and an embrace of humility with all the beauty of a good God and the joy that comes with surrendering myself and all of my failings into a potter’s hands.
It is the reception of sacraments beyond my understanding…that have given me light.
Yay for honest, non-delusional, not-really-Christian movies! Sounds interesting.
Hey David, thanks for your comment a while back. A sneak preview of The Master Plan, is now online:
http://www.alchemistic.com/themasterplan/
Traditional film distribution hasn’t made sense for the movie yet, so I hope to create a groundswell of interest in it on the Internet.
If you like it, please share and tweet!
- Aron
If “I don’t know what caused the Big Bang” equals “God did it”, does (for example) “I don’t know who stole the cake” also equal “God did it”?
No response to Barbara? Ferocity like that scares people. Personally I don’t care what someone believes as long as they don’t A) want to force others to believe the same way and B) are not harming “non believers”. Pretty much all religions preach the same message “don’t kill each other, and try to do good”. It’s others that interpret that message and turn it into KILL the non believers. Beliefs and the BIG questions are fascinating. Some of the best quotes on the mix are from Peter O’Tool in the film CREATOR. The gist is that the deeper into the science you get the closer it gets to religion. And having a basic understanding of some advanced physics I agree. Can’t wait to watch the film, maybe tonight!
Freaky. I was rapt. What a sad ending. I know people like Kristi. Barbara has drunk the Kool-aid for sure. It’s so sad… what a terrible vision of a ‘good god’. I want nothing to do with it. It’s even spookier than those who are caught up in ‘alternative’ medicines and other completely bogus beliefs. But thank you for making this stunning and beautiful horror film. Seriously.
It is very acceptable to use “I don’t know” for the cause of the Big Bang (though using cause and big bang in the same sentence does shows a little ignorance of both concepts)
But “I don’t know” for heaven is a whole other level, all science shows “we” stop existing when our brain stops functioning.
We do KNOW some things, replacing god with “I don’t know” isn’t progress.
However we might want or need there to be an afterlife it is just ignorance to give any plausibility to heaven more than the plausibility of leprechauns existing and feeding magical diamonds to the giant purple dragon in my garage.
Oh and I think the ending makes the film a Christian film, some good points were raised but I guess you wanted to show what happens most of the time instead of a story of the few times that people escape from the clutches of religion.
Actually it is very correct to speak of the cause of the BigBang. It’s a big question in Physics. The simplified layman’s version is that gravity pulls everything together but it’s actually much more complicated and there are a lot of forces involved. One theory, the only one I know that accounts for all the discrepancies, has four “universes” expanding and contracting.
On the flip side we don’t know about “heaven”. There are plenty of things that science hasn’t found an answer for and it’s quite possible that a “life force” or your “electrical essence” does exist and that it goes into another state/ dimension etc. Not exactly what most folks talk about when they talk about heaven but…
It’s also quite possible that there isn’t any “life force” and when your heart stops that’s it. If you go deep into String Theory we (and everything else) are made up of tiny vibrating bit’s of energy. In that case we are just a mass of energy that to us looks solid. Since energy doesn’t just go away, everything that you were in life is still there in death. The ability of you as a collection of energy to interact with us as other balls of energy has ended but all of your energy is still there. So on a very fundamental level there is an “after life” the only real question is does your energy maintain any self awareness. Personally I doubt it but we have no hard evidence one way or the other.
I take my statement back I was trying to be gentle but see that there is no need, your statements show complete ignorance of science.
The big bang is considered to be the origin of both time and space thus cause and words like before and after are not the correct language, while it may not satisfy the majority of humanity there are no simple catch phrases to describe theories at the Planck epoch.
Now you can state that you’re very correct and that you know the theory that accounts for ALL the discrepancies that will not make it true, I have not seen your name on a Nobel nomination or even discussed on science blogs.
As for your “life force”, how much energy are you speaking of exactly, how is it measured? It doesn’t help your case that you end on that whimper “we have no hard evidence”, no the correct statement is you have NO evidence, science has an abundance of evidence that when someone’s neurons stop firing that person stops existing, it doesn’t even have to be all your neurons, there are enough cases where only a part of someone’s brain is damaged or altered for them to become different persons, do those people have 2 “life forces”?
No need to be gentle Hugo but you might try reading some Physics. I was a physics major and have a strong science background, but no Nobel prizes. Do you? Probably not, but then I don’t think that is a prerequisite for posting, maybe I missed some rule. There are a number of theories on the Big Bang and some or all are cyclical, actually they would have to be to make any sense. Because if you don’t believe “god did it” then you have the situation at the end that you started with and if it had to explode the first time it has to explode again. Hard evidence is exactly that. You are speaking beliefs and passing them off as facts which isn’t the same thing. There is a tremendous amount of energy in a human body, but most of it is tied up looking solid, but it doesn’t really matter. One of the founding principals of modern physics is conservation of energy. It doesn’t cease to exist. So in a fundamental way a “person” doesn’t cease to exist. Now all that we think of as the person may be gone and lost forever, it would certainly seem so. But just because something seems so doesn’t make it true. People seem solid, but they are mostly empty space. Actual particles take up a shockingly small amount of the volume your body occupies. It seems like the Sun goes around the Earth, but it doesn’t. One paradox I always liked was the rather simple question of If the Big Bang is the start and end of time and the universe then where does it happen? If in fact nothing exists before the Big Bang then your left with some creation explanation that starts to sound like religion. If the universe was created poof and nothing existed before that then you have to chuck all of modern physics because you cannot create something from nothing. So right now it’s explained with multidimensional theories and anti universes so you can balance it all out and get a total inhalation. But there isn’t “hard evidence” for a lot of it. There are strong mathematical models. So it looks like the right direction but? A couple of years ago the managed to get a communication to travel faster than the speed of light. That of course should not be possible. But it is and it’s repeatable.
Anyway the point is we don’t actually know most of the answers And if you claim you do your delusional or ignorant.
Scott, may I refine your two conditions on religion to:
1. Believe whatever you want but apply it only to yourself.
2. Keep it away from children, let them decide for themselves.
No I don’t think that accurately reflects what I said. Children are brought up by adults (mostly) and are going to submerged in their beliefs. There are good and bad parents, and the bad ones are not limited to those with strong religious beliefs. , nor are the good. I also don’t nec. think people should have to keep their religious beliefs “to them selves”. I think people have gotten WAY too over sensitive about such things. And you left off the biggest on, Don’t harm others. That could mean the children but I was thinking more along the lines of Northern Ireland, The Crusades, the Inquisition, which trials, stoning people, bombing abortion clinics etc.
Just saw the film. And coming from an atheist perspective, I saw it as being fairly anti-religious. The grandfather, who’s the scientist and rationalist, seemed like the only character who seemed to genuinely have her best interests in mind. And the friend who was into the chemtrail conspiracy theories managed to be a good friend even though Kristy didn’t seem to necessarily share her weird beliefs. And ultimately, the family environment had all the hallmarks of a cult with her father’s disconnection policies, curtailing of her freedoms, and attempts to stamp out anything that makes her an individual. It seemed like it was practically a horror movie and the ending reminded me of Winston’s surrender in 1984.
REsponse to Scott – I grew up in an evangelical christian home – dad was a preacher. All of us were extremely dysfunctional, and it was a terrible way to grow up. Then, in my 30′s, I started reading the bible. This explained a lot. I had grown up in a religion that is all about violence, mysogeny, hierarchy, and fear. I started on a personal quest to find “truth”. I’m still looking, but at least I know that the bible isn’t true, and that christianity is essentially an enormous fraud (as are all religions). I have become much more healthy and balance as I moved toward atheism, but I still struggle with the demons of my past. Most religions teach violence and intolerance. If you think
“god is love”, crack open your bible.
Well now I didn’t say “god is love”. But most religions DON’T teach violence and intolerance. That can not be said for religious leaders. I’m sorry you had a dysfunctional family but don’t blame it on a book that is A) incomplete, and B) was basically a collection history tales of the tribes of the middle east that got warped by three different groups of Rabies and then badly translated into latin and that was then badly translated into english and is constantly misread by preachers. Many parts of the Bible are true, well close anyway. It is a history book. As an example Moses and the Red Sea. A more accurate translation has him lead his folks into the upper part of the Red Sea and through the reeds. The upper end then was a massive reed swamp. He parted the reeds and lead the people through, the pursuers got lost and didn’t catch them. It’s the fire and brimstone interpretation that is a Lie.
A more current example of the later is the whacko who shot the doctor at an abortion clinic because it was necessary because of his religious beliefs. So I’m not sure what part of the Bible he got that from but there is part that was so important they used bullet points and right up at the top it says Do Not Kill. There is no “unlesses” or “excepts”, just Don’t do it. So how do you claim to following a religion by breaking one of the fundamental principals?
Good film. Very thought provoking as an Evangelical Christian… My background was much like this girls and through it all, I ended up on a similar road as the end of this film… Love God. The need to know “why” you believe what you believe is great… and I have taken that journey myself as well. We don’t have to check our brains at the door of Christianity. We can, in fact, love the Lord with all our heart, sould, strenght and MIND.
This film does makes you think, as a Christian, about how you are accurately portraying the love of Jesus to others.
Thanks for a neutral vantage point on the film!
I believe in God. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I was once stuck in a world of sin. I drank, smoked, did drugs, had promiscuous sex, and was utterly repulsed by anything “God-like” or Christian. In response to what Sue says, that she does not like the idea of seeing a God of love, I can say that He loves you anyways. The fact is that we humans sometimes become so hard-hearted about love that we turn to hate and no longer remember what love is like. I found out that God loves me so much that he would even save me. I was the worst sinner of them all, but He reached out and saved me. He changed my life. I thought that it would never be better, that my life would just continue to be one miserable pile of garbage every day, day after day. I cried out to God and asked him to help me. I felt his strength come into me, and I was alright. I cannot put it any other way. But just because I cannot express to you with words, or pictures what he has done for me, does not make him unreal or imaginary. I believe in him with all of my heart. I know he loves you because he loves me. And if he loves me, he can love anyone.
Tim,
It doesn’t make him imaginary but it also doesn’t make him real. I have things I believe in that you probably don’t. That doesn’t make them real either. You have been positively influenced and that is , I believe to point of the Bible (and every other primary religious document I have looked at) that people should behave decently toward each other. And by acting “good” you will feel good. The primary texts of Christianity, Judaism, and Muslims are extremely close, and mostly history and “don’t do bad things”. For reasons I’m not to clear on some folks who are ardent about one belief feel the need to not “do good” to others. I personally feel this is a fundamental disregard of the fundamental beliefs that those people say they support.
So fundamentally I agree with you, I just wouldn’t restrict it to a single belief system. Christians have gotten great comfort, guidance, etc benefits. But so have Jews and muslims and Hindu’s. The message is pretty much the same, and it is a positive one. The negative comes from a few folks who misinterpret the writings so they can spread hate in the name of good. That is I think what Sue experienced. If I had the same background I might have the same reaction. But I think she is reacting to the (inaccurate) interpretation not the true principals.
If they are all fundamentally the same, then tell me, where are you going when you die?
As for me, I believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father (God). And he is the only Way, Truth, and Life. (John 14:6)
I understand where you are coming from this idea of a “universal” religion, but the Bible teaches no such thing. If you want to believe that all faiths are the same, then I think you need to do more research. Muslims do not believe Jesus Christ is the way to heaven in their Koran, neither does the Torah or other Jewish writings; only one presents the Truth.
I found this and I pray you will one day also.
Jesus loves you, and died for you, so that you might go to heaven. He died for me too. Not because I am good, but because I am a sinner. I gave my life to Christ, and no longer live for myself. You can give your life to Christ as well and experience joy you have never dreamed.
Well I’m going to get cremated and spread around. The fundamental principals are the same the specifics change. This “truth” you speak of. You know it’s the “truth” exactly how? The Bible was written by a bunch of Rabbis’ over about a three hundred year period. So if the Jews don’t know the “truth” then you don’t either since your whole belief system is based on their writings. You do realize that Christ was a jew don’t you? I believe in forces I don’t completely know or understand. I don’t believe in fairy tales. I don’t believe that someone who has been dead for a few thousand years “loves” me or even knew of my existence. These writings you put so much stock in were altered over the years for all kinds of non religious reasons. For instance Christ was NOT born in december. That date was moved by the Catholic church so that it happened on a pagan celebration day as a way of “christianizing” a celebration they hadn’t been able to stamp out.
Christ died because the power that be at the time didn’t want him around. he didn’t die because of “sins” that I hadn’t committed yet. That is the biggest cop out BS there is. “I’m just a pawn, I have no free will”. If that were actually the case then there would have been no need for the ten commandments. Why tell people not to do stuff if they have no power over their own actions. Total BS. There are a LOT of folks who go around calling themselves Christians. Very few of them live up to the name. IF you live by the ten commandments I have great respect for you, but if your one of those “I can kill so and so because God wants me to” then you are just another murder with a lame excuse. Preachers who send their followers off to bomb abortion clinics are no better than Charles Manson and should be treated the same way. Sorry to go off on a rand but that kind of mindless drivel that turns Christianity into a cult really pisses me off.
Good points Scott. You have a lot points but lack the one point I was making.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Why? He rose from the dead. I believe that due to the witness accounts found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. He died because the Jewish people did not like the fact that he was telling people that they were forgiven. They killed him because it upset their traditions, rituals, and ruffled their feathers. It made them burn with rage when he called them hippocrates for telling people to do one thing, and they knew they were doing another. None of the people who wrote the New Testament were rabbis.
I am speaking of The Truth, and not truth in general. For example, I could tell you that water is wet. Now that is true, in a relative way. We believe that water is slippery, flows freely, and can occupy small cracks and crevices, making it “wet”; so therefore, there is a small amount of assumption that you know what “wet” means. It is not something that was a word, and then became true, it already was. So we therefore can agree, that water is wet; anyone who disagrees, is insane.
That being said, there is a Truth. That truth is that in the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, he was. He Was. Meaning that there were not words to describe yet, what he was. He was, and always was. John 1 says, “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” John 1:1-5 (NIV)
It is up to you to believe that or not ultimately, but I ask you to consider something. It is true that there have been many people who has misrepresented Christ. Over the years, people have exploited him for various reasons, such as to gain power, prestige, or position. They have done things in his name, as in the Crusades. I do not defend their actions, nor do I think that they were acting under Christ’s will. However, at that time, there was still only Catholicism, and people were not allowed to read or own a Bible yet. They were told what to believe by a Pope, who was a man, and fallible. Although he may not have realized the magnitude of his sin at that point, it would forever be remembered as a smear on the Body of Christ, what occurred during those times. However, because we all sin and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23), we can still ask God for forgiveness, and turn from our ways.
If you want, you can fill your mind with all of the things that people who claim to follow Christ have done wrong, but you yourself know that you also have done things wrong.
“But I haven’t done anything as wrong as bomb people or kill anyone!”
But Jesus said in Matthew 5:22: “But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, “Raca,” is answerable to the Sanhedrin (these were judges over a town). But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.”
Basically put, no man has sinned less or more than another. We have all sinned, and God hates it all.
Now I know that there is a person who is a Christian, and he sins, but does not do it willfully. That type of person is normal, because we all sin. But a person who says, “I don’t care about God or Christ, I will do whatever I want to no matter what!” That kind of person is in serious danger.
Believe it or not, I also get upset when people kill people for Christ. There was a man who went to church with a doctor who performed abortions not too long ago. Anyways, this man learned that the doctor worked at an abortion clinic, and he started judging him. He started to hate him. He allowed his hate to consume him, and after a period of time, decided to kill him in the parking lot of the church.
This is an example of a person taking God’s judgment into his own hands. Is abortion right? No. It is wrong. It is murder. But are we allowed to kill him because of it? Not according to God. “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.” Romans 12:19
And as for Christians celebrating Christmas in December, I am fully aware that it is not really the time of his birth. Now I do not know exactly when he was born, as it is somewhat hard to trace a 2000-year-old man’s birthday, you can ask anyone, but in the East, they have a totally different calendar than we do. The start of their year is actually in April. Now that is not the dogmatic truth of Christ’s birth, but it is up for debate. Either way, we celebrate his birth then, just as sometimes you might celebrate yours on a different day of your birth. It is all for him, not us anyways.
If anyone would like to talk to me directly, my e-mail is timdaniel@inbox.com.
Look I’m not going to argue with you. Your going to pull up “quotes” written centuries after they were spoken and translated through at least three languages. I wouldn’t believe that about anything else and don’t see any reason to believe this now. If I give you that there was a “God” and even give you that this super human creature was a “man” and give you that Christ was his son and is also a supernatural being. There is still the problem that all the accounts that folks want me to take at face value with out question were written by fallible humans. So even if the underlying events are absolute facts, the written accounts are as fallible as humans. And made more fallible by multiple translations and interpretations. There are many people who think religion is just evil period. I don’t. Bad things have been done in the name of many good causes, beliefs etc. I don’t tar the belief with the actions of the misguided. If God talks to me I would either be insane or have to think hard about what that meant. But I don’t take anything written by man at face value with out further verification. That goes for science AND religion. People wrote the Bible and people make mistakes. So when I hear someone talk fervently about religion I weigh what they are saying. If this is a personal metamorphosis that has been for the good I don’t really care if it’s founded on a crock or divine intervention. But if the belief and conversion is based on a bunch of “facts” that are in a book written by people then, sorry I can’t go there. If it works for you great but I’m not basing my life on the words of people I don’t know anything about. When you start doing that you start going off on crusades.
As I said I’m not really arguing since it is near impossible to change someone’s beliefs and if this is working for you I don’t want to trash it, I don’t have anything as comforting to replace it with. For me every “truth” that has turned out true has been verifiable. So I’m not saying your “truth” is false just that I don’t buy what I can’t verify. I don’t discount the possibility that I may find verification, but I haven’t seen it yet.
And just to keep things even I don’t know if it all comes out in the wash but religion has done a lot of good in the world, I know it’s not all bad. And most of the bad has been people violating the core principals of the religion. I mean just think how great it would be if, discounting all the rest of christianity , everyone lived the ten commandments, heck just the first five would be fantastic. And if we couldn’t manage that just the first one. Everybody just lives the very first commandment! No murder, no executions, no war…
That is an honest response to something that you have not experienced. If you were to tell me that going to Los Angeles changed your life, and that everyone else should too, would that make me go? I suppose that depends on how much I want to change my life. The Bible was indeed penned by men, but the scriptures say that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” 2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV)
All you have to do is open a Bible, and you will discover this to be true. If you have read the Bible, and still came to the conclusion you typed above, well then, you’ve got me. But until you read it all, how can you really know?
I have had the same doubts as you as one point. You see, not too long ago, I started going to church again, mainly because my father died, and we had the memorial service at church.
That brought me back after I had been gone for almost 6 years. I was involved in booze, drugs, cigarettes, pornography, and had 2 girlfriends that I was also “involved” with. Now, I had already quit drinking, and also smoking at that point, both because of prayer. My dad prayed for me all the while and encouraged me to quit. One of the girls I knew challenged me and said, “I do not think you can quit smoking,” which led me to quit smoking because I wanted to prove her wrong.
But after he passed away, I felt a fear that everything was going to go wrong. I was overwhelmed. Then my mom gave me his Bible. I had before regarded the Bible as a thing to be avoided because it held a way to control my life, and I knew what it said was contradictory to my lifestyle. So I did not read it until she gave me his, and I opened it, and asked her what the Bible verse was about the “Lord is my shepherd.” She told me Psalm 23, and I read it. When I read it, I felt a peace I had not felt my whole life. For the first time, I was not afraid.
I went on to read the book of Job. It made me see that a man can live a righteous life, he is not bound to be controlled by his substances, situations, circumstances, or government. A man can live a life that is pleasing to God, and I wanted to know how.
I decided to read the whole Bible. I read it in 3 months, and during those 3 months, I hardly put it down. It is the most amazing book I have ever read.
I got to the New Testament, and started to read about Jesus. His words were hard, but I knew that he was the Righteous One. He was the one whom the prophets spoke of. After reading it, I wanted to accept Him as my Lord and Savior, and become a Christian, because my pastor told the church one Sunday, that in order to be a Christian, you first have to believe what is in the Bible. I thought, that is true isn’t it? I wanted to be a Christian, but I still had my doubts about the Bible. But I knew Jesus Christ was the Lord, not necessarily because of the Bible, although that confirmed it, but because of the change I had seen in my life when I accepted Him and the change that I was seeing in people around me.
I have lived in the dredges of society and seen people take drugs, commit crimes, and so many other things that are horrible. I have seen them all doing that, and did them myself, and thought there was no hope. Truly, there is no hope without God, without the power of Jesus. Because ultimately, the very thought that “life is pointless because we die anyways” was still the underlying truth there. The truth then was that if we die, we go to hell, or we go nowhere and simply vanish into nothing. A pretty disappointing reality, which made it a lot easier to take drugs, get drunk and commit crimes.
Now that I know there is a God and he is watching me at all times, I do not do those things because He is the Lord, and I do not want to be destroyed when I die. I also know that God did not want me to destroy myself because he loves me. He loves you too.
This is not religion. It is a relationship with God. For the first time in my life, it did not matter if I had a girlfriend, a pal, or a bottle. I had God. I have God. And no matter where I am I can talk to him and he talks to me.
When He gave his only son to die on the cross, I knew he loved me.
Let me explain something to you. God is actually three in one.
God is three persons in one being, all being exactly the same, but in three persons.
I do not expect you to fully understand this, as I do not either, but here is how this works.
It is called the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
When God the Father, sent God the Son, the Son was crucified and rose from the dead. When he left, he sent God the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit lives in those who believe in the name of Jesus Christ, and accept him as Lord. The Holy Spirit is also called the Holy Counselor, and gives guidance in all things. It is the very same Spirit that Jesus Christ had on the earth.
All three are separate, yet all three are One.
That you will not find directly written in the Bible. You will not find the word Trinity either. But it is evident by this. Jesus Christ did miracles on earth, and raised the dead. He forgave people’s sins, something only God could do. He rose from the dead himself on the third day after being crucified. He reign at the right hand of God even right now. One day he will return for those who believe in Him, and they will live with him in Heaven for all eternity.
In Revelation 20:15 (NIV), concerning the last days, and the judgment of the dead, “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
This is the last punishment. There is no forgiveness from that place, and there is no end. Eternal punishment for all time, for those whose name is not written in the book of Life.
How do you get your name in the book of Life?
You need to confess your sins to God, accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, and follow Jesus from that point on.
If you do not my friend, then I pity you.
In the Old Testament, Moses was a follower of God. He was God’s “Man”, if you will. He followed God totally and fully. At one point, the Israelites had rebelled against God and built a false god to worship in the form of a golden calf. Let us read together what God told Moses:
Exodus 32:31-34
31 So Moses went back to the LORD and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, please forgive their sin–but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.” 33 The LORD replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish,10 I will punish them for their sin.”
God did punish them, but not because of he hated them, but because he is their father and loves them.
But there is salvation for those who have gone astray and sinned. There is forgiveness for those who have rebelled against God, no matter how bad it is. You could have killed 1 million people and he will forgive you, if you would ask him. He is God and there is no limit to his love or forgiveness. “8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:8 NIV) All you have to do to accept this is to accept his Son Jesus, as your personal Savior and he will come into your heart. Accept the truth, and believe what the Bible says about him.
If you ask Jesus to come into your heart, and clean you of all the sin in your life, He will. You will be made new and you will share in his blessing, and be able to go to heaven one day.
Go to church, read the Bible, and pray to God. That will be the way to break the hard ground for God to plant his seed in your life. You will not “never have fun again”. You will experience life with God, and there is no better way. Life is about love. That is the way God intended it to be. It is us humans who have fouled it up.
Repent and believe.
Lord, I pray that all who read this post will acknowledge you. That they will accept you as the One true God, and that they need you in their life. All other ways are false and lead to death, but your way leads to life eternally. Thank you for forgiving me Lord, and for loving me more than anything else, and did not hold back your son’s life for mine. You willingly sacrificed him for me because you love me. I thank you Jesus for what you did for me on the cross. I pray for all those who have accepted you that you will walk with them, and show them what needs to be done. I pray they will go to church again and come back to you! I know all things are possible with you Lord, and no man is too far to come back. I pray all this in the name of Jesus, amen.
If you have decided to allow God to make this change in your life, would you please tell me? My e-mail is timdaniel@inbox.com. I would like to pray with you and help you with some ways to grow in your new faith.
God bless you, and have a great day.