Copyright 2013 PJ Stassen
All Rights Reserved
Change is not made without inconvenience,
even from worse to better.
- Richard
Hooker, 1554-1600.
An interesting read for the intellectually inclined or people who love solving riddles is 'Pascal's Wager'. (Wikipedia). What it boils down to (in a nutshell) is that, mathematically speaking, it would be rather unwise for anyone to reject the possibility of the existence of God. For instance, should the atheist die and discover that God exists after all, it will come to him as a great shock, for there will be no opportunity for an appeal to higher authority (God is the highest authority) or any possibility for a reprieve, unless of course God decides otherwise ... the dispensing of GRACE to whom He pleases remains His non-negotiable, divine domain and prerogative.
'Ignorance' per se will probably not necessarily be accepted as grounds for 'mitigation of sentence' ... the atheist will have heard the Gospel during his sojourn on planet Earth and will have rejected it wilfully in the name of 'atheism'. Bear in mind that people are not born atheists and that it takes years (and much help from many books and other atheists) for a person to become a full-blown atheist. Even today's so-called 'atheists' often are not real 'dyed-in-the-wool' atheists, for just notice how angry they get at 'God' in their books, lectures, debates and letters to the Press (Debriefing: How can one be angry at God if He doesn't exist)?
'Ignorance' per se will probably not necessarily be accepted as grounds for 'mitigation of sentence' ... the atheist will have heard the Gospel during his sojourn on planet Earth and will have rejected it wilfully in the name of 'atheism'. Bear in mind that people are not born atheists and that it takes years (and much help from many books and other atheists) for a person to become a full-blown atheist. Even today's so-called 'atheists' often are not real 'dyed-in-the-wool' atheists, for just notice how angry they get at 'God' in their books, lectures, debates and letters to the Press (Debriefing: How can one be angry at God if He doesn't exist)?
On the other hand, should a person accept the existence of God in the good faith that the Bible is authentic and that the bona fides and words of Jesus of Nazareth are credible and valid, he has nothing to lose and everything to gain, for even were he wrong and God did not exist, he wouldn't even know it, for there will be no consciousness in the oblivion of a non-existent afterlife. Furthermore, atheism-evolutionism does not have 'Atheism-Police' appointed to prosecute and zap non-atheists in the (non-existent) afterlife.
During the 1966 Wistar Symposium (USA) some of the cream of the world's mathematicians have declared 'Evolution' (read 'atheism') mathematically not viable i.e. scientifically unfeasible. That means that those who still believe in 'Evolution' today (2014) are, scientifically, about 48 years behind the times, and many scientists are beginning to dissent from Darwinian pseudo-science (see 'A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism') to look at more innovative ways. e.g. like going back to basics and reading the Bible, to explain the Universe. They probably may discover one day that the Bible had never been in error at all.
Only Jesus Christ, that humble Carpenter-Rabbi from Nazareth, can forgive and save us from our sin, ignorance and unbelief. What does the atheist propose to do (and say) when, like the rest of us, he in Eternity has to appear before God with unforgiven sin as 'naked' as on the day he was born? What will he say ... "Houston: I've got a problem?" Let's be honest: What can cover our nakedness (guilt) and wash away our sin but the blood (sacrifice) of Jesus?
Every person on Earth that was ever born, educated or uneducated, literate or illiterate, rich or poor was born with the facility of spiritual logic, because he was born in the image of God: he instinctively and/or intuitively knows the difference between right and wrong and light and darkness. Spiritual logic (what the Bible refers to as God's gift of faith to mankind) demands from us to choose the LIGHT (Faith in God, the Gospel, Jesus Christ) and reject the DARKNESS (Atheism, Satan, Unbelief). Jesus of Nazareth once so sadly lamented:
During the 1966 Wistar Symposium (USA) some of the cream of the world's mathematicians have declared 'Evolution' (read 'atheism') mathematically not viable i.e. scientifically unfeasible. That means that those who still believe in 'Evolution' today (2014) are, scientifically, about 48 years behind the times, and many scientists are beginning to dissent from Darwinian pseudo-science (see 'A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism') to look at more innovative ways. e.g. like going back to basics and reading the Bible, to explain the Universe. They probably may discover one day that the Bible had never been in error at all.
Only Jesus Christ, that humble Carpenter-Rabbi from Nazareth, can forgive and save us from our sin, ignorance and unbelief. What does the atheist propose to do (and say) when, like the rest of us, he in Eternity has to appear before God with unforgiven sin as 'naked' as on the day he was born? What will he say ... "Houston: I've got a problem?" Let's be honest: What can cover our nakedness (guilt) and wash away our sin but the blood (sacrifice) of Jesus?
Every person on Earth that was ever born, educated or uneducated, literate or illiterate, rich or poor was born with the facility of spiritual logic, because he was born in the image of God: he instinctively and/or intuitively knows the difference between right and wrong and light and darkness. Spiritual logic (what the Bible refers to as God's gift of faith to mankind) demands from us to choose the LIGHT (Faith in God, the Gospel, Jesus Christ) and reject the DARKNESS (Atheism, Satan, Unbelief). Jesus of Nazareth once so sadly lamented:
"And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.
"For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved.
"But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God." (John 3:19-21 ASV/www.e-sword.net).
Then He issued this dire warning:
And he said unto them, "Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.
"I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for except ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." (John 8:23-24 ASV, www.e-sword.net).
Fortunately the invitation of the Master still goes out today, loud and clear:
"Come now, and let us reason together," saith Jehovah: "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isaiah 1:18 ASV, www.e-sword.net).
I have been singing the song (inserted below) since 1962 when I was only 14 years old, and by the grace of God I'll hopefully will still be singing it on my deathbed one day. When my father was dying in 2013 at the age of 89, his final call for help, friendship, forgiveness, salvation, reassurance, justification and redemption, was to that humble Carpenter from Nazareth, and not to Darwin, Voltaire, Paine, Russell, Hawking or Dawkins. Yes, even in his final hour my frail little father, tormented by ravishing cancer, in his helplessness set the perfect example for me to follow.
Then He issued this dire warning:
And he said unto them, "Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.
"I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for except ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." (John 8:23-24 ASV, www.e-sword.net).
Fortunately the invitation of the Master still goes out today, loud and clear:
"Come now, and let us reason together," saith Jehovah: "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isaiah 1:18 ASV, www.e-sword.net).
I have been singing the song (inserted below) since 1962 when I was only 14 years old, and by the grace of God I'll hopefully will still be singing it on my deathbed one day. When my father was dying in 2013 at the age of 89, his final call for help, friendship, forgiveness, salvation, reassurance, justification and redemption, was to that humble Carpenter from Nazareth, and not to Darwin, Voltaire, Paine, Russell, Hawking or Dawkins. Yes, even in his final hour my frail little father, tormented by ravishing cancer, in his helplessness set the perfect example for me to follow.
(Priscilla
J. Owens, 1829-1907/William J. Kirkpatrick, 1838-1921)
We
have heard the joyful sound ‒
Jesus
saves! Jesus saves!
Spread
the tidings all around ‒
Jesus
saves! Jesus saves!
Bear
the news to every land,
Climb
the steeps and cross the waves;
Onward!
‘tis our Lord’s command ‒
Jesus
saves! Jesus saves!
Waft
it on the rolling tide ‒
Jesus
saves! Jesus saves!
Tell
to sinners far and wide ‒
Jesus
saves! Jesus saves!
Sing
ye islands of the sea!
Echo
back, ye ocean caves!
Earth
shall keep her jubilee ‒
Jesus
saves! Jesus saves!
Sing
above the battle strife ‒
Jesus
saves! Jesus saves!
By
His death and endless life ‒
Jesus
saves! Jesus saves!
Sing
it softly through the gloom,
When
the heart for mercy craves;
Sing
in triumph o’er the tomb ‒
Jesus
saves! Jesus saves!
Give
the winds a mighty voice ‒
Jesus
saves! Jesus saves!
Let
the nations now rejoice ‒
Jesus
saves! Jesus saves!
Shout
salvation full and free,
Highest
hills and deepest caves;
This
our song of victory ‒
Jesus
saves! Jesus saves!
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Bibliography
1.
Andrews,
Allen (1969) Quotations For Speakers And Writers. Newnes Books. Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. London.
2.
Peterson,
John W. (1966) Great
Hymns Of The Faith. ‘Jesus Saves! Great Hymns Of The Faith. Singspiration
Inc. Zondervan Publishing House. Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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