A CHALLENGE FOR THINKERS	NOTE:  Randomly generated ad. below - contents not controlled by this site LinkExchange Member - have a look it's Free

Aaahhh !! So you consider yourself a thinker then. Well then I'm glad you stopped by this page.

If you are a real thinker then I'm sure you won't want me to try and con you in any way, so I'll come right out and tell you that this page is about salvation in Jesus Christ, but humor me for a moment, before you hit the back button on your browser ...

I could never appreciate those "Bible-punching" types and don't want to become one now, but would rather take this space on the web to challenge thinking minds.

Well if you still here, I do accept that you are a thinker, who is prepared to take up a challenge of the intellect, rather than spend time viewing an emotional discourse. So lets get on with it then.

For those who have no belief in God ( I'm not naive enough to think that everyone believes that God exists ) , assume for this exercise, that the Bible is a history book documenting the existence of God and his initial dealings with mankind. This may be a challenge for some already.

1. The first challenge has already been stated, above. If you think that salvation is an emotional hype that only has effect on weak minds, then take a moment and consider the following:

-   If you believe that there may be a God, and think of religion as emotional hype, then you have already limited the way in which you think of God. I think if anything the Bible shows a thinking God who has carefully planned every detail of the world; the cosmos and human beings (which coincidentally He formed in His own image - Genesis 1 verse 26 ).

-    If you think of Christians as being real emotional losers who find comfort in their beliefs, then think again. You would be amazed at how many scientists, cosmologists, doctors, computer specialists and other professionals (with more than half a brain) are Christians, you need only follow some of the links on my Christian links page to see this.

- In my personal experience, an atheist till the age of 16, I made my commitment to Christ with lots of thinking and logical questioning and research. I hope you too will take the time to question yourself about your belief structure and perception of what it is that you consider Christianity to be (or not to be), and maybe to question why many people do believe and would like others to believe too. It at least merits some logical consideration.

- Enough said, lets move on to the next challenge.

2. This second challenge is one of logical assumption, that if there is in fact such a thing as eternal life, that any thinking person would like to find out how he or she could attain that eternal life.  Consider the following scenario set out in the Bible and take up the challenge (assuming that all the following is true) as to where does it
leave you ?

- The Bible starts out with a perfect world, with no problems. This, although it may sound mythical in these present times, is a picture of a Creator in full harmony with a world He created. Now on assuming this to be what the world once was, we see a breakup in the relationship with the Creator and His creation. The Bible refers to this first divorce case as sin. Mankind (just like me and you) decided we knew best and were given a deceitful hope of becoming like or even better than the Creator. Assuming this to be true you can see the problems this may have caused, why you just need to read the news and see how we all still strive to be better than anyone else, by whatever means possible, be it murder, fraud, war, greed and etc. etc. We, in this world all would like to be in control in one way or another. We all strive for perfection, but always end up corrupting everything, we seek power, control and freedom at ALL expenses and consequences. History shows it over and over again. Mankind in all their wisdom have tried to make their own path and turn away from the original righteous path of God. Lets look at some Bible references to the condition of mankind:

Romans 3 verse 10 says the following:
"There is no-one righteous, not even one."

Romans 3 verse 23 is even more graphic:
"There is no difference, for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"

- These verses show us that even the best, we have still don't match up to God. We have all been separated from God and His original plan for us by sin, as mentioned above. We still, after all these years, make a mess of what was intended to be. Without much fear or consideration we, choose our own way instead of God's way. We miss the mark and never live up to the original standard that God set out for us.

- Now I'm sure any thinking person would say: "Well if I was God then I wouldn't put up with a bunch of rebellious creatures". Well ... yep, that about sums it up. You mess with God and His creation and you pay a price. I don't think any of us would allow someone to mess up; smash or destroy our houses and possessions. If someone did, we'd make sure they pay for their deeds. Well you guessed it, God doesn't just sit back and accept our ways. The Bible shows what He thinks about the whole situation:

Romans 5 verse 12 explains the consequences of not listening to God in the first place:
"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned."

Romans 6 verse 23 clearly shows us the price we pay for the way we are:
"For the wages of sin is DEATH"

- At this point, you must already be thinking some things like ... "well it all looks hopeless anyway ...". The truth is if you think about it, we've made such a mess of things in this world, that yes, it is hopeless, BUT ... Think about this first ... We messed up and should pay the price. It wouldn't be logical to see it any other way, but the really great part of being created is that we have a Creator who thinks in advance and has a really great capacity for love and compassion. So yes in our minds, it is an impossible situation, but God is way more of a visionary than most give Him credit for. He could easily have just wiped everything out and started again, but  I'm sure he enjoys a challenge just as much as you and me. What's even better is that He is willing to see things from our point of view and come have a look around for Himself. Yep, that's how God works ... He's willing to get involved with a people who weren't even prepared to follow His plan in the first place.
(The sad irony of this is that mankind did exactly the same thing with their second chance of communion with God in person - I just know He won't be taking any abuse the third time round ).
Well here's what the Bible says about the Love and compassion that God offers us, even now:

Romans 6 verse 23 again in it's completed sentence says:
"For the wages of sin IS death, BUT the gift of God is ETERNAL LIFE in Christ Jesus our Lord"

Romans 5 verse 8 shows us Gods love again:
"But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

- Not a case of emotional outbursts or really sweet sentiment here.  God steps into a bad situation Himself. He sees that there is only one possible outcome, if He doesn't come along and put things right Himself. I don't quite see how people can take this one so lightly. I don't think I'd put myself in a position where I'd be battered and murdered, to save those who didn't even want to know, but rather wanted to kill me, in the first place. I see the way God handled this as a decision of compassion and a statement of Love. I'm not talking about the hug-hug, kiss-kiss kinda puppy love either, but rather love that's really tough and necessary to diffuse an otherwise hopeless situation for all of us. The Bible gives us some indication of how God acts out this love:

John 3 verse 16 says it all:
"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."

Romans 8 verses 38 and 39 give us a rather powerful hint about the way God loves:
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

The above verses indicate two promises from God: (1.) He loves us unconditionally and completely, enough to die in place of us. (2.) He promises us eternal life with the added promise of nothing ever again separating us from His love. With that kind of promise it is logical to ask "then how do we qualify for the promises of God ?"

The one thing I've learned about God is that He never does anything in half measures and He never accepts half measures from us. If you think about this logically and consider that if you were prepared to die for someone, you'd at least expect some form of commitment from that person. God expects only one thing from us - that we acknowledge what Jesus did by giving His life for us on the cross. The gift of eternal life is that simple to receive, just ask for it and believe what God has already done, like the Bible says:

Romans 10 verses 9 and 10:
"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."

Romans 10 verse 13 says this:
"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved"

That still amazes me. It's that simple to receive eternal life and yet there are people who still don't accept it. Often people will look for something complex and mysterious by which to gain eternal life, but God's way is so simple and He does all the rest. We don't need anything else except faith and God even helps us with that. Once we take the first step in faith we on the way to becoming a new person already.

Romans 10 verse 17 tells us how we get faith:
"Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ."

Romans 12 verse 2 gives us the advice how to start our journey of eternal life:
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will.

Now I'm sure that all of the above should be challenging to any thinking person. You can ask yourself right now if it makes sense to loose your life to sin or take up God's offer of eternal life in Jesus Christ. I sincerely hope you choose to join the family of God.

To help you with this you can say this prayer right now, wherever you are. Forget about trying to first get right before you pray this, leave it up to God to save you. Read this prayer out loud now:

"Dear heavenly Father, I have now heard and believe that Jesus is your Son and that you allowed Him to die on the cross for my sin. I believe that He was raised from the dead and now rules with You. Lord because I have sinned I need Your forgiveness and cleansing. Lord Jesus come into my life. I am willing to accept Jesus as my Lord and Saviour and believe that He will change my life. I turn my back on my past life of sin and thank You that I am now forgiven, cleansed from sin and have eternal hope, In Jesus name. Amen"

Now after that prayer I would like to welcome you to the family. You are now a member of a world wide family and I'd like to share a Bible verse that gives us all encouragement.

Romans 8 verse 15 to 17 says this about you and I:
"For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ"

The above words says we cry Abba (Daddy) Father, which literally means we call God "Daddy" and we have the added blessing of now being heirs of God. WOW !!! - we now have an eternal "Daddy" who's love for us never ends.

From here, it's best to go visit your nearest Bible based Christian church and go tell the pastor / minister that you have been saved. Ask him to help you in your new life in the family. If you would like, you can email me () and share your new joy. I'll help you as much as I possibly can. If you can get hold of a Bible, go read the Gospel of John and find out about Jesus. You can now pray to God, in the same way that you speak to a close friend.

My prayer for you is that you will be richly blessed as you walk with Jesus and get to know Him as the very best friend that anyone could ever have.

Before you go lets Look at what the Bible says again:

Romans 3 verse 10:
"There is no-one righteous, not even one."
Romans 3 verse 23:
"There is no difference, for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"
Romans 5 verse 12:
"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned."
Romans 6 verse 23:
"For the wages of sin is DEATH"
Romans 6 verse 23 completed:
"For the wages of sin IS death, BUT the gift of God is ETERNAL LIFE in Christ Jesus our Lord"
Romans 5 verse 8:
"But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
John 3 verse 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."
Romans 8 verses 38 and 39:
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 10 verses 9 and 10:
"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."
Romans 10 verse 13:
"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved"
Romans 10 verse 17:
"Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ."
Romans 12 verse 2:
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 8 verse 15 to 17:
"For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ"

Now wasn't that a good challenge for thinking minds ?
Many blessings !