[Continuing the Discourse between BAN@S6K and her missionary friend, this is BAN’s reply to #10].
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Hi [name witheld],
There is really no need for clarifications from you. I know you love the Bible and studying it, is a part of you. I know you love the LORD and HIS people. You and [your husband], to me and VAN are a living testimony of what it is to live godly lives.
And yes, how we perceive Jesus is what divides us now theologically. I have made known to you my convictions on this matter in my previous email. I respect your convictions and if you are convinced there is no need to explore and research regarding this, so be it. As for me, I will continue to explore and search for truth as long as I live.
There is an old prayer which my study group prays all the time as we search for truth, and I would like to share it with you. It goes this way,
FROM THE COWARDICE THAT SHIRKS FROM NEW TRUTH,
FROM THE LAZINESS THAT IS CONTENT WITH OLD TRUTH,
FROM THE ARROGANCE THAT THINKS IT KNOWS ALL THE TRUTH,
O GOD OF TRUTH, DELIVER US.
Allow me to just make some brief comments on some points you have made:
1. I have put my trust in HIS substitutionary death for my sin.
— From what I have learned from the Old Testament, God declares in Isaiah 3: 10-11 which says,
I, even I, am the Lord,
And besides Me there is no saviour.
2. I have walked and talked with him for over 70 years.
—This is your experience and I do not doubt it at all.
With regards to your points, nos. 3-6, I do have some thoughts on it from the perspective of a Torah believer. I hope what I have to say will make some sense . It is not my desire to change your convictions on what you believe. I am just stating my thoughts on the points you have raised and it might also answer some questions not stated.
Your statements touches on some conditions deeply rooted in the heart of most believers. In my past experience as an evangelical Christian, I have heard a lot of testimonies from old and newly born-again believers, filled with a lot of personal stories about how their lives were miraculously changed as a result of their faith or new-found faith. Many testimonies of these new believers, described how their immoral lives, alcoholism or drug and other addictions inexplicably ceased because they have put their faith in the saving grace of Jesus through his death on the cross. Testimonies of miraculous healing from various illnesses, depressions, material blessings, family reconciliations, etc.were results of their conversions. In short, their lives have been transformed. One can see the happiness and inner peace, that now prevails in their lives. These experiences are true too, whether one has turned to Islam, Buddhism, Zen, or Hinduism or any other variant of religion. Their testimonies will have a common thread of changed lives.
Looking at the change of each person’s life, such moving testimonies are quite impressive. But once these remarkable testimonies are examined as part of a larger pattern, it presents us with a serious theological problem. Although each of these remarkable testimonies may appear to most as evidence of the validity of their newly found faith, the fact is, all these religions cannot all be valid. When it comes to spiritual experiences and miraculous occurrences, things can get quite messy. The realm of faith would be very simple if only one religion produces life changing transformations and miraculous happenings. This can be very frustrating to a fervent believer, as this can be the most disorganized arena of organized religion. The life changing experiences, a believer experiences in his newly found religion is a universal phenomenon produced by almost all faiths. And people from almost all religions can claim unbelievable changes in their character and personality, because of their faith, regardless of the truth of the doctrines their religion teaches. In essence, there is no relationship between spiritual transformation which occurs in the heart of the faithful believer and the spiritual truth, he proclaims.
Let us keep in mind that our world is full of world religions, all of which boast of millions of followers. These believers in their diverse faiths all speak of “character and personality” changes which we can also say is true within the context of Christianity. If we pay careful attention to their personal testimonials, how their faith have transformed them, it will seem as if they all belong to the same religion, their testimonies all say the same thing, the experience of a connection with the divine.
Gauging by your doctrinal standard, these devoted faithful are lost souls merely following a “false religion”. We then can realize that startling religious experiences cannot speak of the validity of their theology. Note that Hinduism and Islam have radically different teachings on the nature of God, yet how is it that Hindus, Christians, Mormons, and Muslims are all at the very same time are experiencing this profound religious conversions? It becomes puzzling then, when spiritual transformation among the faithful will point us in the direction of spiritual truth. All these religions cannot possibly be transmitting truth, nevertheless, each of them does produce profound spiritual transformations within the character and personality of their faithful.
The question then is, why would God allow all religions, regardless of the theological untruths they espouse, to ignite a spiritual passion within the heart of the believer? The Scriptures contain a record of many individuals and nations who possessed fervent devotion to their idolatry. Yet their spiritual adultery is condemned as an utter abomination, regardless of the spirituality and transformation they derived. Why would the Almighty permit religions whose fundamental teachings have no basis in truth to produce life-changing experiences and miraculous occurrences in the lives of their devout followers?
Let us look in the book of Deuteronomy, where the passage addresses this dilemma in an even more startling scenario, Deuteronomy 13:1-2, the bible raises the question of what to do when a prophet offers to show a miracle in order to lend credibility to his message. How are we to respond if, in fact, the promised miracle comes to pass just as he predicted? Should we then follow this prophet even if he encourages us to worship other gods which are unknown to believers in the One True God? You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer, the Bible emphatically declares. God did not send him.
Why would the Almighty permit religions and prophets who teach false doctrines to produce spiritual transformations and miraculous events? The answer is in the verses that follow.
The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all you heart and with all your soul. It is the Lord your God you must follow, and Him you must revere. Keep His commands and obey Him, serve Him and hold fast to Him.
(Deuteronomy 13:3-4)
I believe God is testing man with the experiences and observations we have had and have made. This is our choice in a world where free will hangs in its perfect balance. Will we worship the God, who has revealed Himself in the Old Testament or turn to gods whom True believers have not known? If we live in a world where only one faith could produce spirituality and miraculous life-changing experiences, that precious balance of free will could not exist.
In the 18th chapter of 1 Kings, the Bible relates that when Elijah had challenged 450 priests of Baal to bring a sacrifice to their gods and see if their offering would be miraculously accepted with fire, there was a peculiar spectacle which followed. It seems as though there was doubt in the minds of these pagan worshipers that Baal would hear their supplications and consume their bullock with a heavenly fire. The Bible vividly recounts how they enthusiastically entreated Baal and prayed fervently for a miracle all day. They even climbed on top of the altar and began to prance beside their sacrifice, and when that failed to secure a response from their gods, in their frantic seal they used knives and lancet to slice away flesh from their bodies. These prophets of Baal were on fire for their gods. Regardless of their unyielding zeal for their idols, they were commanded to turn away from these abominations.
In fact, the prophet Jeremiah warns us that the spirituality gained from following false prophets and corrupt teachers may become so encompassing and overwhelming that one may begin to have dreams regarding these prophets, Jeremiah concludes.
….for thus says the Lord of host, the God of Israel, “Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst decieve you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed for they prophesy falsely to you in My name. I have not sent them, says the Lord.”
(Jeremiah 28:8-9)
Jeremiah’s message is clear. If the prophet’s message has so permeated your being to the point that one is having dreams of these false prophets and their false teachings, we alone are the ones responsible for these improper apparitions. God has not sent them.
Furthermore, it is said that the God of all mankind would preempt a false religion, proclaimed in His name, which would lead millions from the true path, and towards damnation. This is incorrect, for if this conclusion is accurate, why do these masses of spiritually blind believers make such deplorable choices about their religious affiliations? Why hasn’t God in fact ” preempted these false religions? Why is Islam the fastest growing religion in the world when Christianity is supposedly the only life transforming truth? In essence, how could so many be so wrong about something so crucial as religion when, according to its reckoning, the Almighty would never “lead millions” away from His true path?
The Bible reveals that God does not lead mankind away from His true path. This was man’s decision alone, and it will forever remain in his domain. And our Creator never removed that decision from within our reach. As the Old Testament declares in Deuteronomy 30:15-19:
See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord, your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. If though, your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse, therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.
God permits man to become enthralled with false religions for the same reason He permits a married man to be attracted to women other than his wife, Free will is within his grasp. If this God ordained tender balance of free will were ever compromised. virtue would remain beyond the reach of man. One is not to look to spirituality and miraculous life changing happenings as one’s guide to truth of his faith. The Bible alone is our source of instruction for faith. One, who has committed his life to the God of Israel, can take part in the spiritual food His Word provides. Our foundation must be the Old Testament, never spiritual expressions and occurrences.
Lastly, it has been a puzzlement to me, why Christians are aghast when one declares his faith in the One True God of Israel. yet they themselves declare there is only one God. The Old Testament is full of God’s declarations that He alone is God, and besides Him, there is no other; no one is equal to him; He will not give His glory to anyone.; He, alone is the Almighty God; He alone is the Creator; He, alone is the Saviour; He alone is the Sustainer of the universe. We are His creatures. We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.
Christians say, Jesus is the son of God, that we should go to him in order to reach God. If Jesus is the son, then, he should be glad that we acknowledge his father, for if he is a true son, there should not be any competition between him and his father. Yet we, who has put our faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are condemned by Christians to everlasting perdition. Isn’t this a puzzlement?
These are my thoughts on your declarations. I still stand to be corrected, if I am wrong. May the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob give you His abundant blessings. Let us continue to pray for each other.
With my love and prayers,
BAN@S6K
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