| Topic: |
Religions > Bible |
| User: |
"rhuff163" |
| Date: |
07 Dec 2005 11:00:39 PM |
| Object: |
Why believe the gospel |
Devotional Guide
For the week of December 4, 2005
GOD¡¯S HUMAN FORM
Why believe the gospel
To Read: Psalms 138-140
To Know:
¡°And he said, ¡®I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that
have no shepherd; and the Lord said, ¡®These have no master; let each return
to his home in peace.¡¯¡± (1 Kings 22:17)
In 1900 the United States was jubilant. The 20th century opened amidst a
wave of euphoria. Two gigantic oceans insulated us from the troubles of the
world. Americans appointed themselves the task of making the world safe for
democracy. Freedom was our watchword. America considered itself the savior
nation.
The century is now in the past. The most brutal one hundred years in history
is now in the record books. Twice in twenty-five years the whole world went
to war against itself. During the second half of the century we fought in
Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, and assorted police actions. Entire
populations were decimated. Genocide was practiced in Armenia, Cambodia, the
Sudan, and Serbia. Six million European Jews were exterminated. God alone
knows the number of babies aborted worldwide. Sin, the one doctrine in the
Bible for which we have empirical evidence, broke out in the same century
that science was promising to bring heaven on earth.
To Do:
An amazing thing happened in the 20th century: ¡© we talked ourselves out of
the fear of divine judgment. As the evidence mounted that we are sinful
beings, we talked ourselves into believing that judgment was an
old-fashioned terror unworthy of enlightened souls. Psychologists replaced
priests and comforted the guilty by substituting the guilt complex. Science
argued that humankind is an accident of time and space and without
answerability. The Bible cannot agree. It reveals a God against whom all sin
is committed. David said, ¡°Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done
that which is evil in thy sight.¡± (Ps. 51:4) The God against whom we have
sinned is also the one who promises to forgive those who will trust in the
cross of his only begotten son. What no creature can do the creator has
done. He has conquered death and brought life and immortality to light in
the gospel. Believe it.
12085$-12085
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