WHY DO MANY PEOPLE IGNORE RELIGION?

WHY DO MANY PEOPLE IGNORE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE BEYOND THIS LIFE?

Surely nobody can be happy about living such a short life, I mean 75yrs goes by in a blink, you ask anyone who is there and they will all tell you “I don’t know where the years have gone…”  “it seems like I was only young yesterday…”  “life has gone by so quickly, it is hard to know how it has gone by so quickly…”

It’s sad but very true, that this life seems to be over in a blink and for a lot of people not only do they have little to show for it, they have nothing they can take with them to their eternal home in the ground ie. from dust we were made, unto dust we return.  There is no doubt about this, dig up anyone who has died and there they are or rather what’s left of them.

Now is there any after life?  Well no one has ever come back in any shape or form to prove this except for one man – Jesus Christ – and this is a fact of history.

But most people seem to ignore this fact, or willingly disbelieve it, by this I mean they don’t even bother to research it or look into it to find out if it was true.  Yet it is a fact of history apart from the record of the Bible.  Goodness our dating system alone proves it to be so and every time you reference the year you are reminded of the birth and death of Christ.

Now for a lot of thinking people, religion as they have heard it makes no sense ie. supernatural devils, heaven going, departed spirits and the like seems to belong to a long-ago age where myths and legends were actually believed.

However, this is not what the Bible teaches, it is only what past church leaders have brought into Christianity based on their former or even current maintained belief in such myths and legends.  The Roman Catholic Church is foremost in doing this and you can go to any good encyclopaedia and it will tell you that a lot of the teachings of Roman Catholicism can’t be substantiated on the Bible but come from former Roman and Greek myths and legends that we slowly brought back into their teachings.  At the end of the day this church was born out of a political system and Constantine at the time a politician knew that if he was to maintain his hold on power he had to hold a central power base or popular support.  So he set about merging Christianity with Paganism which was the other dominant force of the times, so we end up with December 25^th being Christ’s birthday where as in fact it was Nimrods and Easter supposedly celebrates Christ Death and Resurrection, but why is it connected to the movements of the Moon???  Well in actual fact this was the festival of fertility and the worship of Semiramis the wife of Nimrod who claimed 14 months after Nimrod’s death to have given birth to a reincarnated Nimrod? You can trace every false teaching of the Roman Catholic Church back in this way and find that their origin lies in Pagan religion and not the Bible.

But that is no reason to dismiss the True Teaching of the Bible, it just proves that you need to search it out for yourself.

And why wouldn’t you want to do that? 

The Bible holds the greatest wealth of all time ‘eternal life’ and you can have it without cost or money, all you need is a Bible.

Then you just need an investment of your time to search it out, and it is not heard!

You know if God had said that eternal life was at the top of Mt Everest would there not be a massive queue to claim Mt Everest, I mean there is somewhat of a queue even now and all this is just for vain glory as there is no reward but the risk of death for a great number of those who try.

Rather God has given ‘eternal life’ to us on a plate so to speak, all we need to do is read and search it out – now He couldn’t really make it any easier and still ensure that only those who really want it will seek it out.

This is what the Apostle Paul has said about this in Romans 10…

^“5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. ⁶ But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (ie. You don’t have to do some great thing like to bring Christ down from above:) ⁷ Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (ie. You don’t have to do some great thing like to bring up Christ again from the dead.) ⁸ But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach (ie. it is here right in front of you in the Bible and you have been given the ability to believe and have faith in what is proven evidence of God); ⁹ That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

Now the Apostle Paul took these words from Moses as he said, here are the original words of Moses spoken to the Nation of Israel before entering their promised land of plenty in Deuteronomy 30…

^“7 And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee. ⁸ And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day. ⁹ And the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers: ¹⁰ If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. ¹¹ For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. ¹² It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? ¹³ Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? ¹⁴ But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

¹⁵ See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;¹⁶ In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. ¹⁷ But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; ¹⁸ I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: ²⁰ That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

How much simpler could this be?

Man spends billions of dollars every year researching cures for life’s diseases in an attempt to prolonging mans life, people collectively spend billions on trying to live longer whether in fitness quests or healthy lifestyle pursuits or on claimed medicinal solutions.

Yet overall man lives no longer today than he did in years gone by, depending of course on where you live.

So why is this?

Why does mankind spend so much to gain so little?

Why is it that man does not read the Bible and there find the answer to living FOREVER?

What’s more the ETERNAL LIFE God offers us is FREE ie. It costs no money at all, just time to invest in reading and understanding God’s true PURPOSE with mankind and this WORLD.

So why would do people ignore this opportunity that is beyond any wealth available in this world?

Some may answer this by saying that God is no longer relevant in this technologically advanced world in which we live?

So some may well think that God is an outdated belief.

But just hang on a minute!

Firstly, did you know that today’s advanced Technology was foretold in the Bible?

Yes it was, Daniel 2,500 years ago said that in the ‘last days’ man’s knowledge would be increased?  Have you even wondered why it is that man has only just in the last 100yrs of his existence on the earth discovered so much and advanced so much by comparison to all the years that went before??

Daniel 12:4

^“But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”

So here we learn that in the “time of the end” the “knowledge” of man would be increased.

But despite this, and how fantastic this is, what has man really gained from this?

Does he live any longer?  Absolutely not, those who lived before the flood lived until they were 1,000 + years old?

The Evidence of God

Some may argue that to have a belief or faith in God is blind and that a blind faith in something is just not in them to have?

Well is faith in God blind?

Not at all and this most definitely is not the definition the God gives to faith.

Hebrews 11:1-3

^“1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ² For by it the elders obtained a good report. ³ Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”

So we see that our faith in God has “substance” and “evidence”.  It is not blind.

There are many, many proofs that the Bible gives that God does Exist.

·       The Creative works of God that are all around us

·       The sure word of Prophecy whereby things spoken 2-3,000 years before have come to pass with compete accuracy

·       The nation of Israel is God’s witness to the world that He exists, just look at our there whole history has been foretold and has come to pass with complete accuracy

Yes, the Bible in fact makes it abundantly clear that man is without excuse to not know about God….

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”(Romans 1:19-20)

So does Science prove or disprove the Bible?

Well you might be surprised to learn that today more than ever before Science is seen to be completely in harmony with the Bible – see our series of Articles on the Bible and Science.

In fact the writer of these articles draws the following Conclusion:

“Science cannot prove there is a God, but neither can it establish the atheist’s opposite contention. Conversely religion cannot dismiss the findings of scientific inquiry without incurring ridicule. We have shown that (through these Bible and Science articles) the pursuit of both scientific and Biblical wisdom is a valid path to travel if we seek to understand the nature of the universe and our place in it. It isn’t an either/or proposition. One shouldn’t be forced to choose one road or the other, which unfortunately are the alternatives often presented, especially to young people.

The Biblical account should be accepted

Given this concord between some of the most important scientific findings of the 20th century and the scriptures, one can only wonder why more researchers don’t acknowledge that there is something very special in the word of God as revealed in the Bible.

What is the reason for this genuine lack of universal acceptance of the Biblical story of creation? A possible answer is that it takes more evidence to convince some people than others, which is why on a jury panel it is often difficult to get all 12 people to vote the same way even though all have been exposed to the same facts. That is why there are so many different Christian sects in the world.

The Bible believer is at least in a somewhat more unified position than the skeptical scientist. I have to believe that at the very least, all who profess themselves to be practicing Christians, Jews or Moslems, no matter what else their differences might be, all accept the Genesis creation story as being true. Hopefully, indeed prayerfully, it is my desire that further scientific studies will remove any ambiguities from the minds of those not willing to accept the Biblical account at face value.

The folly of rejecting a creator.

The dilemma of the biological sciences is that removing Darwin’s two basic premises of gradual evolutionary change and natural selection leaves one without any other alternative except invoking a higher power. When this is pointed out, the person is immediately dubbed a “scientific heretic” because invoking “intelligent design” is considered beyond the pale of experimental verification. However, so is invoking the god of chance or accident.

The idea that the origin of life on this planet and its subsequent development came about by a series of pure accidents is touted with a straight face by evolutionists in spite of a plethora of contrary evidence. From the very beginning Darwin noted that explaining an organ of great complexity, such as the eye, was a major difficulty in his model. The fact that some creatures function with less than fully developed eyes is not a proof that evolution produced the complex vision mechanisms found in almost all living beings. The chain of evidence simply doesn’t exist.

Other difficulties cited earlier in these essays are equally compelling in raising strong doubts about the validity of evolutionary arguments. For example, it would be helpful if evolutionists explained why the origin of DNA and subsequent living cells came about in apparent violation of the second law of thermodynamics. As far as I know this has never been explained and if there are any laws in physics that we can absolutely trust it is those articulated in the precepts of thermodynamics. I could also mention the difficulties in explaining speciation and sexual differentiation, which are stilled styled as “mysteries” in evolutionary literature. In fact, it is ironic that often I find evolutionists using terminology in their writings usually associated with “mystery” religious cults.

Sad consequence of rejecting the Creator

Where does all this lead us? The scriptures tell us: “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Rom.1:20). The Lord of the universe expects us to acknowledge Him by the evidence plainly visible in His creation.

The sad consequence of ignoring this connection and attributing the natural world instead to the god of chance is that it removes any personal responsibility for men and women to search for truth in the things of the spirit. As the Apostle Paul said almost 2,000 years ago to the people of Athens on Mars Hill, “That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us” (Acts 17:27).

It has also undermined the linkage between morality and faith. While some high-minded individuals can certainly be atheists and at the same time moral people, the fact remains it is far more common that accepting the god of chance and dismissing the creator leads to an attitude of mind that concludes, if there is no future hope, then “What advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die” (I Cor.15:32). Thus, dismissing the creator leads to the inevitable outcome that many think the wisest course of action is to get all you can now no matter how you have to obtain it. The moral consequences are painfully evident in the scandals of the corporate world, the breakdown of family life and the general malaise in people’s lives because of the lack of hope in the future.

The Bible says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). The author of Hebrews goes on to tell us, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Heb. 11:6 NIV). This connection between faith in the creator and the hope of a future reward is critical; destroy the former and the latter vanishes.

What will it be then? The God of Creation as revealed in the Holy Bible, or the god of chance proposed by the wisdom of men to explain the seemingly unexplainable? The scriptures offer us a better way for we are told;

“But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory [over death] through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore… stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain”(I Cor.15:57 NIV).”

So despite all this why do some people just not want to believe in a God?

Well most answers to this will probably be found in the following:

·      They don’t want to change their life?

·      They don’t have time to learn about the greatest HOPE of all to Mankind?

·      They prefer to just eat, drink and be merry?

·      They don’t want to admit there is a God who they would then be accountable too?

If any one of these is you, we feel very sorry for you as this is a very short sighted choice of thinking.

For you there is but one outcome, you will spend eternity in the dust of the earth, never to be remembered, never to be thought of again and never to have any further opportunity to enjoy life again.

Do you enjoy getting old and sick, well that is all you have to look forward to?

Ecclesiastes 9:4-5

^“4 But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. ⁵ For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.”

You know the man Moses saw countless 1,000s of people die as he lead the people of Israel out of Egypt, he saw the absolute vanity in a life without God or any hope, so much so that he pleaded with people to:

Deuteronomy 30:19-20

 ^“19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, ²⁰ loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days,”

So if you want to have more meaning to life, if you want to have a great HOPE beyond this meaningless life, beyond eternal death…

…then it is up to you to do something about this.

This is God’s Purpose:

To populate this earth with an immortal people who love and care for each other in every way with no hate, envy, sin, sickness or disease of any kind whatsoever.

There will be no work required as God will provide all we need, this will be a time for all to live happy lives enjoying good friends, “a feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees”.

What more could we ask for…?

So, if you could live forever in an ideal world without any effect of aging, no sickness or disease, where even the animals live a peace with each other “the lion shall lie down with the lamb”.  And you see your own family grow up from generation to generation.

WOULDN’T THIS BE SOMETHING YOU WOULD WANT TO LOOK INTO?

IF SO, THEN MAKE A POINT OF DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

SEE THIS ARTICLE FOR A RELIGION THAT MAKES SENSE