7 Why I am (still) a Christian: Because God Chose Me!

I am a (still) Christian because God wanted me to be one. God chose me to be a Christian. Dare I say that God elected me?

Whether you believe the Bible says that you are elected because God chose you first or that you are elected once you chose God, the result is still the same; election!. There’s no way to deny that the doctrine of election is in the Bible: (italic emphasis in each verse is mine)

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. John 6:44

 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. Acts 13:48

One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. Acts 16:14

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. Romans 8:29+30

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 3:3-11

But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 2 Thessalonians 2:13

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. 2 Timothy 1:8+9

For many are called, but few are chosen. Matthew 22:14

I am (still) a Christian because God chose me. It’s that simple. If you are a Christian, it is because God chose you as well. It doesn’t matter whether you think He chose you because you made a decision for Christ or He chose you in order that you could make a decision for Christ. Either way, He chose you!

If you are an unbeliever, you have to ask yourself whether God has chosen you or not. If you flatly refuse to repent and acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus Christ over all your life, then it’s safe to say God has not chosen you. If that bothers you, then get down on your knees before God and beg He will count you as one of His chosen. If it doesn’t bother you and you don’t repent, then you are not one of His chosen. 

6 Why I am (still) a Christian: I Want To Be Rid of Guilt

Introduction

I am (still) a Christian because no other worldview, philosophy, theology, political theory, faith, or religion can explain or get rid of guilt. There are only two ways to try; Jesus Christ and everything else. By "everything else," I mean humanity's attempt to rid ourselves of guilt by our own effort. The concise word for this is "works."

Ways People Try to Rid Themselves of Guilt

What have you tried? Meditation, mindfulness, Xanax, therapy, Islam, witnessing for Jehovah, cleansing rituals, cutting, binging, apologizing, restitution, penance, protesting? I could spend all day listing ways people try to rid themselves of guilt.

The Necessity of Guilt

If you don't feel guilty, there is something wrong with you. According to Modern Psychology and the DSM-V, if a person doesn't have any "regard for right and wrong and ignores others' rights and feelings," they have sociopathy. If people "show no guilt or remorse for their behavior," they would be diagnoses with Antisocial personality disorder.

I have never met a person who doesn't feel guilty about something. I've seen people on murder documentaries who apparently didn't. Names like Ted Bundy and Charles Manson are terrifying because they didn't feel guilty. The rest of us feel guilty.

God’s Plan To Rid Us Of Guilt

I am (still) a Christian because the self-existing Triune God carried out His eternal plan. God the Father sent His only-begotten Son into the world, who was fully God and fully man. The Bible says that even though sinful humans crucified Jesus Christ, He was :

Delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God Acts 2:23

While Jesus Christ is fully God, He also is the only innocent Human Being that has ever existed in the history of the world. He shed His blood so that guilty people who have faith in Him can be forgiven of their sin and released from guilt.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says it best:

For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

If I may flesh this out a little more with parenthetic comments:

For our sake he (God the Father) made him (Jesus Christ) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him (that is Christ) we (the guilty) might become the righteousness of God. (forgiven of our sins, released from guilt, and made holy) (clarification in parentheses are mine)

The Holy Spirit then applies the death of Christ to those who trust in Christ alone:

If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:11

How Would You Like To Be Rid Of Your Guilt?

I am (still) a Christian because there is simply no other way to get rid of my guilt. There is no other way for you to get rid of your guilt either. Try as she may, Lady Macbeth cannot wash away the blood on her hands. Neither can you.

Do you want to be rid of guilt once and for all? It is only through trusting in the sacrificial, substitutionary death of Jesus Christ. Only in Him will you find relief from the oppression of guilt.

5 Why I am (still) a Christian: The Only Explanation of Guilt

Introduction

Part 4 in my series Why I am (still) a Christian, I blogged about The Insanity of Worldly Guilt. On the one hand, unbelievers are riddled with guilt, and they try to make everyone else feel guilty. If you do not feel guilty for what they deem as "sin” there is something wrong with you.

On the other hand, worldly psychologists' goal is to bring people to psychological wholeness through the elimination of guilt while at the same time, defining a person who has no guilt as having Antisocial Personality Disorder.

The Modern Definition of Sin

Modern Psychology assumes guilt is an "emotion." Psychology Today summarized the contemporary view of guilt in an article called, The Definitive Guide to Guilt:

Guilt is, first and foremost, an emotion. You may think of guilt as an excellent way to get someone to do something for you out of a sense of obligation, but it's more accurate to think of guilt as an internal state. In the overall scheme of emotions, guilt is in the general category of negative feeling states. It's one of the "sad" emotions, which also include agony, grief, and loneliness, according to one comprehensive framework (Fischer, Shaver, & Carnochan, 1990).

There you have it, if you whittle guilt down to its core, all you have is human emotion. It is a complex emotion, but it is an emotion all the same. In other words, guilt has no objective reality in the modern world; it is entirely and totally subjective.

Guilt: More Than a Feeling

Let's contrast this view with the Biblical Christian worldview. According to the Bible, guilt is, indeed, an emotion. Here are two examples:

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Psalm 51:3

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 2 Corinthians 7:10

There are countless examples in the Bible of people feeling guilt. However, Biblically speaking, guilt is more than a feeling. It is an objective reality that exists between the one and only Holy Trinitarian God and sinful human beings.

This is best seen in Isaiah 6. Isaiah had a revelation of God's holiness:

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!"

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

Isaiah had the only response that any human being can possibly have when we see God as He is:

And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" Isaiah 6:5

The Objectivity of Guilt

Guilt is objectively present whenever a sinful human being comes in contact with the self-existing Holy Trinitarian God who revealed Himself in His self-attesting Bible. Guilt first came on the scene at the beginning of creation, in the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve violated the Holy Law of God:

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Genesis 2:16+17

Before this, there was no guilt. It didn't exist. It was on the verge of existence when Adam and Eve heard the Serpent’s question:

Did God really say… Genesis 3:1

We see the moment Adam and Eve became objectively guilty:

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. Genesis 3:6+7

When they disobeyed God's revealed commandment, they committed sin against God and were objectively guilty:

For I know my transgressions,

    and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you only, have I sinned

    and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you may be justified in your words

    and blameless in your judgment. Psalm 51:3+4 (emphasis mine)

And all humanity has been guilty before God ever since:

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Psalm 51:5

Guilt is the result of sinning against the one and only Holy God of the Bible. Right from the start, God revealed that the result of disobedience brings death:

You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. Genesis 2:16+17

Paul says the same thing in Romans 6:23, but uses the slightly different expression:

For the wages of sin is death.

Apart from the Bible, there is no adequate explanation for guilt.

Why People Feel Guilty

People feel guilty because they are objectively guilty before God. Unbelievers do not want to recognize that this is the source of guilt. They cover it by feeling guilty about everything else.

As human beings, we cannot escape the notion of sin and guilt. All human beings know that the one and only Trinitarian Holy God of the self-attesting Bible exists, but most people refuse to acknowledge Him:

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. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Romans 1:19-21

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. Romans 2:14-16

Conclusion

Unbelieving philosophies, psychologies, and worldviews cannot explain guilt. This is why eradicating guilt results in individuals and societies that are dangerous when they exhibit Antisocial Personality Disorder. This is why people protest against injustice, discrimination, oppression, sexism, racism, hate, etc. 

Everybody feels guilty or wants you to feel guilty because all human beings are created in God's image and are answerable to Him and Him alone.

In my next blog post, I will give the only solution to the problem of both subjective and objective guilt.