Sunday, March 05, 2006
March 5, 2006 Sermon Notes--Can I live a Good Life without Christianity? part 1
Note: Sermon notes taken from loose outline notes of pastor. Actual live delivered sermon may have differed. No video available, sorry...
Text: Mark 8:36; Luke 18:29-30; and, especially Romans 7:18 and Romans 3:20-28, 31
Today we are going to start a twoparter, talking about the question some of us may have heard before, some of us may have asked ourselves: can we lead a 'good life' or a life of good without Christianity? Interesting question, isn't it? Is there true good outside of Christ?
Sounds like someone is saying-'I don't care whether Christianity is the truth or not, all I'm interested in is leading a good life. I'm going to choose beliefs not because of whether they are true or the truth but because they are "helpful".'
Man is different, CS Lewis has said, because he wants to know things, to find out what it all means, not for any purpose or job per se, but rather simply for the sake of knowing. We need to know answers. We ask questions. When that desire to know, to eagerly know if something is true, to test it for verification, to wonder, is crushed, we become something less than human. We become a robot, or for lack of a better term, a simpleton.
I find it hard to believe that these folks who ask the can I have the good life question have lost that innane desire. What has happened is probably good hearted folks, some of them pastors and preachers, have led them to believe that Christianity is a medicine, it is happy pills. It is not. Christianity, if it is true, gives us an account of the facts--it tells us what the universe is like. It may be true or it may not. Your natural inquisitiveness should take over. if it is untrue, then no HONEST man will believe it, no matter how helpful. if it is true, then every HONEST person will believe even if it is no help to our present situation at all.
If Christianity is true, and I believe it is, then only those who know it as the truth should be equipped for leading a good life.
But what about the humanists? They care about society. They have good intentions. What about them? Humanists believe in the good of the greatest number, the good of society over the individual. Christianity is a little bit different. It empahsiezes the individual over society. It emphasizes the worthiness of the individual over the worth of a country or state. God wants a personal relationship with us, not a head of state or a group. He wants a one to one relationship, not a meeting. Christians and materialists/humanists can have similar goals, of helping, but their methods are different, their cores are different. Basically, eventually those beliefs will come into conflict. Even with the best of intentions or will in the world, people will be helping fellow creatures to destruction, even if intent is noble. Look at the intent of "separation of church and state." It went from being about keeping us from discriminating to being about throwing God out of the country. Look at what the best of intentions have done to our society...
The real question behind can i lead a good life without Christianity is really saying: should I bother? Can't I just let sleeping dogs lie and live a good life? That person is asking to get on with good before he has discovered what good really IS. The true issue is the person is shirking. They don't want to bother with Christianity because it asks tough questions, it requires examining some hard issues internally and externally. They are deliberately trying NOT to know if Christianity is true because there will be trouble if it IS true. There will be conflict.
Christianity is not a panacea. It is the correct path, the way the truth and the Life. However, it is not happy pills. Christ has been upfront with us on this matter when he talks about the cost of it all, about taking up the cross and following him. All of you have seen in your own lives it can be hard. However, it is worth it. Christianity is true. It is indeed the true way, and to be upfront and truthful, the answer to the question in the title is: No, you cannot truly live a good life without Christianity. Next week, we are going to talk about if Christianity can "really" help us, an extension of the question of can we live a good life without Christ.
Text: Mark 8:36; Luke 18:29-30; and, especially Romans 7:18 and Romans 3:20-28, 31
Today we are going to start a twoparter, talking about the question some of us may have heard before, some of us may have asked ourselves: can we lead a 'good life' or a life of good without Christianity? Interesting question, isn't it? Is there true good outside of Christ?
Sounds like someone is saying-'I don't care whether Christianity is the truth or not, all I'm interested in is leading a good life. I'm going to choose beliefs not because of whether they are true or the truth but because they are "helpful".'
Man is different, CS Lewis has said, because he wants to know things, to find out what it all means, not for any purpose or job per se, but rather simply for the sake of knowing. We need to know answers. We ask questions. When that desire to know, to eagerly know if something is true, to test it for verification, to wonder, is crushed, we become something less than human. We become a robot, or for lack of a better term, a simpleton.
I find it hard to believe that these folks who ask the can I have the good life question have lost that innane desire. What has happened is probably good hearted folks, some of them pastors and preachers, have led them to believe that Christianity is a medicine, it is happy pills. It is not. Christianity, if it is true, gives us an account of the facts--it tells us what the universe is like. It may be true or it may not. Your natural inquisitiveness should take over. if it is untrue, then no HONEST man will believe it, no matter how helpful. if it is true, then every HONEST person will believe even if it is no help to our present situation at all.
If Christianity is true, and I believe it is, then only those who know it as the truth should be equipped for leading a good life.
But what about the humanists? They care about society. They have good intentions. What about them? Humanists believe in the good of the greatest number, the good of society over the individual. Christianity is a little bit different. It empahsiezes the individual over society. It emphasizes the worthiness of the individual over the worth of a country or state. God wants a personal relationship with us, not a head of state or a group. He wants a one to one relationship, not a meeting. Christians and materialists/humanists can have similar goals, of helping, but their methods are different, their cores are different. Basically, eventually those beliefs will come into conflict. Even with the best of intentions or will in the world, people will be helping fellow creatures to destruction, even if intent is noble. Look at the intent of "separation of church and state." It went from being about keeping us from discriminating to being about throwing God out of the country. Look at what the best of intentions have done to our society...
The real question behind can i lead a good life without Christianity is really saying: should I bother? Can't I just let sleeping dogs lie and live a good life? That person is asking to get on with good before he has discovered what good really IS. The true issue is the person is shirking. They don't want to bother with Christianity because it asks tough questions, it requires examining some hard issues internally and externally. They are deliberately trying NOT to know if Christianity is true because there will be trouble if it IS true. There will be conflict.
Christianity is not a panacea. It is the correct path, the way the truth and the Life. However, it is not happy pills. Christ has been upfront with us on this matter when he talks about the cost of it all, about taking up the cross and following him. All of you have seen in your own lives it can be hard. However, it is worth it. Christianity is true. It is indeed the true way, and to be upfront and truthful, the answer to the question in the title is: No, you cannot truly live a good life without Christianity. Next week, we are going to talk about if Christianity can "really" help us, an extension of the question of can we live a good life without Christ.
# posted by Mark : 3:25 PM
