THE BIBLE IS GOD'S HISTORICAL RECORD

THE BIBLE IS GOD'S HISTORICAL RECORD...  A record of God's dealings with creation and his story of man's fall, man's condemnation, but also man's redemption.

Man became a less than perfect creation because of his rebellion and therefore cannot offer God any 'work of his hands' to make amends because that would necessitate God lowering his perfect standards... if this were possible God would cease to be God because he would cease to be perfect. 

Redemption therefore must always be by faith because faith is apart from works and in no way compromises God's perfect character.   When a man turns to God in faith alone, relying on the love and mercy of God, he is relying on God's grace alone and not on himself; God is free and uncompromised to pour out his grace and mercy upon that man/woman of faith.

The penalty for sin was paid by Jesus' whilst he hung on the Cross, he was forsaken of God the Father and the Spirit, and he died physically.   If men reject this and believe God will accept them upon their repentance alone they are in effect saying repentance is the wages needing to be paid to bypass God's judgement on sin. 

It seems to me Muslims believe Allah will forgive them if they but repent, that he will cleanse them from the sins they repent of and overlook the sins they have no memory of.  But how does Allah do this if he is a perfect God?  How can a perfect God disregard sin and remain perfect... he can't.  Sins MUST be separated from perfect God.  Separation from God IS spiritual death the initial judgement of sin, with physical death an inevitable consequence.

Sin is a fact of life in this world and in the lives of every human being... it must be dealt with.  God must deal with sin in his creation; deal with it and destroy it and its results, to free his creation from imperfection, so that once again God can look at what he has done and say "very good" (Genesis 1:31).

Human beings must be renewed... a complete makeover is required and that cannot be done by the human will, it must be done by God and his indwelling presence.

Jesus says "you must be born again", we must be renewed within our spirit to become attuned with God who is Spirit.  This is God's task and he will fulfil his word if we turn our hearts and minds to him in faith... not in human energy of will.  Willpower is of the flesh, emotion is of the flesh and are tainted by our sin... it is by faith alone that we are able to come to God in such a way.

But even with faith sin is the barrier still, it must be judged and condemned if it is to be removed as a barrier between us and God. 

All of us are tainted by sin, and our sin will separate us from God unless some perfect man can be found to bear that judgement on our behalf; some perfect man who at the same time is intimate with the God of Heaven and who is willing to sacrifice himself for the salvation of God's creation.

Messiah, Jesus the Christ is that perfect man.

With these things in mind I do not hesitate to say the 'religions' of the world are a lie from start to finish... Why are they a lie?  Because they oppose the Biblical story of Messiah coming in the flesh to be God's sacrifice for sin.  

Why do they oppose the Bible?  Satan is the originator of religion and the enemy of Jehovah and he seeks to destroy God's plans of redemption for mankind and for the world; and religion is Satan's most effective tool in destroying men.

Religion plays upon man's inherent belief in God and on our pride.  Just as Satan deceived Eve in the garden he deceives us into thinking we can be, or that we are 'like gods' (Genesis 3:5). 

But the fact of the matter is that we are not 'as gods', we are sinful weak creatures separated from God by sin and in desperate need of a Saviour.