But I am a good person!
You might say, “I try to be a good person.” Do you always succeed? Or you might say, “I’m a good person most of the time.” What about the rest of the time? What is good? Who defines good? Consider how you define “GOOD.” God is perfectly righteous and His nature defines goodness. "The Lord is righteous in all His ways and holy in all His works." Psalm 145:17 KJV
The bad news is that we are not good. In fact, every human being is a sinner. The Bible says: "All our righteous acts are like filthy rags." Isaiah 64:6 NIV , "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23 NKJV
It gets worse. "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." Romans 1:18. The God who is light and in Whom is no darkness cannot allow sin to go unpunished. So mankind has a real problem. God is good. Man is bad and deserves punishment. This punishment is death, eternal death: "For the wages of sin is death." Romans 6:23 KJV.
But the news is not all bad. Though their sins must be punished, God loves every one of His creatures. So God provided a solution to the problem of man’s sin versus His righteousness: "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested … the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe." Romans 3:21&22 ESV
What is faith in Jesus Christ? It is simply belief in the claims of Christ, that He is the Son of God who came to bear the punishment of our sins and rose from the dead, just as we also will rise if we believe in Him. Jesus said: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life."John 6:47 NKJV
Don’t delay! Believe in Jesus Christ today. Believe that He bore the punishment for your sins, rely on His righteousness and avoid eternal death.
Well I may have done some bad things, but I’m making up for it!
The Bible says: “All our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64:6 NIV) “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” (James 2:10 NIV)
The Jews divided the Law into 613 Precepts. Yet if you broke one of these precepts, you are guilty of breaking all of the Law before God. Actually no one is capable of even keeping the ten commandments. For example, one of the ten commandments is “you shall have no other gods before Me.” If you put anything in your life above God, you have violated this commandment. Another commandment is “you shall not covet.” Violations of these commandments makes you guilty before God. There is nothing that you can do to make up for these infractions.
But there are lots of ways to God!
Jesus Christ Himself said that there are not other ways to God. The argument behind this assertion involves several factors. First, the nature of truth prevents two conflicting assertions from both being true. Second, the accuracy and history of the Bible is astounding. Third, the Founder of Christianity is entirely different than all other religious founders.
So let us examine the nature of claims of Christ and the nature of truth. Jesus Christ said, "He who believes in Me has everlasting life." John 6:47 NKJV He also said "I am the way. . . No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:6 NKJV He did not leave us any room to say that there are other ways to God. You either have to accept that what Jesus Christ said is true, or reject it. You cannot say that Jesus’ statements are true and that something else is also true. The Apostles asserted this very fact: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved,” Acts 4:12 NKJV. The different ways to God alleged by other religions are contradictory and cannot all be true. Only one can be true.
Truth is not a matter of opinion. Truth is not relative; it is absolute. Furthermore, it is of infinite importance. Don't convince yourself that it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you sincerely believe it. Sincerity makes no difference because you can be sincerely wrong. Jumping off the top of a skyscraper to the street below will kill you no matter how sincerely you believe otherwise.
Related to the nature of truth is the fact that the Bible contains the truth. The truth in the Bible has been both amazingly preserved and is consistent with itself. The Bible is unique and unlike any other book. Though it was written by human authors, it was inspired by God and therefore is the Word of God. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” II Timothy 3:16 NKJV. This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that the Bible’s unity and harmony are unsurpassed by any other book, even though it was written over the course of 1,500 years by 40 authors. One theme runs throughout the Bible – Jesus Christ. In the Bible, this Theme solves mankind’s every problem, including the root of them all – sin. The one solution presented in the Bible to man’s problem of sin is faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ.
Furthermore, the accuracy of the Bible has been demonstrated through fulfilled prophecy. There are hundreds of prophecies in the Bible. Except for those prophecies which deal with events future to our time, all have been fulfilled with 100% accuracy.
The Bible is also the best attested ancient document. Thousands of ancient manuscripts of the Bible exist, some of them dating from within a generation of the writing of the originals. Contrast this with other ancient documents that are deemed reliable. Aristotle wrote his poetics around 343 B.C., but only five manuscripts exist, and the earliest is dated A.D. 1100. Caesar composed his history of the Gallic Wars between 58 and 50 B.C. Only nine or ten copies exist, dating one thousand years after his death. Tacitus wrote his Annals of Imperial Rome in about A.D. 116. However we only have two manuscripts. One contains volumes 1-6 and dates from the ninth century. The other contains books 11-16 and dates from the eleventh century, while books 7-10 are lost. The abundance of evidence for the authenticity of the Bible far surpasses that of any other ancient document.
In this Book that has been so remarkably preserved, the founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ, is revealed. Jesus Christ is unlike the founder of every other religion in the world because He is alive, not dead. He rose from the dead! He was seen dead and then alive by so many people that no one could doubt the fact that He had risen from the dead, I Corinthians 15:3-8, Acts 1:3. The Bible is the best attested ancient document, and the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ are the best attested facts of history. How was Jesus able to conquer death? Because though he was fully a Man, He is the God of the universe, the Creator of all life. So God Himself, who created the world, who created us and who sustains us, is the founder of Christianity.
Jesus Christ is the only One who provided us a solution to our sin problem. All other religions require us to find a solution through rituals, good deeds, self punishment, etc. However it is impossible for us to solve the problem because once we have committed just one sin, nothing we can do can take us back in time and undo that sin. We need the solution Jesus Christ provided. He took upon Himself the punishment for all our sins, and offers us eternal life. All you have to do is accept this free gift.
I’ll think about it later.
Think again! You know not when or how suddenly you may die. Our life hangs by a slender thread at all times. Don't wait till it is too late. Once you die it is too late. You will have no second chance.
I don’t believe in God.
Really? In fact, no matter how you may try to deny that there is a God, you know that there is a God. God who created you put this knowledge in you and in every other human being. The existence of God is the most certain knowledge we have. Every human being innately, instinctively, and intuitively knows that God exists. God does not have to be explained because everyone understands that God exists. Not only has God put this knowledge in us, but we also see God all around us in creation. Only an infinitely wise and powerful God could have created us and the awesome universe that surrounds us. Man with all his ingenuity has never been able to create anything close to God’s creation, yet he has the audacity to say that the amazing things he sees around him came about by chance, with no Creator, no Designer and no Sustainer. What foolishness! Psalm 14:1 NKJV says, “The fool has said in his heart, 'there is no God'.”
But I don’t understand everything.
This is not surprising. No human can fully plumb the depths of God’s grace. The issue is belief in Jesus Christ as your God and Savior. If you start from this point, you will understand. Until then, life will fail to make sense. As a believer in Jesus Christ, you are at peace with your Creator. Your life has purpose, meaning and direction. Belief in Jesus Christ breaks down the wall of separation between God and the sinner. Jesus said that whoever believes in Him has eternal life, (John 6:47). What is eternal life? In prayer to His Father, He said: “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” John 17:3 NKJV
Through faith in Jesus Christ, you can live, not merely exist. Instead of groping through darkness, you can have peace with God who created you, simply by believing in Jesus Christ.
You’re Judging Me!
The issue is not between you and a Christian but between you and God. Furthermore, a true follower of Christ is not one who thinks he is perfect but one who acknowledges the fact that he is imperfect and needs to be saved. Jesus Christ strongly condemned the self-righteous Pharisees who thought they were better than everyone else. The Christian who tells you the good news of the gospel is not doing so because he wants to demonstrate his superiority. He does so that you might share the joy of peace and fellowship with God, who sent His Son to save you from your sins.
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” Romans 5:1 NIV
What about Evolution? How can you say the Bible is true? Hasn’t it been proven that the earth has been around for millions of years?
Actually, the only way for us to know how the earth was created is to have someone who witnessed it tell us. Any theory put forth by scientists examining the universe is at best speculation because they have no way of determining whether or not their theories are true. However God, who created the world, has told us in the Bible how He did it. In the same Book, He tells us that the natural processes that we see operating right now were not the processes used to create the world, Hebrews 11:3. The universe was created by the omnipotent Word of God. You see, the laws of nature which govern the operation of the universe were created by God when He created the universe. They did not govern God when He created the universe.