Are you HeavenBound?

Sir Isaac Newton, who many consider the greatest scientist of all time and who "created" something called "Calculus", said: “He who "really thinks" has to believe in God.”

Now anyone, not just a "scientist", can observe that nothing ever goes from simplicity to complexity randomly.

You don't need a college "education" to realize that nothing ever goes from chaos to order randomly.  For example, your messy room has never cleaned or organized itself without your Mom doing it of course.

Let's take some time now to "really think" about something called DNA.  If you don't know what DNA is, it contains the genetic "information" needed for the creation of any living thing on the face of the planet.  Basically, your body is "built correctly" by information stored in DNA.  DNA contains the plans or blueprints for your body.

Bill Gates, the billionaire "creator" of the Microsoft Corporation who never graduated college, said:  “DNA is like a computer program, but far, far more advanced than any software ever created.”

Dr. Stephen Meyer, who has a PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science from Cambridge University, discussed in one of his books that “the probability of building a chain of 150 amino acids in which all linkages are peptide linkages...is roughly 1 chance in 10^45."

That is a 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% chance.

In other words: DNA having the "information" needed to form a protein by accident is impossible.

Let's now take some time to "think" about making "a watch" for a "minute".  If all the parts of "a watch" were put in a bag and the bag is shaken for a Googol amount of years, no "intelligent person" should believe that all the "parts of a watch" could assemble together in that bag to form a perfectly working watch by "unguided chance". 

Now, you need a brain to "think".  So, if you use your brain to "really think" (as Sir Isaac Newton said), how can you conclude that your "human brain", which is much more complex than "a watch", could be created by accident? 

The more we discover about the universe, the more we realize how impossible it is that our universe, and everything in it, could have all happened by accident.

René Descartes, the founder of modern philosophy and analytic geometry, said: "I think, therefore I am," when using reasoning to prove the existence of God.

Now, if you "really think", you will be forced to believe that there is a creator, who is the great "I AM" (Exodus 3:14)

Here is the whole quote from Sir Isaac Newton, by the way:

“He who thinks 'half-heartedly' will not believe in God; but he who 'really thinks' has to believe in God.” 

God's Word says:

"For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." -Romans 1:20

Once you understand that there has to be "a Creator", you then need to figure out who this "Creator" is.  

If you speak to Christians, you will hear some of the most amazing stories of how God is real and how He has done amazing things to lead them to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  You will hear stories where there is no other explanation for what happened except that Jesus is who he said he is, that the Bible is the God's Word of God and that God is active.

Here is just one story of a teacher I personally know and had worked with for many years:

By the time I was in my 2nd semester at UCLA, Satan had convinced me of 2 things:

• My life was worthless. I had entered college a drama major with dreams of becoming an actress and soon found I was not as talented as I thought I was among so many other talented young men and women.  I also had gotten Rubella—German Measles—and was unable to go to many of my classes.  As a result, I was on academic probation and the fear of failure was overwhelming.  I no longer felt like I had a future and I thought I was a great disappointment.

• I was utterly alone. I had been in a relationship with a boyfriend during which I neglected my friends, and when we broke up, I felt I had no one.  To compound that, my mother had moved out to go back to school to get her law degree and had completely abandoned us kids.  Satan made me think no one cared whether I lived or died.

So, one night I walked up to the 7th floor in my dorm and out onto the patio.

I was feeling so sad and worthless and alone and my intention was to jump over the railing and end my life.  I gripped the railing and tried leaning over, but I couldn’t do it because I realized that I was afraid of heights.  So I knew I needed to come up with another plan.  This time, I decided to throw one of my legs over the railing and straddle it and just tip over at the count of three.  This way I wouldn’t have to look down.  I began counting: 1. . .2. . .then I heard someone behind me say “Wait.”

I was surprised because I hadn’t noticed anyone else on the balcony with me, so I spun around and looked, but there was no one there.  I began shaking.  Even though I wasn’t religious, I asked,  “God, is that you?”  I didn’t hear an answer.  So I got down from the railing and made God a deal.

“Okay God, if that’s you, I’ll give you 24 hours to intervene in my life, and if nothing miraculous happens, I’m going to come back up here and finish the job.”

The next morning I was walking back to my dorm in a fog when I saw a large group of about 300 students gathered around a man preaching on our campus. I had to get past them and I was at the back of the crowd making my way around.  I wasn’t really listening to him, he was saying something about Jesus, when all of a sudden he stopped talking for a few seconds.

“Hey you, you with the pink backpack!”

Then he said in a loud voice, “Hey you!”

I kept walking, as I thought, "of course he wasn’t talking to me".

Then he said again, “Hey you, you with the pink backpack!”

I thought, “That’s funny, I have a pink backpack.”

So I looked over at him and he was pointing at me.  Everyone was looking at me.

Then he said, “God’s been talking to you, hasn’t He?”

I started to say “No,” but then I remembered the Voice that had said ”Wait” the night before and I nodded my head.  He then told me that God had just given him a message for me and that if I would wait a few minutes with his assistant, when he was done, he would tell me what that message was.  Of course, I was curious so I agreed.

When he finished speaking, he came over to me and said, “I don’t know what this means, but God told me to tell you that He loves you and He has a wonderful plan for your life.”

I started crying.  The man asked me if I knew Jesus.  I said I knew that He was Joseph and Mary’s son and the Son of God.  I was raised Catholic and was very confused.  Then he asked if Jesus was my Lord and Savior.

I said irritably, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He said, “Do you have a few minutes to talk?  I’d like to tell you about how you can have a new life with Christ.”

Well, that sounded pretty good to me—I didn’t think my current life was any good so I spent about an hour with him and his assistant that day.   The next day I met with his assistant in the cafeteria and she answered my questions.  Finally I told her I wanted to become a Christian and she asked if she could pray for me.  I thought she meant she would go home and pray for me, but she put her hand on my head and asked me to repeat after her.

At first, I was embarrassed, but when I realized what I was doing, I was so excited that I didn’t care what people thought.  I confessed that I was a sinner and thanked Jesus for dying on the cross so that I could have eternal life and I invited Him into my heart to be my Lord and Savior.  The day I accepted Christ, I was walking back to my dorm and it suddenly struck me that God wanted me to become a teacher.  After that, she connected me to a Christian group (Campus Crusade for Christ) on campus that helped me grow in my faith.

Here's the Weird twist to the story:

A few years ago, that man was invited to come and speak to the parents at the school I was teaching at.  I thought it would be great if I could somehow get an opportunity to briefly speak to him and simply tell him that he had had a big impact on my life and to thank him (I’d let him think I’d read his books or heard him speak).  He knew nothing about my suicide attempt, etc.   Well, I found out there would be an intermission so I came to our theater early and sat in the front row so I could make a beeline for him as soon as intermission came.  (I had also heard he was leaving abruptly after the show).

Sure enough, as soon as intermission came, I ran for his podium and quickly stammered, “I know you won’t remember me, but . . .” and he interrupted me, by pointing at me and saying, “The girl with the pink backpack.”

I was shocked and immediately choked up (I still can’t recall this without getting teary).

“How did you remember me after 30 years?” I asked.

He told me that the message God had given him for me was so powerful that he had never forgotten it.  I let him know that it had saved my life.  That I had been planning on committing suicide that night and that message stopped me.  I added that as a result, I had also become a teacher and that I was a teacher there at the school and for over 26 years had impacted hundreds of lives.  I asked him if I could give him a hug and he allowed me to give him a little sideways hug. Everyone else standing there listening was awed by the encounter.

That man happened to be Josh McDowell.  He is a famous apologist, that has written several books, such as, "More than a Carpenter," "Evidence that Demands a Verdict," and my favorite, "A Ready Defense."

https://www.josh.org/pink-backpack/

Biblical prophecies being fulfilled exactly as they were written down in the Bible is another proof of the validity of God's Word and a proof of who the true God is.  Hundreds of detailed prophecies were written down in the Old Testament hundreds of years before many of the events took place. Only an eternal, all-knowing being could have inspired the writers of the Bible could have done this.

Before Jesus even set foot on the earth, there were over seventy specific prophecies made by the Old Testament writers about the Messiah, which means "The Anointed One". The prophecies included the city of birth, His method of execution, His betrayal, the date of His death, etc. Jesus fulfilled each of these. The probability of Jesus fulfilling just eight of these by chance is a mathematically impossibility.

Here are just a few of the detailed fulfilled prophecies:

Jesus would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

Jesus would be preceded by a messenger (Malachi 3:1)

“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty."

(This was fulfilled by John the Baptist)

Jesus would enter Jerusalem as a king, riding a donkey (Zechariah 9:9)

"Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!  Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey."

The day the Messiah/Christ (which means "Anointed One") would enter Jerusalem was predicted in book of Daniel, which was written over 500 years before Jesus.

“Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death..." -Daniel 9:25-26

***NOTE: The order to restore Jerusalem was given by King Artaxerxes of Persia in 445 B.C.

Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem 483 years (69 x 7) later in A.D. 32, 

Jesus's hands and feet would be pierced (Psalm 22:16)

Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce my hands and my feet.

Jesus would suffer and bear our sins (Isaiah 53)

"...he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed."

"...he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

There are many, many more prophecies fulfilled. 

https://www.gotquestions.org/prophecies-of-Jesus.html

No one has both made the claims of Christ and confirmed them, as He did. His life is another proof Christianity is true.

Numerous historical records from ancient civilizations confirm the historicity of the biblical accounts. Dr. William Albright, who is still respected as probably the foremost authority in Middle Eastern archaeology, said this about the Bible: "There can be no doubt that archaeology has confirmed the substantial historicity of the Old Testament." in Archaeology and the Religion of Israel. (Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins, 1953), page 176.

The historical evidence upholds the premise that if an ancient historical work proves to be accurate again and again in its detail, we can be confident that it is accurate on the material we cannot confirm externally.his item.

As an atheist, lawyer and journalist Lee Strobel did a two-year investigation on the resurrection interviewing some of the great scholars on both sides. He finally concluded:

"In light of the convincing facts I had learned during my investigation, in the face of this overwhelming avalanche of evidence in the case for Christ, the great irony was this, it would require much more faith for me to maintain my atheism that to trust in Jesus of Nazareth." in his book The Case for Christ. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing, 1998), page 265.

“I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by those who were inspired. I study the Bible daily.” -Isaac Newton

All people have a sense of right and wrong. In every culture, adultery, murder, and stealing are wrong. Where does that universal sense of right and wrong come from? A moral law code requires a moral Lawgiver who is personal and reflects the moral law in His character. Since we are made in God's image, we reflect His moral law. 

Professor C.S. Lewis stated, "As an atheist my argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?" in his book Mere Christianity. 

God created the universe without sin. Sin entered the world due to an act of rebellion against God, but not because God "created" sin.

God provided the "opportunity" to sin, and without the opportunity to sin, human beings would be little more than "robots". 

God could have created us like dogs, that love pretty much unconditionally, but he created us in His image.  That means that we can reason and choose, and that also means we have the "freedom" to choose what is right and what is wrong.  We have the freedom to choose obedience or disobedience.

God is not going to force anyone to have a relationship with him.

It's your choice, but "your choice" does have consequences.

God does not delight in punishing us for our sin, but not punishing our sin would go against His character, as God is "just".  Fortunately, God is both "just" and "gracious", and Jesus paying the penalty of our sins on the cross satisfied "justice", but also extended "grace" to those that would "accept" it through "faith".

Understand this:

"God is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." - 2 Peter 3:9

You can read more about this question at:

https://www.gotquestions.org/did-God-create-sin.html

The problem with this questions is the notion that there are "good people".

Have you ever lied?

Have you ever stolen anything?

Have you ever cheated?

We all have lied.  If you don't admit that, then you are definitely a liar.

We all have lied, and done a lot "worse".

God's Word says:

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." - Romans 3:23

All of us are sinful and do evil, bad things.  Yes, even you.

A huge problem with this "bad things" question is that it does not focus on "eternity".  Compared to eternity, a lifetime of suffering on Earth is just a single "drop" in the ocean of eternity.

We must understand that we don't have God's perspective.  If "temporary suffering" leads to a person having "eternal life" in heaven, the suffering, though briefly painful, would have actually been a blessing.

We need to remember that suffering is nothing God wasn't willing to take upon Himself.  Jesus, who is God in the Flesh, was deserted and betrayed by those that were close to him.  He was persecuted falsely, insulted, humiliated, whipped, spat on, and crucified by those he was there for.  Remember this: “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” -Romans 5:8

God allows things to happen for a reason. Whether or not we understand His reasons now, we must remember that God is good, gracious, loving, and just.

You can read more about this question at:

https://www.gotquestions.org/bad-things-good-people.html

The only reason that we are currently living and breathing today is God's grace.

The Bible tells us that God has clearly revealed Himself in nature, as Romans 1:20 says:

"For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."

God has also given everyone a conscience, regardless if they have the Bible as Romans 2:14-15 says:  "..even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them."

As Deuteronomy 4:29 says, if “you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.” This verse teaches an important principle - everyone who truly seeks after God will find Him. If a person truly desires to know God, God will make Himself known.  Jesus says in Matthew 7:7: “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you."  Jesus also says in Revelation 3:20: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."  Seek me and live - Amos 5:4

Let me share with you a true story of how a man in Ethiopia, who had never heard about Jesus, wanted to know God.  He simply "prayed a prayer" that God would reveal himself, and this is how God answered:

In 1940, an Ethiopian man named Warrasa Wange lived in a town called Dilla which was located in one of the south-central Ethiopian tribes known the Darassa, or more accurately - the Gedeo people.

Even though most of Gedeo people believed that there was a benevolent and omnipotent Creator, most of the Gedeo tribe’s half-million members would sacrifice to an evil being known as Sheit’an. They would sacrifice to Sheit’an not because they loved him, but because they did not have close enough ties with the Creator.

One day, Warrasa prayed that God would reveal Himself to the people in his village.

Immediately, Warrasa received a speedy response, as God gave him visions.

In the vision, Warrasa saw two white-skinned men erect flimsy shelters for themselves under the shade of a large sycamore tree near Dilla, Warrasa’s hometown. In the vision, these men later built more permanent shiny-roofed structures. Eventually these structures dotted the entire hillside. Never had he ever seen anything faintly resembling either the flimsy temporary structures or the shiny-roofed permanent ones, as all the dwellings in Gedeo were grass-roofed.

Warrasa then heard a voice, which said, “These men will bring a message from...the God you seek. Wait for them.”

In the final scene of his vision, Warrasa saw himself remove the center pole from his own house, carried the pole out of the town and set it in the ground next to one of the shiny-roofed dwellings. The “center pole” in Gedeo symbolism stands for a man’s very life. 

Warrasa understood the implications of laying down his pole. It meant that his life must later stand in identification with those strange men, their message and the God who would send them.

Eight years passed, during which, many other Gedeo people prophesied that strangers would soon arrive with a message from God.

Then, on one very hot day in December of 1948, Canadian missionaries Albert Brant and Glen Cain lurched over the horizon in a battered old truck. Their mission was to glorify God by serving the Gedeo people.  Their initial desire was to setup a mission at the very "center" of the Gedeo region, but due to the current political situation at the time, they were advised that this request would be denied.

So instead of asking to set up in the center of the Gedeo region, they were advised to get permission to set up only as far as Dilla.  Those opposed their mission gave them permission, as they believed that the missionaries couldn’t possibly influence the entire tribe from such a peripheral town.

Albert said to Glen, “There it is. It’s only the very edge of the Gedeo population, but it will have to do.”

So, with a sigh, they turned their old truck toward Dilla. As Glen wiped sweat from his brow, he said, “This is a hot one, Albert. I hope we can find a shady spot for our tents!”

Albert said, “Look at that old sycamore tree! Just what the doctor ordered!” and then proceeded to rev up the old truck towards the sycamore.

In the distance, Warrasa heard the sound of the truck. He turned just in time to see the truck pull to stop under the sycamore tree’s branches. 

Warrasa then headed toward the truck wondering...

Three decades later, Warrasa (a radiant believer in Jesus Christ) together with those missionaries and others counted more than 200 churches among the Gedeo people, averaging more than 200 members each.

With the help of Warrasa and the other inhabitants of Dilla, almost the entire Gedeo tribe had been influenced by the gospel, despite Dilla’s peripheral location.

You can read more about how God has prepared people groups all around the world to hear the gospel in the book: Eternity In Their Hearts by Don Richardson.

You can also read more about this question at:

https://www.gotquestions.org/never-heard.html