Defending Your Faith, Revised and Expanded: Reliable Answers for a New Generation of Seekers and Skeptics by Story Dan

Author:Story, Dan [Story, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: KREGE
Published: 2019-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

Only One Way

One final question needs to be answered. Why did God choose Christianity as the only means by which one can be saved? To a large degree, the answer should be clear. Only Christianity preserves an accurate picture of God as He is revealed in both general and special revelation. Nevertheless, let’s probe a bit further.

According to the Bible, the presence of human sin is a direct result of Adam’s “fall.” This was the historical event in which sin first entered the human race (Rom. 5:12). When God created the earth and life, He said that it was “very good” (Gen. 1:31). The earth was a place free from sin, evil, and human (and animal) suffering. It was also a place where mankind could have known and worshipped the one true God. Yet today the world contains sin, evil, human suffering, and false perceptions of God. And all this originated with Adam’s first act of disobedience.

Without going into all the details (see Gen. 1–3), it can be briefly said that when God created Adam, He gave Adam the freedom to choose to obey or disobey Him by not eating from a certain tree. This was a test for Adam to prove his obedience and love for God, and God warned him of the consequences of not acting wisely. Adam would be punished if he ate the forbidden fruit. Nevertheless, Adam chose to disobey, and, as a result, he became estranged from God, sin entered the world, and numerous false religions eventually arose.

The Bible teaches that Adam was the corporate head of the human race—the representative of mankind. Just as the decisions made by the ruler of a nation affect all people under that ruler, so Adam’s decision to rebel against God affected the entire human family. Furthermore, when Adam sinned, he not only represented us, he acted in precisely the same manner as any other man or woman would have in his place. Like Adam, we too rebel against God and are equally guilty and deserving of punishment.

Christian theology teaches that in their fallen state, humans are totally unable to reach out to God. The apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:7 that the “mind governed by the flesh is hostile toward God” and does not submit to God, “nor can it do so” (see Rom. 7:15–25). In light of this, it’s natural for fallen humans to “suppress the truth” (1:18) and “not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God” (1:28). Thus, for the human race to become reconciled with God, God Himself must take the initial step to achieve reconciliation. I believe God has taken this initial step by providing all people with an innate awareness of His existence that includes the ability to respond to or “suppress” spiritual truth (Rom. 1:18–2:16), whether it comes through general or special revelation. Explains the late Henry Clarence Thiessen of Dallas Theological Seminary, “Because man is without any ability or desire to change, God responded by prevenient grace. This grace

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