Why I refuse to TOLERATE GAY and MUSLIM people. #3

Ok, so if you haven't read blogs 1 & 2 of this series (see below) you probs need to, but otherwise, read on!

Xenophobic and Homophobic?

Do my convictions expressed in the previous two blogs make me homophobic and xenophobic? On the face of it I can see it might appear so, which is why the bible tells us all, we should be quick to listen and slow to speak. 

Well, phobias have to do with fear, and I am not at all afraid of gay people or Muslimss. The gay and Muslim people I know are just like anyone else. They are a mixture. Being gay or Muslim does not make a person bad, evil or my enemy. I enjoy their company and friendship like anyone else's. 

Neither do I want to exterminate them, persecute them or deny them human rights. I want them to live free and happy lives.  But I do not believe as such, that theirs' is equal and valid to the biblical teaching on belief and practise.

If a school teacher asks her class, 'what is 2+2' and a boy answers '5' and a girl answers '4', and if the teacher then said to the boy, 'sorry, your answer is wrong', does that mean she is anti the boy? Does that mean she has some kind of prejudice phobia against him? Does that means she thinks he is evil? Does that mean she is condemning him? Of course not! The topics we are discussing are certainly more complex, but the principle is the same. 

Imagine a teacher was howeled at and maligned, labeled a rightwing facist every time she told someone they got the wrong answer, then people could not learn, even if the teacher was wrong she wouldn't learn but just be slapped down, and this is what happens in society. I believe gay lifestyle and Muslim doctrine is wrong in the sight of God, but I do not condemn them, I have no desire to vilify them or legislate against them. Neither do I affirm what they believe and do as equally valid to God's revelation, though I do affirm their right to choose.

I REFUSE TO TOLERATE GAY AND MUSLIM PEOPLE

But I will not yield to the pressure to bow down along with the herd, to the god of this age by TOLERATING them. I will tolerate a fart in an elevator, but I will not reduce my fellow man to an object to be merely 'tolerated'. The Bible teaches that all people, no matter what they believe or do, in fact, in spite of what they believe and do, are creatures made in the image of God. They are all of equal value, dignity and worth, and as such are to be loved - not merely tolerated. 

Love your brothers and sisters, Love your neighbour, Love Your enemies

The Bible teaches all the above. That means everyone is to be loved! To love is to care for and practically want the highest and greatest possible good for another, even at cost to self (and as Christians we need to remember that, our concerns are not primarily about our so-called rights)  I might not like everything my children believe and do in life, but I will always love them and want the highest, possible good for them.

It is the exact same principle at work here to Gays and Muslims., I want every Muslim and every gay person to live without persecution, fear or victimisation on account of what they believe or the choices they make. I want the greatest and highest good for them all and nothing less. 

But here's the thing, the greatest and highest possible good for them and anyone else is that they come to know the love of God and the salvation found only in Jesus. This is not a ball I can drop for the sake of being liked. To use our parent/child analogy, sometimes children kick off when they don't hear what they want from their parents. It is tempting for parents to cave in to children, weak parents do, but good parents hold their course, no matter how unpopular, despite being accused by their children of being nasty etc, and they hold their course because they love their children. 

That is why I must speak the truth, I cannot pretend that a gay lifestyle or Muslim doctrine is something God loves and celebrates. All Christians must speak the truth in love, hoping they will repent of all sin, turn to Jesus as Lord, know fullness of life and be saved from a lost eternity.

But if they will not turn to Him, then still I want the highest good and greatest happiness for them in this life, but at the same time I am genuinely and deeply sorry for them, that they will face judgement without hope and a lost eternity. I really don't want that for anyone. This is not phobia, nor is it toleration, but the love of God.

Why I refuse to TOLERATE GAY and MUSLIM people. #2

Ok, if you didn't read part 1 of this blog you probs need to, it is directly below this one. Otherwise, read on ...

According to the dictates of the God of TOLERATION, I as a Christian must be tolerant toward Gays and Muslims.

In practise what that means is, I must treat them equal in all areas of life. I must affirm their rights to believe and do as they choose and be who they are, and I must affirm what they do and what they believe, as equally good and valid as what I do and believe.

Well, I agree with some of that. I certainly do affirm their rights to choose what they believe and do, but I do not affirm that what they believe, and what they choose and do is equally valid as what I believe and do as a follower of Jesus.

Why do I say that? Well first consider Muslims and then Gay people.

Muslims

Anyone can choose to be a Muslim, or Sikh or anything else. I affirm people's right to choose and be what they want. But, what Muslims believe and teach are supposed to be 'Truth Statements'. In other words, they claim to teach what is true. 

This is the same for Christians. However, the two are not compatible. Either one is true and the other false, or both are false. What's more, Truth Statements are falsifiable, that is, they can be tested and assessed to see if they are true or not.  A good example would be that Muslims claim that Jesus was not crucified. Christians claim He was. The fact is, both cannot be right and so both are not equally valid. All the available evidence points to the clear conclusion that Jesus died on the cross. Therefore, what Muslims believe on this point is not equally valid at all. Therefore, I am right to say, what they believe is not equally valid.

Gay People

As a Christian, the Bible is my authority because, in its entirity, it contains the Revelation of God Himself. According to the Bible God made man for woman and woman for man. God designed Marriage as a single man and a single woman coming together as one, in exclusive covenant, life-long relationship. God, according to the Bible did not make man for man or woman for woman. People who claim He did, do not get that from the Bible, but base their view on some other revelation of God or their own personal opinion and conviction.

But as a Christian I am bound to the teaching of scripture, being persuaded that it really does contain the revelation of God Himself and therefore is above all other forms of authority.

Therefore, although I affirm a persons right to enter into gay relationships, I do not affirm sexual activity between people of the same sex as 'good' in the sight of God because according to the Bible it is not good in His sight and never could be. So basically, I have to choose, do I go with the biblical revelation of God or with popular opinion? I choose God.

Does this all make me xenophobic (fear of other cultures, people groups etc) or homophobic? I don't think so. There's a little more to be said before people judge me, otherwise I will have been prejudged! Leave judgement until after my 3rd and final blog on the subject, tune in tomoz.

Why I refuse to TOLERATE GAY and MUSLIM people. #1

 We live in a fast changing world that's almost impossible to keep up with. 

1) Lightning speed advances in technology and medicine, 

2) Globalisation, living in a  global village means we are, and feel closer and more connected to the rest of the world with all it's diversity.

3) Mass immigration

4) Multiculturalism

Keeping up

All the above and more besides means we are living in an unstable, fast changing world. The assault of change is on every front and is happening at such a pace it is pretty much impossible for anyone to really have a handle on it all, or where it is all going. It is very difficult to assess whether or not particular  changes are for good or bad because of the pace of change.

So, how are we supposed to cope with all this change and live with our neighbours near and far in peace and harmony? The prevailing answer is TOLERATION. 

The god of this age

TOLERATION is the god of this age. If you don't believe me then just express a bit of intolerance  against a particular group or ideology. You will then find that Intolerance is the cardinal sin. Any expression of intoleration is quickly and publicly demonised. And this is the problem. In this fast changing world, change is foistered upon us and we better not raise objections because if we do, we are branded 'backward minded bigots'. The result being there is no proper, public debate about anything. Any attempt to discuss the rights and wrongs is adversarial and takes place in highly, emotionally charged contexts.

For example, no-one can really express a view against Mulims without being accused of Islamaphobia, or against the gay community without being accused of homophobia. So, anyone who doesn't support the zietgeist is basically a xenophobe or fascist. No-one wants that label!

I am a Christian, and what this all means for me is, I better TOLERATE and affirm all expressions of the gay community, I had better TOLERATE and affirm Muslims etc.

I WILL NOT BOW DOWN TO THE GOD OF THIS AGE BY TOLERATING GAYS OR MUSLIMS

I do not believe their views and ideologies or lifestyles, when compared to the biblical Christian teaching are equal and valid to it. 

Before you judge me, read my next two posts (which I have already written and will put up tomoz and Saturday).

For now it is sufficient to say that any sense of outrage, shock and horror or passive hatred in the form of 'dismissiveness' anyone might feel reading my statement above, proves my point that the god of this age is TOLERATION and the cardinal, unforgivable sin is therefore INTOLERENCE.

Soldier killed in Woolwich

I watched the news in total disbelief as a young man stood speaking to a camera with blood-covered hands and in them a knife and a meat cleaver. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYTSKCzB8XM&feature=youtube_gdata_player 

This terrible atrocity leaves everyone freaked out. Why would they do that? Then we hear they are radicalised Muslims and we immediately categorise them and think we have an explanation - but we don't, at least that's not it. But that is easy because then we have no responsibility ourselves.

It is what the murderer himself said that is more telling, 

"I apologise that women had to witness this today, but in our land the women have to see the same".

This man is telling us something terrible about our world. He is telling us that this is exactly what happens in his land and many other lands too, and it is true. For example, wherever there is war of any kind this stuff happens. It sadly is not unusual - terrible yes, unusual - no - except visibly on our doorstep. This atrocity is not merely a blight on an otherwise civilised society, but is part of our society and a part of our world. The truth is, our so-called civilised society is not as civilised as we like to pretend. It may look like it, as long as we don't scratch beneath the surface. 

The horrible truth is, what has been witnessed in London today is the visible outbreak of evil. it is the visibility of it that shocks us, not the fact it happened.

But even war where these atrocities are common is a visible symptom of a deeper evil. The real picture of the world is not a world with the odd blight, but a world that is rotten to the core, full of maggots, but has a thin skin that looks fine most of the time. Every now and then there is a kind of break in the skin and out pop the maggots! We hate it, we want to fix it as quickly as possible, it heals over and we are relived. But the maggots are there beneath the surface.

Here are some sad but startling stats that prove my point ...

13% of all children in our world aged 10-14 are forced into child labour. (International Labour Organisation; http://www.ilo.org ) that's an evil!

1 in 6 children in the UK experience sexual abuse (NSPCC http://www.nspcc.org.uk) that's an evil!

There are 116,000 requests for child porn every day (http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/internet-pornography-statistics.html) Again, more evil.

I won't bother giving stats for violent abuse toward children, the numbers of murders and rapes every day, emotional abuse,  kidnapping and international trafficking of women, girls and boys, illegal drug industries and the list goes on and on.

What happened in Woolwich today was that we all saw the underlying sickness of our world surface for a moment.

So here's the question: We have, on the whole, chosen to eject God out of our lives. When will we realise that by denying, rejecting and turning our backs on God and Jesus, the rightful and only able ruler of us all, we have created a godless world. That is what we're seeing all the time, everytime we switch on the news - a godless world. 

Many might say, "well what kind of God allows this to happen? 

The answer is 'a God who gives you the choice to follow Him or go your own way'. If we are honest, the people who blame God are the very people who reject Him. In other words, we want a world without God, and that is what He gives us, and then we blame Him for the consequences of our decision. We blame God, we blame "others" but we fail to see it is allpart of the godless world we have chosen.

But we do have a choice. God calls us all to turn from being part of a world that rejects Him and enter now into His loving Kingdom and live in this world under His loving rule. The God-rejecting world is reaping what it has sown, it is corrupt and under judgement. As the Apostle Peter himself put it, "save yourselves from thos corrupt generation". Those who do so will continue to live under Jesus loving rule forever. Those who continue to reject His loving rule over their lives now, will have their rejection of him irreversibly confirmed in eternity.

This is a godless world, it is the world most people choose, and what we see are the consequences of that choice. Repent and turn to Jesus.

Struggle - Where will it end? #3

Continuing on from my last blog, we see that Atheism (The belief there is no God) and Pantheisim (The belief that 'All' is God) make a mockery of life, meaning and STRUGGLE, have no real hope to offer the Person struggling in life except that one day they will not be conscious of anything anymore because they will be dead, and have no good reason for believing they are true.

Today we'll consider Polytheism (The belief there are many Gods, all are true). 

First we'll identify the two main catagories of polythieism.

1) The religions of the ancient Greeks and Romans etc. They had a God for just about everything. God's of war, gods of death, gods of fertility, etc. a few famous ones being Zeus, Venus, Hades etc. This mythical system lacks any real credibility today and no-one really takes them seriously so I will skip over them. They are great stories, but that is it. But if you want me to post on them just let me know.

2) The eastern forms which are still very much alive today in Hinduism, Buddhism, Taosim, Confuscionism to name a few. Since many people still believe in these forms of religion, I will deal with them.

The two key central and connected doctrines of Polytheism ar Karma and Reincarnation.

Karma is the principle law of the universe whereby each person will reap what they sow. The crucial distinctive - and utter failure of this teaching is that the reaping and sowing is worked out in the process of Reincarnation.  

Reincarnation is the teaching that we have all lived numerous previous lives and when we die we will be born again into different circumstances. Some say we may previously have been a dog, cow or ant and in the next life we could be another species, others say reincarnation occurs only within species, so people will always come back as people, but just in different circumstance.

The circumstance you come back into depend on Karma. So Karma - this sowing and reaping means that in this life you reap what you sowed in your last life. This means that people who are rich and beautiful have lived a series of good lives, each life being better than the last as a reward for the last. The person in poor and deprived circumstances of suffering must have lived a series of bad previous lives.

On the face of it this sounds quite reasonably - but scratch beneath the surface and out come the maggots. This religious belief system is morally bankrupt.

If you go to India where people really believe this stuff (unlike many here who just think it's hip), you will find children living on rubbish tips trying to find food, you will see old men or women laying in the streets, crippled and suffering. No-one helps them. Why? Because of Karma! People think they are working out their Karma, they are reaping in this life what they sowed in the last one. They think that if they help these poor people they stop Karma which means the victims will have to work it out again in the next life. So the kindest thing to do is leave them.

Slum-dog Millionaire

This was a great movie telling the story of the plight of two brothers and a little girl. In the story is another little boy who can sing. His captors burn his eyes out with acid so that people will pity him more as he sits begging and singing. Now if that little boy believes Karma, he thinks he is suffering because of being bad in a previous life! Passers by who believe Karma will do nothing to help him because, even if they have compassion, they think he deserves it because of what he must have done in a previous life, they think he is working out his karma so the most helpful thing you can do is leave him.

This is clap-trap! Total rubbish and it is an evil deception. Imagine a little 5 year old boy, happily and quietly playing, when his parent sneaks up behind him and ... BANG! Whacks him round the head really hard and says to the little boy "that'll teach you a lesson". The boy, of he believes Karma will say, "I must deserve it or OT wouldn't have happened to me, I must have been really bad in my last life". But worse, the parent who did it will say "He must have deserved that or I wouldn't have done it to him, he must have been bad in his last life". 

The problem is, the poor child doesn't know what he's done wrong so how can he learn? How can he know he is not repeating the same mistakes? Karma is evil because it is abusive and teaches nothing at all except you deserve whatever you get.

But it is self-defeating too. You are meant to be good in this life in order to have a better next life. So, going back to our poor blind boy, you would think it is good to help him. But with karma is is evil to help him because you. Know you are not really helping him, you are making Hos next life worse because you stopped karma. So if you want to be really good, you leave him to suffer, you leave him to be exploited no matter how bad. In fact the more cruel his circumstances,mthe more terrible his suffering, the more important it is to leave him in His suffering so that he can get It out of the way in this life for a better next life.

Reincarnation and Karma, the main doctrines of Polytheism go together and they are wretched, evil, wicked and cruel. But that doesn't mean Polytheism is not true. So, is it true?

Struggle - Where will it end? #2

Continuing from my last blog (see blog below) we can see that the answer from Atheists is, "sorry mate, we got absolutely nothing!" It's slightly ironic, they start with absolutely nothing (before the big bang) and they got absolutely nothing to offer the struggler (which is most people in the world) now or ever.

Atheism is for intellectuals sitting in ivory towers of relative comfort where they can Molly-coddle themselves with comfort whilst living a padded life-style where they are not forced to face the real tough questions about life that inadequate Atheism is hopeless to address.

"This is it and there's nothing more" is a lot easier to say when your "it" is a nice house with garden. Reasonably good bank balance, happy families and future prospects. When your "it" is real struggle, Atheism proves to be nothing more than idealistic trash.

What are the alternatives to Atheism? Well there is Theism - that is the idea there is some kind of God. There are three main types of theism. Polytheism (many gods), Pantheism (all is god) and Monotheism There is just one God. We'll consider here Pantheism.

Pantheism: Here in the west there is a  mixed bag of Pantheisim often called New Ageism which is really a pick'n'mix of eastern religions and ancient Celtic beliefs (and a bit more besides). you might call it neo-paganism.  It essentially believes God is all, and is in all. God is the trees, the sun, the stars, the air we breathe, the hills, mountains, streams etc. It is mother earth that is worshipped and exalted above all. it's difficult to nail modern Pantheism (neo-paganism) down because it is by nature 'pick'n'mix, but for our purposes we will focus on one element of it ...

Reincarnation.  

Neo-pagans generally believe a type pf reincarnation, that when we die we continue to live on by becoming part of the living earth. That is, the worms eat us and as they absorbis we become a part of them,  and of course they poo what they don't want of us out which fertilises and feeds the trees etc - so we become part of them too, and on we go, basically a glorified 'Green Party' ideal of recycling. We are all part of the whole and hang together, we will one day become part of the ground we walk on so should respect it, therefore we must aim to live as a harmonious 'one' with one another and the world. This is the neo-pagan view.

Mother Earth

Pantheists and Neo-pagans speak a lot about Mother Earth as the giver of life, provider, the supplier of all we need. But here's another perspective on this so-called mother. Here is the bootom line ... No matter what happens in this life, no matter how good or bad we are, no matter how we are treated or treat others, we all get the same reward from Mother Earth, we all get to become worm-feed. that is ultimately what we are - worm feed. That is all we amount to, worm feed! Most of us would not waste a good cut of steak on a dog, butour beloved  'mother earth' uses us, the children of mother earth, to feed the worms!  Think that through - such is our so called 'mother earth'. What a sick, sick mother that would be!

If this is true, and life is a struggle, it means life is a struggle and then you feed worms. So what is the point in the struggle? Why not just cut it out and go straight to feeding worms? Sadly, on Pantheism there is no rational answer.

We might say, "but not everything is always struggle, and even if it was there are things I value, people I love and people who love me. So for the sake of one another the struggle to live is worth it to enrich the lives of those we love."

I think that is the best answer Pantheism (neo-pagans) can give (and for that matter Atheists too). 

At that level I agree with them, it is true, people we love and the relationships we enjoy are both worth living for and dying for, it is deeply saddening that 'struggle' - be it poverty, hunger, hopelessness, despair, oppression, injustice, sickness, wickedness etc blights this precious life for so, so many people. 

Murder with impunity

But, though we probably all stand together in agreement on the above paragraph, the reality is, these precious relationships are all bound to destruction. The greatest tragedy of life is death, because death makes a mockery of life. It is like a terrible enemy - like a murderer that murders with impunity. Imagine a murderer breaking into your home and killing your wife and children - that is what death does! Death is going to murder me, my marriage, my wife, my children, death will murder everything that means anything to me and to you, Pantheism and Atheism has no answer to it. On Pantheism and Atheism, death has the last word.

Some saye the fact of death just makes life even more precious. I can see this reasoning. If death has the final answer we should value one another while we can. None of us know when this murderer of life will show. Death is very active, devastating lives and taking people out all the time all over the place. It may come for us and our loved ones at any moment. It has countless ways of achieving its end. 

A Helter Skelter

In some ways, life is like a Helter-skelter ride ... to destruction - so the best thing we can do is stick our fingers in our ears and close our eyes, enjoy the thrill of the ride until the final moment we are plunged into the brick wall at the end and  splat!  The end! To open your eyes and see what's really happening is too scary and will just ruin the ride.

Pantheism has no answers except the same as Atheists. The Murderer of life is coming for everyone of us, we may fight it off with medicine, technology etc, but it will have its way and Pantheism, neo-paganism cannot do a thing to help - but that doesn't matter because Pantheism is not true. There is a real answer to death which we will come to. In the next blog we will look at Polytheism - the belief there are many Gods, and we'll see what this says to the struggler.

For now, Atheism and Pantheism have got nothing.

Struggle - Where will it end?

This is a question my good cousin raised. This is such an important question. Life is, for loads of people I know, a real uphill struggle, and it seems relentless. Will the 'struggle' ever end? For some people it almost defies belief as they lurch from one struggle to another. It wears people right down, leads to hopelessness, despair and often depression.

Eg, No money, home in need of repair, broken washing machine, watching ya children struggle, joblessness, sickness, disease and disability, overgrown garden, old mattress ya can't get rid of coz you got no car, screwed up relationships and too much hurt to think about are just some of the struggles.

The old saying, 'life's a bitch and then you die' resonates with too many. But not for everyone. Some people just seem to breeze through life. Many are more than content, things have fallen into place, their life's hard work is well rewarded. 

Basically, life is really unfair. We live in a world which is 'built on insecurity' and oppression. So where does it all lead?

Over the next few blogs I'll share the answers on offer. First up ...

1) Atheism - There is no God, no Master plan, no point or purpose, only blind indifference: life is utterly futile and plagued with unresolved injustice. Hitler gets the same end as the innocent child victims he gassed. If your life is struggle - tough luck, that's just the way it is. There is no point or purpose in it. There is no ultimate reward. You struggle, you die, you are remembered for a few years by your children if you have any, then you are forgotten forever - in 100 years time it will be as though you never existed. No-one will know your struggles, joys, hopes and fears. The reward for a lifetime of faithfulness in the best of marriages is merciless separation by death. Your life will have been pointless. The only good thing being, you never lived to see some of your offspring struggle in a world that seems to be getting harder and more cruel and hopeless. I hate the thought that at least some of my offspring will experience terrible suffering, and it will be pointless.

As if that wasn't bad enough, on Atheism the whole universe will one day die a heat death. The last star will flicker out and eventually there will be nothing at all. On Atheism, the idea of purpose and meaning is, in the end, absurd. Atheists conveniently ignore these truths because they are unbearable to live with. All that is not to say we cannot all invent our own purpose or meaning, but in reality, there is none.

Thankfully, Atheism is clearly not true. How do I know? Well the first answer may not be convincing to you, but it is to me, that is, I know God. But though that may not be convincing to you, I also know Atheism is not true because it defies all logic and common sense.

You see, if Atheism is true, then everything in the universe came from nothing at all. When I say 'nothing at all' I mean, absolutely 'nothing at all'. There was no time, no space and no matter - these things came about after the big bang. Before the Big Bang there was nothing. Not a single microscopic cell, not an atom! There was not even such a thing as a 'moment'. But then, apparently, about 13.5 billion years ago, absolutely nothing became unstable (I know this sounds ridiculous - that's because it is!) which led to a massive explosion out of this nothing, and the result, hey presto, rabbits, elephants, rivers, mountains, stars, moons, people and galaxies so big that if you could fly at a speed of 186,000 miles per second, it would take about 46 billion years to get to the edge of the universe.

But this is truly absurd. We all know, 'out of nothing at all comes nothing at all.'

We also know that everything that exists has a cause. The universe exists, therefore the universe has a cause. That cause must itself be uncaused. 

This ultimate, uncaused cause is what we call God. In a future blog I will show how this God has revealed Himself so we can know Him. For now though, it is sufficient to say, There is God, therefore there is purpose.

Who Am I?

At some point in life, usually as we're growing up, we all ask ourselves the BIG question 'Who Am I?'

The best answer we find is usually very superficial and doesn't really tell us anything. Eg, if we asked someone lease 'Who Am I?' they would likely answer by telling us our name. 'you're Julian of course'.

So that is what we learn to accept about ourselves. We're a name! But then if we're honest, that 'name' may as well be a number. We instinctively know that we are more than a name. So we say other things like, "My name is Julian, I am married with four daughters, I live in Moulsecoomb and I am a Pastor".

That is the kind of way most of us answer the question "Who Am I?"

But think about it, we know that 'who' we are is not the job we do or our marital status' etc. Those things tell us nothing about who we really are. It is clearly a phalicy to think any one of those things can tell us who we are. And it is also a phalicy to think that adding lots of phallacies together somehow has legitimacy. 1 Phalacy + 1 Phalacy = 2 Phallacies. The more phallacies you put together, the more phallacies you get!

For example consider the following ...

If 'who Julian is' is a married Pastor, with four daughters, living in Moulsecoomb', if that is 'who' I am then what If I changed my name. Ok, I wouldn't be called Julian anymore, but would I be different. No! I'd just be called something different. And If I changed job I would still be who I am, but just doing something different. And if I moved to another area, I would still be who I am, just living somewhere different - and on it goes. None of those things tell me a hoot about who I am.

If the only way you can answer the question "Who Am I?" is with the kind of answers above, then you still don't have an answer at all. You are more than a name, address and occupation. 

Sometimes people talk about 'finding themselves' which also suggests they are lost. If you don't know who you are, then you are lost. The problem with being lost is we don't know 'how' lost we are.

In my next blog I will help answer this most important question. Stay tuned!

Life on council estates is a Kingdom of STRUGGLE, but there is an alternative for you!

If you live on a council estate you are among the 13.5 million poorest and exploited of our unjust society. Your job prospects are rubbish, minimum wage, short term contracts if any at all, no rights whatsoever, no holiday pay, long hours, benefits that are complicated and meagre, it's almost impossible to build a descent life for yourself and your children - It's relentless and wrong and I hate it!

You should know, a lack of motivation to work is not a sign of laziness, no-one really wants to do the jobs that are on offer because you are just being exploited, and you are treated like a sponger because, not because you don't wanna work, but because you understanably don't want to be exploited. It's not the work in itself, it's the abusive nature of the work. Pressure to work through breaks, eyes on you all the time, worked like a dog for a pittance, basically, you're treated like crap. Why should you have to put up with it!

All this is bad enough, and a few may be able to get out of this trap of poverty and exploitation. But for most on estates, perhaps for you, life is marked by a big STRUGGLE on every front.

Raising children with no money - struggle.

Work - struggle

Paying bills - struggle

Poor food and clothes budget - struggle

Doing the shopping - struggle

Juggling work and child are - struggle

Unemployed? It's a struggle

Getting rubbish to the tip - struggle without a car

Running a car - struggle!

All this struggle is a result of sin. It ravages lives both now and for eternity. It's the sin of the selfish  rich in exploiting the poor. 

But this world we live in is not all there is! There is another community you can be part of, another 'Kingdom' that Jesus is establishing. You can be part of that. And His Kingdom is not just pie in the sky when you die, but meat on your plate while you wait! Jesus Kingdom is not just a promise for the future, but He makes a substantial difference now too.

Jesus alternative Kingdom began 2000 years ago, you can become part of it now. It is a kingdom of righteousness and justice, goodness, fairness, hope and grace. Most of all, entering that Kingdom means all your own guilt gets dealt with.

Yes, you are a victim of the system and you have been sinned against. But the truth is, you are not just a victim, others have been your victim. You have also 'sinned', think of all the people you have hurtin life -that's sin and you, like me amd everyone else, need a new, fresh start, free of guilt. You may not feel like that but one day you will know it's true - because we will all give an account to God.

On that day, it would be the worst of tragedies if you - having been exploited by the rich in this life, then find you are shut out from God's kingdom for eternity because you never dealt with your own sin in this life.

That is why I live here in Moulsecoomb. I want the exploited of this world to at least know the hope, joy and promise of God's coming Kingdom and to begin entering now. No matter what your situation, and despite your very real STRUGGLE, you can know genuine peace, hope, strength, stability, purpose and meaning, forgiveness and freedom from guilt. These are what the Christian faith offers. Don't dismiss it out of hand. If you wanna know more - ask me! jrebera.nlc@gmail.com or 07534987583

What's wrong with the white middle class church?

According to poverty.org.uk, 13.5 million people in the UK (22%) live in low-income households. 'Low Income' is defined as 60% of the median average household income. In 2008/9 that equated to £119.00 per week for a single adult with no dependants, £206 for a couple with no dependants, £201 for a single with two dependants under 14 and £288 for a couple with 2 dependants under 14 (after tax).

Due to the fact that salary and benefit increases have not matched inflation these figure reflect a worse situation. This is an unjust distribution of wealth! 

The sad truth is the church is made up of the wealthier middle class that benefit from the exploitation of the poorest of the poor. That is not to say the middle classes found in our churches are themselves exploitative - but that they are the beneficiaries of a system that grinds the face of the poor into the dust. And 'poor' they are. The plight of people on my estate is heart-breaking. There really is a profound sense of hopelessness and despair, people's lives are characterised by 'struggle' on every front - but don't get me started on that!

There is no judgment of the middle classed church in the above statement, it is very difficult to do anything about the system we live in. I personally feel powerless against this injustice and imagine the same is true of my middle classed brothers and sisters in the church.

However, what really does bother me is the fact that in our church the 22% of low incomers are not reflected in our churches. In fact, most churches are almost 100% white middle class. Ok, that might be an exaggeration - but not much of one. Where are the poor to be found? Answer? Not in the church! This is just the truth. And what does this mean? It means this ...

Just as the world is guilty of unjust wealth distribution, so the church is guilty of unjust gospel distribution.

There are uncanny similarities common to wealth distribution in the world and gospel distribution from the church. Middle class people nepetously help each other out with job and carreer opportunities etc, eg, giving internships to friend's children etc. This trend is glaringly obvious among the upper classes and is manifest in politics - just look at Cameron's Etonian cabinet!

The gospel travels along the same kind of lines. So a white, middle class Christian says,

 "I know the gospel is for everyone, but of course I cannot preach it to everyone. So I will preach it to those who I am naturally connected to, and I won't really make any effort whatsoever, to preach the gospel to people different to me". 

Of course no-one would articulate it like that, but that is just what happens. The net result - middle class people share the gospel with middle class people.

The real issue with this form of evangelism is that it implies that the gospel is not for the poor. If it was, we would all do our best to get the gospel to the poor. 

And now for a rant. White middle class churches that reach white middle class people should stop calling themselves missional - THEY ARE NOT! Jesus called the first disciple to make disciples of all nations. That is mission, and you cannot do mission by just telling people who are like yourself the gospel. That is evangelism but not mission! Mission is when we begin to do the hard, sacrificial work of connecting with and evangelising people who are not like us. that is mission.

I believe it must grieve the Lord's heart as he sees the poorest of the poor not only being exploited by the world, but also left to their plight by the church. This is not a plea for social action, the church is not too bad at that - but a plea for cross cultural mission from the white middle class to the poor.

If we want to see our nation reached with the gospel, we might as well face it, we will never do it for as long as we continue to neglect  our estates!

Atheists are Religious Worshippers too.

Atheists are like the person with the cam-corder shooting the amateur video at the wedding. When you watch the video back, everyone is in it except the person shooting the vid! 

Atheists tend to think they are in an unbiased position and from that position judge 'religion'. Of course they are wrong. For starter, when we catch them on the video we see they are very religious. Here are just two ways they're religious.

1) Atheism is a faith position.

Atheists tend to criticise faith and claim they do not have faith and claim to base their conviction on fact. But the truth is, that's the same with Christianity - I can't speak for all other religions!

For example, Atheist, based on the evidence tend to believe in some form of evolution. But the fact is, so do lots (not all) of Christians. They look at the same evidence. Even Christians who do not believe Evolution still look at the same evidence. They all look at fossils, sedimentation, rock strata etc, etc, etc, then based on the available evidence, the Atheist says, "this evidence points to the conclusion there is no God" and the Christian Theist concludes "this evidence points to the conclusion that there is God".

The step from 'evidence' to 'conviction' is a 'faith' step. Even evolution is not a fact and to suggest it is, is just a sloppy use of terms. The truth is, Evolution is an interpretation of evidence. So evolution is itself a 'faith' position.

2) Atheists are Religious Worshippers

The truth is, most people are Worshippers - Atheists as much as Christians - we just worship different Gods. Christians claim to worship the one true God who is worthy of praise and devotion. Atheists (and most people) worship that which is a poor substitute for God. 

For many it is their lover. Just listen to the worship songs they sing, for example Bruno Mars 'It will Rain'

There's no religion that could save me

No matter how long my knees are on the floor (Ooh)

So keep in mind all the sacrifices I'm makin'

To keep you by my side

To keep you from walkin' out the door.

'Cause there'll be no sunlight

If I lose you, baby

There'll be no clear skies

If I lose you, baby

Just like the clouds

My eyes will do the same, if you walk away

Everyday it'll rain, rain, rain

This song is full of religion ...

The song speaks of salvation, how his God (in this case his lover) is the only Sufficient Saviour. Without his particular God-Saviour (his lover), no [other] religion could save him. He sings about 'sacrifices' he makes to please and to keep his God-Saviour from leaving him. He sings how, without this person there is basically only misery - rain being the metaphor.

In fact, Atheists not only write their own worship songs to their gods, they borrow Christian worship and apply it to their lovers too! Two examples ... 

Van Morrison's (A Christian) 'Have I told you' was written as worship to God but people use it as a love song.

Have I told you lately that I love you

Have I told you, that there's no-one else above you

Fill my heart with gladness, take away all of my sadness

Ease my troubles that's what you do.

Again, another great worship song misapplied by most written by Candi Staton in 1986, popularised by Florence and the Machine ... 'You got the love'. It's about God! He's got the love, He is "my daily bread". But as God is to the Christian so are people's lovers to them!

Atheists, like everyone have a deep, deep need to worship something or someone.

The problem is, none of their objects of worship are really worthy of such devotion. Take a lover. When we apply songs like "you got the love" to ordinary people we are pretending they are divine - we are literally idolising them - no-one is that good, so people pretend they are and kid themselves "this girls is perfect"!

Other choice objects for worship and idolising are children, ideologies, money, materialism, hobbies, sports, self.

Whatever, every Atheist is a person of faith and has at least one object of worship. They are both Worshippers and people of faith, in that sense - just like  me!

I don't have to go to church to be a Christian - or do I?

Exploding the Myth! "I don't have to go to church to be a Christian"

What a ton of trott that Statement is. I think I'm gonna explode if I hear it again! I meet lots of people who say they are a Christian but they don't go to church. They often say "you don't have to go to church to be a Christian".

The moment a person makes that statement, I know they don't really understand what a Christian is, or what the church is.

In reality, no-one "goes" to church because the Church is the body of Christ. (1 Corinthians 12), or the family of God, God's people etc. The real question is "are you part of the body of Christ?" or "a member of God's family" etc. It is not possible to be a Christian without being a part of the body of Christ, a family member etc.

From the Bible we know the following about the church...

1) It's members are joined together as one - just like a human body (1 Corinthians12)
2) It's members need one another (1 Corinthians 12)
3) It's members are to serve one another (1 Corinthians12)
4) It's members are to love one another (John 13:34,35)
5) It's members are to encourage one another (Hebrews 10:25)
6) It's members are to pray for one another (Ephesians 6:18)
7) It's members are to do good to all people - but especially the family of believers (Galatians 6:10)
8) It's members are to sing together in worship (1 Corinthians 14:26)
9) It's members are not to give up meeting together but rather keep meeting together (Hebrews 10:25)
10) It's members are a people (1 Peter 2:9,10)
11) It's members together make up God's family on earth (Ephesians 3:14,15)

In order to fulfil the above, church members gather as congregations regularly. In fact, the Greek word for 'Church' (ecclesia) used in the Bible means, 'Called out ones'. It means a 'group' or 'crowd' or 'gathering' of people 'called out' from among others as an identifiable group. In this case, the church are 'a people called out from the world to be God's people'.

So, to say, "you don't need to go to church to be a Christian" is technically 'a truth statement', if by 'church' you mean a building. But you do need to join together regularly with your brothers and sisters in order to fulfil the 11 points above. Otherwise, you are not even trying to be a follower of Jesus - which is an important part of what it means to be a Christian.

So, it is true, going to a particular church building does not make you a Christian, and not going to a particular church building does not disqualify you from being a Christian. But you cannot be a Christian without obeying the call of God to come out of the world and join the congregation of God's family regularly with the aim of fulfilling the 11 points above.

Why Jesus is Relevant for you NOW

Why Is Jesus relevant to you today?

We have seen in previous blogs that Jesus really did exist and that, if resurrected He really is who He claimed to be. But still, so what? So what if some bloke came back to life 2000 years ago.

The answer is simple - He has been appointed by God as judge. You will give an account to Him for all your life, and He will judge you..

In most cases, we don't need to worry about religion because, if any of them are true, then most of them are true because they all say stuff like "we all worship the same God anyway" and "religions are like rivers, in the same way all the rivers lead to the ocean, so all the religions lead to God". Also, they all basically teach this life is part of reincarnation. Live well now, you get a better life the next time round. So, with most religions you just need to be good.

But if Jesus is who he calmed to be - everything changes. Jesus (and the Apostles) claimed that He was the ONLY way to God. All other attempts utterly fail.

Acts 4[12] Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Basically, the Bible teaches that God created us to live forever. After this life our soul departs from our body - leaving our body to decay. But where does our soul go? It goes to await judgment.

The Bible teaches we will all be judged. We naturally hate this idea, we think, "what kind of God 'judges'". We think of God as judgmental.

But it is good and really important that God does judge. If God does not judge, then Adolf Hitler, the wicked who are rich, powerful and greedy who exploit the poor - get the same reward as your average Joe Who is just trying to get on in life. It means the murderer, rapist and child abuser that never got caught gets clean away with it! In the end, it makes life utterly absurd.

But there is a judge, so no-one really gets away with anything. Everyone of us will give an account to God.

This is why we need salvation. You see, I'm glad Adolf Hitler won't be getting away with anything, and I'm glad the exploited children of our world have the hope of a new life with God forever on a new earth without sadness, suffering and sorrow. But I'm not glad I will be judged, because that is bad, bad news for me.

You may be wondering what I have done that is so bad? Well, lots of things actually. But there are four things we all need to know.

1) God will judge us by His standard, which is perfection.
2) God will not sweep a single failing or sin under the carpet - He will be perfectly and precisely just, punishing every sin without exception.
3) God judges us, not only only on what we have done but also on our thought life - yes, every imagination and fantasy, violent, sexual, greedy etc - because God says that it is what we are on the inside that is who we really are.
4) God will judge us against His most important Law which is "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all Your soul, All your mind and all your strength".

This means we have all utterly failed the judgement already! But worst of all is our rejection of Jesus our Saviour.

You see, God sent Jesus to deal with the problem of our sin and guilt before God. Jesus has dealt with it! This is good news because it means we can all know total forgiveness and a new life that pleases God. Jesus is now establishing as King of God's Kingdom and right now Jesus is in the process of recruiting people to it.

Here's the deal, if you want, you can be part of His Kingdom - you can come back to Him with Jesus as your Lord, God and King. But you don't have to. However, if you reject Jesus and His Kingdom in this life - your decision carries over into eternity. This means you will be shut out of God's kingdom forever, the Bible calls this hell.

This is why Jesus is so important and relevant to all people now. Jesus is not just some silly little fairy-tale, and God is not to be treated with contempt like a salesman. There are eternal consequences to the decision you make about Jesus now.

Wanna know more. Look out for my next blog.

Jesus Lordship and the World

"Jesus wants to be Lord of His church"
Well you might wonder to yourself, “I thought He is Lord of the Church”, to say that 'He wants to be Lord of His church' implies 'He is not Lord of His Church' - right?

To Clarify: Jesus certainly is Lord of the Church , always has been and always will be –  in fact, Jesus is Lord of All!

What I mean, when I say “Jesus wants to be Lord of His church” is more accurately; Jesus desires His Lordship to be visibly manifest and expressed in local churches. I say this because, although it is true to say 'Jesus is Lord of all!' It is also patently obvious that His Lordship is not always visibly expressed. All over the world we see human rebellion being expressed rather than Jesus Lordship. In the local church Jesus Lordship is expressed in varying degrees.

Often, it is not Jesus' Lordship that defines churches and church gatherings, but rather, the ‘Leader’s‘ of the church run things how they think best. This is not necessarily rebeliion. Sometmes it is a wrong understanding of theology, sometimes it is fear, sometimes ignorance, or to put it more politely, leaders do not know 'how', at a practical level, to allow Jesus to Be Lord at a Church gathering. Consequently, Leaders end up being the ones who control and define how the church gathering is going to be and there is very little space, if any for the Holy Spirit to do as He pleases. Even when space is given, there is often ignorance on the part of both the congregation and leaders in discerning the Holy Spirit as He works among His people.

It is my passion to see the Lordship of Jesus visibly expressed in New Life Church. That means the leadership must learn to let go of control.

Proviso
However, I am not advocating chaos or simply a 'free-for-all' I am not saying our gatherings are not to be led. After all, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is ‘leadership’.  

Romans 12
4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Spiritual Gifts

Spiritual Gifts 

You Should know!

Whatever our preference and persuasion, Paul exhorts all believers “^{1Co 12:1} Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant” or as the ESV has it “… I do not want you to be uninformed".
Clearly God wants us to know about spiritual gifts, to find out about them, to not be ignorant but to be informed! Therefore we have a God-given responsibility to learn about them. However, just before launching into a discussion about the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, it is important, as we shall see below, to remind ourselves who the Holy Spirit is.

Who is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is one of the three persons of the God-head. There is the Father, the Son (Jesus) and The Holy Spirit . In fact, whenever, if ever we encounter God in this life, it is almost without exception, the Holy Spirit of God we encounter.

Gifts for all

Paul tells us that the Spirit gives gifts to ‘each one’ (^{1Co 12:7} Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.)
That means, God is definitely willing to give us all gifts – without exception, that includes you! This is a really exciting prospect. Imagine, a church full of people blessed with very special spiritual gifts – unique to God’s children and found only in His church.

Good for all

It is also really exciting to consider that he gives the gifts ‘for the common good’. (^{1Co 12:7} Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.) That means, if a church is submissive to the Lord, the spiritual gifts the Spirit gives will do the church good. That is exciting because it means as you discover and exercise your spiritual gifts – it is going to do me good, and as I do the same, it will do you good. We will all do one another good, the whole church will benefit. And as the Lord adds new people to the church, new spiritual gifts will also be added – how exciting is that!

The Manifest Presence of God!

The verse above also speaks of the spiritual gifts as ‘the manifestation of the Spirit’. That means, the Spirit Himself manifests His presence through the gifts he gives. But what does that mean? After all, the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is 'omnipresent', that means the Holy Spirit is in fact present every (the word 'omni' means 'all', the Holy Spirit is 'all-present') - there is no-where we can go from His presence (^{Ps 139:7} Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? ⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.) Well, although it is certainly true, The Holy Spirit is omnipresent, it is also true, for the most part, people are totally ignorant of His presence. People become aware of His presence only as His presence becomes manifest.

What is the Manifest Presence of the Spirit of God like?

Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit as one like himself. He said ‘^{Jn 14:16} And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— ^{Jn 14:17} the Spirit of truth.’
In other words, The Holy Spirit is ‘another’ like Jesus and in place of Jesus.  (^Jn 16:7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.) Here Jesus tells us that His leaving us (to ascend to heaven) is for our good. His going means He can send the another Counselor - by implication, another counselor like himself! (that is the Holy Spirit).
The ministry of The Spirit replaces and in a sense, supersedes the ministry of the incarnate Jesus! That is a profound and glorious truth indeed! 2000 years ago the Spirit ministered through the incarnate Jesus, but now the Spirit ministers through 'the Body of Christ,' the Church – us! So in answer to the question above ‘but what does that (the manifestation of the Spirit) look like? The answer has got to be; “Something like Jesus and His ministry!”

The Holy Spirit and Jesus, similar ministries

If that sounds a bit far-fetched, consider the ministry of the Spirit through the gifts he gives to the church as listed in 1 Corinthian 12. Paul tells us that God gives the following…

• The message of wisdom
• The message of knowledge
• Faith
• Gifts of healing
• Miraculous powers
• Prophecy
• Distinguishing between spirits
• Different kinds of tongues
• The interpretation of tongues

As if the above were not enough there are three other lists of 'Spiritual gifts' which include some of the above and the following ...

• Serving
• Teaching
• Encouragement
• Giving
• Leading
• Mercy
• Administration
• Helping
• Apostles
• Prophets
• Evangelists
• Pastors

Furthermore, since each of the lists are different, we should not suppose the lists either individually or combined are definitive or exhaustive. The Holy Spirit can give any gifts He pleases.
Surely, if all the above were operational in the church, it would resemble something of the ministry of Jesus Himself - I guess we ought not be surprised as we, the Church really are ‘the Body’ of which Christ Himself is ‘the head’.
^{Eph 5:23} For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
So, let’s press on in faith and expectation of how God will transform us and His church from glory to glory in the coming days!

Jesus - If He was raised, He is God and Christianity is true!

What If Jesus was resurrected - does that mean He is God and Christianity is true?

I have had a few people say to me, "Actually Julian, even if Jesus was raised to life, it just means that He was raised to life, it doesn't necessarily follow that He is God or Christianity is true".

I would answer the following...

1) The fact that the resurrection of Jesus is embedded in Old Testament prophecy connects the resurrection of Jesus to those Old Testament prophecies and explanations.
2) This means the resurrection of Jesus is not just an isolated event; it is part of something bigger. To ignore that 'something bigger' is to ignore the context of the resurrection - without which it becomes nothing more than meaningless magic!

But the resurrection of Jesus is part of something much bigger than itself and it can only be understood in the light of the Old (OT) (and New (NT)) Testament.

Below I show how Jesus Life, Death and Resurrection are embedded in the Old Testament. I have taken two Old Testament passages, one long passage from the book of Isaiah, and the other - just a short prophecy from Zechariah 2:10, and I have shown how they point to Jesus by quoting corresponding verses from the New Testament.

All the Old Testament verses are in blue and the New Testament verses are in red. You don't need to read all these, the black, bulleted headings explain the verses, but the verses are there if you want to check them.

• Jesus will appear as an ordinary man without privilege or advantage in life. (Compare Isaiah 53:2 with NT Mark 6:3)

Isaiah 53 [2] He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

Mark 6:
[3] Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

• He was despised and rejected (Compare OT Isaiah 53:3 with Matthew 27:22,23)

Isaiah 53 [3] He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.

Matthew 27 [22] “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?” Pilate asked. They all answered, “Crucify him!” [23] “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

• He was led like a lamb to the slaughter though he was innocent and did not open His mouth (Isaiah 53:7 with Mark 14:53-61)

Isaiah 53 [7] He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

Mark 14 [53] They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, elders and teachers of the law came together. ... [55] The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any ... [60] Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” [61] But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.

• He was considered stricken by God Himself (Compare Isaiah 53:4 with NT Galatians 3:13)

Isaiah 53 [4] Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

Galatians 3[13] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”

• He was wounded, bruised, pierced, marred and disfigured (compare Isaiah 52:14, 53:5 with Mark 14:61, 15:16-20, Mark 15:15, 25)

Isaiah 53 [14] Just as there were many who were appalled at him — his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness

[5] But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Mark 14 [65] Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, “Prophesy!” And the guards took him and beat him. [15] Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. [16] The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. [17] They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. [18] And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” [19] Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. [20] And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

[25] It was the third hour when they crucified him. 

• He was killed (Compare Isaiah 53:8 with Mark 15:37)

Isaiah 53 [9] He was assigned a grave with the wicked,and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. 

Mark 15:37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

• He was assigned a grave with the wicked and the rich (Compare Isaiah 53:9 with Luke 23:50-53)

Isaiah 53 [9] He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. 

Luke 23 [50-53] Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, Lk 23:51 who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom of God. Lk 23:52 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body.  Lk 23:53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.

• He will not remain dead but will come back to life (Compare Isaiah 53:11 with Luke 24)

Isaiah 53 [11] After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light└ of life┘ and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

See all of Luke 24

• Many Nations will come to Him (Compare Isaiah 53:11, Zechariah 2:10 with the fact that now Christianity is a global Faith)

Isaiah 53 [11] After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities

The Bible also tells us that this servant, the Messiah is God (LORD) in person. We can see this from Zechariah 2 ...

• Jesus – the one who was sent is in fact God in human form.

Zechariah [10] “Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the LORD. [11] “Many nations will be joined with the LORD in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you.

Ok, so this is a little hard to understand but it is also clear. It says, "For I am coming, and I will live among you". Who is the "I"? We are told, "Declares the LORD". The word LORD, when it appears in capitals is actually the divine name 'Yahweh' which is the Old Testament name for God. It is God who will come and live among us.

So this tells us that God Himself will come and live among men and through Him many Nations will be joined to Him.

The confusing bit is that it then says,

"I will live among you and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you."

So that means the LORD sent the LORD, or Yahweh sent Yahweh. How should we understand this?

Well Jesus said He was sent by His Father. Christians teach the Trinity, that means God is one and He is called Yahweh in the Old Testament. But this one God Yahweh, is three persons, Father, Son (Jesus) and Holy Spirit. So in this verse from Zechariah we have God (Yahweh) the Father sending God (Yahweh) the Son. As the Meerkats would say "simples!".

So Jesus stepped onto the stage of this world and fulfilled all the OT prophesy. The Apostle Paul tells us that the Resurrection itself is the final nail in the coffin of the skeptic.

So, when a person says, "Ok, so Jesus came back to life, but that doesn't mean He is God or that Christianity is true", my answer is this ...

That may be true. But the Prophecies and explanations of the OT were all pointing to Jesus resurrection in the first place. If Jesus did rise from the grave fulfilling predictive prophecies and explanations, surely it would be unreasonable, irrational and foolish to ignore those explanations that predicted and explained it in the first place.

To summaries let me put it like this.

It was written in the Old Testament hundreds of years before Jesus was born that ...

God (Yahweh - LORD) is going to come to earth in the form of a man, He will claim to be the Messiah - the 'Son of Man' (see Daniel 7:13 / Matthew 26:64).  He will be rejected and suffer, he will be killed, but He will come back to life.

Well, Jesus (whose name means 'Yahweh Saves') came, He called Himself 'The Son of Man', was rejected, suffered, was killed on grounds of blasphemy by the Jews (claiming to be God) and sedition by the Romans (claiming to be a King). Jesus was raised on the third day. Jesus' resurrection was the ultimate vindication proving His alleged blasphemous claims to be in fact true. To then say, "Just because Jesus came back to life does not mean He was God" is to either ignore the picture as a whole or just be in denial, either way, it would seem disingenuous or ignorant.

If Jesus came back to life, the claims of scripture about Him are true. If the claims of scripture about Jesus are true, Jesus is God and Christianity is true.