A female friend of mine (and my wife) was dumped via text message a few months ago. That's not cool. What jerk does that to a girl? Actually in this case I knew the boy, and he was perfectly nice. I was even the one to prod the boy to ask her out in the first place. But he lacked adequate social skill to handle the situation, and he lacked compassion to care enough even to followup in person when she asked to talk.
As long as it was someone else (and not us ourselves who was the offender) it's easy to look at this situation and say the offender was a jerk. Love is one of the most complex emotions and therefore one of the most sensitive conversations to have. If we treat it as if it were just a random topic we risk offending the person who's sharing with us. We know this to be true because if we were sharing our heart with someone and they dismissed us, especially if they'd recently been very open to us, we couldn't help but be hurt.
All things being equal, given the choice we'd all chose friends we can meet in person over friends we will only ever talk to over the phone or email or txt. We want to invest in people who can interact and maybe physically help us, and who we can physically help. Because that's what friends are, people who can be there for us. Virtual interactions are fine but they can only supplement human interaction and aren't meant to take the place of it. We weren't designed for that.
For those of you who agreed that the boy in the first paragraph above was a jerk for dumping my friend via text, I suspect not many of you would consider him any more of a gentleman if he had sent his brother or sister or friend with a verbal message that he had single-handedly decided that their romantic relationship was over. Or if he had wrote a blog post (or a newspaper article or a book) and arranged for her to find out by reading it. For the important things, it matters to discuss them in person. Preferably face to face, and only when that's not physically possible then by phone might be acceptable. In the digital age, the concept of real time & synchronous (two way) are important. Virtual non-real time (email, chat, txt) aren't ideal because they don't allow true interaction, plus they lack both body language and tone. The important messages just have to be discussed in person, it's the only way that can result in a mutually positive outcome.
This isn't a new concept, it's timeless. God knows it because He designed us (Genesis 1:27). At first He walked with us (Genesis 2:16-17, 3:8-9, 4:3-7) but we ruined our relationship with Him and eventually He only talked to some of us (Genesis 12:1) and then only through messengers, called angels (Exodus 23:20, Joshua 5:13-14, Judges 6:11-12) and through prophets (1 Samuel 3:10-11, Isaiah 6:1, Ezekiel 34:2). (The role of a prophet is to tell God's will more so than it is to tell the future. Telling the future is just a form of proof that the prophet speaks for God.) But we are rather sinful and often just don't get it, even when love is staring us in the face (Isaiah 1:2-3).
So why do Christians think there's only one way to Heaven, or one way to God? This is a common question from non-believers. Besides the fact that the Bible says so (Acts 4:11-12, 1 Timothy 2:5) there's a simple bit of logic to realize. God loves us, and all the intermediaries (angels and prophets) He sent just couldn't get through to us. The fact that He loves us is really, really important, and it's quite unique among all major religions (at least until there came copycat religions). This message had to be delivered in person, and that's where Jesus came into the picture. That's the original reason for what we now celebrate as Christmas.
But Christmas is only part of the story. Jesus didn't come to Earth just to hang out and tell us parables. He knew what had to be done. Because God is holy and just, every time we sin we separate ourselves from God. But God loves us, He wants to be connected to us, but He's holy and we're not. So the only way to be reunited is for a payment to be made for the sin. Us humans have worked out a similar system in every culture: break the law and pay a fine, bigger crimes require separation from society, and extreme crimes sometimes result in capital punishment. Thousands of years ago God established a pattern of atoning sacrifice to the Israelites: when you sin, make up for it by sacrificing something of value. But sacrificing animals was never enough. Every time we sinned a new sacrifice had to be made, and we just keep on sinning. So God decided to come in person and be the ultimate sacrifice, once and for all. Jesus came to Earth with a mission. He volunteered to leave paradise (Isaiah 66:1-2) and come to Earth as a pauper (Luke 2:12, Matthew 9:11). He knew what He was doing (Matthew 16:21) and who He was coming to be with (Genesis 6:5-6, John 2:24-25) but He came anyway (Romans 5:8).
And then we have the gall to say dumb things like "there has to be another way" or "I would rather find my own way." This is just more of the same to God. His lament about our disdain for His heart was recorded in Luke 13:34. The idea that Jesus is our only savior is not simply common arrogance shared by all Christians. If there was another way, do you really think He would have come here and modeled a sinless life just to die a brutal, violent, murder on our behalf? If there was another way then God had better things to do than become human just to take our punishment for us, and I'd think He'd just say "let them be saved that way, that way is good enough, I'll skip the 30 years of poverty followed by brutal murder" (Mark 14:32-36). And don't think that just because it happened two millennia ago that you have any excuse to demand God act again, now, in your lifetime, in an equally radical fashion. What He did 2000 years ago was good enough once and for all (1 Corinthians 15:22, Hebrews 10:10) that's why He left eyewitnesses (2 Peter 1:16-18, 1 John 1:1-3) and a written record: so we'd still know about it today and thank Him for it, love Him even. It's not supposed to be a drag when He says He's the only way (John 14:6), He's reassuring us. He's saying "no one else is coming for you, but I have, I created you, and I'm pursuing you with My love. I love you enough to suffer the consequences of your sin so that you can be with Me forever." No other God nor any form of deity has ever made an offer that good, and yet He still allows us to choose. Do we accept His offer, or reject it? And if we accept it, do we keep this offer for ourselves or do we share it with the world? This is what Christmas and Easter are annual reminders of: God cared enough to come in person and tell us how much He loves each and every one of us (John 3:16, Galatians 3:28). This is why the angel declared that famous evening:
As long as it was someone else (and not us ourselves who was the offender) it's easy to look at this situation and say the offender was a jerk. Love is one of the most complex emotions and therefore one of the most sensitive conversations to have. If we treat it as if it were just a random topic we risk offending the person who's sharing with us. We know this to be true because if we were sharing our heart with someone and they dismissed us, especially if they'd recently been very open to us, we couldn't help but be hurt.
All things being equal, given the choice we'd all chose friends we can meet in person over friends we will only ever talk to over the phone or email or txt. We want to invest in people who can interact and maybe physically help us, and who we can physically help. Because that's what friends are, people who can be there for us. Virtual interactions are fine but they can only supplement human interaction and aren't meant to take the place of it. We weren't designed for that.
For those of you who agreed that the boy in the first paragraph above was a jerk for dumping my friend via text, I suspect not many of you would consider him any more of a gentleman if he had sent his brother or sister or friend with a verbal message that he had single-handedly decided that their romantic relationship was over. Or if he had wrote a blog post (or a newspaper article or a book) and arranged for her to find out by reading it. For the important things, it matters to discuss them in person. Preferably face to face, and only when that's not physically possible then by phone might be acceptable. In the digital age, the concept of real time & synchronous (two way) are important. Virtual non-real time (email, chat, txt) aren't ideal because they don't allow true interaction, plus they lack both body language and tone. The important messages just have to be discussed in person, it's the only way that can result in a mutually positive outcome.
This isn't a new concept, it's timeless. God knows it because He designed us (Genesis 1:27). At first He walked with us (Genesis 2:16-17, 3:8-9, 4:3-7) but we ruined our relationship with Him and eventually He only talked to some of us (Genesis 12:1) and then only through messengers, called angels (Exodus 23:20, Joshua 5:13-14, Judges 6:11-12) and through prophets (1 Samuel 3:10-11, Isaiah 6:1, Ezekiel 34:2). (The role of a prophet is to tell God's will more so than it is to tell the future. Telling the future is just a form of proof that the prophet speaks for God.) But we are rather sinful and often just don't get it, even when love is staring us in the face (Isaiah 1:2-3).
So why do Christians think there's only one way to Heaven, or one way to God? This is a common question from non-believers. Besides the fact that the Bible says so (Acts 4:11-12, 1 Timothy 2:5) there's a simple bit of logic to realize. God loves us, and all the intermediaries (angels and prophets) He sent just couldn't get through to us. The fact that He loves us is really, really important, and it's quite unique among all major religions (at least until there came copycat religions). This message had to be delivered in person, and that's where Jesus came into the picture. That's the original reason for what we now celebrate as Christmas.
But Christmas is only part of the story. Jesus didn't come to Earth just to hang out and tell us parables. He knew what had to be done. Because God is holy and just, every time we sin we separate ourselves from God. But God loves us, He wants to be connected to us, but He's holy and we're not. So the only way to be reunited is for a payment to be made for the sin. Us humans have worked out a similar system in every culture: break the law and pay a fine, bigger crimes require separation from society, and extreme crimes sometimes result in capital punishment. Thousands of years ago God established a pattern of atoning sacrifice to the Israelites: when you sin, make up for it by sacrificing something of value. But sacrificing animals was never enough. Every time we sinned a new sacrifice had to be made, and we just keep on sinning. So God decided to come in person and be the ultimate sacrifice, once and for all. Jesus came to Earth with a mission. He volunteered to leave paradise (Isaiah 66:1-2) and come to Earth as a pauper (Luke 2:12, Matthew 9:11). He knew what He was doing (Matthew 16:21) and who He was coming to be with (Genesis 6:5-6, John 2:24-25) but He came anyway (Romans 5:8).
And then we have the gall to say dumb things like "there has to be another way" or "I would rather find my own way." This is just more of the same to God. His lament about our disdain for His heart was recorded in Luke 13:34. The idea that Jesus is our only savior is not simply common arrogance shared by all Christians. If there was another way, do you really think He would have come here and modeled a sinless life just to die a brutal, violent, murder on our behalf? If there was another way then God had better things to do than become human just to take our punishment for us, and I'd think He'd just say "let them be saved that way, that way is good enough, I'll skip the 30 years of poverty followed by brutal murder" (Mark 14:32-36). And don't think that just because it happened two millennia ago that you have any excuse to demand God act again, now, in your lifetime, in an equally radical fashion. What He did 2000 years ago was good enough once and for all (1 Corinthians 15:22, Hebrews 10:10) that's why He left eyewitnesses (2 Peter 1:16-18, 1 John 1:1-3) and a written record: so we'd still know about it today and thank Him for it, love Him even. It's not supposed to be a drag when He says He's the only way (John 14:6), He's reassuring us. He's saying "no one else is coming for you, but I have, I created you, and I'm pursuing you with My love. I love you enough to suffer the consequences of your sin so that you can be with Me forever." No other God nor any form of deity has ever made an offer that good, and yet He still allows us to choose. Do we accept His offer, or reject it? And if we accept it, do we keep this offer for ourselves or do we share it with the world? This is what Christmas and Easter are annual reminders of: God cared enough to come in person and tell us how much He loves each and every one of us (John 3:16, Galatians 3:28). This is why the angel declared that famous evening:
Luke 2:8-14: There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock. Behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. The angel said to them, "Don't be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people. For there is born to you today, in David's city, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This is the sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a feeding trough." Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men." (WEB)