Religion Q & A – Believe in Him or not?

Jaimee asks: “I was just wondering, I have a friend that asked me why she should believe in God. I did not know really what to tell her. I was wondering if you had any advice on what I could say?”

Answer: Your friend is essentially on a search for truth. Does she believe that God is real? If she does and it’s just a matter of her making the choice to devote her life to Him, then the Bible would be a great resource for her to turn to. From the story of creation to the Book of Revelation, Scripture is full of reasons to open your heart up to the wonderful Persons in the Holy Trinity – the Father, the Son we know as Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

If she is not sure that God exists, then she needs to ask herself what evidence there is in the world of His existence. She can look around her and find signs of God in nature, in the design of human beings, and even in the various cultures that have chosen to believe in God through the religions of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.

The most effective way you can witness to her, though, is to tell your own story. How has God proved Himself to be real in your life? How have your prayer life and your relationship with Jesus helps you all these years? How have you seen God’s presence work in the life of other people you know? Once she realizes how much love, peace, and freedom that is found in God, her own “leap of faith” will bear a lot of good fruit in her life experiences.

It really depends on what approach she’s most open to. Some people want facts, other people want stories. It’s best to ask her more about why she asked you in the first place. If it’s been a while since your conversation, you can always bring it up again in a friendly manner, especially since it’s Christmastime and this season of the year is all about celebrating the birth of Jesus. If she’s not a reader, you can always suggest that she watch The Nativity Story to learn more about the God we believe in. That way she can decide for herself if she would like to explore the Christian belief in God more deeply.

Religion Q & A – Why We Pray

Andrew asks: “Since God is above time and he has already done everything he wanted to do. Why do we pray?”

Answer: Here are some reasons why we pray…

(1) Prayer is a form of serving God (Luke 2:36-38). We pray because God commands us to pray (Philippians 4:6-7).

(2) Prayer is exemplified for us by Christ and the early church (Mark 1:35; Acts 1:14; 2:42; 3:1; 4:23-31; 6:4; 13:1-3). If Jesus thought it was worthwhile to pray, we should also.

(3) God intends for prayer to be the means of obtaining His solutions in a number of situations:

a) Preparation for major decisions (Luke 6:12-13)
b) Overcoming demonic barriers in lives (Matthew 17:14-21)
c) The gathering of workers for the spiritual harvest (Luke 10:2)
d) The gaining of strength to overcome temptation (Matthew 26:41)
e) The means of strengthening others spiritually (Ephesians 6:18-19)

(4) We have God’s promise that our prayers are not in vain, even if we don’t receive specifically what we asked for (Matthew 6:6; Romans 8:26-27).

(5) He has promised that when we ask for things that are in accordance with His will, He will give us what we ask for (1 John 5:14-15).

- excerpt taken from GotQuestions.org

Prayer doesn’t change God…prayer actually changes us. It prepares our hearts to receive whatever God wants for us, and whatever God wants for us is always best. We may not always get what we pray for, but the very fact that we pray increases our faith in God. We believe that He hears us and this helps us remain open to His response. Prayer never hurts…it always helps! God has great things in store for us, even during times of trial. So when we pray, we get grace and strength and definitely more peace directly from HEAVEN.

Religion Q & A – Sin

Rachel asks: “How can people who had many bad sins become saints?”

Answer: Jesus came to save all sinners, no matter how bad their sins were. As long as a person repents of his or her sin, there is always a chance to go to Heaven. That’s how much God loves us all. There is not one person that He would want to go to hell. Those people who had committed many grave (or serious) sins are potential saints if they take the opportunity to change their lives around. Some saints who were serious sinners in their pasts are St. Augustine and St. Paul. They are examples of how God’s mercy and grace can reach the hearts of anyone who opens themselves up to Him.

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Kim asks: “If God knew Adam and Eve would eat the fruit from the tree, why did he create the tree in the first place?”

Answer: The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was placed in the garden of Eden as a test of love. God gave every human being intellect (the ability to think) and free will (the ability to choose). He did not want us to be “robots” in a sense and love Him because we were forced to or could not choose otherwise. Any parent would more deeply appreciate the love shown from their children if it is given willingly, as would any husband or wife in a marriage relationship. That is another way of God showing His love for us – He wants us to choose to love Him…never would He make us love Him back.

Also keep in mind that while knowing Adam and Eve would disobey Him, God already had a plan to send His Son to save all humanity. He knew what kind of a sacrifice He would have to make to make things right again – and it was hard for everyone, especially Him – but God’s love is so great that even sin and death could not stand in the way of Him opening up the gates of Heaven to us.

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Jonathan asks: “Why did God make the devil if he knew that he was going to betray God? He could’ve made a perfect world without him.”

Answer: This is similar to Kim’s question about God placing the tree in the garden. God made angels to serve Him and to help Him along in His plan for creation. Being all-knowing, He was aware that some of them would choose to turn away from Him. Since, however, He loved the angels, He gave them free will to love Him in return. Led by Lucifer, they – like us – decided that they were more important than God and would not serve Him.

It is true that the world would have been perfect without the devil. We know how wonderful it would be if all the evil we witness everyday were completely gone, but great virtue springs up in the souls of those who do stay faithful to God and fight the good fight. One day, Jonathan, when Jesus comes again, the devil will be cast away forever. We will experience utmost peace and happiness. As Scripture says in Isaiah 65:17, there will be a “new heaven and a new earth” and all will be well…

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Jacob L. asks: “What would happen if God sinned. Would he have to go to the devil? Please answer this when you come back, thank you.”

Answer: Sin, by definition, is the opposite of God’s will. Because God is all good and holy, everything that is the opposite of God is evil. God is truth; sin is a lie. God is unity; sin creates disunity. God is love; sin fosters hatred. God is beauty; sin is ugly. It is impossible for God to sin because it would contradict His very nature. This is why Jesus never sinned while He was here on earth. Being fully man and fully God, He was always in total union with the Father, so even when He was tempted by the devil in the desert He did not fall into sin like many of us would.

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Rachel asks: “Does a priest confess to another priest? Thanks for your time!!!!!”

Answer: Yes! Priests do go to confession and they do, in fact, confess to other priests. I don’t know who Pope John Paul’s confessor was, but I do know that he went to confession at least once a week. He did this not because he was a bad person, but because he wanted to keep his souls as clean as possible since he had the great responsibility of leading a Church of over 1 billion people. What an amazing priest he was!

Religion Q & A – The Golden Compass

Ike asks: “There is a movie called ‘The Golden Compass’ coming out soon. People say it promotes atheism and anti-church ideas as should I be able to see the movie?”

Answer: To help me answer your question, Ike, I am including an excerpt from an article written by Tom Gilson, the director of strategic processes in the Operational Advisory Services team for Campus Crusade for Christ.

“There is word on the Web that the anti-God theme has been toned down for the movie; and that theme is expressed much more strongly in the second and third books than the first, anyway. So is there any reason to make a fuss over this first book, and the movie? Yes, because the first book in a trilogy, if it is at all interesting, is (among other things) the strongest possible advertisement for the second and third. It’s impossible to promote only the first. Who could stop reading The Lord of the Rings just when the Fellowship separated, at the close of the first book?

Moreover, the anti-Church, anti-Biblical elements of even the first book are plenty strong. The Church is presented as highly controlling and evil; and this is not some other-world, purely fantastical church with no connection to our own world. In Chapter 16 we learn of its “Vatican Council.” In Chapter 19 a character speaks of being “baptized as a Christian” in Geneva. Chapter 2 tells us the last Pope in this world was John Calvin, which in another context would be knee-slapping hilarious, but here contributes to the strength of the connection this fictional world has to our real one.

One of the prominent themes of the book is “Dust,” a mysterious “charged particle” from the sky. In the closing chapters of the book, the protagonist, Lyra, finally learns that Dust is “the physical evidence for original sin”; and Dust is what powers her “alethiometer” (the golden-colored, compass-looking device for which the book is named). From the Greek, alethiometer means “truth-measurer.” It is a device she consults, through a kind of clairvoyant process, to learn secrets and discover truths; it never lies or misleads. Dust and the alethiometer—central symbols in this book—together send the clear message that truth is measured by the power of original sin. In the closing pages, Lyra decides that Dust is a good thing after all, and she determines to go on and defend this original sin against the Church. Thus we are ushered into the second book.”

Mr. Gilson strongly agrees that the movie and the trilogy have atheistic, anti-Church themes, and after reading the novel summaries on SparkNotes, I do, too. I want to say that New Line Cinema was likely to have picked up this project solely for the entertainment value, but with even the simplest research, it is plain to see that the English atheist author Philip Pullman definitely did not spare the Catholic Church in the grossly misconstrued reputation that many people have already attributed to it.

For those of you who loved Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia, you may be drawn to watch The Golden Compass because of its intriguing fantasy story line, but I STRONGLY discourage you to see it, much less support it. Works that have anything to do with “killing God” and portraying the Church as evil do not bear good fruit. We need to continue our faithfulness to the Church and the the Almighty God we know to be true and eternal. Amen.

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” (Phil 4:8)

Other articles about The Golden Compass:
Perspectives: Does The Golden Compass point to a new atheism?
Thinking Christian – The Golden Compass