Today in church, our pastor shared a Christmas story to illustrate a point in his sermon. As I listened, I realized the story was a powerful answer to the question, “Why did Jesus become a man?”
​
Perhaps you already have an answer. Maybe you’ve heard but are not satisfied with doctrinal explanations such as, “Jesus had to be a man because only a human sacrifice could take away the sins of humanity.” While such statements may be true, the following story illustrates God’s reasoning in a vivid and relatable way. I hope you enjoy it. (To the best of my ability, I will quote my pastor directly.) The original story came from a local minister, Paul Harvey.

Years ago, there was a man who was more or less an agnostic. His wife and children believed, but he didn’t. He had a problem with the virgin birth, among other doctrines. However, he didn’t share his opinions with the community because he didn’t want to offend anyone. He was a good man.

One Christmas season, his wife and children went to their church’s Christmas play. The church was right down the road from their house. The man didn’t want to go because he didn’t want to look like a hypocrite: he didn’t believe and didn’t want to pretend that he did.

So he stayed home.

Before long, a terrible snowstorm descended. Not just a light snow—a serious storm. As he sat in his house, he kept hearing banging on his large picture window, as though someone was trying to get inside. Curious, he went to the living room. Two sparrows pecked at the window. They felt the warmth inside and wanted to come. They knew they would perish in the storm.

​The man had compassion for the birds. He said, “I will shovel away the snow, open my barn door, and let them in so they don’t freeze to death.”

I hope you were touched as I was by this story. Have a merry Christmas!

Dear reader,

This is an atypical Bible study. It’s more of a rant with a purpose. Here’s the fuel. It’s morning, you’re in the kitchen, you turn to your spouse, and you say, “I have an appointment; please pick up the kids.” After work, you return home and, lo and behold, no kids! When confronted, your spouse replies, “I didn’t realize you meant today!”

That’s how I feel like people treat the Bible and Christianity: they hear about it but fail to understand what’s really being said. And it drives me nuts!

So, here begins a series of “Annoying Misconceptions about Christianity.”
​
Enjoy!

When a nonbeliever slings accusations like “God is unjust,” “God must delight in suffering,” and “God sure loves to throw people into Hell,” don’t be alarmed. They haven’t met God yet, so it’s not surprising they don’t know His character.

1. Humans don’t trust authority. Only a minority nowadays grow up in a stable home. Most learn to mistrust their parents or other adults in their lives. Therefore, they cast that same doubt on God.
2. Satan twists what God says. God clearly states He wants everyone to go to Heaven, focusing the Bible’s message on God’s righteousness and the lengths He goes to save us. Satan, however, focuses on the negative. A preacher can say, “God wants to save you from Hell,” and Satan makes you hear, “God plans to send me to Hell until I do exactly what He wants. Why should I listen to such a God?” A person can read the Bible and see God telling Joshua to slaughter the Canaanites and miss the four hundred years God gave them to repent from their child sacrifices and gross immorality.
3. Christians, or those claiming to be Christians, often are just as spiteful and judgmental as nonbelievers. This is sad but true. Instead of embodying God’s love, we perpetuate our pettiness.

So, now that we understand the issue, let’s look at solutions.

Are we stuck on God’s judgments? Here’s a simple truth: God gets nothing out of it. That is why He has done everything in His power to prevent humanity from going to Hell.

He sent His Son to pay our death penalty, sends His Word throughout the world, and individually sends His invitation to every human being. He presents the truth so everyone has ample opportunity to accept His invitation to join Him in Heaven. People only endure God’s judgment because they’ve ignored the invitation.

God isn’t sitting in Heaven looking for people to cast into Hell. No! Quite the opposite. The Bible teaches He is diligently explaining that eternity has only two destinations and begging people to join Him in Heaven.
​
God prepared Heaven for humans. He made the entrance ticket free. He advertises the trip on almost every street corner in America. And you’re stuck on Hell? Think that over.

I believe those who think God’s out to get them have the wrong focus: they’re stuck on God’s judgment instead of everything God has done to protect them from judgment. The Bible teaches that God is a loving, just judge who does everything He can to save us. He wants to swoop in like a mother hen and protect us from the evil in the world. So, instead of asking, “Why would God send someone to Hell?” I encourage you to ask, “Why wouldn’t I want to go to Heaven?”

Yes, those are my two little darlings sitting on my bed, which is how the story begins.

​I’m the early bird, while my husband likes to sleep in. So, while I rested in bed waiting for my toddler to be our alarm clock, my two cats noticed I stirred.

Java had slept on the bed with me, and so she greeted me with her typical stretch of her claws in my direction to see if poking me would generate a response. As an obedient owner, I scratched her head, all the while leery of the fact that if I pet her too much I’m gonna get playfully nipped.

Enter Sybil. 

Sybil, announcing her presence with heavy pawfalls, sashayed around the bed and lept upon my pillow, as per her usual, to headbutt me in order that she might receive her morning massage. As I caressed her thick, gray fur, she noticed the competition. Perhaps in a friendly gesture, she tooted over to Java to say good morning.

What was Java‘s response? To cant her head, rear back, extend her claws, and promptly beat Sybil off the bed. 

I laughed.

Not at Java’s audacity, but at myself. Isn’t that just like us? If something, or someone, comes between us and what we want, don’t we rear back and try to swat it out of the way?

Human nature is very much like a cat’s personality. We want what we want, and, by golly, we’re gonna get it — on our timing, of course.

Here’s a big one: “Jesus talks about Hell more than Heaven.”

I was saved at age 21. I hadn’t grown up in the church and knew nothing about the Bible. So, when my local ministers told me this, I accepted it as fact. Well, now it’s time to find out.

This study is simple. Each time I read my Bible, I will record references to Heaven and Hell as I come across them. I will go in order through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Lastly, I will scourge Revelation. These five books contain the spoken words of Jesus, so they should allow for a definitive answer.

Please help me. If I skip a reference, please let me know. If you think I’ve misused a reference, let me know. I want to develop a trustworthy study, and I need your input to do so.

Let’s hop to it!
​

​Have you lost faith because of unanswered prayer? Do you know someone who has? Read what the Bible has to say for such situations.

If you’re like me, you know at least one person who doesn’t believe in God anymore because of unanswered prayer. The person knelt down and sincerely prayed, but God was silent. Therefore, there is no God.

In the Bible, God repeatedly compares our relationship to Him as a marriage. When Israel received the Ten Commandments, they entered a covenant with God to take Him as their God, and God swore they would be His people and that He would live with them (Leviticus 26). As was common during that period, the marriage covenant was sealed with a blood sacrifice (Exodus 24:3–8). When the people turned away from God to idols, instead of calling them sinners, God called them adulterers (Jeremiah 3:8).

​In the New Testament, Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a marriage (Matthew 22:1–10, AKJV), Paul recognized God claims believers as His bride (Ephesians 5:30), and John wrote that those who reach Heaven attend, “the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9, AKJV).

So, let’s run with that analogy for a minute.

God asks me to marry Him. I say yes. God and I enter the marriage covenant and move into our house. For a while, everything is great. But then the newlywed vibe fades. I want to do things my way, regardless of what my husband says. I compare God to other men and question if he is the best I can do. And so I leave. I live my life. I do what I want and am happy to do so. I find a new house. I make new friends. I settle into my new home.
​
Then, one day, something happens. The knob falls off my bedroom door. So, I call God to ask him to come over and fix it. When he says no, I become furious and rant about what a horrible person he is.

That’s silly, right? I shouldn’t get mad at my husband for not being there. I shouldn’t expect him to come over and fix something when I’ve abandoned the marriage.
​
But that’s what we do. We live without God and then act surprised or angry when he isn’t there to answer our prayers. If we walk out on God, it’s not his fault he’s not around. It’s ours. If he doesn’t answer when we call, that’s not his fault. We chose to silence him.
​
Finally, as God said through the prophet Isaiah, “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:1–2, AKJV)

I hope this clarifies a difficult issue. God doesn’t abandon people. People abandon God.

Support me on medium.
​
Images courtesy of lexica.art.