Searching for Salvation

Proof is a major issue with teaching people the salvation message of Jesus: People want demonstrable proof of God’s existence. Down through the ages people have intellectualised this issue, both theologically but also philosophically. However, most arguments stem from one of Thomas Aquinas’ Quinquae viae. Personally I feel these proofs are boring! It is hardly a proof to say:

our knowledge can not duplicate or comprehend X, therefore since X exists, and can not be explained, X demonstrates the existence of a god

Surely we can do better than that!

In 1 Corinthians 1:20-21 we read that God has made the wisdom of the world into something foolish. Further, even with all the wisdom of the world, mankind did not establish and maintain a relationship with God. Given this dilemma God introduced a simple message for salvation – v22 indicates that God is (note present tense) happy with a simple message. The message is to save those who believe, not those who can philosophise.

Do you see the problem this presents? People seek proof, they seek some knowledge they can obtain, some theory or scrap of evidence. If we continue reading 1 Corinthians 1:22-24; signs and wisdom are what the Jews and Greeks (i.e. the world) seek. The simplicity that Christ died to give us liberty (Romans 6:7-9) is not good enough for the world; to find proof of salvation mankind needs to look at what the death sacrifice of Jesus provided. There is no need to find some super philosophy nor do we need to produce an extremely complex theory about how Jesus knew the future (e.g. predictions of famine, nuclear war, earthquakes, etc…) neither should we used these scriptures to preach the doom of the apocalypse.

So what did the sacrifice of Jesus provide?

The crucifixion of Christ delivers the power of God and the wisdom of God.

The Holy Ghost (or Holy Spirit) was poured out upon the world. A personal connection (intercessor) to God. Think of it as the little angel that floats over the shoulder of a cartoon character. That connection to God, is always on hand to tell you how to use the power of God, and to teach you the wisdom of God. Which leaves: How do you receive the Holy Spirit? How do you know you have?

From Acts 2:38 we see that the key to receiving the Holy Spirit is repentance. Often people will receive whilst being baptised, however, before or after are also common. It should be noted that baptism is still an essential step to salvation no matter when you receive the Holy Spirit.

How will you know? If you are honest and humble about your approach to God, you will know. I know that sounds like a cop-out, but what would you prefer, me to show you a sign or for you to experience a miracle and be convinced of it yourself? Don’t worry though, God knows (1 Corinthians 15:19) that mankind needs more than just hope: there are 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit, one of these is tongues, a language you have not learnt, a sign to the unbeliever (i.e. a proof). So, how will you know? If you are honest and humble, you will know, and on top of that you will now be able to speak in tongues.

[FOOTNOTE]
This post was motivated by members of a certain church who knocked on my door this morning. When I asked them about the doubting nature of society and what their proof was their answer was bad: Essentially it was a two pronged theory a) it is too unlikely that the universe formed by chance; and b) Jesus foretold the future (e.g. famines, nuclear war, earthquakes, etc…). I don’t know the actual statistic but (a) is invalid: you can’t acknowledge there is a chance and then argue it is too unlikely. As for knowing the future, yes any believer will tell you Jesus would have known, but we’re talking about non-believers; there are quite a few people who have correctly predicted the future, does that mean they also are the Son of God? Nope! Did they just get lucky? Probably!