How Is Christianity Different From Other Religions?
Other religions explain how we can work to find God, but Christianity is the only faith that tells of God’s desire to find us, to reveal Himself to us. God wants to have relationship with humans because He made us. But because of sin—our inability to be perfect as God is perfect—God can have nothing to do with us. For “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” (1 John 1:5-6). We are completely unable to do what it takes to have unhindered relationship with the perfect, holy God of the universe. So He, in his incredible grace and love toward us, made a solution.
God’s Son, Jesus Christ, came to earth and lived among us, died to pay the penalty for our sin, and rose from death. The Bible says that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Death is the penalty for all human sin. In our sin nature, we are under the wrath of God and will spend eternity apart from Him in Hell. But through belief in Jesus Christ—believing that He is the Son of God and paid for our sins, for my sin, and rose to conquer death—I am no longer under God’s wrath but under His grace. I can have direct relationship with God through Jesus Christ. God is so kind, and so wonderful, that He met the requirement for His holy law when I couldn’t. He paid the debt that I owe and could never pay back. This is the ultimate gift. And I want it with my whole heart.
Is God Separate from Religion? If Not, Which Religion Is True?
Religions all over the world seek to explain who or what God is and why we exist. But many say conflicting things about God. One religion says that God is holy; another says he is good and evil. But really, He can’t be both. So which is right? One religion says there is one God; another says there are many gods. But which belief is true? All things can’t be true at the same time (however adamant post-modernism may be that they are). Truth is true. Lies are false. And we have to choose what to believe.
Can Humans Achieve Peace by Removing All Hate Words & Abuses in Language?
I’m a Christian, and so I believe that all people are inherently sinful. Sin is the idea that everything a person does is essentially lacking. I can never achieve perfection alone. Without supernatural help from the one, true God, the only good Being in all the universe, even my best efforts are impotent. Why? Because I am human. According to this system of thought, people are incapable of removing all abuses in language or malicious words. We would never even agree on which words those are. People are at root rebellious and cruel. We need something outside of ourselves to save us from ourselves.
What is “The Correct Use of the English Language”?
Before I answer the question posed in the title of this blog post, I must explain something. Recently I made a new friend online. Moein is a pre-university student learning English in Iran, and he wrote a few weeks back to let me know he enjoys my and Joshua’s blogs. I was SO flattered to have someone in Iran reading my blog that I wrote back. Our correspondence has been delightful, and it’s so great to get a true Iranian perspective, not just one I see on the news.
In his last email, Moein asked me to respond to some deep questions by way of blog post. I’ll be addressing each one individually, and I would appreciate other friends to chime in as well. I hope to stimulate some enlightening and entertaining conversation for Moein. Yay!
So then, over on the left side of the website here I have an “About” section. There I divulge that “I am passionate about God, Green living, good health, and the correct use of the English language.” What do I mean by “The Correct Use of the English Language” Moein wonders? Well, I mean this…
Too many Americans nowadays have little respect for our language. People constantly redefine words so that words lose their meaning. Some colloquialisms are inevitable, but (for example) when “bad” means good, and “good” means weak, the true weight of using the word “bad” to signify evil or “good” to mean wonderful (not mediocre) is completely lost. I wonder if this problem exists with the Persian language too (or even Spanish, of which I have a more than cursory knowledge).
In the United States popular culture has always redefined language, and to an extent I think this is good. It’s how the younger generation sets itself apart from the stodgy ways of the old. But when language can no longer adequately communicate, or you have to use SO many words to explain your thoughts (to get just the right meaning across, because simply saying what you mean could be misinterpreted by the hearer), language has lost its purpose.
There’s a movie called My Fair Lady that was filmed in the 1960s where one of the characters laments “Why Can’t the English Learn to Speak” in a catchy song. In the movie it was more of a class problem (upper/richer classes valuing proper use of language, lower/poorer classes demeaning it). I suppose upper, middle, and lower classes in the United States have the same issue, but it definitely seems to be more of an age gap.
What do you think?
