The Snapplemiffin trees of Fruitinshire-An illustration of the difference between justification and sanctification

              Far away in the land of Fruitinshire there lives an orchard owner and his beautiful orchard of Snapplemiffin trees. These trees produce more perfect, deliciously scrumptious fruit than can be imagined by the human mind, and the orchard owner himself is famous for his orchard of magnificent Snapplemiffin trees. This honor is not ill-deserved, for the orchard owner has undergone great personal sacrifice to secure the orchard of Snapplemiffin trees-the journey to create the seeds of these trees then the years of pruning ended in the death of his only son, but that is a tale for another day.              
             Snapplemiffin trees, unlike trees in our world, produce their best fruit at the time of pruning, and every year at that time, people throughout the entire land of Fruitinshire travel far and wide to visit the Snapplemiffin orchard to catch a glimpse of the famous trees and taste their fruit. Not a single person, after seeing the trees’ fruit, can leave the orchard without giving praise to their creator and keeper, and well they should, for that was what the trees and their fruit were created for-to bring glory to their Creator.               
             One year, a random acorn fell into the well-fertilized soil of the Snapplemiffin orchard and began to grow. With the near magical soil of the orchard, the oak tree grew at a miraculous pace, and by the time of pruning, had grown into the height and size of a Snapplemiffin tree. The only difference in appearance between it and a Snapplemiffin tree is that its branches were not laden with Snapplemiffin fruit-only acorns, which were despised by and offensive to the orchard owner.
                Naturally, all the Snapplemiffin trees noticed this, and pointed it out to the oak tree. “You must not be a Snapplemiffin tree. If you were a Snapplemiffin tree, you would have Snapplemiffin fruit. Every true Snapplemiffin tree has Snapplemiffin fruit to prove it. Ask the orchard owner to change you into a true Snapplemiffin tree.”
               But although the other trees warned the oak tree daily that it was not a true Snapplemiffin tree and would be cut down at the time of pruning, the oak tree did not consider that to be a problem.
                “I’m as good as any dumb ‘ol Snapplemiffin tree. Why should I not be allowed to stay in this orchard and be admired by the people of the land?” he reasoned. “I don’t need the orchard owner to change who I am. I can remain an oak tree. I love my acorns. Why should I have to give them up? I just need to put Snapplemiffin fruit on my branches. Then everyone will like me, and I’ll look good and be admired by all those who come to the orchard.” This of course was not the purpose or heart of the Snapplemiffin trees-to be admired themselves- and though they often told him they bore fruit and existed only in gratitude for and to please and glorify their creator, the oak tree never quite seemed to get it.
               As the growing season progressed and other trees continued bearing fruit, the oak tree set to work. Every night while the other trees slept, the oak tree would gather Snapplemiffin trees with its branches and set them on the branches of his own tree overtop the acorns that were already in place. As the days passed, many of the other trees began to forget he was not a true Snapplemiffin tree. They saw the Snapplemiffin fruit on his branches, and they all knew that the true sign of a Snapplemiffin tree was Snapplemiffin fruit.
             By the time pruning season began, all the Snapplemiffin trees had accepted the oak tree as one of their own, and the oak tree, elated with the success of his plan, was certain that he could fool the orchard owner as well. “All I had to do to make them believe I was one of them was just put on some of their fruit. I look just like them now. No one will know the difference, and I will receive glory and praise for my beautiful fruit when the people of the kingdom arrive, and love and acceptance from the orchard owner as well! I didn’t need the orchard owner’s sacrifice. I don’t need his pruning. I can have my acorns and be a Snapplemiffin tree, too.”
           But things did NOT go as planned when the orchard owner arrived. He walked right over to the oak tree and began preparations to cut him down.
            “What are you doing?” the oak tree screamed in protest. “I’m one of yours; I’m a Snapplemiffin tree! You can’t cut me down! Look at my fruit!”
                 The orchard owner shook his head. “You were never one of my trees. You may have tacked on the fruit of the Snapplemiffin trees, but your identity never changed. Your goal in putting on fruit was not to glorify me, but to make yourself look good and make yourself acceptable to me. The only way to become acceptable to me is to let me change you into a Snapplemiffin tree. I know my trees and you are not one of them.” To prove his point, the orchard owner reached out his hand, and shook the tree. Snapplemiffin fruit fell to the ground, and the acorns were suddenly clearly visible. Everyone gasped as the oak tree hung its branches in shame.
                There was silence for several moments and everyone held their breaths to see what the orchard owner would do. “Would you like me to make you into a true Snapplemiffin tree?” he finally asked.
                The oak tree lifted its branches in surprise. “Why would you do that? I don’t deserve to become a real Snapplemiffin tree. I tried to become one and please you and others by putting on fruit. I’ve lied to everyone. I didn’t want to give up my acorns. Why would you make me one of your trees?”
                The orchard owner smiled. “None of these trees deserved that. They all were once ordinary oak trees, enjoying their acorns and seeking the praise of others. But my son gave his life to acquire the formula for changing oak trees into Snapplemiffin trees to glorify me, and all of these trees have recognized this and asked me to change who they are from their roots up to the tips of their branches to make them Snapplemiffin trees. They have surrendered their acorns and given them up, for they know they are offensive to me.”
                “Please, if you will,” the oak tree began, “I would like-I want-Will you make me into a Snapplemiffin tree? I will give up my acorns. I desire now only to be one of your trees and bear fruit for you.”
              The orchard owner smiled. “I will change your roots now and prune your branches of acorns, but  you will not change into a perfect Snapplemiffin tree overnight,” he warned.  “Every year I will come and find acorns hidden in your branches, and every year I will prune them if you let me. As time wears on, you will find you will produce more and more Snapplemiffin fruit and less and less acorns.”
                “I still don’t understand something, though,” the oak tree admitted. “I had fruit before. Why were not you pleased by it? Why was I not accepted because of it?”
              “The Snapplemiffin fruit pleases me and glorifies me, but it is not what makes you acceptable to me. What makes you acceptable to me is not a work you do, but the work my son did to make a way for you to become a Snapplemiffin tree. If you trust his work to be enough to change you and truly let me do this work, you will be acceptable to me.  Before, you put on fruit because your roots desired to please and be accepted by others. Your roots’ desires revealed what kind of tree you were-an unchanged oak tree that still loved its acorns. Now that you are accepting my son’s sacrifice to make you into a Snapplemiffin tree, I am accepting you for that. No fruit you try to put on by yourself will please me, for that is only fake fruit. I must first change you and accepted you as my tree. Only then will you begin to produce real fruit that pleases and glorifies me.  Every true Snapplemiffin tree has fruit. But tacking on Snapplemiffin fruit does not make a tree a Snapplemiffin tree. Any tree can tack on fruit. Only I, the orchard owner can change an oak tree into a true Snapplemiffin tree. Will you let me change your roots now?”

Bridge May Be Icy- A Picture of God's Faithfulness

The sign at left makes me smile every time I see it. When I was younger, it amused me to see this sign over bridges in the heat of summer. I remember asking why they didn't take those silly signs down in summer, and I remember answering myself that it would be a lot of work to take down the signs just for the summer months, and that, after all, it did make me smile to see those signs when it was 90 degrees outside!

But that's not why I smile when I see that sign now. I smile now, because that sign reminds me of the faithfulness of God.

November 16, 2008 I passed over an icy bridge, and the car I was in spun out of control. I had just seen pictures from a friend of a car some of her friends had been driving which had also recently spun out of control, crashing the car, and leaving them both dead. I remember screaming out a prayer for help. I remember safely making it off the bridge. I remember stepping outside the car with the driver to look at the damage to the car. I think I was really just relieved and grateful at that point. I think I would've been ok. But then another car came up over that same bridge, spun out of control, and flipped upside down on the guardrail. It spun several times, before safely returning to the bridge. I'll never forget the sound of screeching metal mixed with the screams from my own voice as the car and its passengers teetered for several seconds between life and death.

And that unfortunately was not the end of the night. Several other cars came flipping and crashing over the bridge on front of me that night. I was terrified the whole time, afraid I might see the deaths of several helpless individuals, who were driving down the road, completely unaware of the dangers that faced them at the top of the hill where the bridge had turned to slick ice. I remember I was so scared, it became hard to breathe, and I remember gluing my hands to my ears to keep from hearing the screeching metal.

Miraculously, no one was severely injured that night. Several cars were flipped and crashed, but God kept all the passengers safe. I wish I could say that was reassuring to me. I wish I could say that the horrors of that night stayed in that night, but they didn't. The next time I went to cross that bridge, I felt all the same fears and panic rise up in me again. I found myself paralyzed with memories of that night, and it was all I could do to keep from crying. I felt sick to my stomach, and I wasn't sure what was happening to me.

That bridge was on my way to church, and I had to cross it four times a week to get to and from church every week for the rest of the winter. And every week for several months, no matter how hard I tried to reassure myself that God was in control, and I had no fear of death, for then I would finally get to be away from the troubles of this world and be with him in my true home, I felt the same way.

I tried several things to keep the panic from rising. I tried hiding my face in my lap the whole ride there and back so I wouldn't know when we were approaching the bridge so my body wouldn't know to bring back all the images, sounds and horrors of the night, but somehow, my body knew every time. I tried burying myself in conversation with those around me, trying to distract myself from the fact that I had to cross that bridge, but somehow, I couldn't push it from my mind. Most of all, though, every time I crossed the bridge, I prayed and begged God to take away the images and sounds in my mind, but every week, I continued to feel them resurface. I had recently gotten my driving permit, but I had no desire to drive, especially over that bridge.

But God is faithful. ^"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." Lamentations 3:22-24.

He did not leave me in the state I was in forever. He allowed Satan to assault me for a while so I could gain a greater closeness with him and learn complete dependence on him, and then one day, the feelings and images and fears I felt as I crossed the bridge just disappeared.

Every time I see that sign and cross that bridge today, I smile, remembering God's faithfulness. He DOES answer prayer. Not always in my timing, but always perfectly in His, which is FAR better than my own. And sometimes, it's in the waiting for my prayers to be answered that I learn what it means to hope in Him, and just how merciful and faithful He is in withholding what I want to give me what is best.

And when I see that sign and remember his faithfulness to heal me from the effects of that night, I'm also reminded of the other ways He is faithful for which I am so grateful:

I'm grateful that He is faithful and never changes. I never have to worry that one day I'll wake up, and He'll no longer be a good God and He'll hate me. I'm grateful I never have to worry about Him changing His mind and making me earn His love, for I would never be able to do that on my own. I can only trust in what Jesus has earned for me.

I'm grateful that because He is faithful and never changes I can read the Bible which was written thousands of years ago, and I can know what my God is like today.

I'm grateful that through His faithfulness, the promises he made will never change and that he will never fail me or leave me.

But most of all, I'm grateful he didn't give me my way when I was a rebel, a sinner, needing his mercy and the substitute sacrifice of Jesus. I'm grateful for His faithfulness to continue to convict me of sin, and show me that true forgiveness is easily found in the cross: easy for me, but it was not for Jesus.

"God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful." 1 Corinthians 1:9

Saved from what?

I think the most memorable sermon I heard all summer was on Sunday morning at the end of week eight. The speaker was Jamey Nichols, and he delivered the clearest presentation of the gospel that I heard all summer. I unfortunately did not have a notebook to take notes that morning, but I still very clearly remember the message.

He started his sermon by asking the campers what they thought of when they thought of God. Was he an angry German Shepherd or a rescue St. Bernard? Was he kind and gentle and loving or angry and to be feared? Of course, all the campers had different ideas. I remember how he allowed campers to speculate about what God was really like and then he gave verses to prove both.

He then showed a clip from The Chronicles of Narnia-the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe where Aslan (a symbol of Jesus) is fierce and the white witch (a symbol of Satan) bows to him.

Jamey then posed a question. When people tell you they're "saved", what do they really mean? What are they saved from? He worked up to reading Romans 5:9- "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through  Him." What is Salvation? What do we need to be saved from? God's wrath! God is rightly full of wrath against sin.

Jamey switched to an example to help us understand the cross more fully. He asked us whether Jesus was a coward. Paul said in Phillipians that to die was gain to him and he would much rather die and be with God than be here on earth. 11 of the 12 original apostles felt the same way. Stephen went gladly to his death, and we have many other countless reports of martyrs in the first century who boldly and fearlessly died for their faith in Christ. So why do we find Jesus on the eve of his death sweating drops of blood in the garden and praying that this "cup" of death would pass from Him if there was any other way? Was Jesus more of a coward and a lesser man than so many of His followers? Was Jesus so afraid of physical pain?

We find the answer by looking to the cross and all Jesus did for us there. It wasn't the physical pain Jesus felt that saved us. It was not that pain that He dreaded and feared-it was actually the pain of the separation he knew he would feel on the cross from His Father. For the first time in his life, He felt the weight of sin, for on the cross, He took our sins on Himself. "For He made Him who knew no sin [Jesus] to be made sin for us..." (2 Cor. 5:21) 

"My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Jesus cried, as he felt the weight of my sin on his shoulders, and "God who is of purer eyes than to look on evil" (Hab. 1:13) turned His face away.

"I once was lost in darkest night, yet thought I knew the way. The sin that promised joy and life had led me to the grave. I had no hope that you would own a rebel to your will, and if you had not loved me first, I would refuse you still. But as I ran my hellbound race, indifferent to the cost, you looked upon my helpless state and led me to the cross. And I beheld God's love displayed, you suffered in my place. You bore the wrath reserved for me, now all I know is grace." (All I Have is Christ)

"But God demonstrates His love towards us in this- while we were still sinners..."

While I was a rebel, deserving God's fierce wrath...

While I was a traitor, like Edmund and the law and God's wrath demanded my blood...

While I was like a stubborn child walking down slippery steps yanking her hand away from her father and screaming she can do it herself...

"...Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

When I was far away, running from God, not knowing or caring the cost, and yanking my hand away from His protective guidance, He flew to me, grabbed me by the hand and led me to the cross-the cross where He absorbed all the Father's wrath that I deserved.

Jamey used an illustration to show this. He had three glasses of Gatorade and asked for three volunteers to allow the Gatorade to be poured out on their heads. But instead of pouring the Gatorade directly on their heads, each time, he placed a buffer in between the Gatorade and the campers to absorb the Gatorade that would otherwise be poured out completely on the camper. The sponge completely absorbed the Gatorade. So did the diaper and the towel. The campers never had to experience the Gatorade being poured out on them because something else absorbed it for them.

Jesus absorbed the Father's wrath for me! God's law demanded blood. "Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin." Like Aslan stepped in and was killed in the traitor Edmund's place, so Jesus also stepped in and was killed for the traitor I was for defying God's law. God's wrath and punishment that should've been mine was completely poured out on Jesus!

There have been several times in this last year that I saw those around me who did not understand or accept the gospel, and I wondered, "Why me? Why did I care and understand the gospel? Why did I see the weight of my sin and understand the wrath I deserved, then turn to the cross, see Jesus' sacrifice, and fully trust in Him for my Salvation? Why do I understand the gospel and love Jesus and want to please Him?" I wondered if it was because of the home I grew up in. I was homeschooled, and grew up in a fairly conservative home where I was taught the Bible. Was my parents' work why I responded to the gospel? No! I see so many who were raised exactly as I was who have completely turned their back on God, and want nothing to do with the gospel. Was it because of my personality and the way I always questioned everything that I finally was able to understand the truth? No! I know so many other questioners like me who have asked the same questions and come to toally different conclusions about Jesus and Salvation. Was it because I knew the Bible so well and spent so much time memorizing it from a young age? No! I've known people that did the same and have now walked away from Christ completely.

What was it then? Consider Romans 9:16 in several translations:

"It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy." NIV

"So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it." NLT

"So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy." ESV

There was no loveliness in me that God would choose me. It was not dependent on my work or my parents' work. Those questions in my mind were completely invalid! God showed me all those things. He unblinded my eyes. (2 Cor. 4:3-4) He did all the work. It was all His mercy!

"What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?  Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Romans 7:24-25

If God was not holy...

God's holiness is a big deal...but just HOW big a deal is it really? I was looking through a Bible study curriculum this last week that had the entire first lesson devoted to teaching God's holiness. The curriculum was supposed to take students on a chronological study of the Bible, giving them the foundations, and only had 52 lessons. My first thought was that there is so much of the Bible to cover, and it's all so good and important, how could you waste a whole week just teaching about God's holiness? Wouldn't it be better on the first week to teach about how good and important and absolutely necessary the Bible was?

That's when it started to hit me, though-God's holiness is the foundation to all of Christianity. It was God's holiness that caused creation. He wanted and deserved creatures to glorify and enjoy Him! He didn't need them, for His holiness needs or lacks nothing. It was His holiness that caused Him to create everything perfectly good and beautiful and wonderful.

It was God's holiness that caused Him to give Adam and Eve the rule not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It was His holiness that killed a lamb to provide coverings for them when they disobeyed that rule, and it was that same holiness that broke Adam and Eve's perfect fellowship with God and kicked them out of the Garden of Eden into a now rough, sin-tainted world filled with pain and difficult work. It was God's holiness that in the midst of punishing Adam and Eve for their sin, mercifully promised a day when a Savior would come and deliver them finally from God's wrath.

It was God's holiness that worked all through the Old Testament, calling Abraham, choosing the Israelites, giving them the Promised Land, giving the Israelites victory in battle, providing mercifully for them, giving the law to further show the need for a Savior, sending judges and prophets, and ultimately His own Son.

All God's other attributes stem from His holiness-

Because God is holy, He is merciful and poured out the wrath reserved for me on Jesus.

Because God is holy, He is also all-powerful and raised Jesus to life again and gives me new life when I trust Him for Salvation.

Because God is holy He is faithful to keep every promise He has made in His Word, and I can know that when He promised to forgive my sin when I confess and forsake it, He meant it, and really will.

Because God is holy, he is omnipresent-he sees, hears and knows all, and I can have hope that He knows what is going on in my life and is working all things for His glory and my good.

Because God is holy, he cannot lie, and I can know that when He says He is preparing a place for me in Heaven, I know I can place my full hope and assurance on that promise.

If I doubt God's holiness, I must doubt His honesty and goodness, and when I doubt that, I begin to doubt whether I can believe the Bible at all. Doubting that leads me to further question whether God really has my best interest in mind, or if He's just some cruel God playing some nasty trick on me to get me to live a life of service to someone who hates me and will condemn me to hell at my death.

If God was not holy, I could not hope in the fact that no matter what happens in this life, when I die, because of Jesus' sacrifice, I get God! It is God's very holiness that compels me to live a holy life, for from his perfect holiness stemmed His perfect love, and from that perfect love stemmed the gift of His Son and the righteousness of Christ is now offered to me.

As I reflect on God's holiness, I am filled with gratitude, and I long to bring glory to God by sharing with others who He is-holy!-and all that means for me! I guess now my question has kinda turned into 'what Bible course wanting to truly give a firm foundation to any Bible student would not begin with the holiness of God'?

"Let them praise your great and awesome name! He is holy!" Psalm 99:3

"You learn a lot during the third week of workshop." -Paul Gardner~ A look back on summer and God's amazing goodness and power!

Summer is over. On August 20th, I hugged goodbyes to the final group of techs, and less than 48 hours later, I hugged my fellow summer staff goodbye as well. It's strange thinking back on all the anticipation I felt before the summer and thinking that all those stories and memories and friendships I looked forward to are now in my past. It's also strange trying to put an answer into words for everyone who continually asks, "So how was your summer?" I always feel like that's a terrible trick question. So much happened this summer, and I feel like I've just lived in a different world and become a different person in the last twelve weeks. I can tell stories for hours of that process, but how do I even attempt to explain all that in thirty seconds? No one's really looking for a two hour answer, are they?

My expectations going into the summer were not met. In many cases, they were far, far exceeded. God had so many surprises and lessons for me this summer that I couldn't have even dreamed when I was packing this spring. So in this blog post, I'm going to attempt to, without going into too many details and making this a book, explain what God did this summer in terms of my expectations.

My first expectation was that I would hate four weeks of my summer. Why? Because those would be the weeks I was to counsel the technicians-the volunteer high school girl workers. I didn't want to counsel high school girls, especially not in a work program. I expected to be bored out of my mind, tired, and the most boring, joyless tech counselor ever. I didn't expect to get to see God work in the techs at all. Then I expected to switch to camper counseling, get the junior highers I loved so dearly, and have an amazing rest of the summer enjoying them, and seeing God do really cool things in their lives. God shattered that expectation into a million pieces!

The first week of workshop was really overwhelming. I realized all I had really signed up for by agreeing to tech counsel four weeks, and I kept thinking that I'd just made the dumbest decision of my life. All my expectations before summer of what tech counseling would be like were further cemented deeper into my mind as I read through manuals, surveyed pages of checklists, looked over work schedules, and started hours of on-the-job training. A couple days into the first week, I had my first emotional breakdown. I left the dining hall one night after dinner clean up fighting back tears. One phrase kept running through my mind: "I can't do this!" I felt so ill-prepared to counsel high school girls, so impossibly lost when it came to knowing how to run a kitchen (which I still hadn't realized by that point that I didn't really need to know how to do!), and I just missed my sisters terribly, and felt like I wasn't getting to know any of the girl counselors at all (more on both of those points later!). I decided it was time to call home.

Well, I called Sarah, but she unfortunately was at youth group, and couldn't really talk. That's when I really lost it and just started crying and praying. "God, I can't do this!" I cried. "I'm not energetic enough, cool enough, or smart enough to tech counsel. I'm so insufficient for this job, and nobody else even realizes it yet. What am I supposed to do?" But then, I felt like God was telling me, "You're right, you can't do this." At the same moment, a verse popped into my mind: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." (2 Corinthians 12:9)

I knew that verse before, but that night, God really helped me to "know" it with more than just my head; it spoke right to my heart. I couldn't do all those things I was so concerned about, and that was good! Otherwise I could rely on and boast in myself. I didn't have to remember everything perfectly. I didn't have to counsel perfectly or have perfect energy or joy or enthusiasm. Christ was sufficient in every area that I was insufficient, and He would give me all strength right when I needed it!

There were other tough moments in workshop, but none of them really stemmed from feeling a lack of insufficiency, cuz any time those feelings started to creep in, I fought them with the Scripture God had given me...or sometimes, I just grabbed the nearest vacuum and sang "Joy is the Flag" really loudly as I vacuumed!

The first week of techs God worked in some really incredible ways. I got sick, so I shouldn't have had any energy or joy or strength, but God's grace was SO sufficient for me! I felt like I was on a lemonade high all week and just had extra joy and energy exuding out of me! The one-on-ones I was so nervous about ended up becoming my very favorite part of the week as I got to really listen and talk through some serious life issues with my girls! And even though I was so worried God wouldn't show up and work in the techs lives like he had in my campers' the year before, He did! He did some really, really cool things that week that were totally from Him, and not from me or the other tech counselors at all. God blew me away by his amazing awesomeness and power that week and the ones that followed!

The second part of my first expectation, was that I expected to be desperate to switch back to camper counseling, and end up having a bunch of junior high tribes that I just had a blast with and got to see God really work in their lives. Yeah. I was supposed to switch back to camper counseling week three, but by the end of week two, I started feeling like I COULDN'T switch. I was having SO much fun with the techs and having SO many good one-on-ones and God was working in so many cool ways, that I began to dread camper counseling. But camp wouldn't let us have three tech counselors, so the following Monday, I moved out of Railside, the building I had become so attached to, and moved into Pine, the cabin I counseled three weeks in last summer, and had been wanting (before the summer) to counsel in all summer again.

I'm not proud of my attitude that day. I don't think too many people really noticed it or even got to see it, since I kinda just withdrew to try and handle things myself, but obviously, that never works. I couldn't believe the feelings I felt-that those techs belonged to me, and that I didn't want junior highers anymore at all. I felt so ill-prepared suddenly for camper counseling. I didn't have tribe talks prepared, and I felt like I didn't have my heart prepared, either-I felt like it was still with the techs in the STEP program. I got my campers, and the first several days, I just felt distracted. I wanted to be on the other side of the serving line. I wanted to be the one packing crates rather than the one receiving one on my overnight. I wanted to stand in the kitchen and be able to step out during meals and give the other girl counselors hugs and encourage them, or take a minute and write them an encouraging note, but now, I was that camper counselor, and I didn't like it. But then I had my one-on-one with another staff member, and she called me out on my behavior. I sat shocked that someone else had noticed, cuz I thought I'd been doing an ok job hiding my feelings from everyone else.

But that's when God really started working in my heart and showing me areas of pride that were there that needed to be torn down, and barriers I had placed up in my heart that were not allowing God to work. I guess God showed me that week that I didn't deserve to see him work at all. I had surrendered myself to him as His vessel to work through, and now I was complaining about what He was using me for, and that He wasn't really using me at all. I didn't see him working in my girls, and I never did much at the end of the week, either, but that wasn't my job to really worry about; it was His. My job was to be faithful to be "all there" wherever He placed me, even when I couldn't see Him working and seemingly had a tribe of mostly unchurched, disinterested girls.

I think I learned more that week than my campers, and God really brought me to a breaking point where I realized I needed Him camper counseling just as much as I needed Him tech counseling. I somehow had this false sense of superiority-thinking I was a good camper counselor and knew more than anyone else, and didn't really need God's help. God showed me just how wrong I was that week. I won't say that the next several weeks weren't a challenge as a camper counselor, and that I didn't struggle again with missing the techs, but God definitely did bring me to a place where by His grace, I was able to open my heart to love my campers and be there with them, more than just in body, but in heart, too. And I DID get to see Him work in their lives. In less subtle ways than I hoped, but I could see Him working in and softening their hearts, and making them question their own beliefs, actions and motives.

Another expectation I had for the summer, was that it would be like last summer, and I would get to know all the other girl counselors super well, and have a blast with them. That was one of the hardest parts of workshop for me-I didn't see the other girl counselors much, yet I knew I would spend five weeks camper counseling with them, and that was hard for me to accept. I knew they would all know each other well by the time I entered their world, and I probably would never become as close with them as I had with last year's counselors. But God taught me so much through that experience as well. HE was enough for me, and He had given me friendships with the other tech counselors, which I was so grateful for! I did end up having fun with and getting to know some of the other girl counselors, but I'll admit it wasn't until around week 6. But God's planning and timing in it were perfect, and He taught me to trust Him in it!

A third expectation I had for the summer was that I wouldn't miss Alisha as much as everyone was saying I would. Like, I knew I would miss her, but I didn't think it would be a huge deal. The "girl" sessions in workshop were tough for me, cuz Alisha had done them the previous two years, and they were done differently this year. Not wrong or bad, just differently, and that made me miss Alisha. Vespers made me miss her too, cuz she would always lead music. I never realized how much I took having a sister around for ganted until I spent a summer without sisters. Now I know what it's like, and have grown in my gratitude to God for such incredible sisters!

I think those are all the shattered expectations I had, but there were still several surprising things God taught me. The first was that prayer is so powerful! I prayed more this summer than I ever have, and I prayed more with other people than I definitely ever was used to, and you know what? Prayer doesn't always change circumstances (although I DEFINITELY saw it happen SO many times this summer, praise God!), but it does change us. God changed me through prayer. He taught me how completely dependent I am on Him for everything, and He deepened my relationships with Him and those I prayed with when I prayed. There's just something about coming to God and admitting that you and the person you're praying with can't do anything to change circumstances, but that HE can, then seeing Him do cool things in others' and your own life that deepens your trust in God!

Another cool thing God taught me that I already knew (I think I already 'knew' all of this with my head before, but my heart grew to really 'know' all this this summer) was that I really can do nothing, but God is the only one who can really work and change things. There were so many times when I sat recounting a story to someone of something that had just happened, and we both had to just stare at each other and go, "Whoa, that was TOTALLY God! I did not do that!" Like, I can present truth-I can share the gospel, I can pray, I can be faithful to point to Christ-but unless God shows up and does a MIRACLE (which is really what happens when God changes a heart, cuz I've tried, and I can't change my own or others' hearts), we're hopeless to see any change.

Before this last summer I had never really sat and thought through how completely ridiculous and foolish and confusing Christianity must seem to unbelievers. "For the message of the cross is folishness to those who are perishing, but to thos who are being ssved, it is the power of God...we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews, a stumbling block and to the Greeks, foolishness, but to those who are called...the power of God and the wisdom of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18,23-24)

I attended a Catholic mass this last Sunday, and I began to understand what people must think and feel when they attend our church for the first time. I felt awkward walking in. Was I dressed right? Was I supposed to seat myself, or was that guy in a robe at the door supposed to seat me? Was there supposed to be a bulletin I picked up to tell me how to act or what to say or do in service? Then the service began and I noticed two books in front of me. I tried to figure out how to use them and figure out what was going on in the service. Then there were all the random times we sat, stood, or kneeled when I just had to follow what people around me were doing, and feel dumb for not knowing what was going on. The congregation said certain things back to the priest, and I obviously didn't know what or when to say anything. Then there was the "showing a sign of peace" to others thing. Was I supposed to shake people's hands? Was there a rule about whose hands to shake and whose not to? Was I supposed to say something special?I hoped they didn't expect me to kiss anyone! Did they all notice I was new, and were they staring at me cuz I didn't know what I was doing? And of course, when they started singing, I didn't know the songs. Oh, and communion, or whatever they call it...that was just weird and gross, and I wasn't even gonna try to participate in that.

Afterwards, the priest asked our group what questions we had. I had so many, but I didn't know how to word them without sounding dumb, cuz I didn't even know what terms to use to ask about things, so I just remained silent most of the time. It was all seemingly just a bunch of rules and words that seemed impossible to memorize, and what was the point anyways?

That really opened my eyes to what people must feel when hearing the gospel. It sounds foolish! "What's the catch?" I heard so many times this summer. "That's [the gospel] too easy! If my sin really is so deathly serious that God will separate me from Him for eternity over it, and there really is nothing good I can do to get rid of my sin, and Jesus really did die for my sins, and the gift of eternal life really is free, why wouldn't everybody just take it? There's gotta be a catch somewhere. It can't just be free." And it isn't! The catch is that somebody has to pay for the sin. Praise God that Jesus paid it all! Salvation is free for us! All those "rules" that seem so confusing and foolishness to those who are perishing are, in all reality, the joyful and grateful response of a heart that has been changed by the Holy Spirit! He and He alone can produce that change and provide that understanding, and apart from Him crashing in on someone's heart and life, they'll stay lost. That's what makes Salvation such a miracle-only God can do it!

One final cool thing God did was change my heart in relation to working with teens. As I already mentioned, I didn't want anything to do with high schoolers at the beginning of summer. I was content at my church working with the Preschool-Kindergarten Sunday School class, and being a Sparks leader. I didn't wanna work with teens. But by the end of week two, I started feeling this change in my heart, and I began asking myself, "How can I go home and NOT work with teens in the youth group?" By the end of summer, it became a burning passion of mine. I NEEDED to work with teens. God was burdening my heart for them.

I realized so many things about teens this summer, and was repeatedly shocked that the majority of parents were not involved or interested in their teens' spiritual lives, nor were their churches teaching truth to teens, but only providing entertainment. I was saddened by the number of teens that weren't really "connected" to a local church. They either didn't attend at all, or (the majority) they did, but church to them was kinda just something they did on Sunday mornings. Their 'faith' was not their own, but their parents', and there was no real connection between them and their church. It was kinda like going and watching a sports game to them. So many more than I expected didn't have that knowledge of and love for God and His Word.

Most of my Jr./Sr. Highers this summer completely "got" all the moralistic teaching in chapel and tribe talks, but it was so sad to see that when I got them one-on-one and tried to get them to explain the gospel to me and their relationship with God, they had no clue what I was talking about, or their version of the gospel was boiled down to either works-based Salvation or simple belief in God's existence.

My eyes were also opened to the struggles teens in this generation really are facing, particularly at home where so many of them don't live with both parents, or where there is a constant battleground where the teen feels the parents don't understand the struggles they're going through and can't relate to them at all. There are also so many pressures that accompany school life and their peers. The pressure to perform well academically as well as in sports is so intense, some of them just cave under the weight then turn to things other than God to fill the hurt and cover up the pressure they feel, while others push themselves, taking whatever shortcuts they can find to get what they want.

I listened to and talked through so many issues this summer with teens. Boys, physical appearance, boys, why God would allow a parent to abuse them, boys, how to relate to a parent who never wanted them and still lets them know they don't, boys, what it really means to live as a follower of Jesus, boys, and so many other things. (Yes, boys was repeated on that list for a reason.) At first I wanted to 'fix' the surface issues, but then I realized those stemmed from their parents' being unfaithful to teach God's Word to their children and show them the way to live as true Christians, but of course, that all started with a sin problem in both every teen and parent's heart, and I could do nothing to 'fix' any of that. I wanted most to reconcile all the parent/child relationships. I wanted to write letters to every parents letting them know what a great influence they have on their teens, and that it is THEIR duty to know and love God and to model and teach their teens how to know and love God as well-their duty-not the church's. The hardest thing to see was that so many of these girls just wanted someone to talk to and unload all their hurts and fears and frustrations and questions, and there really was no adult involved enough in their life that they trusted to talk to.

That turned my thoughts towards my own youth group. My church and the teens in it look pretty good on surface level, but I don't really 'know' many of them. How many of them are going through painful, tough times in their life, and I just don't know it? How many of them are tempted to give in to peer pressure at school and make choices they'll later regret? And the scariest, how many teens in my church totally 'get' all the moralistic teaching, but when it comes to their relationship with God and understanding of the gospel, how many of them are completely lost and don't even realize it? How many of them are under the false assumption that they can slap the label "Christian" on themselves, go to church on Sundays, then live life the rest of the week however they want? How many of them are falsely trusting in a prayer they said when they were three (and can't remember saying now) while living a life completely not in line with the gospel? My only problem with all these thoughts and the new burden I felt for teens in my church was that I didn't think my church's youth group had a need for girl leaders. I kept praying about it, though, and felt I at least had to ask.

So the night I got home, I headed off to church and told my youth pastor and his wife that I felt God was calling me to work with teens and I didn't know if I could just walk away from the summer and NOT work with teens. Long story short, they were shocked and excited because apparently, the morning before, they'd had a youth group leader meeting where my youth pastor anounced to the leaders that two of the girl leaders were stepping down from their positions as leaders and one other was only going to be able to have limited involvement due to health reasons. They needed girl leaders and sat down right then and prayed that God would begin working in someone's heart and make it impossible for them NOT to be a leader this fall. The same words they were praying are what God had already begun in my heart! God started working this all out in May when camp was looking for a tech counselor for four weeks, knowing they would need more leaders in my church's youth group this fall. Is God cool or what?

This summer was way different than I expected. It was way more challenging in way different ways than I expected, but I learned a lot. I didn't form as many friendships or have as much fun with campers as I expected. But I grew so much in my relationship with God through it all, and I can look back at the summer now with a smile on my face, thinking of so many amazing things God did and all the fun memories made in the process. I went into the summer looking for fun and friendships and watching God work in girls' lives like last year. But this wasn't last year. God possibly did more work in my life than in my girls'. My view of God is so much bigger as a result of this summer, and I now see the world in a totally new way. I probably didn't have as much fun, but the growth I experienced in its place I would not trade for anything in the world!

Workshop is supposed to be the two week training for summer where I thought you were supposed to learn eveyrthing, then go through the summer, living out that training. But Paul Gardner was right when he said that we'd learn a lot during the third week of workshop...and fourth and ninth and twelfth. The lessons God taught me didn't end after the official training ended, and I'm so grateful that I know that the work God began in my heart this summer will not leave merely because I'm home.

"Not to Him who is able to do EXCEEDINGLY abundantly above ALL that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21

So it’s official: I’m counseling at Barakel again!

For those of you haven't heard yet, I will be spending 11 weeks of my summer three hours north of here at Camp Barakel in Fairview, MI.

Here's what Barakel counselors get to look forward to....



Lyrics:
Lookin’ towards summer: can’t find work,
Found a Barakel flier in the back of the church.
It said, “You can come be a counselor for a summer job.”
I thought, “I like the sound of this:
Play some games; live with kids.
Go from a hard-working college kid to being 'Dad' or 'Mom'"

Well! Clothes disapear in a Barakel dryer
Inspection scores gotta go one point higher
Romans 12 for the eighth time
Breakfast 8:30, tribe talks nine
There's a homesick camper who won’t calm down
And another one throwing up all over the ground
Been crazy all week long, and we’ve only hit Wednesday in this song!

Ok, totally joking...well, kinda. :p Most of that's true for counselors, but counseling is so much fun, (along with being challenging and a real 'faith growth' opportunity) it's impossible to describe. I think my feelings toward counseling can actually better be explained in the following song I wrote after I came home last fall and was really missing camp:



Lyrics:
Tribe talks in morning and chapels in evening,
Overnights, one-on-ones, talks in the lobby,
Wecandoits, Couns'lor Hunt, and singing--
These are a few of my favorite camp things!

Missionary stories and campers with questions,
Missing flip flops, head counts, and charcoal faces.
Action huddles and thumb circles to pray-
These are a few of my favorite camp things!

Paddleboats, slushies, and fun in Lake Linsley;
Sister counselors, laundry day, and riflery;
Barakel's Got Talent, Firebowl, Musicale,--
These are my favorite parts of Camp Barakel!

Homesick camper, nosebleeds everywhere, fire won't start AGAIN!
Just circle up, pray, and smile as you say,
“We've got beef stew; it's ok!”.

I've served on Barakel summer staff for two summers as both a YAP and counselor, so I can definitely give a ton of reasons why I want to serve on summer staff again. Being on summer staff means great fellowship and amazing friendships formed with other college-age Christians, daily encouraging chapel messages and chances to hear and teach the Bible, getting a chance to serve God in a very hands on and practical way, and SO MANY laughs and funny inside jokes.

But I also must admit (as you saw in those songs) that serving on summer staff isn’t always easy or fun. Being on summer staff provides many opportunities for me to be stretched and grown as a Christian and learn what it means to really depend on God to give me strength as I’m used by Him in the lives of so many girls.

One of my favorite camp stories from this last summer illustrates this so well. Every week, junior highers have the opportunity to spend a night in the woods, sleeping under the stars. I never could sleep well at ALL on overnights, and my first week counseling a junior high tribe this last summer, I especially couldn't because one of my girls was cold because her sleeping bag was too thin, so she had to wake me up and tell me....every half hour. Then she was deathly afraid of sleeping in the dark, wild animals, and bugs crawling into her mouth while sleeping, so she woke me up three times to tell me each of those. Then she decided she needed to go to the bathroom twice in the middle of the night (and once, we got lost trying to find our campsite…loooong story!) and wouldn't go ANYWHERE without me by her side. Then she needed Kleenexes, and after that just wanted to talk because she was bored and not tired. I got hardly any sleep that night, but I learned a lot about patience!

The next night I was exhausted. I made it through our tribe talk, though, and prayed with each of the girls in their bunks, then stepped out into the lobby to look over my devotional for the next morning. I was so exhausted and I remember thinking, "I have nothing left in me to give my campers. Watch and see. Tonight will be the night one of my campers wants to talk more about what we learned in chapel." I think maybe God had a little sense of humor, and when I said that, he decided this was a really good time to teach me that His grace is sufficient and that his power is made perfect in weakness, because as soon as I opened the door to step back into the room and into my nice, warm, comfortable bunk, I heard, "Hannah?" I almost didn't answer. I started screaming at God, "NO! I have no energy! I can't even think straight! Didn't you hear me? NOT TONIGHT!" But instead I found myself walking over to her bunk, and eventually stepping out into the lobby to sit with her as she sobbed then explained all the doubts and questions she'd had about God, the Bible, and who Jesus was and what he'd done for her. I had nothing left in my own strength to give her, and I couldn't even think straight, but I found myself answering her questions with answers I didn't remember I knew, and explaining the gospel to her and what Christ had done for her on the cross.

After camp, I received a letter from her in the mail. In it she said, "The first thing I did when I got home was write down all the things I felt that night-how I felt joy and peace just wash over me. That night changed my life forever!"

I’m so excited to get to serve God this summer and make a difference in the lives of girls again at camp! Please pray for me as I seek to serve God in this way. I definitely have seen the difference prayer can make on the week, and I CANNOT make it through the summer on my own strength. The hours are too long, the activities are too physically draining, the sleep is too short, the girls are too challenging, and the emotional journey is too long for me to take on my own. But I know that God’s grace is sufficient for me for His power IS made perfect in weakness.

I leave for Barakel the end of May, and I would really appreciate your prayers! Here are a few ways you can pray for me each week:

1- That God would fill me with His love for all of my campers.
2- That God would give me wisdom of speech and action-not only in tribe talks (devotions) or discipline, but also in the way I act as a Christian role model for my girls all week.
3- That God would give me a deep love and enthusiasm for His Word that my campers would see and want.
4- That God would fill me with energy, enthusiasm, creativity, health, and strength to keep up with my girls.
5- That my girls and I would have open hearts to hear God’s Word and allow ourselves to be changed by it.

I would also really appreciate mail. It's always so great to hear from home when you're gone so long! You can send me an email through camp's website www.campbarakel.org or through the mail by sending it to:

Camp Barakel
Hannah Banura
PO Box 159
Fairview, MI 48621

Thank you so much!

Questions Campers Ask Part 14- How does God have no beginning?

Q: How does God have no beginning?
A: Have you ever wondered how a flower has no legs? Probably not! Does every living thing NEED to have legs? No, people, birds, bugs and animals have legs, but not plants or fish! Imagine a box with a label on it saying people, birds, bugs, and animals. Plants and fish are outside that box, so they don’t have legs.

How does God have no beginning? Does every living thing have a beginning? No, actually! Only created things have beginnings, and since God does not fit into that ‘box’, He does not have a beginning.

It’s hard to imagine anything that was not created and does not have a beginning, but the Bible says God exists outside the box of time-He has always been and always will be. That’s impossible for us to wrap our minds around now, but someday in heaven, we will be able to.

Psalm 90:2 is my favorite verse about God not having a beginning: “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” The reason this is such a struggle for our brains to understand is because we are all born with the knowledge that everything had a cause. If a ball rolls into your bedroom, something or someone caused it to roll there. Someone caused the cookies in your kitchen to appear there, someone caused the mess in your bedroom, and Someone caused the world into existence. So what about God? What caused His existence? If you think about it, you’ll realize that there must be an uncaused cause that started all the causes. Something uncaused had to cause the first cause. That ‘something’ is actually a ‘Someone’-God.

“’I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end,’ says the Lord who was, and who is, and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8)

Questions Campers Ask Part 13-How much can I get away with and still be saved?

Q: Can’t I still be a Christian and _________________? How much can I get away with and still be saved?

A: If the question “Can’t I live however I want (listen to whatever I want, hang out with whomever I want, watch whatever I want, treat people however I want, do whatever I want with my boyfriend, etc.) and still be a Christian?” is still crossing your mind, the answer is no. Remember, to be a Christian, or Christ follower, means that you repent of (turn away from) your sin-you hate it, and want to be rid of it. You are no longer your own master-Jesus has paid for your Salvation, and your life is now His to serve and please Him as 1Corinthians 6:19-20 says: “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and your spirit which are God’s.”

Don’t be fooled into thinking you can just ask God to forgive you later; this shows what’s truly in your heart-the desire to sin and enjoy it rather than to please God. If you told a store owner you were sorry for shoplifting in his store, then turned around and shoplifted again the next day, were you really sorry that you did it, or only sorry that you got caught? Obviously, the store owner will know that you never really repented of your wrong deed. In the same way, God is not fooled if your tell him you are repenting of your sin and you are sorry for living in rebellion against him, then immediately sin in the same way again (justifying yourself by saying God will forgive you) and tell Him you’re sorry again.

In Romans 6, Paul asks, “What then? Shall we continue to sin that grace may abound [so God can keep forgiving us]? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”

Yes, as Christians we are free from living in obedience the law, but using that freedom as a license to sin shows a complete lack of understanding in what it means to be a Christian and a devaluing of what Jesus suffered to pay for your sins. To be a Christian is not to follow the law perfectly and please God by doing that; it is to trust that Jesus has followed the law and pleased God perfectly in your place, then to bring yourself under the Lordship of Christ and say, “Jesus, you have control over my music, my movies, my friends, etc.” The question then becomes how you can best glorify God with your life, not how much can you get away with and still be a Christian.

Listen to how Romans 10:9 says we are saved: “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” It is not simply by believing God raised Jesus from the dead, but also accepting him as Lord over your body (the things you do) and your spirit (the thoughts you think: the influences-people and media-you bring yourself under) which are now His.

If your focus is constantly on living however you want and asking God to forgive you later (or not at all), I think you have serious cause to doubt whether you really are a Christian. Yes, all Christians will make mistakes, but this is more of where your desires lie-sinning and enjoying it, or seeking to please God.

Romans chapter six gives a more complete understanding of the Christian’s relationship with sin. Go ahead and put this down and read it!

Questions Campers Ask Part 12- Why doesn't God always answer my prayers?

Q: Why doesn’t God always answer my prayers?

A: There are two verses most people have in mind when they ask this question: “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Matthew 21:22) “If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:14) So we see in these verses that God promises to answer prayer, but we also see that there are three parameters within which God answers prayer:

Requests…
-Must be asked in faith
-Must be asked by a repentant heart
-Must be according to God’s will and timing

So then, there are three reasons why God may not be answering your prayers:

One- God doesn’t hear your prayers. God will not hear your prayers if you have not turned from your rebellion against God to trusting Jesus for Salvation, or if you are a follower of Jesus and you have sin in your life that you will not confess or turn from. We see this in the following three verses: “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.” (Psalm 66:18) “The Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:1-2) There is one thing you must remember, though. “But on this one will I [God] look: On him who is poor and of a contrite [repentant] spirit, and who trembles at My Word.” You do not have to clean your act up before you come to God, admitting you are a sinner in need of His Son Jesus’ sacrifice to pay for your sin. If you are truly repentant (sorry for disobeying God), God will hear you and answer you, forgiving your sin, and giving you eternal life.

Two-You are not asking in faith. “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose he will receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1:6-7) If you continue to pray, doubting that God can change anything, He may answer once to show you His power and make His glory known, but don’t expect him continue to answer your prayers. He won’t.

Three-God IS answering but not with the answer you want to hear-‘no’ or ‘wait’. Three biblical stories come to mind that illustrate each of these answers. When David’s son became ill, David begged God to save his life, but God had other plans and said no. When the Israelite slaves cried out to God in Egypt, he heard them, but answered, ‘wait’; the timing wasn’t yet right to where God would receive incredible glory. When Peter was in prison facing death, God answered the apostle’s prayers with a ‘yes’ and miraculously freed Peter. God will do whatever will bring Himself the most glory and us the most good, even when we don’t understand at the time.

Once we are sure we are praying within those three parameters, we can pray with confidence, as I John 5:14 says, knowing that God will do what is best!

Questions Campers Ask Part 11- How do I know the Bible is true?

Q: Where did the Bible come from, and why is it so important? How do I know it’s really true?

A: Those are really three questions, and all three are very important! If the Bible is just another book full of stories, how can we know who God is and what He’s like? So let me answer those questions!

1-Where did the Bible come from? The Bible is a combination of 66 books written down by over 40 authors over a time period of about 1500 years. However, the Bible wasn’t written by men; the Bible was written by God. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” (2 Timothy 3:16) God didn’t physically write the Bible with His fingers, but He did write it in another sense. Peter describes this process when he said, “holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit (God) told men what to write, and they wrote it down. The Bible claims over 3,000 times that its words are from God. No other holy book even claims to be written by their god, but only by one of their gods’ followers.

The earliest manuscripts we have today with parts of the Old Testament date all the way back to the Second Century B.C. The Bible was finished being written in the first Century A.D. after Jesus died and the apostles and a few others finished writing up historical accounts of what happened while Jesus was on earth and how the churches were to act and live now in light of how their life had been changed because of Jesus. After the Bible was written, it was translated into many different languages, and within those languages, the language of the Bible has been updated in different “versions”. For example, in the English language we speak, one of the earliest translations (but not the very first) was the King James Version. Watch how the wording changes in the following verse (James 4:3) from the 1611 King James Version to the 2001 English Standard Version:

“Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.”

“Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.”

2-Why is the Bible important? The Bible is important because without it, we cannot know God or grow to be more like Him. The Bible tells us how we can know God-through His Son, Jesus. Through every verse of the Bible-in every historical account, song, etc.-God shows us just a little more of Himself, who He is and what He likes and dislikes. And when we see His character, we see who He wants us to become-more like Himself.

3- How do I know the things written in the Bible actually happened and are God’s words? Excellent question! The Bible is made up of history, poetry, songs, wisdom literature, prophecy, and instructions for how followers of Jesus are to live. But how are we to know someone didn’t just make up the stories? There are three ways I’ll discuss:

1: The historical events described in the Bible actually happened. Every secular history account and archeological record we have found has completely backed up rather than refute the historical people, places, and events recorded in the Bible. For instance, the rise and fall of Greece and Rome recorded in the book of Daniel is read in school history books to this day. Additionally, Tyre and Sidon’s destruction was mentioned in Isaiah, and those ruined cities have been found by archeologists.

2: Science backs up the Bible. The Bible is not a science book. However, whenever it makes a scientific statement, that statement proves to be true. For example, many years ago scientists believed they could disprove the Bible because it said the stars could not be numbered, and they believed they had numbered and charted all the stars. However, when more powerful telescopes were invented, they realized the Bible had indeed been correct. There was no way man could have known that the stars were innumerable before that point, but God knew how many stars there were because he had created them.

3: The prophecies made in the Bible actually happened. The Bible was not all written at one time, as I explained earlier. From as far back as the first book of the Bible, God told men future events that would happen, and all those events (except those in Revelation which will happen at the end of the world) have occurred. For example, there were 48 prophecies concerning the Messiah, Jesus, prophesied hundreds of years before He was born. A few are that he would be born in Bethlehem, be betrayed by a friend for thirty pieces of silver, have his hands and feet pierced, be silent before his accusers, enter Jerusalem on a donkey, and have his garments divided and cast lots for. Every single prophecy in Scripture concerning the Messiah was fulfilled in Jesus. A mathematician calculated that the odds of all those prophecies being fulfilled in one man are 1 to the 157th power. In other words, it is impossible. Yet Jesus fulfilled them all! Truly, God must have inspired those prophecies!

Despite all these proofs, the Bible is questioned more than any historical book. When you read Plato’s speeches, do you doubt that Plato was a real person? Do you doubt that he actually wrote the things he said he did? What about Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg address? Obviously not! It’s history! It’s substantiated by other history and archeology! There were eyewitnesses! So why do we look at the Bible, God’s Word, and question whether God is real or whether He really wrote all the things He said He did? The fact that the Bible is God’s Word and Jesus was a real person who was fully God and fully man and died on a cross, then rose from the dead, are historical facts. There were over 17 historical eyewitness accounts (outside the Bible) that have been found recording the crucifixion of Jesus, and over 500 people saw Him alive after His resurrection. So why is there so much doubt?

Ultimately, you must decide whether you will have faith and trust that the Bible is real and God is who He says He is and has done for you what He says He has done, or that the Bible is just a fairy tale, and God is not knowable.

Questions Campers Ask Part 10- How can God be good when He lets so many bad things happen?

Q: How can God be good when He lets so many bad things happen? Where is God when I’m hurting? Why doesn’t God just destroy Satan and evil?

A: I think all of us wonder at one time or another why God allows certain pain or hard things into our lives. I’ve had girls ask me, “If God loves me, why does he let my dad hurt me?” or “If God is good, why did he let __________ die?” or “If God really wants the best for my life, why did he let ______________ happen?” or “How could a good God let so many innocent people die in that earthquake?” Sadly, I don’t know the perfect answers to all those questions. I wish I did. I wish I could end your suffering and pain. When we’re hurting, it’s hard to see anything but the pain we feel so deeply. And the thing that makes what we’re going through even harder, is that God doesn’t have to tell us all the reasons He does things, and He rarely does.
However, there are three things the Bible tells us we can know and hold onto in the midst of pain:

1: Evil, pain, and suffering are the result of sin, and one day God will destroy Satan and rid the world of evil. When Satan tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and they disobeyed God, sin entered the world, and with it, the consequence God had promised-death. If any of us get something other than death and pain in life, it’s because of God’s great mercy. So why do people hurt you? Because they have chosen to rebel against God and not love you as they should. God’s laws are set up for our good. Breaking them messes up everything.

Don’t give up hope, though. The book of Revelation describes a day when Jesus will come back to earth and take His followers with Him to the home He has prepared for them in heaven. Satan and his followers will be cast into the lake of fire, and Jesus will rule His followers in a place where there will be no more “sadness, death, crying, or pain.” (Revelation 21:4) Why won’t Jesus come back now and destroy Satan and all evil? It is actually God’s mercy that allows suffering to continue and Satan to destroy for the moment. How? Because God wants to give more people time to turn from their sin and turn to Him.

2: God uses evil for His own glory and our own good. When Moses tried to free the children of Israel from slavery to Pharaoh in Egypt, Pharaoh hardened his heart and not only would not let them go, he gave the Israelite slaves more work to do and beat the slaves when they could not finish the work. What sort of a plan would God have in letting Pharaoh do that?

“For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.’ What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory?” (Romans 9:17,22-23)

God wanted to show his glory and power to the Israelites through signs and wonders so they and all the nations of the world would know for sure that He was the one and only true God. When they went to fight the people of the lands God gave them to dwell in, the people were terrified of them because they had heard of their God’s power and the ways He had worked for them in Egypt. God raised Pharaoh up and hardened His heart for that very purpose.

A lot of people want to ask why bad things happen to good people. But the truth is that none of us is good. Each of us- the terrorists who crashed the planes into buildings on 9/11 and the five-year-old who disobeys his parents -deserves to be struck down immediately for rebelling against God. But God is patient with us as He was with Pharaoh. He did not immediately strike him down so He could use Him to accomplish His purpose.

3: God’s in control and knows what He’s doing, and His plans for us are so much better than we could even dream possible. “’For my thoughts are not your thoughts,’ says the Lord. ‘Neither are your ways My ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my thoughts higher than your thoughts, and My ways than your ways.’” (Isaiah 55:8-9) Sometimes, we think we know what is best for our life. So when God does things in our life that are hard or takes things or people from us, we ask, “why?” But God knows more than we do. He has a “bird’s eye” view of our lives because He sees the end of our story and knows the best way to make that ending good. There are three stories that instantly come to mind as I write this. Two of them are biblical, and one is personal. I think they’ll do a better job explaining this than I can.

Joseph was a young man who had everything going for him. Life was good and easy, and as an added plus, out of all his siblings, he was his dad’s favorite. But then things started to spiral out of control. Joseph’s brother grew jealous of him and sold him as a slave. If that wasn’t bad enough, as a slave, his master’s wife lied about him, and Joseph ended up in prison. In prison, Joseph interpreted another man’s dream correctly, but when the man was released, he forgot to pass on the message to his boss, Pharaoh, that there was an innocent man in his prison. Joseph might have been tempted at this point to wonder how God could possibly use all that hurt in his life for a good purpose. But God was still in control, and knew exactly what He was doing. Pharaoh had a dream a few years later, and when no one could interpret it, Pharaoh’s servant suddenly remembered Joseph. Joseph was still in prison, so they were able to easily find him, and he was able to interpret his dream and warn him that God was sending a famine that they needed to prepare for or else they all would die. God brought Joseph far from his home and family, into slavery, into prison, and then left him forgotten and betrayed in prison all to save the world from starving. Joseph obviously couldn’t see that when it was happening and he was suffering, but God did!

Hezekiah was an Old Testament king. When God came to him and told him he was about to die, Hezekiah begged for more time. God allowed him to live an extra 15 years, but in that time, he bore a son-Manasseh. Manasseh was the evilest king to ever rule Israel. Hezekiah thought the best thing for himself would be to live longer. But the result of God allowing him to live longer was more suffering and pain for the people. God knows what he’s doing when he chooses the time of someone’s death.

That leads into my third story; Daniel was a young man my family knew who sincerely loved God with all that was in him. He lived every day of His life working hard at knowing God well and making him well-known. His money was spent sacrificially giving to those in need and buying 1,000 Bibles to hand out to everyone in his city. When Daniel felt distant from God, he quit his job to have more time to study the Bible. Daniel was an incredible young man. I say ‘was’ because last May, Daniel was in a bike accident that cost him his life. Daniel is now with Jesus. When he died, I wondered why God would take him. He was doing so much good for God. I knew Daniel was now experiencing complete joy with Jesus as he walked and talked with Him face-to-face, but I was upset that God would take someone who was doing so much good on earth. Daniel was bringing so much glory to God. What sort of plan could God have in taking him? But God did. Through Daniel’s funeral and the incredible story of his life, many people have come to follow Jesus deeper, and the newspaper article printed about his death lead to requests from unbelievers in the city to ask for one of those Bibles Daniel had bought and only begun to distribute. God had a plan in the timing of Daniel’s death, even when it did not match my own plan and timing!

Let me try to answer those top three questions more directly now: How can God be good when He lets so many bad things happen? By “bad things” if you mean people hurting people, that is the result of living in a world of sinners. But don’t worry-God will one day judge all sin and avenge those wrongfully treated. If you mean natural disasters, that is only what we deserve for breaking God’s law. No innocent people die in natural disasters-only guilty ones, because we all are guilty. If a judge let someone who was guilty of breaking the law go free without punishment, he wouldn’t be a good judge. We have all broken God’s law, and the punishment for breaking that law is death. If God just lets us off the hook, he is not a good judge. This is where we see God’s great mercy in not destroying all of us in natural disasters, but instead, in coming to earth as a man, living a perfect life, and dying, taking the punishment for our sin Himself. Where is God when I’m hurting? Right there by your side, working everything out for your good and His glory. Why doesn’t God just destroy Satan and evil? He will as soon as the time is right and those who are going to be saved have accepted Jesus as Savior.

So how should you respond to evil and suffering?

1- Look to heaven! God uses suffering and death to help us focus on heaven. In heaven, we will not have to experience any sadness, death or pain. Instead we will live in perfect fellowship with God. Living with God for eternity, we will experience complete joy.

2- Trust God! He is working for our good and His glory even when we can’t see it. Don’t be afraid; Satan can do nothing without God’s permission. God is never surprised by tragedy or suffering in your life. It is all a part of His perfect plan.

“’For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘Plans to prosper you and not to harm you: plans to give you a future and a hope.’” (Jeremiah 29:11)

Questions Campers Ask Part 9- What about those who have never heard?

Q: What happens to people who haven’t heard about Jesus when they die?

A: This one’s tough. It bothered me a lot when I was in junior high and high school. I wanted a clear heaven or hell answer, but I’ve since realized that isn’t possible. To be able to say that all people in remote parts of the world who have never heard of Jesus go to hell or heaven, I would have to be able to see every individual heart. Obviously, I can’t. Here’s what I know, though:

1-“For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes have been clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and godhead, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20) In other words, God doesn’t let people off the hook for merely not hearing of Him. They “have no excuse” because of God’s attributes that are clearly visible in creation.

2-“For when Gentiles who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves. Who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves, their thoughts accusing or else excusing them on the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.” (Romans 2:14-15) Those who have not heard of Jesus have broken God’s law, and they know this because God has given them a conscience-the ability to know right and wrong. Their own thoughts will accuse them on judgment day.

3-“Nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37) If God wants (and I have heard stories of this happening) He can appear in a vision to anyone and make himself known to them. Remote regions of the world do not stop God from saving whomever He wishes to save. “Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.” (Romans 9:18)

4-“What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.” (Romans 9:14-16) God is not unjust or “unfair” in sending those who have never heard of Him to hell. God is, however, unfair in mercifully not sending some of us to hell. We all deserve hell. That’s what is fair for any of us because we all sin, and that is the fair punishment for our sin. We haven’t done anything to deserve heaven, and no desire or effort on our part can save us. It’s crazy to think that God would be unfair to some of us and grant us eternal life with Him. But He does.

5-“For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me: Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? (Romans 9:17-23) God is crazy about one thing-His own glory. He will use each of us in the best way possible to ensure His own glory. For some, this will include further hardening their hearts which they have already hardened. For others, this will mean crazy, undeservable mercy. God used Pharaoh’s already hardened heart by further hardening it to show His great power and make His great glory known to the children of Israel and every other nation on earth so all people knew that He was truly God. God made us, so He has the right to do with any of us as He pleases. Who are we to question what He does?

So how should we respond to all this? Jesus tells us: “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send our laborers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38) All sinners are guilty, deserving hell. Simply not hearing of Jesus does not change this fact. This should bother you. It bothers me. What are you going to do about it? There are three things you can do. 1- Pray for people to go tell them. 2- Give, providing for others to go tell them. 3- Go yourself and tell those who have never heard the good news of Jesus.

Questions Campers Ask Part 8- How can I reach out to my "cool" friends without looking like a "loser"?

Q: How can I reach out to my “cool” friends without looking like a “loser”?

A: That is an incredibly good question! When you hear a good joke or funny story or watch a good movie, you want to tell or show someone else. It’s natural! It’s the same way when you come to know Jesus. After Jesus becomes our Savior, one of the natural first steps we should take is to tell our family and friends what has happened and how they can come to know Jesus, too! This is the best news ever! We are all sinners, condemned to spend eternity separated from God, but Jesus came to earth and died in our place, taking our punishment. That’s way better than any joke, story, or movie!

There are at least three reasons to share your faith or “reach out” to friends:

1.)For your friends! Revelation 20:15 says, “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” Why tell your friends? To save them from an eternity separated from God in the lake of fire, hell. Would you really be a good friend if you didn’t warn your friend about what happens when we die? If you knew your friend was sleeping in a burning building, would you try to warn her? I hope so! I hope you’ll do the same with your friends’ eternal destiny!

2.)For yourself! God has commanded that Christians “go into all the world and preach the gospel [the good news of Jesus] to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) That includes your friends-all of them! Jesus said that sharing Him with the world was not optional: “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33) Will you deny Jesus in your friendships? If so, you don’t really know Him, and He will one day deny you before His Father.

3.)For God! When the Lord appeared to Isaiah in Isaiah 6, He asked, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” And Isaiah replied, “Here am I, Lord, send me!” For whom was Isaiah going to the people? For the people, to save them from hell? No! For God-to declare His glory to the people so the “earth may be filled with the glory of the Lord”! Our love for people will run dry and not always motivate us. We have to share for the glory of God-to make Him known and share how amazing He is!

That question was good and very important; however, it is not a valid question. What would you tell me if I asked: “How can I learn to breathe without using my lungs?” I’m pretty sure you would tell me that yes, knowing how to breathe is important, but I can’t breathe if I’m not willing to use my lungs. In the same way, learning to reach out to our friends is important, but we can’t share our faith with our “cool” friends if we’re not willing to look like a “loser”. “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But He who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22) Following and obeying Jesus is hard and may cost you friends! Jesus never said it would be easy.

I think a more valid question then would be “How can I reach out to my cool friends?” My answer? The same way you would reach out to your “uncool” friends! Tell them what Jesus did for you, invite them to church or a youth group activity, then share Jesus with them. Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort have an acrostic to help you remember how to share Jesus: WDJD.

W-Would you consider yourself to be a good person? Most people will say yes. The Bible disagrees, so keep going!

D-Do you think you’ve kept the 10 commandments? You’ll probably be told that they have… mostly, or that they think so. Ask if you can walk through a few. Ask if they’ve ever lied. When they say yes, ask them what that makes them (a liar). Ask if they’ve ever stolen something and what that makes them (a thief). It doesn’t matter how big the thing they stole was. Ask if they’ve ever disobeyed their parents. When they admit they have, tell them those are just three of the ten commandments (you can walk through more if you want to) and the Bible says the only thing we have to do to be guilty on judgment day is break one (James 2:10).

J-If God judged you using the 10 commandments on judgment day, would you be innocent or guilty? If they say innocent, take them back to the 10 commandments and show them again that they have broken God’s law and are therefore guilty. When they admit they are guilty, ask, “Would you go to heaven or hell?” They should say hell. If not, remind them that the Bible says the punishment for sin is death-separation from God forever in hell.

D- Does that concern you? At this point, if they say no, they are obviously not ready to hear the good news of Jesus and what he has done for them. Tell them you care about them and will pray for them. If they say yes, you can tell them all that Jesus has done for them and how if they turn from their sin (repent) and trust that what Jesus did for them on the cross was enough to pay for their sin, God will forgive their sin and give them the free gift of eternal life along with the Holy Spirit who gives us the desire and strength to live for God.

Your friend will most likely not respond the first time you talk to them. That’s ok! Keep sharing Jesus not only with your words, but also by the way you live your life. If they see you are a hypocrite, they won’t want anything to do with ‘your Jesus’. Pray for them no matter what, and be patient, not pushy.

I had a friend a few years ago who was not a follower of Jesus. Her name was Jen, and as much as I valued our friendship, I knew she needed Jesus. So I told her about Jesus and how He had died to pay the penalty for our sin. She had a really hard time believing that, and kept pushing all my talk about God away. I never gave up on her, though. I continued to be her friend and show her Jesus by the way I lived and shared Him with her every chance I got. This went on for several years, and then one day, I found out that she had died. She was only 16 years old. It was hard for me to hear that, because I don’t know if she ever trusted in Jesus for Salvation. But I know it would be so much harder for me if I had never shared Jesus with her.

So be bold for Jesus! Don’t be afraid of what your friends will think of you. You wouldn’t worry about that if they were in a burning building, would you? “And do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)What’s the worst that can happen? You may be made fun of or laughed at. You may be called a “loser”. But Jesus tells us that whoever “loses” his life for the gospel, will find true life, and that those who are persecuted, or made fun of for their faith, will have great reward in heaven. (Matthew 5:12)

Matthew 10:19-20 tells us not to even be afraid that we don’t know what to say- “Do not worry how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.” God will give you words!

After reading this, by still refusing to reach out to your friends, you’re saying two things about what’s really true in your heart:

1: You don’t think your friend is worth the risk of being laughed at.

2: You don’t think God is worth the risk of being laughed at.

1 Corinthians 15:33 warns us, “Do not be deceived: evil company corrupts good morals.” If your friendship with your “cool” friend is more important to you than your friendship with God, maybe your morals have already been corrupted. Maybe it’s time to stop being such close friends with that friend. Yes, I realize that is radical, but Matthew 5 tells us we should go so far as cutting off parts of our bodies if they are keeping us from God. “It is better that one of your members [or friendships!] should perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” (Matthew 5:25)

Jesus took your friends’ eternal destiny so seriously that He died for them. I pray you will get serious, too.

Questions Campers Ask Part 7- What about other religions?

Q: What about other religions? What makes Christianity the real and only one? Can’t all religions be true?

A: There are thousands of religions in the world. The one thing they all have in common is that they are all created by men. But what kind of a god is a god that man makes? If we make our god, doesn't it show that we are stronger than our god? I'm so grateful my God, the true God of the Bible, is powerful and created me and all things. I did not create my God; He created me! I love what Psalms 135 and Psalm 96 say about all other gods and religions that are man-made:

"The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens."

Believing in a religion that is made by man isn't just silly because creators are stronger than the things they create, and man would then have to be stronger than God, and what is a god but a Being who is all-powerful? It is also silly because:

All other religions:

-Were founded by a man who died

-Teach you must improve yourself and be good enough to earn their god's favor, when we all continually mess up, no matter how hard we try. None of us can be perfect! That's why the message of Jesus Christ is such good news; Jesus was good enough for us. He lived a perfect life, then died, taking the punishment we should've had to take.

-Have holy books written by men, rather than God. Men lie and cannot be fully trusted. God can never lie.

Wanna see? Let’s take a look at the three main religions of the world and their problems, followed by an explanation of Christianity.

Hinduism:
-Worship thousands of gods

-The Hindu's life goal is to be reunited with the "World Soul"- All people, all of nature and even their gods are part of this World Soul. They believe that they are born from the World Soul into a body and go through continual stages of death and reincarnation until they finally live a perfect life, good enough to be reunited with the World Soul.

-One of the earliest known official religions (founded by Persians in Arya in about 1300 B.C. ) outside of Christianity which was founded at the creation of the world when God made all things, including man.

Problems:
-There cannot be multiple gods. A God must be infinite, and there cannot be more than one infinite Being, because an infinite Being can lack nothing. For there to be different gods, they must be different from each other in some way, and for a god to be different than another, he would have to lack something the other god had, and thus no longer be infinite.

-Cannot be true, because no one can ever live a perfect life. The only One to ever do so was Jesus, who was God, who lived, then died and rose again to pay the price for our sins.

Buddhism:
-Started by a man who didn't like the fact that Hinduism meant for him that he couldn't be reunited with his World Soul at death because he hadn't been born into the right family, meaning he wasn't good enough.

-The man changed his name to Buddha, meaning "enlightened one", claiming he had become enlightened about the meaning of life through meditation.

-Buddhism is founded on the principle that by doing good works, man can overcome his desires which cause evil, and stop his suffering, which is all he believed life was about.

-Buddha taught that if you were always kind to people, behaved well, and meditated on good things, you would be happy and would not have to be reincarnated at death. You would just cease to exist.

Problem:
-Too bad for followers of Buddhism that none of us is always kind, meaning none of us can escape "continual reincarnation". Also doing the right thing doesn't always make us happy; sometimes it can be really hard to stand up for what's right, as Jesus taught (Luke 6:14-33).

Islam:
-Founded in 610 AD (after the death and resurrection of Jesus) by a man named Muhammad who claimed to have seen an angel in a dream who told him that Allah, one of the Arab gods, wanted him to start a new religion, with him as Allah's prophet.

-Muslims (followers of Islam) follow the teachings found in the Koran, a book Mohammed wrote from the messages he claimed the angel in his dreams gave him.

-The Koran teaches that a person goes to heaven or hell based on whether they are a good person or not.

Problem:
-Mohammad claimed that Allah and the true God of the Bible were the same. He claimed Allah/God had sent many prophets to the world: Abraham, Noah, Adam, Moses, Jesus, and finally him: Mohammad. This could not be true, because then, God would be a God who changes or lies, since the Bible says that a person is not saved through doing good or being good enough but by trusting that Jesus lived a perfect life and was good enough to pay for their sin (Titus 3:5, Ephesians 2:8). The Bible also says that Jesus was God, but Mohammad said he was just another prophet. The Bible teaches God cannot lie or change (Numbers 23:19), so obviously, Mohammad's dreams of an angel were just that-dreams.

Christianity:
-Founded by God at the creation of the world. God, who is perfectly holy, has always existed and exists in three persons- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He created man in his own image to glorify Him and enjoy fellowship with Him.

Problem:
-God gave Adam and Eve one rule, with the punishment being death and separation from fellowship with God, and Adam and Eve broke that rule. The Bible calls disobeying God sin, and says we all are sinners. The punishment for sin is death.

Solution:
-Unless a perfect person paid the price for our sin (death) for us, we would be separated from God forever. Jesus, who was God, came to earth. Being God, He lived a perfect life, then was killed to pay the price for our sin and take the punishment we deserved.

-The Bible teaches that all who trust what Jesus did as being enough to pay for their sin and get them to heaven, then choose to turn from their sin to follow Jesus will receive the free gift of eternal life.

Problem?
Does this mean the founder of Christianity died, too, just like all other religions? Yes and no. Yes, Jesus died, but no, He is not dead. He is the God who CREATED death, so He is stronger than it. He rose from the dead and was seen by over 500 people. The truth of Jesus' resurrection is not just found in the Bible, there are numerous historical records (at least 17) of people who saw Jesus alive after His resurrection.

Some people, after hearing all this will say, “It doesn’t matter what you believe or who you believe in as long as you’re sincere. You can believe what you want to believe, and I’ll believe what I want to believe. We each can take our own path to get to God.” Can all those religions be true? Can there be more than one way to get to God?

Logically, that doesn’t make sense. If I sincerely believe that 2+2=5 and you sincerely believe that 2+2=4, we can’t both be right, can we? No! There is only one correct answer to 2+2 and only one way to get that answer.

Jesus claimed to be the only way to God: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through Me.” (John 14:6) Others also claimed he was the only way to God: “Nor is there Salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Mark Cahill tells a story of how he was talking to a couple people from other religions who told him there are many ways to get to God. They compared getting to God like climbing a mountain. At the top of the mountain, they pictured God. All around this mountain are many different paths that people choose to get to the top of the mountain to get to God. They believed that it didn’t matter which path someone took to get to “the top of the mountain”, or God, as long as they worked hard and got there.

Mark turned the illustration around, though, and asked them, “What if I told you that instead of us trying to work our way up to the top of the mountain to God, God came down from the mountain to where we are?” “That would be incredible!” the other men replied. But that’s exactly what God has done for us: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5)

We could never be good enough to get back to God, so God came to us in the form of a man-Jesus. Jesus can take us up the mountain and get us back to God because he has already done the work of living a perfect life, and he has already paid for our Salvation.

After reading all this, you can see that Christianity makes sense and Jesus is the only way to get to God. But that’s not enough; you must decide what you really believe. You can read more about this in “How can I become a Christian?”