Do you need to believe in Jesus, or God, or both?
DEAR BILLY GRAHAM: Why do we need Jesus? Isn’t it enough to believe in God? I don’t see where Jesus fits into the picture. — S.R.In my opinion, you don't need to believe in either. But for Christians, Christ is a paramount part of the equation. God without Jesus is well... Judaism.
DEAR S.R.: Simply stated, we need Jesus because he is God’s solution to the human race’s greatest problem: our sin.
Wow... God is one horrible problem-solver. He's all-powerful and could solve this supposed problem any way he wanted and he thought that was the best solution? How about just forgiving the genuinely repentant? Let me explain this by asking you a question: What do you think it is that separates us from God? Is it a lack of knowledge...Nope. It's actually a gaining of knowledge that causes many to leave the faith, not a lack of it.
...or conflicting ideas about God...That causes the continuing splintering of denominations of Christianity more than anything else.
... or perhaps a feeling that he doesn’t care?For a God that allows what he does and does nothing about it, it sure seems like he doesn't give a toss. But this doesn't tell people there isn't a God, just that if there is, he's not a loving deity.
No, the real issue is far deeper than these. Only one thing separates us from God, and that is our sin.So the thing that God created for no good reason and could easily just forgive if he wanted is far deeper? Sorry, but 'sin' is actually pretty trivial when you consider that Christianity will just ignore any 'sin' if you believe in Jesus. If sin can just be ignored for an arbitrary reason like that, it really doesn't seem to hold the terrible power Billy is saying it does.
God is holy and pure, and even one sin, just one, would be enough to banish us from his presence.Which is a character trait that anyone would claim makes that person quite a dick if it was being attached to a regular person. And again, you can murder a bus load of kids and God will just look the other way if you are tight with his son.
How then can we be cleansed of our sins? We can’t do it on our own. No matter how hard we try, we’ll never be good enough to come into God’s presence. And that’s why we need Christ.Only if your religion is about gaining followers by way of blackmail. If positive change was the goal, the test would be genuinely feeling bad about what you had done, not being a blind follower.
He is the only person who ever lived who never sinned, because he was God in human flesh.The problem with this claim is that if we use the Bible as our guidebook as to who Jesus was and what is and isn't sin, Jesus did in fact sin. And plenty as I have written about previously.
And only played dead for three days instead of staying in Hell for eternity thus showing that he did not pay the price for the sins of all.And he came into the world for one reason: to take upon himself all our sins, and become the final and complete sacrifice for sin.
My prayer is that you will see yourself the way God sees you, as a sinner in desperate need of his forgiveness.He hopes you see yourself as a horrible, broken, hopeless person? That's quite the pep-talk Billy...
-Brain Hulk
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