Coronavirus (COVID-19): Are you ready?

Are alarm bells ringing: Are you ready for death?

What does it take to cause Aussies to realise death could be around the corner for them? Are you ready to meet the Lord God Almighty?

He has stated in Scripture what awaits you and me:

And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him (Heb 9:27-28 NLT).

Steps to obtain eternal salvation

You must admit you are a sinner who has broken God’s laws (Rom 3:23).
You can’t receive salvation through your own effort. It is because of God’s grace and faith extended to you (Eph 2:8-9).
God has already reached out to you through creation and your conscience to demonstrate his existence (Rom 1:18-20; 2:15-16).
Receive God’s gift of salvation through repentance and faith (Acts 2:38).

Now join a Bible believing church that will support you as a new believer and help you to grow as a Christian. Sadly, there are some churches that do not believe the Bible and do what they can to undermine Scripture.

This COVID-19 should be enough to wake you from your slumber of where you’ll be 1 minute after your last breath.

Notes

[1] Andrea Vogt and Erica Di Blasi 2020. The Sydney Morning Herald (online), Italy may abandon over-80s to their fate as crisis grows, 15 March. Available at: https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/italy-may-abandon-over-80s-to-their-fate-as-crisis-grows-20200315-p54a75.html (Accessed 16 March 2020).

[2] A pandemic is ‘an occurrence of a disease that affects many people across a whole country or the whole world’ (Macmillan Dictionary 2020. s.v. pandemic).

Australia is in deep trouble: Droughts, floods and fires

1. Pointing Towards a Solution

(photo courtesy WordPress at The University of Melbourne)

What should we add to the excellent ABC News: Rural (2018) headline?

The big dry: ‘See us, hear us, help us’

That’s a cry for city cousins to dig deep to help people during the big drought. I’m 100% behind that cry for help and have given to the drought appeal. But there’s an essential component absent from that plea.

2. The path Australia treads to ruin

“We can’t make it rain. But we can ensure that farming families and their communities get all the support they need to get through the drought, recover and get back on their feet” the government said in a statement’.[1]

3. Get to the heart of the BIG drought, fires and floods

ABC Rural reported again:

Farmers across New South Wales and Queensland are calling it the worst drought in living memory. Many are facing ruin and say it is time for their city cousins to acknowledge the disaster (ABC News Rural: regional reporters 2018).

This story pointed to the situation as seen by the farmers:

I’d really like people in the city to remember us, see us, hear us, know that we’re still here.

Thin cattle search for food near Coonabarabran in north-western New South Wales (ABC News: Rural, 2018: Luke Wong)

(image courtesy Flickr)

Notes:

[1] Stephanie Bedo 2018. Australia’s crippling drought crisis: Overcoming past mistakes to save ourselves for the future. news.com.au (online), 6 August. Available at: https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/australias-crippling-drought-crisis-overcoming-past-mistakes-to-save-ourselves-for-the-future/news-story/136436de96fee5f33809de8d607f413c (Accessed 7 January 2019).

What makes Christianity true?

What are some facts in your world?

Where do you work or are you retired?
What kind of music do you prefer?
In which suburb do you live?
Which model and make of car do you drive?

These are facts.

However, we increasingly live in a post-facts world which is often a post-truth world. I’m using ‘post’ as a preposition meaning ‘after-’ such as postmortem, which means , ‘an examination of a dead body to determine the cause of death’ (Lexico.com 2019. s.v. postmortem). It takes place after death. P.S. = postscript; postgraduate; the post-1945 era, and post-election victory speech.

What does it mean to live is a post-truth world? Post-truth means a person is ‘relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief’ (Lexico.com 2019. s.v. post-truth).

I note how journalists can engage in post-truth manipulation against belief systems they don’t agree with. See this article by Peter FitzSimons and note how he does it: ‘Dear Mrs Court, honouring a homophobic zealot is problematic for us’ (The Sydney Morning Herald, 9 November 2019).

How, then, should we deal with facts and truth associated with Christianity? It was Jesus who stated:

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6)
“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’ (John 8:31-32)

Stated briefly, Christianity is true because ….

It matches reality like a hand in a glove.
It’s description of human beings is a perfect fit, including the good, the bad and the ugly (fallen human beings in sin – Genesis 3).
It’s explanation of how the universe began and the majesty of the universe are spot on (see Genesis 1-2; Psalm 19).
It gives the only permanent solution I know for changing human beings – from the inside out – in salvation through Christ alone.
It provides the absolutes for running nations (if nations would only obey them) – the 10 commandments (Exodus 20) and the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7). Francis Schaeffer described this as the thesis vs antithesis dilemma that God fulfills.
As for a world and life view, there is none to match it.
That’s why I know that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6) .

Recently I was reading a book by Ravi Zacharias, Jesus among Other Gods: The Absolute Claims of the Christian Message (Word Publishing 2000) in which he, a former Hindu ,was so disillusioned with life that he attempted suicide. He wrote,

I came to Him [Jesus] because I did not know which way to turn. I have remained with Him because there is no other way I wish to turn. I came to Him longing for something I did not have. I remain with Him because I have something I will not trade. I came to Him as a stranger. I remain with Him in the most intimate of friendships. I came to Him unsure about the future. I remain with Him certain about my destiny. I came amid the thunderous cries of a culture that has three hundred and thirty million deities. I remain with Him knowing that truth cannot be all inclusive. Truth by definition excludes (p. 6).

I highly recommend this as an excellent lay-level book to help people work through the challenges of multitudes of religions and gods.

However, there are many theological liberals (modernist or postmodernist) who don’t want this to be true. They don’t trust the God revealed in Scriptures and they want to denigrate biblical content wherever possible. Many of these do not believe in the reality of prophecy or the miraculous because their presuppositions exclude a God who would do that. They hack into the integrity of the Bible.

As I’ve examined their claims and the claims of world religions, I conclude where I began: The Christian worldview matches reality perfectly.

Good News

Sharing good news about Jesus' salvation