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What if it's true?

12/27/2018

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Some time ago, I attended the funeral of a wonderful woman who had died, surrounded by her loving children, after having lived 89 happy, faith-filled years. 

Her funeral was held in a Lutheran church packed with family and friends. Over the course of an hour or so, we sang some of her favorite hymns – “In the Garden,” “When Morning Gilds the Skies,” “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” – as well as the contemporary song “Shout to the Lord.” We heard some comforting readings from Scripture and a homily, as well as her grandson’s lovely (and often humorous) tribute to his grandmother. And of course we shared in a number of prayers. 

There were some tears, but mostly shed over brave smiles. It seems that most of the woman’s family members are believers themselves. They haven’t lost her; they know exactly where she is, and know that they will be reunited with her eternally one happy day. And so they are able to rejoice over her home-going.

What a contrast to some of the funerals I’ve been to, where uncertainty or unbelief have reigned. 

It makes me wonder once again what it is in our nature that allows us to approach certain death without looking into what comes next, and what our options might be.

Seriously: What if Christianity is true? What if eternity exists, and you will spend it in either heaven or hell? What if your ultimate destination depends not on how good you have been in this life, or how popular or how rich, but solely on whether or not you trusted in Christ to have paid the penalty for your sin? 

Millions upon millions of people have believed just that over the centuries. Some of us even came to this conclusion after investigating the subject exhaustively.

Doesn’t it seem like the epitome of foolishness to refuse to look into it?

I spent the first 48 years of my life in precisely that state. Year after year, I told myself that no one could possibly know what happens after death, although I have no idea where I got that idea – certainly not as a result of any great intellectual inquiry. That journey was reserved for the 15 months following the biggest heartbreak of my life, and it led me to the doubt-free conclusion that Christianity is truth.

If you haven’t yet investigated this most important question, what exactly is stopping you? It can’t possibly be worth risking your eternity. 

Here’s a good place to begin. I sincerely hope that you'll check it out. 
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10 tips for witnessing to seekers

12/19/2018

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It’s clearly our duty to help the lost-but-looking find their way to Christ. As the apostle Peter wrote, “Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15b).  Sincere seekers will gladly listen to the evidence you present. Here’s how.

  1. Pray for opportunities and wisdom. God is the only one who can soften a seeker’s heart, and the only one who knows exactly what he or she needs to hear.
  2. Help frame the questions. We don’t know what we don’t know, and the lost may not even know what questions to ask. Answering these questions can be a good place to begin: Can I be sure that there a God? If so, which one is the real deal?
  3. Point to the Creator. Ask the $64,000 question: How can we logically credit a painter for a painting, or a sculptor for a sculpture, and yet deny that a Creator was responsible for the creation? 
  4. Clarify the candidates. Which One is the real God? To give your seeker a grasp of the alternatives, offer a copy of James Sire’s The Universe Next Door – or familiarize yourself with its content and present it in a nutshell. Then challenge him or her to find evidence for Christianity’s competitors. (Good luck with that!)
  5. Amass evidence that the Bible is absolute truth. Determine whether your seeker is most interested in prophecy, history, science, or logic, and then present the pertinent evidence to demonstrate scripture's truth and divine inspiration. 
  6. Explain the gospel – that we’re all sinners headed for hell, but that Jesus paid our personal penalties for sin so that we can spend eternity with Him in heaven – all in exchange for repenting and trusting in Him rather than our own non-existent “goodness.”
  7. Pray some more. Ask the Lord to do whatever it takes to usher your seeker safely into His fold – and to help you walk worthy before him or her.
  8. Count the cost. Jesus said, “Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake” (Luke 6:22). It’s going to happen, if you’re witnessing effectively. Recognize it as a small price to pay for your salvation.
  9. Encourage yourself. In the end, heaven is the only treasure worth pursuing in this life – for yourself, and for everyone you know. Always keep your eye on the prize: eternal life with the One who died for you.
  10. Be patient. You may not see much progress in your seeker’s heart today, or next week, or even after years. It may not even happen in your lifetime. Rest secure in the knowledge that you’ve been faithful to plant the seeds of faith, and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. 
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The myth of increasingly spectacular lifespans

12/12/2018

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“The Bible can’t possibly be true,” a skeptical friend insisted back at the turn of the millennium, when I’d just launched my search for ultimate truth. “As if people could ever have lived to be hundreds and hundreds of years old. Ridiculous! Don’t you know that we’re now living far longer than ever before, thanks to evolution and medical science?” 

This woman was right about one thing, it turned out: the Bible does document outrageous lifespans, such as 969 years for Methuselah and 950 for Noah. But everything went rapidly downhill from there, the Bible seems to indicate, presumably because genetic mutations had begun their relentless process of deadly accumulation. 

So who’s right, my friend or the Bible? Is there any evidence that we’re really living longer these days? Or have we actually lost longevity ground over the centuries? Is it possible that evolution isn’t doing anything to extend our lives? That modern medicine is, at best, keeping us in a holding pattern? 

These are significant questions – so significant that I’ve researched the subject now and then over the years. And what do you know: It seems that today’s “ripe old ages” are really nothing new.  

Consider how long these famous people lived:  

  • Third Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II, 1303–1213 BC: 90 years
  • Spiritual leader Lord Buddha, c. 563–483 BC: 80 years
  • Greek philosopher and educator Plato, 424– 348 BC: 76 years
  • Early theologian Saint Augustine, 354 –430: 76 years
  • France’s first queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, 1122-1204: 82 years 
  • Italian painter  and sculptor Donatello, 1386-1466: 80 years
  • Italian sculptor, painter and architect Michelangelo, 1475 – 1564: 89 years
  • Italian astronomer and physicist Galileo, 1564 - 1642: 78 years
  • English mathematician and scientist Sir Isaac Newton, 1642-1727: 85 years
  • French philosopher Voltaire, 1694 – 1778: 84 years
  • Samuel Adams, 1722 – 1803: 81 years
  • German philosopher Immanuel Kant, 1724 –1804: 80 years
  • Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826: 83 years
  • Russian author Leo Tolstoy, 1828 – 1910: 82 years 

Interestingly, those who document these vast ages never seem to comment on their subjects’ longevity. How come? If most ancients really dropped like flies in young adulthood, wouldn’t you think someone would exclaim over those who slipped through the early-death cracks?  

Instead, such comments seem to be limited to comparisons of today with the 18th and 19th centuries -- centuries when, we are told, people only lived from 35 to 45 years. The underlying message: Aren’t we children of the 20th and 21st centuries absolutely amazing to have so vastly extended human lifespans?  

But apparently we have not done so. Apparently, like every other historical fact ever uncovered, dates such as those above confirm the biblical record. 

Doesn’t this suggest the wisdom of considering what the Bible has to say about what happens after we close the book on our earthly lives?  
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Life is good. And yet ...

12/6/2018

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On the one hand, I am surrounded by people I love – a fine husband and extended family, an array of good friends, a church family whose loving-kindness is astounding. I live in a nice house with a big garden and all the pets anyone could ever want. I enjoy my work most of the time – especially since my commute is about 10 steps from the kitchen and it can be traversed in warm slippers or bare feet, depending on the season. And I spend much of my free time studying mind-blowing books about all things related to the Lord, most importantly the Bible. 

What more could I want? 

I honestly can’t think of a thing – not even my friends’ lake-side cottages or fat retirement accounts or exotic vacations could add anything to my joy. Not even another Super Bowl season for the Packers.

Life is good.

And yet.

My mom and dad and Granny aren’t here. They’ve already departed for our new Home, leaving me behind, unable to get to them under my own power.  And so I am at times consumed with a new kind of homesickness – a longing to be with them in the Lord’s kingdom, a land where there are no tears, no aches and pains, no disease or death, hunger or thirst, just Jesus and joy that we can’t even imagine in our earth-bound 3D hides. 

And so I ache once again. And once again it’s mostly a good ache, one that’s accompanied by butterflies and by capital-H biblical Hope – not merely a wish but a confident expectation about what is to come.

Life is indeed good. But it’s going to get a whole letter better one day. And it’s all going to happen in the twinkling of an eye.

--Heaven Without Her, page 251

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    Kitty
    Foth-Regner

    I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, a freelance copywriter, a nursing-home volunteer, and the author of books both in-process and published -- including Heaven Without Her. 

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