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Questions and Objections
Part 2
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I am
doing the best I can and I'm sincere.
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Even if
you could do far better than you are doing now you still can't do well
enough because you don't please God by being good (Gal.
2:21), but by accepting Jesus (John
1:12).
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Sincerity
is not the way to heaven. What if you are sincerely wrong? (Remember
John
14;6?)
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If you are
relying on your sincerity, then are you saying that because you are
sincere, therefore you are good enough on your own to be with God."
Don't you see, to appeal to your sincerity is to appeal to pride,
because you are appealing to something that is in you and not
God for your reason to go to heaven. I am sorry, sincerity is not
enough. You must have faith, in Jesus.
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How long
have you been doing your best? Has it worked so far? Has it given you
eternal life?
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I am
skeptical.
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Are you
honestly looking for answers? If you are, I would be very willing to
talk with you more about Jesus, the Bible, or whatever else you want
to talk about.
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What are
you skeptical about? Perhaps we can talk about some of the things that
you feel keeps you from a saving knowledge of Jesus.
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I
tried Christianity once.
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The Bible
says that once you are saved, you are never the same again, you are a
new creature (2
Cor. 5:17). If you have gone back to your old
ways, then most probably you were never saved. If, however, you were
saved, then God won't let you stay in rebellion for long. He will deal
with you in whatever way is necessary to bring you back into
fellowship with Him.
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Did you
become a Christian by going to church or by asking Jesus to forgive
you of your sins? The latter makes you a Christian, the former
doesn't.
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I
knew some Christians once and they wronged me.
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Christians
aren't perfect. They make mistakes like anyone else. I hope you can
find it in your heart to forgive them. I think that is what they would
do for you.
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Maybe they
didn't know they wronged you. Was it something really bad or was it
just a mistake? Have you gone to them and spoken to them about it?
Maybe if you were to forgive them you would begin to understand the
forgiveness God has for you. We all need to be forgiven, don't you
agree?
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I'll
take my chances.
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With what,
eternity? Eternity is a long time to be wrong. Why would you want to
take a gamble on something as important as your eternal destiny? It
takes only a moment to trust Christ for your salvation. There will be
an eternity of pain and regret if you don't.
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You don't
take chances with guns do you? You don't take chances and run red
lights do you? Why would you take a chance on something that is far
more important than these? Don't take a chance on something eternal.
It isn't worth it.
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Jesus said
He was the only way to God. He forgave sins, walked on water, calmed a
storm with a command, raised people from the dead, and rose from the
dead Himself. No one else in all of history has done that. If He can
do all that, don't you think you should listen to Him.
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I am
not that bad a person.
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Whether or
not you feel you are bad or good is not the real issue. The Bible says
that all have sinned (Rom.
3:23). If all have sinned, good or bad, then
all will suffer the judgment of God. God does not require someone to
be pretty good; He requires that he not sin at all. But He knows that
you cannot be sinless. That is why He gave His only begotten Son that
whosoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting
life (John
3:16).
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The Bible
says that our good works are filthy rags before God (Isaiah
64:6). It isn't saying that we might not try
to be good, it is saying that whatever good we do, it is not good
enough. It also says that there is none who does good (Rom.
3:12). The standard God seeks is perfection.
We cannot please God on our own. That is why Jesus died on behalf of
sinners. If you want to be good enough, then you must let God see you
through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That is the only goodness
that counts to God.
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I am
too old or too young.
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You are
never to old to trust in Jesus as your Savior. As long as you are
alive you can call on Him to forgive you of your sins. He is as close
as the call of your heart.
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(Granted
there may be some who are too young to understand the gospel message,
but here we will address those who simply use that as an excuse.)
Youth is a blessing from God. Don't use it as an excuse to stay away
from Him. If you can understand what sin is and your need for
deliverance from it, then you are not too young to receive Jesus as
your Savior. He saves everyone, young and old.
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I
can't believe in a God who would send people to hell.
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Hell was
originally created for Satan and his angels. In the future it will
contain those who join Satan in rejecting God. If you reject God's
provision for the forgiveness of your sins then you will join the
Devil who rejected God from the beginning. Is that what you
want?
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Could you
believe in a God who would become a human, suffer at the hands of
humans, and be killed by them, all so that His death could be the
payment for their sins? That is extremely loving. God is saving people
who deserve to go to hell -- and we all deserve that. Remember that
the same God that sends people to hell also died for them. If they
reject what God has provided then what is God left to do? He would
have to judge them.
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Whether
you believe in something or not does not change the fact of its
existence. Jesus spoke often of hell (Matt.
25:41-46; Mark
9:47-48; Luke
16:19-31) and warned us so we would not go
there. Would you say Jesus didn't know what He was talking
about?
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Are you
implying that it is unjust for God to send people to hell? If so, then
you accuse God of injustice. Sin is wrong and it must be punished.
What would you have God do to those who oppose Him and do evil? Do you
want Him to ignore that which is wrong? Do you want Him to turn His
head and not be holy and righteous?
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I
will worry about it in the next life.
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That you
may very well do, forever. Eternity is a long time to be wrong,
especially about Jesus.
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God has
warned us in the Bible that it is appointed for men to die once, then
judgment (Heb.
9:27). After death you will be judged. Do you
want to face eternity without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ accounted
to you? God hates sin and you have sinned. God will punish sinners if
they reject Jesus. However, He loves you. That is why He sent His Son
to die for sins. If you want eternal life, then you need to worry
about it now. Eternity is a long time to be wrong, especially about
Jesus.
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There is
no next life. Reincarnation isn't true. The Bible says after death you
face God (Heb.
9:27).
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I don't want to give up what I like doing.
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If you
become a Christian, are you saying you must stop doing what you're
doing now. That means you know it is wrong. Let me ask you something.
If you were to become a Christian and God were to live in your heart
and you looked back upon your life now, would you say to yourself, "I
did a lot of things I wish I hadn't done."? Probably so. The
Bible speaks about just such a thing. In Rom.
6:21 it says, "What benefit were you then
deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed, for the outcome
of those things is death," (NASB). What you are saying is that God will require you to give up
certain things that you like to do. Since God only wants what is good
and right, and you say you don't want to give up what your are doing,
then you are saying you want what is wrong.
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Will you
let your pleasures get in the way of salvation? Is your life of sin
worth an eternity of pain? Jesus said, "What will it profit a man
if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?" (Mark
8:36).
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