麥城華人基督教會
Madison Chinese Christian
Church
Address: 1510 Madison Street,
Madison, WI, USA. Phone: (608)251-2251
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麥城華人基督教會 | ||||||
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| 1. | What is sin? | ||
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| 1. | Sin is doing what is wrong as well as not doing what is right. It is breaking the Law of God (1 John 3:4). In other words, it is doing what is against God's will. If He says do not lie and you lie, then you have sinned. If He says do not steal and you steal then you have sinned. And, according to God, sin separated you from Him (Isaiah 59:2). | ||
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| 2. | Sin is an offense to God's character. Because God cannot lie, it is wrong for you to lie. Because God cannot steal, it is wrong for you to steal. Right and wrong, then is a manifestation of the character of God. God is holy; He cannot sin. Sin offends Him personally because it is His laws of right and wrong you are breaking. If you have offended Him then you must find a way to "unoffend" Him. The problem is that you can't, but He can and has, by offering His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross as a sacrifice for sin. | ||
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| 2. | What is salvation? | ||
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| 1. | Salvation is the forgiveness of sins. It is only accomplished through faith in Jesus as Savior. He died on the cross for sins. If you want salvation, you need to trust in what Jesus did on the cross. Only then can you have eternal life and be with God. | ||
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| 2. | Salvation is saving a person from damnation. Damnation is judgment upon the sinner. This judgment consists of God condemning the sinner to eternal punishment in hell. This is the destination of all who reject God's provision for the forgiveness of sins. If you want salvation, then you need to recognize that you are a sinner and ask Jesus to forgive you. He will. | ||
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| 3. | What do I do to get saved? | ||
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| 1. | Salvation is a free gift of God (Rom. 6:23). Jesus bore sin in His body (1 Pet. 2:24) and paid the penalty for breaking the Law of God, which is spiritually death (eternal separation from God.) If you want salvation, you need to admit that you are a sinner and that you want Jesus to forgive you of your sins. You must acknowledge that there is nothing you can do to earn forgiveness. Pray and ask Him to forgive you. You need to trust in Jesus. Seek Him; He will save you. | ||
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| 2. | Repentance is part of salvation. Once saved, you should stop doing those things that are displeasing to God. He will live in you and give you the ability and desire to resist sin (1 Cor. 10:13). When you are saved, expect to change-for the better. | ||
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| 4. | Is baptism necessary for salvation? | ||
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| 1. | No. Faith in Jesus is sufficient for salvation. You don't have to do anything. Christ has done it all. However, baptism is very important and all believers should be baptized. If you refuse baptism after salvation, I would doubt your conversion. | ||
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| 2. | There are Christian
denominations that believe baptism is necessary for salvation. The
argument used, on the surface, seem to be powerful, but upon examination,
baptism is found to occur after conversion and is not in anyway a cause or
part of it. Take, for example, Acts 10:44-47. While Peter was witnessing,
the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message...
and they were hearing them speaking in tongues and exalting God. Then
Peter answered, "Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be
baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?"
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| 1. This passage shows
that baptism happens after salvation. How do we know they were saved? They
were speaking in tongues - which is a gift from God (1 Cor. 14) to
believers and they were exalting God. Non-believers do not exalt God.
Also, peter said they had received the Holy Spirit. That is only for
Christians and it happened before baptism.
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| 2. Another set of verses applicable to this issue is 1 Cor. 1:17. Paul says, "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel? The gospel is what saves and it is explained in 1 Cor. 15:1-4. Baptism is not part of the gospel; it is something that the believer does after salvation. | |||
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| 3. | Baptism is only a symbol of that which saves and symbols don't save. | ||
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| 5. | There are too many hypocrites in the church. | ||
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| 1. | Church is a good place for hypocrites, as will as liars and thieves. It is there where they will be exposed to the Word of God and learn that hypocrisy is wrong. For you to judge those in the church is to condemn yourself, because we are all hypocrites in one form or another. Your recognition and condemnation of it tells me you know it is wrong. Is it hypocrisy to point a finger at the church full of sinners when you yourself are one as well? | ||
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| 2. | It has been said that you must be smaller than the thing you hide behind. Are you hiding being the hypocrisy of others to keep you out of church? You must realize that you are responsible for yourself and God won't ask others about you on judgment day. He will come to you and ask you to give an account for your life. The hypocrites in the church will also stand before God, with or with out you there. | ||
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| 3. | People don't counterfeit pennies. Why do you think there are hypocrites? Because Christianity is valuable. | ||
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| 6. | Why are we here? Or, Why did God make us? | ||
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| 1. | God made us so we could glorify Him and have fellowship with Him (1 John 1:1-3). He made Adam and Eve and put them in the garden and then He walked in fellowship with them. He gave them the greatest thing they could have, His love and presence. After they sinned, God said, "Adam, where are you?" God sought Adam. In Exodus 25-8 God said to Moses while Israel was in the wilderness, "And let them construct a sanctuary, for Me, that I may dwell among them." In the New Testament in John 1:14 it says, " And the Word became flesh and dwelt (tabernacled) among us? God seeks our presence. He wants to have fellowship with us. He made us to give us His love and enjoy His presence. But, man sinned and separated Himself from God. That is why Christ died for sins, that our fellowship with God would be restored. | ||
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| 7. | What about those who have never heard the Gospel? | ||
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| 1. | That is a good question. The Bible says that God is a just God. We know that whatever He does is right. When it comes to those who have never heard the Gospel, He will do what is right, whatever that is. But as for you, you have heard the gospel and He will judge you according to how you respond. He is calling you to repentance, to turn form sin and come to Him. | ||
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| 2. | In Romans 2:12-16 it speaks about those who have never heard the Law of God and how they will be judged according to the law that is written in their hearts. The Law written in their hearts is the knowledge of right and wrong. Perhaps God's judgment of those without a proper knowledge of Him is included there where it says that they will be judged according to their own consciences that "bear witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them. "All I know is that God will do what is right and the only way to have your sins forgiven is through Jesus. | ||
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| 8. | Jesus is only one of many great men of history. | ||
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| 1. | Granted, Jesus was a great man of history. That is a fact. But, He is different from all the other great men of history. How many great men of history rose form the dead, calmed a sea, walked on whatever, raised others form the dead, healed sickness, and forgave sins? There aren't any others that I know of. Do you know of any? These things make Him more than great. They make Him special and unique. | ||
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| 2. | You are right, Jesus was a great man. But let me ask you. If He were great, would He lie? Of course not. If He were great, would He be insane? No. You see, Jesus claimed to be God (John 8:58 with Exodus 3:14; John 5:18, 10:30-33). If He were lying, we shouldn't listen to Him and we couldn't call Him great. If He were insane then we shouldn't listen to Him and again we couldn't call Him great. If he is great, then He must be telling the truth. And He was great, right? | ||
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| 3. | John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Verse 14 says, " and the Word became flesh..." The Word is Jesus. | ||
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| 9. | Why is there evil and suffering in the world? | ||
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| 1. | The question implies that if a good God exists, then evil shouldn't, because God being all powerful, should stop it. | ||
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| 2. | We need to ask and answer
two questions. First what is evil? It is that which is against God. It is
anything morally bad or wrong. It is injurious, depraved, wicked. Some
acceptable examples might be murder, rape, stealing, lying and cheating.
Second, if we want God to stop evil do we want Him to stop all evil or
just some of it? In other words, if just some of it then why? If He were
to stop only part of the evil, then we would still be asking the question,
"Why is there evil in the world?" Let's suppose that someone was about to commit murder. God would have to stop him, maybe whisper in his ear, or if that didn't work do something a little more drastic like have something fall on him, or stop his heart, or make his hands suddenly fall off. Anyway, God would have to do something. What if somebody wanted to steal? God would have to stop him too, right? Undoubtedly, God's imagination would permit a more practical method than I have suggested, but the end results would be the same. What about lying? If someone were to tell a lie, then to be consistent wouldn't you want God right there to stop that person from lying? After all, he couldn't let any evil occur could He? Let's take it a step further. Suppose someone thought something evil. Then, of course, God would have to step in and prevent him from thinking anything bad at all, fright? The end result would be that god could not allow anyone to think freely. Since everyone thinks and no one thinks only pure thoughts, god would be pretty busy and we wouldn't be able to think. Anyway, at what point do we stop, at the murder level, stealing level, lying level, or think level? As you questions implies, if you want God to stop evil, you would have to be consistent and what Him to do it everywhere all the time, not just pick and choose. It wouldn't work. Evil is in this world partly because we give it its place but ultimately because god, in His sovereignty, permits it and keeps it under His control. Then you might say, "Couldn't He just make us perfect and that way we wouldn't sin?" He already did that. He made a perfect angel, Satan, but he sinned. He made a perfect man, Adam, and he sinned. He made a perfect woman, Eve, and she sinned. God knows what He is doing. He made us the way we are for a purpose. We don't fully understand that purpose., but he does. | ||
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| 3. | God is sovereign; He has the right to do as He wishes. He has the right to permit evil for accomplishing He ultimate will. How can He do that? Simple, look at the cross. It was by evil means that men lied and crucified Jesus. Yet god in His infinite wisdom, used this evil for good. It was on the cross that Jesus bore our sins in His infinite wisdom, used this evil for good. It was on the cross that Jesus bore our sins in His body (1 Peter 2:24) and it is because of the cross that we can have forgiveness of sins. | ||
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| 4. | Consider the biblical example of Joseph in the Old Testament. He was sold into slavery by his brothers. Though they meant it for evil, God meant it for good (Gen. 50: 20). God is so great that nothing happens without His permission, and in that permission His ultimate play unfolds. In His play He is able to use for good what man intends for evil. God is in control. | ||
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| 10. | What makes Jesus so special? | ||
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| 1. | Who He said He was. He said He was God. In John 8:58, Jesus said, "Truly, Truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." When He said, " I AM," He was quoting form the Old Testament in Exodus 3:14. That is where Moses was talking to God and asked Him His name. God answered and said, " I AM." He was claiming the name of God for Himself and thereby claiming to be God. Other great men of history point to a philosophy and teach good ideas. Only Jesus pointed to Himself, clamed to be God, and spoke with authority that matched His claim. | ||
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| 2. | What He did. Jesus forgave sins(Luke 5:20). He rose form the dead (Luke 24), raised others from the dead (John 11:43-44), and He walked on water (John 6:19). No one on earth has ever done the things Jesus did. There is no way around it. Jesus is special, about that there can be no doubt. | ||
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| 11. | Why did Jesus have to died in order for me to go to heaven? | ||
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| 1. | Because the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Though Jesus never sinned (1 Peter 2:22), He bore our sins in His body on the cross ( 1 Peter 2:24) and died. He died in our place. Instead of God making us pay for our sins, He did it Himself by becoming one of us. | ||
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| 2. | Two things happen when we sin: one to god and one to ourselves. When we sin, God is offended. Why? Because it is His Law that we are breaking. Also, when we sin we are killed. We don't die right there on the spot, we will face a death that is far more severe. Sin kills us (Rom. 9:12) by cause in eternal separation form God (Isaiah 59:2). God hates sin (Hab. 1:13) and sin must be punished. Since we are unable to please God because we are all sinners, He made an offering that is pleasing to Him. That offering was the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. There was no other way. If there were, God would have done it. | ||
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| 12. | What makes you think the Bible is the word of God? | ||
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| 1. | Prophecy. The Old Testament was written before Jesus was ever born. The New Testament was written by the men who know Jesus, who walked with Him, ate with Him, and learned from Him. In the O.T. there are prophecies concerning His birthplace (Micah 5:1-2), that He would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), that He would be rejected by His own people (Isaiah 53:3), that He would be betrayed by a close friend ( Isaiah 41 : 9), that He would die by having His hands and feet pierced ( Psalms 22: 16-18), and that He would rise from the dead (Psalms 16:10, 49:15). In the N.T. all these prophecies, and many more, are fulfilled by Jesus. Now, this is the question you must answer: "If the Bible is not inspired form God, then why does it have so many fulfilled prophecies?" How is that possible if the Bible were not from God? Only God knows the future, has power over it, and can look into it to tell us exactly what well happen. In the Bible we have the finger prints of God:? Fulfilled prophecy! | ||
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| 2. | Wisdom. The Bible is full of the greatest truths about man and God, sin and salvation. The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) is beautiful in its wisdom, humility, and love. The Psalms are incredible poetry of great depth and beauty. The N.T. epistles are great descriptions of love, forgiveness, longsuffering, kindness, etc. Ever if you don't want to become a Christian, studying the truth God has revealed in the Bible will greatly help you in your life. (The aim is not to merely to get the person to use the Bible as a guide to good living, but to encourage him to read it. This way, he will at least be reading the Word of God and be that much closer to conversion because God's Word will accomplish what He want it to (Isaiah 55:11). | ||
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| 13. | The New Testament was written so that it would only look like Jesus fulfilled prophecy. | ||
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| 1. | Then what you are saying
is that the N.T. writes lied about Jesus. He really didn't rise from he
dead and all those miracles about Him are really false,
right? I could see your point, but there is just one problem. How do you account for the writes of the N.T. teaching about truth, love, honesty, giving, etc. all based on lies? Why would they suffer hardships like beatings, starvation, shipwreck, imprisonments, and finally execution for nothing but lies? What you are saying doesn't make any sense and raises more questions than it answers. The only logical explanation is that the fulfilled prophecies really did happen. Jesus actually rose from the dead. He performed miracles and He forgave sins. He forgave sins then and He can still do it now. My sins are forgiven, are yours? | ||
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| 14. | The Bible is full of contradictions. | ||
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| 1. | Really. Do you know of any? Could you quote me one or two? | ||
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| 2. | Just in case someone actually does quote what he thinks is a contradiction, it is up to you to give a competent answer (1 Pet. 3:15). If you can't, don't worry. Simply tell him that you will research it and get back with him, and make sure you do. | ||
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| 3. | There are areas of Scriptures that are difficult to understand. This does not mean the Bible is untrustworthy. A very good book to have is the Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties by Gleason Archer, Zondervan Publishing House, (Grand Rapids Michigan). | ||
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| 15. | How do I know which religion is right? | ||
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| 1. | (This is a difficult question to answer because it involves discussing some principles that the person you are witnessing to may or may not agree with. For example, does he or she agree with you that truth is knowable, that God would attempt to communicate with His people, or that only one religion may be right? Usually, I start by acknowledging the difficulty of coming to an easy answer. However, I tell them that I do have an answer; I am sure it is the right one, because it is an answer based on evidence. What kind of evidence? Prophecy and its fulfillment (see question # 34), Jesus and His miracles, the resurrection of Christ, etc. Then I ask that person if he or she knows of these things happening in other religions.(1) The answer is invariably, "No." Then I point out that they have only happened in Christianity. If any religion were true, Christianity fits the bill. | ||
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| 16. | Religion is whatever you feel is right. | ||
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| 1. | How do you know what you feel is right? Haven't your feelings ever turned out to be wrong? Are you are saying that what you feel determines truth? If so, then you are putting yourself in the place of God and looking to yourself for what you "feel" is right. | ||
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| 2. | If religion is whatever you feel is right then that could lead to chaos. What if some people had a religion where they felt stealing was acceptable? And what about lying and cheating? Would you trust someone who believed in a religion that felt it was alright to steal, lie, and cheat? | ||
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| 3. | Hitler felt killing Jews was right. He was wrong. The Bible says that the heart is deceitful and untrustworthy (Jer. 17:9). If you could come to know truth by what you felt, then the Bible, which is the revelation of God, didn't need to be written. But, it has been written and it has revealed that only God is the Source of truth, not your feelings. | ||
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| 4. | I've never known truth to contradict itself. What if someone felt that something was right and another person felt it was wrong. Would they both be right? If your statement is true, then how could there be a contradiction like that if feelings determined truth? | ||
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| 17. | All religions are different paths to the same place. | ||
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| 1. | If all religions are different paths to the same place then why do the paths contradict each other? Does truth contradict itself? Let's review the teachings of just three religions: | ||
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| 2. | Buddhism is pantheistic and says there is no personal God and everyone can reach Godlikeness on his own. Islam says that Jesus was just a prophet and not the only way to God. Christianity says that there is a personal God and that the only way to Him is through Jesus (John 14:6). If these three religions are, as you say, different paths to the same place, then why do they contradict each other? Does truth contradict itself? | ||