As most of you know I am venturing into the work to the world of freelance web and graphic design. This is my last Saturday that I will be working at Carmax. To celebrate, I thought I would showcase some of my design and web work. Feel free to comment on and critique my work.
Logo for my design portfolio.
Lesliefollmar.com was my first professionally designed web site.
I find my heart wanting to write about this more and more. So finally it will make it onto my blog.
Don’t all religions have the same goal: morality? This was the question posed to me in Town Square in Sugar Land when I attempted to witness to two Muslim men.
“I think that all religions teach the same thing and if there is disagreement between them on any point it is because man has twisted or added to them,” they said.
Their train of thought went something like this, “Didn’t Muhammad, Moses, Christ, The Pope, Buddha, etc teach the same type of things to us? Morality to our fellow man. Why should we disagree and fight for truth when they all taught truth?” Sounds like a compelling argument. If the whole purpose of religion is merely morality, then they have the same goal, and if they have the same goal we should join together instead of divide.
This mere-morality type of religion describes 99% of religions in the world. If we perform our moral duty then we will live at peace with God and our fellow man. But this would be a gross misrepresentation of what Jesus taught when he came to earth.
Yes, Jesus taught a moral standard, that is God’s moral standard. The moral standard he taught displayed God’s holy perfection and His utter worthiness of perfect obedience from us his creatures. But this moral standard is impossible to keep. He taught not only to not commit adultery, but that everyone who has ever lusted has committed adultery already in their hearts (Matthew 5:28). He also taught that worry is a sin (Matthew 6:34) and that we are to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44). And to add insult to injury he upholds the greatest commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (Matthew 22:37)” What an impossible standard to keep! Does Jesus then give us some leeway to make a couple of mistakes? No, He doesn’t: “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48) ”
What are we to say about this. Jesus holds a moral standard that is impossible to keep making it impossible to please God. But this means that there isn’t a chance that in my own effort I can hope to please God. “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28),” meaning fear God who judges us by our actions and thoughts.
This doesn’t leave us much hope to excel in the Christian faith. But this is the true representation of God’s perfection and nature. And if He is a good and just judge, then we are guilty before him and deserve eternal punishment. A man who broke the law deserves the just punishment given by the judge. A corrupt judge would let off criminals by “forgiving them” without payment for their crimes.
But Jesus does offer some hope for us. Through his ministry he tells those who truly believe on him that their sins are forgiven (Luke 7:47-48). How was Jesus able to forgive the sins of those who deserve His just punishment? He tells us in Matthew 26:28 during the Passover meal how he is able to forgive sins, “for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Christ allowed His blood to be shed when He was crucified so that those who believe might be forgiven of their eternal debt of sin. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, (1 Peter 3:18)”
Jesus Christ did not just come to tell men how to morally behave, but how they must be perfect for God the judge in order to enter eternal life. But more importantly, He came to pay the price that we could not pay so that we might be made right before God. True Religion doesn’t just teach man how to act morally, but how to be made Holy for God. Thank God for His Son, Jesus Christ who came to rescue us!
Sorry again for the long silence. You should hear a lot more from me, especially since I feel a conviction from the Lord to share more of my ideas, thoughts, and journey. So at long last I am back.
I came across a great Bible Study help that is proving is worth in the gold it digs out of the Scriptures. BibleArc.com teaches a method of study that forces the reader to examine each phrase in a passage carefully and thoughtfully.
Right now I am going through the tutorials and would highly recommend them to every Christian, since we are all in need of more of the Word of God. The link to the web site is below. My prayer is that you will make time to learn this precious Bible Study tool to increase your understanding of God’s Word
“ What has come to be known as arcing,
has proven to be a most fruitful exegetical tool.
Its principles undergird my whole
approach to biblical interpretation. ”
- John Piper
I aplogize to those following my blog for not posting in a while. Life has been very busy, and I don’t know how much time I will get to share my life on cyberspace.
Hopefully this weekend, I might find some time to post something. Thanks for reading.
