A – MY EXPERIENCE WITH RELIGION
I grew up in a nominally Christian home and spent five years in an Episcopal boarding school, but all I heard concerning the Christian faith in my formative years were perorations on the importance of being baptized by the church, observing the church’s rites, obeying the church’s regulations, and being good according to the church’s criteria. Alas, I could never be good enough, and I lived in a vice of fear and guilt. By the time I got to my junior year at Yale, I realized that something was radically wrong with what I had been taught.
Unfortunately, although I turned away from institutional Christianity, I knew nothing about biblical Christianity. As a result and not surprisingly, I was seduced by the rationalists in Yale’s Philosophy Department like Brand Blanshard, who, along with his brother Paul, wrote the Humanist Manifesto of 1933, and I became an atheist. I have described this process elsewhere as follows: “During my college years, …my attention turned to the works of man: the ratiocinations of the philosophers, the theories and equations of the scientists, and the art and architecture of the masters. How great is man, I thought, that he can understand and improve upon the cosmos, and I strode purposefully and pridefully into the cathedral of humanism. Unknown to me was the warning of the Scriptures: “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2:8).
After graduation from Yale, I spent the next 21years (1959-1980) (a) serving as an officer in the U,S. Marines, first as a platoon commander, next as a company executive officer, and finally as an operations planner in the S-3 section of an infantry battalion, (b) marrying my beautiful and hilarious wife, who bore us two lovely daughters, (c) attending graduate school at Yale’s School of Art & Architecture, and (d) practicing architecture, first as an employee of several firms, then in a firm with three partners, of which I was one, and finally alone in Vermont, where I also lived and worked on a farm.
Alas, during these years, I made many foolish mistakes. First, I raised my children in a godless home, which lacked (a) grace at meals, (b) bedtime prayers, (c) moral instruction in tune with the Ten Commandments, (c) any exposure to the great stories of the Bible and the classic prayers of Christendom, such as, the Lord’s Prayer, the General Thanksgiving, and the General Confession in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, let alone (d) any introduction to the most remarkable man who ever lived, Yeshua or Jesus of Nazareth. Second, I designed buildings which were heavily influenced by the International Style that was being promoted in architectural schools at the time (1960s), thereby undoubtedly contributing to the sterility of our built environment. Third, I squandered my inheritance on costly possessions and grandiose projects. Alas, the list goes on.
In 1980, however, my life completely changed. God touched me. He opened my heart and mind to the truths that (a) he exists, (b) he created all things, (c) he entered his creation in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, who sacrificed His Life to atone for my sins if I accepted Him as my Savior and Lord, and (d) he inspired the writing of the Holy Scriptures, which are therefore free of error and can be relied upon in all their particulars. For all the foregoing and more, I thank him daily and will do so forevermore.
During the last over 40 years (1980-the present), I served as (a) Vice President of the Episcopal Church’s Building Fund (a small bank), where I was responsible for managing its loan portfolio and teaching dioceses and congregations across the country how to plan for building construction, (b) a planning consultant to and then Vice President in Merrill Lynch’s Real Estate Division, where I was responsible for the planning and design of the company’s major building projects, and (c) an executive in an international Christian ministry, where I was responsible for administration, finance, and development. After retiring for medical reasons at the end of 2001, I have been writing books, essays, and blogs, many of which appear on this website.
During the course of more than eight decades, I have been involved in three religions, and I would summarize my experience with them as follows:
1 – The False Religion of institutional Christianity, which inserts clergymen between God and its adherents and requires its adherents to faithfully observe a series of man-made rules, rites, and rituals in order to remain in good standing and escape from going to Hell. It was responsible for my spending the first two decades of my life (ages 0-20) in terrible distress.
2 – The False Religion of atheistic Humanism, which denies the existence of God and promises to create a shining new world in which men and women of intellect and goodwill will govern a world flourishing under scientific principles. It was responsible for my spending the next two decades of my life (ages 20-42) helping build the increasingly dystopian world in which we now live.
3 – The True Religion of biblical Christianity, which introduces its adherents (a) to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who designed, made, energized, and manages all things, and (b) to the Son of God, who lived a sinless life, died on the cross to atone for the sins of all men, women, and children who repent of their sins and accept Him as their Savior and Lord, rose from the dead, and ascended to Heaven, where He now sits on the throne of God at the right hand of His Father. It is responsible for my spending the last four decades of my life (ages 42-84) (a) liberated from any sense of guilt for my sins and worry over where I will spend eternity, (b) filled with joy and wonder over God’s greatness, goodness, glory, and grace, (c) enabled me to see the world as it really is, which is utterly depraved, and (d) the Son of God as the only person who can restore this world to its original state, which God himself declared was “very good”[1] before the fall of our first parents, Adam and Eve.
Now I suspect that you have shared at least some of my experiences, the most important of which was being ignorant of the Biblical Gospel for so many years. So, if you take nothing else away from this website, I pray that you will take away a clear understanding of two critical points:
1 – The nature of the Biblical Gospel, which is the Good News of Yeshua or Jesus of Nazareth, the Promised Messiah and the Holy One of Israel,[2] and which, the Bible insists, must be proclaimed to the Jew first and then to the Gentile[3] and
2 – The Biblical distinction between false religions and the one true religion so that the uniqueness and import of the Gospel is clear to you.
B – THE BIBLICAL GOSPEL
“There is one God[4] and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,”[5] who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Me.”[6] Anyone who seeks Him, as did the three Magi, [7] is a wise man.
1 – The Biblical Gospel
Everyone – regardless of gender, race, nation, or other circumstance – finds himself in the same predicament with respect to God, for which there is only one solution:
1A – The Bad News
Everyone is a sinner,[8] and, because God is holy[9] and hates sin,[10] everyone begins his life alienated from God.[11] Sin is embedded in him, in his very nature, and thus he is a sinner from the moment of his conception[12] and thus born separated from God. Sin is systemic – that is, it affects everything that he thinks, says, or does. Moreover, sin blinds him to his own sinfulness and deceives him into believing that he can be good – or at least good enough[13] – and therefore deserving of God’s favor. Finally, the sinner is helpless. Sin holds him in bondage. He cannot stop sinning on his own.[14]
1B – The Good News
Everyone whom God calls[15] can avail himself of the solutions to these problems which God himself has provided:
1B1 – Salvation
The death of the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ (Messiah in Hebrew),[16] on the cross at Golgotha [17] atones for the past, present, and future sins of everyone who repents of his sins and accepts Jesus as his Savior and Lord. Once a person so repents and professes Jesus as his Savior and Lord, God imputes Jesus’ righteousness to him, and he becomes a child of God and an heir to God’s promises to those who love God. His separation from God has ended, and he can be assured that he has become a member of the company of the redeemed,[18] which is called both the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ.
1B2 – Sanctification
The infilling of the Holy Spirit of God increasingly enables the believer to resist the temptations of the Devil and equips the believer for ministry in the Body of Christ.
1B3 – Comment
Both salvation and sanctification are free gifts from God, but they must be sought and accepted by the recipient with the clear understanding that he does not merit them, he cannot earn them or buy them, and his acceptance of them constitutes an admission that he is utterly dependent upon his Savior and Lord for his every need.
2 – False Religions vs. the True Religion
The above explains the difference between false religions and the one true religion.
2A – False religions
All false religions are focused on Mankind and what a person can do to render himself acceptable to their god or gods. At their core are man-initiated requirements that a person must meet and rites that a person must perform. All false religions say: Do this and don’t do that, and you will be acceptable to our god(s).
2B – The one true religion
The one true religion is focused on God and what God has done to render his creatures acceptable to himself. At its core is a God-initiated relationship between himself and a person. The one and only Creator God says essentially: “Neither you nor any other man[19] can make you acceptable to me. Only I can make you acceptable to me.[20] But rejoice! I have done all that is necessary to render you spotless in my sight. I entered my creation once in the person of my Son, Jesus of Nazareth, who suffered and died on the cross to atone for your sinfulness. If you accept[21] Him – and Him alone – as your Savior and Lord, I will accept you.”[22]
2C – Comment
The sole criterion by which God will determine a person’s fate – either an eternity in God’s company (Heaven) or an eternity separated from God (Hell) – is whether or not during this life he opened his heart to and accepted Jesus as his Savior and Lord. The Scriptures state: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” [23] Note two important things. First, God is not interested in your – or any other – religion; he wants a relationship with you. Second, God’s invitation to you to have a relationship with him is both inclusive and exclusive. It is inclusive because it is addressed to all persons – all men, women, and children on earth, regardless of their age, race, ethnicity, religion, etc. It is exclusive because it is issued by one person – the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” [24]
3 – An Exhortation
If you have not already opened your heart to and accepted Jesus as your Savior and Lord, I urge you to do so now, for Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock. If any man hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.”[25] What a promise from the Lord of Creation!
C – CONCLUSION
The above two points are as clear as I can make them (I am sure that others might do better). I hope, however, that they are clear enough so that you will leave this website with a good – or at least better – understanding of what biblical Christianity is all about. As you can see, not all Christianity is biblical.
© 2020 John Holbrook Jr.
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[1] Genesis 1:31.
[2] The Holy One of Israel has many names. He is the Anointed One (Mashiach in Hebrew, Christos in Greek, and Messiah or the Christ in English). He was called Yeshua by His parents, Iesous by the authors of the New Covenant Scriptures (New Testament), and Jesus by the English speaking world. The Bible makes very clear that He is the Son of God and therefore divine. All of Creation will eventually bow before Him and confess that He is “the KING of kings and LORD of lords” (Georg Friederich Handel’s Messiah).
[3] Romans 1:16. Christianity was initially Jewish. Jeremiah records that God established the New Covenant with the Jews – not the Gentiles (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Then, when Jesus came in fulfillment of that covenant, He said, “…salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22), and He ministered almost exclusively to the Jewish people. He also instructed His disciples to do likewise, saying “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:5-6).
[4] The Biblical God (or Godhead) is a Trinity consisting of three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[5] KJV 1 Timothy 2:5.
[6] KJV John 14:6.
[7] Based on my understanding of the chronology of the Bible, I believe that Jesus of Nazareth, was born on August 28, 2 BC (Rosh Hashanah or the Feast of Trumpets in the Jewish calendar) in a manger next to an inn in Bethlehem of Judea. The Bible indicates that, shortly after the child’s birth, Joseph, Mary, and the child moved into a house in town, where they were visited by the Magi from the Orient – i.e. east of the Persian Gulf – on or about December 25, 2 BC. The Magi, who wished to pay homage to the Christ-child, bought Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Because there were three gifts, biblical commentators have assumed that there were three Magi, and they have given them the names Balthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar (or Casper). According to western church tradition, Balthasar is often represented as a king of Arabia or sometimes Ethiopia, Melchior as a king of Persia, and Gaspar as a king of India.
[8] Genesis 6:5, I Kings 8:46, Psalm 53:3, Proverbs 20:9, Isaiah 53:6 & 64:6, and Romans 3:10-12 & 3:23. Also, KJV I John 1:8-10 states, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us…. If we say that we have not sinned, we make [God] a liar, and his word is not in us.”
[9] Exodus 15:11, I Samuel 6:20, Psalm 99:9, Isaiah 6:3, Revelation 15:4.
[10] Deuteronomy 25:16, Psalm 11:5, Proverbs 6:16, Zechariah 8:17, Luke 16:15.
[11] Isaiah 59:2 & 64:7, Hosea 5:6.
[12] A condition customarily referred to as “original sin” or “the inescapable depravity of man.” If you have trouble believing that even a baby is a sinner, just consider how much time and effort a mother devotes to teaching her child “to be good.” She never has to work at teaching her child “to be bad.”
[13] People downplay their own sinfulness by comparing themselves to others whom they believe to be worse than themselves – for example, Hitler. Some people cite Hitler as the epitome of evil. From God’s perspective, however, there is not much difference between Hitler and the rest of us. We are all sinners. If, in the final seconds of his life, Hitler repented of his sinfulness and accepted Jesus as his Savior and Lord, he will be among the redeemed in heaven. There is no sin that God’s grace cannot cover.
[14] This helplessness is seldom acknowledged, but it is nonetheless an essential characteristic of the depravity of man.
[15] God selected his children before he laid the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8 & 17:8). In addition, God initiates the saving of a sinner (John 6:44). Unless God calls a person to repentance and faith, that person will remain in his sin and unbelief. There is no aspect of salvation for which the beneficiary can claim credit.
[16] In English, the title of the Son of God is Messiah in Hebrew and the Christ in Greek, both of which mean the Anointed One.”
[17] I believe that Golgotha – the Place of a Skull (Matthew 27:33, Mark 15:22, John 19:17) – was the 1st century AD name for the stone escarpment which is located just over 200 yards north-by-northeast of the Damascus Gate on the north side of Jerusalem’s Old City. It resembles the face of a human skull. In the 1s century AD, it would have been easily visible from the road running north from the Old City to Nablus and Damascus. It is currently called Jeremiah’s Grotto. Moreover, it is adjacent to the Garden Tomb, where I and many others believe Jesus was buried and which is now maintained by the non-profit Garden Tomb (Jerusalem) Association in the United Kingdom.
[18] Romans 10:9-10, 1 John 1:9, 1 John 5:13.
[19] Such as a priest; excepting the man Christ Jesus, who is the believer’s High Priest.
[20] John 14:6, Acts 4:12, 1 Timothy 2:5.
[21] Trust in.
[22] Ephesians 2:8-9.
[23] John 3:36.
[24] KJ21 John 14:6.
[25] KJ21 Revelation 3:20.