Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thessalonians 5:21 KJV)
Many people said that all religions are the same. They all teach us to be good.
This is not true. We must first know if something is true or false before we talk about whether it is good and bad. If you do something good for what is false, you are helping to spread a lie.
The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him. (Proverbs 18:17 BSB, CSB)
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. (Psalm 19:1 KJV)
Why didn't modern science develop in China? Why didn't it develop in India? Why did it develop in Europe and why did these men come after 16th particularly 17th century? Why not in the 15th century? This YouTube video gave this answer. Only those with a Christian mindset would believe in these three things that will set the conditions for scientific inquiry:
While we take these conditions for granted, societies with a non-Christian mindset may not possess all the three conditions.
Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them. (Psalm 111:2 ESV)
I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, 'My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.' (Isaiah 46:10 BSB)
In this YouTube video, Richard Dawkins admitted in an interview with Peter Boghossian that no evidence could ever convince him that God exists, even if God spoke to him audibly and wrote a message to him in the stars.
So how did God prove Himself to be God? God proved that He is God by establishing the nation of Israel and foretelling their history in His revelation to His prophets. Anyone can do a miracle or write a book. Only God can create a nation and tell its history in advance.
Indeed, ask now from one end of the heavens to the other about the days that long preceded you, from the day that God created man on earth: Has anything as great as this ever happened or been reported? Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire, as you have, and lived? Or has any god tried to take as his own a nation out of another nation - by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors - as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, before your eyes? You were shown these things so that you would know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides Him. (Deuteronomy 4:32-35 BSB)
Who is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me, since I appointed an ancient people. Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen. (Isaiah 44:7 ESV)
Everything I prophesied has come true, and now I will prophesy again. I will tell you the future before it happens." (Isaiah 42:9 NLT)
Tell us the coming events, then we will know that you are gods. Indeed, do something good or bad, then we will be in awe when we see it. (Isaiah 41:23 CSB)
All the nations gather together, and the peoples assemble. Who among them can declare this, and show us the former things? Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right, and let them hear and say, It is true. (Isaiah 43:9 ESV)
For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. (2 Corinthians 13:8 BSB, ESV, NIV)
Truth can only be proven. Truth cannot be determined by vote. Even if everyone voted against truth, it is still true. However, truth can be accepted or rejected. If you accept truth, you shall be free. But woe to those who reject truth. Believing in lies is their only alternative.
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32 ESV)
Indeed, ask now from one end of the heavens to the other about the days that long preceded you, from the day that God created man on earth: Has anything as great as this ever happened or been reported? Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire, as you have, and lived? Or has any god tried to take as his own a nation out of another nation - by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors - as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, before your eyes? You were shown these things so that you would know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides Him. (Deuteronomy 4:32-35 BSB)
How does God prove Himself to be God? God proved that He is God by establishing the nation of Israel and foretelling their history in His revelation to His prophets. Anyone can write a book, but only God can create a nation and tell its history in advance.
It is impossible or difficult for men to prove God's existence. The finite cannot prove the infinite. The temporal cannot prove the eternal. The creature cannot prove the creator. Thus only God can provide His own proof that He is God.
Who is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me, since I appointed an ancient people. Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen. (Isaiah 44:7 ESV)
Everything I prophesied has come true, and now I will prophesy again. I will tell you the future before it happens." (Isaiah 42:9 NLT)
Tell us the coming events, then we will know that you are gods. Indeed, do something good or bad, then we will be in awe when we see it. (Isaiah 41:23 CSB)
All the nations gather together, and the peoples assemble. Who among them can declare this, and show us the former things? Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right, and let them hear and say, It is true. (Isaiah 43:9 ESV)
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance. (Psalm 33:12 NIV)
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9 ESV)
Poor countries are generally socialist, communist or Islamic. Communists and socialists said that socialist or communist countries are poor because they did not practise true socialism or communism. Muslims said that Islamic countries are poor because they did not practise true Shariah law.
But Christian countries are equally imperfect. There is no Christian country that practise true Biblical Christianity. Christian countries also have their injustices and inequalities. Yet Christian countries are generally rich. When they believed in the Bible, they were able to create empires.
So why is it that when non-Christian ideologies are imperfect, the countries do not prosper? But why is Christianity, even when practised imperfectly, is able to make Christian countries are rich and powerful?
Firstly, the God of the Bible specializes in using imperfect sinners to achieve His aim. Imperfection in men glorifies God.
Secondly, the Bible is true. The God of the Bible is truth. Whoever that stands on the side of truth, no matter how imperfectly, is able to achieve something.
Muslims and communists can only prosper when they pretend to follow the teachings of the Koran or Karl Marx. Whenever they decide to follow the Koran or Karl Marx strictly, they will become poor. This was proven in modern history.
Nowadays, many Christian countries do not believe in the Bible anymore. They attribute their success to democracy. Actually, they are also correct. This is because the democracies that arose in Christian countries were Bible based and allowed truth to be expressed. Thus, many non-Christian countries that adopt Western democracies also prosper. Countries which have Islamic democracies or socialist democracies remain poor.
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9a ESV)
Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. (2 Corinthians 11:25 BSB)
By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. (Hebrews 11:24-25 ESV)
A successful believer may not look like a successful person in the eyes of the world. Let us look at the examples of Moses and Paul.
If you were an observer during the times of Moses, would you not think that Moses was stupid to reject Egyptian royalty? Paul could have been a famous rabbi, like his teacher Gamaliel.
Success and failure are amoral. But to be successful, you must obey truth.
For example, if a thief come with a loudspeaker in broad daylight shouting, "I am a thief. I come to steal!" and went on to steal something, he will definitely be caught. He is not following the rules of theft. A good thief will come in the middle of the night and quietly break the locks to steal the valuables. He will not break the rules of theft.
But someone may say, "I like to break the rules because I think out of the box!"
Thinking out of the box is not breaking the rules. Rather, this person is able to see the rules not obvious to others.
One day, an absolute dictator king decided that 1 + 1 = 3.
King: I decree that from today onwards, 1 + 1 = 3. But to make life simple for you plebians, the rest of the mathematical rules will not change.
Is life as simple as what the absolute dictator king thought? Let see what happened after the decree.
Minister: Your majesty, what about 1 + 2? Is it still 3?
King: Didn't you hear what I decree? The rest of the mathematical rules will not change. So 1 + 2 is still 3.
Minister: What about the algebraic equation x + 1 = 3. What is the answer for x? Is it 1 or 2?
King: Well, maybe there are two answers to this equation, just like quadratic equations.
Minister: Okay, what about 1 + 1 + 1 + 1? Is it 4, 5 or 6?
King: What? You still cannot understand my decree? Only 1 + 1 = 3. The rest of the mathematical rules will not change. So, the answer is 4.
Minister: But if 1 + 1 is 3 and followed by 3 + 1 is 4 then 4 + 1, then isn't answer 5? Or if we do it as (1 + 1) + (1 + 1), then shouldn't it be 3 + 3 = 6?
King: Well, I suppose there will be 3 answers, like a cubic equation.
Minister: But this is not an equation.
King: Well, then get the mathematicians to work out new rules! Stop bothering me with these details!
So, the minister went to the mathematicians to work out a new mathematics to cater for 1 + 1 = 3. Very soon, the children started to get confused. Simple arithmetic become university subjects. Accountancy and science started to fail. Rockets cannot go to the moon with the new mathematics. New computers and software made to cater for this new mathematics could not work. The whole economy fell apart. Life became primitive again. The people became hunters and gatherers. Then the neighbouring countries came to attack with advanced weapons and conquered the kingdom. The king was captured and executed. Before his execution, the king said, "I cannot understand what had gone wrong. I had decreed that only 1 + 1 = 3. The rest of the mathematical rules will not change. It is all the mathematicians' fault. They made the new mathematics so complex."
For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. (2 Corinthians 13:8 BSB ESV NIV)
In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will shatter all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself stand forever. (Daniel 2:44 BSB)
According to Arnold Toynbee in "A Study of History", there are 21 civilizations. They are: Egyptian, Andean, Sumerian, Babylonic, Hittite, Minoan, Indic, Hindu, Syriac, Hellenic, Western, Orthodox Christian (having two branches: the main or Byzantine body and the Russian branch), Far Eastern (having two branches: the main or Chinese-Korean body and the Japanese branch), Islamic (having two branches which later merged: Arabic and Iranic), Mayan, Mexican and Yucatec, which can be tabulated as follow:
| 1st Generation | 2nd Generation | Universal Church | 3rd Generation |
| Minoan | Hellenic (Greek and Roman) | Christian | Western; Orthodox-Russian; Orthodox-Byzantine |
| Syriac Society (Ancient Israel, Phoenicia etc.) | Islam | Islamic (at early stages divided into Iranian and Arabic, civilizations, which later were unified) | |
| Shang | Sinic (see also Han Dynasty) | Mahayana (Buddhism) | Chinese; Japanese-Korean ("Far Eastern") |
| Indus | Indic | Hinduism | Hindu |
| Egyptiac | - | - | |
| Sumeric | Hittite; Babylonian | - | - |
| Andean; Mayan; Yucatec; Mexican | - | - | |
While I may not totally agree with Arnold Toynbee's classification, I do agree with him that in the end, four civilizations survived, the humanist Chinese, the polytheistic Indians, the two monotheistic civilizations based on Bible and Koran. The three civilizations which are not Bible-based remain at more or less the same level, making not much progress between the second and third generation. Only the Bible-based European civilisation grew to dominate the world with science and technology. The Bible has always insisted on objective verification in key doctrines and objective verification is what science is all about.
There is some parallel between China in the east and Europe in the west. The second generation Han China and Roman empire fell to barbarians and foreign religions (Buddhism and Christianity respectively) roughly at the same time. The Chinese synthesized Confucianism and Buddhism and revived. The Romans died and the European barbarians took over and built a Bible-based civilization on top of the Greek and Roman foundations.
Arnold Toynbee saw the parallel but could not understand why the Chinese civilisation revived but the Roman civilization died and was replaced by the Europeans. He did not know that God wanted to use the foolish European barbarians to conquer the wise of the world. Furthermore, God has to punish the Romans for their crucifixion of Christ, destruction of Israel and persecution of Christians.
Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world - what is viewed as nothing - to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, so that no one may boast in his presence. (1 Corinthians 1:27-29 CSB)
Since, then, we are God's offspring, we shouldn't think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by human art and imagination. (Acts 17:29 CSB)
The Bible contains truth, but not all truth is in the Bible. We are told by the Bible that "The just shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4,Romans 1:17,Galatians 3:11,Hebrews 10:38)". But the evil also live by faith. Just about everyone live by faith.
When we see a young man declaring, "I am a free thinker. I don't believe in any gods. I believe in myself", this is a statement of faith by a young person with a healthy body and mind. When this healthy young man grows old and fat, starts having heart problem, kidney trouble, glaucoma and dementia, he will start losing faith in himself. He will even forget that he ever said, "I believe in myself."
A person worshipping some clay idol is also living by faith.
Faith does not save. It is the object of faith that saves. Jesus saves. All others don't. Believe in Jesus. Live by faith in Jesus.
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31 KJV)
Don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. (Colossians 2:8 NLT)
A Facebook friend of mine posted this:
Open-minded people don't care to be right, they care to understand. There's never a right or wrong answer. Everything is about understanding.
My response to his post:
"I will accept your view that 1 + 1 = 3 as long as you do not force me to give up my view that 1 + 1 = 6. With this, mathematics will never progress and there will be no modern technology but at least we have understanding at a primitive level."
I find it fascinating how people do not treat truth with priority. They are quick to embrace anything that sound philosophical and wise. They accept statements without thinking. This also answer the question why science and all the benefits of modern civilisation come from Europe and from not the other ancient civilizations such as China and India. Christian based European civilization learnt from the Bible to emphasize on truth and reaped the benefits of truth.
"Peace is such a precious jewel that I would give anything for it but truth" - Matthew Henry (1662-1714)
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6 KJV)
"The king has given me a mission," David replied. "He told me no one is to know about the mission or charge. And I have directed my young men to meet me at a certain place. Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found." (1 Samuel 21:2-3 BSB)
So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. (1 Samuel 21:13 ESV)
When Achish asked, "Where have you made a raid today?" David would say, "Against the Negeb of Judah," or, "Against the Negeb of the Jerahmeelites," or, "Against the Negeb of the Kenites." (1 Samuel 27:10 ESV)
Politicians lie. Even politicians in the Bible also lied.
Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. (Ecclesiastes 7:20 ESV)
When God uses men to accomplish His purpose, He can only use sinful men. Among the sins that sinful men commit is lying.
Shiphrah and Puah
So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, "Why have you done this, and let the male children live?" The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them." (Exodus 1:18-19 ESV)
Rahab
But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, "True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them." (Joshua 2:4-5 ESV)
Joshua
And Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them and fled in the direction of the wilderness. (Joshua 8:15 ESV)
Samuel
The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons." And Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me." And the LORD said, "Take a heifer with you and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.' (1 Samuel 16:1-2 ESV)
David
"The king has given me a mission," David replied. "He told me no one is to know about the mission or charge. And I have directed my young men to meet me at a certain place. (1 Samuel 21:2 BSB)
So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. (1 Samuel 21:13 ESV)
When Achish asked, "Where have you made a raid today?" David would say, "Against the Negeb of Judah," or, "Against the Negeb of the Jerahmeelites," or, "Against the Negeb of the Kenites." (1 Samuel 27:10 ESV)
Elisha
And Elisha said to him, "Go, say to him, 'You shall certainly recover,' but the LORD has shown me that he shall certainly die." (2 Kings 8:10 ESV)
Jeremiah
Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "Don't tell anyone you told me this, or you will die! My officials may hear that I spoke to you, and they may say, ‘Tell us what you and the king were talking about. If you don't tell us, we will kill you.' If this happens, just tell them you begged me not to send you back to Jonathan's dungeon, for fear you would die there."
Sure enough, it wasn't long before the king's officials came to Jeremiah and asked him why the king had called for him. But Jeremiah followed the king's instructions, and they left without finding out the truth. No one had overheard the conversation between Jeremiah and the king. (Jeremiah 38:24-27 NLT)
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6 KJV)
Truth will still be true even if you do not believe. However, Jesus saves only those who has faith in Him. There is no salvation for the sin of unbelief.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6 BSB)
Chinese classics sometimes have glimpses of Biblical truth. Here we have the first verse of "Great Learning 大學 (translated by A. Charles Muller)":
QUOTE
大學之道、在明明德、在親民、在止於至善。
The way of great learning consists in manifesting one's bright virtue, consists in loving the people, consists in stopping in perfect goodness.
知止而後有定、
When you know where to stop, you have stability.
定而後能靜、
When you have stability, you can be tranquil.
靜而後能安、
When you are tranquil, you can be at ease.
安而後能慮、
When you are at ease, you can deliberate.
慮而後能得。
When you can deliberate you can attain your aims.
物有本末、事有終始。知所先後則近道矣。
Things have their roots and branches, affairs have their end and beginning. When you know what comes first and what comes last, then you are near the Way.
UNQUOTE
I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying: my plan will take place, and I will do all my will. (Isaiah 46:10 CSB)
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. (Revelation 22:13 NIV)
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6 KJV)
Confucius, as usual, got the concepts more or less right. If you knew your end (知止), you would be near the way (近道). But what should the end be? Is it to end in perfect goodness (止於至善)? And what would the way be? Is it to manifest one's bright virtue (明明德), loving people (親民), ending in ultimate goodness (止於至善)? Confucius may not have the right answers since he was a mere mortal.
Let us think about this. If we know the ultimate beginning and the ultimate end (物有本末、事有終始。知所先後), we can frame our goals and ways within it. Jesus is the ultimate beginning and the ultimate end. He is also the Way. We know where we are going because Jesus is the Way. We know He is the right Way because He is also the Truth and the Life.
Jesus is the answer to Confucius. Jesus is your goal and your way.
The Chinese text without translation found in 禮記 : 大學 - 中國哲學書電子化計劃:
大學之道，在明明德，在親民，在止於至善。知止而後有定，定而後能靜，靜而後能安，安而後能慮，慮而後能得。物有本末，事有終始，知所先後，則近道矣。
Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. (Psalm 119:98-100 NIV)
Read the Bible. It will make you wiser than Confucius.
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32 ESV)
There is no absolute freedom. Freedom needs a platform to rest upon. The bird flying in the sky may look very free. But it has to land someday on somewhere.
The best platform for freedom is truth. The best freedom is freedom based on truth because the truth set us free. If we have freedom from truth, then we have nothing but lies.
Cinderella is a fairy tale. In that story, a fairy godmother turned a pumpkin into a carriage by magic. Let us think about this for a moment. Can the fairy godmother use a water melon instead of a pumpkin? What if the fairy godmother used a water melon? Will the carriage be green in colour? Can the fairy godmother use a small fruit, like grape? Must she use fruits? Can she use a big stone instead? If we established a course to study how fairy godmothers make carriages out of stuff, will there be any definite conclusion?
Samsara or reincarnation is an unprovable process. Like the carriage making process in fairy tale Cinderella, we cannot come to any definite conclusion with reincarnation. For example, can we reincarnate as plants? We can come up with all kinds of reasons to argue about it but we can never come to a definite conclusion. It is like asking if the fairy godmother can make carriages out of something else besides pumpkin. Can anyone prove that she can or cannot?
The Dalai Lama reincarnated fourteen times as Dalai Lama. Is that possible? What kind of karmic law allow this kind of reincarnation? Can the 14th Dalai Lama provide a definite proof that he is the 14th reincarnation? Can he provide a definite and objective proof for his 15th reincarnation so that China cannot install their own Dalai Lama? Can he reincarnate as a woman so that the 15th Dalai Lama will be the first female Dalai Lama? Can one choose where, how and when one can be reincarnated? How come the Dalai Lama can? Does the Dalai Lama know that he can and know that he has the power to do so? Can he prove it? Or is this another Cinderella's Pumpkin Carriage proof?
The Bible said that all humans are descended from Adam and Eve. Evolution has a last universal common ancestor (LUCA) from which all living things today evolved from. So how does reincarnation account for the increasing human population? Also from one soul? Can one soul be reincarnated as two or more souls? Or is there a constant number of souls going through the reincarnation process? So how did the initial number of souls get started? Buddhists do not believe in souls. So are they right?
Major Indian religions like Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism took reincarnation for granted. They do not attempt to prove it. They just give solutions on how to escape reincarnation. But when a religion based their solution on an unprovable process, I think the foundation is shaky and anything built on top of it can collapse any time.
What is unprovable is not necessarily untrue. Every religion require some amount of faith. But I prefer a religion that based their faith on something provable instead of something unprovable.
... speaking the truth in love ... (Ephesians 4:15 NIV)
There are 2FA and there are 2 FAC - face and facts. Those who value face and those who value facts.
"For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." (Deuteronomy 30:11-20 ESV)
This the the summary of the Bible. The Bible talks about life and death. He who believes in God lives. He who does not believe in God dies. Life is not shaped by events, but by response to events. A Spirit-filled life will give a Spirit led response. What is your response? Would you choose life?
I have made my choice. I choose life.
He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. (1 John 5:12 NASB)
And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3 ESV)
