The process of How we must learn and grow - there are no short cuts!

When learning and growing in anything physical, mentally, or spiritually we must take it in stages.  Math is a great example – you cannot do advanced math without first learning basic concept like order of operations (multiply & divide before add & subtract)  without basic rules to apply we can go no further in the learning/growing process and expect good results.  If we press on without those rules we end up with error – that error begets another error and so on until down the line you think your progressing and all the while your’re so far off the mark its insane and to make it worse you don’t even realize it because you still hold to the original errors you began with. Suffices to say TRUTH is an important starting point.

Getting back to the correct path –  for instance once you know that Jesus is your savior and you’ve given him your life and are living for God and seeking to build his kingdom/church something happens.  Things like prayer and quiet time and attending church to grow and sharpen each other and work to positively influence the society you live in daily come very naturally.  But to those on the outside looking in – it seems foolish and unpractical.  Why is that?  Its because they never got the basics of Christianity properly explained to them and have not accepted it as their own as a true Christian does.  Talk to someone about calculus who has not even taken basic algebra and they will not follow hardly a word you say.  Not that they could never learn it, but at this point in time they simply are ignorant on that subject.  Even though God has written his law on all mens hearts they need to seek that truth and build on it and apply it to their life if they ever expect to get any reward and benefit from it.  Its like having a car in the garage and never driving it.  God is not far from anyone, but they must seek him and his truth like buried treasure – Jesus said: So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. (Luke 11). 

So you see we need to progress in life gradually, not all at once. Accepting Jesus as your savior may be an exception to this though because until you get saved you cannot become that New Creation spoken of in the Bible.  It's nonsense to unbeleivers;  Born again; saved; redeemed are all the same thing meaning you repent of your sinful ways and through faith surrender your life to Jesus asking Him to come into your life and be your Lord and Master; It's not blind faith but faith in what Scripture says Christ did for all mankind and proved by the testimony of thousands in Bible and Millions who have come after and still follow him today.  There is so much more I could say about salvation but that is it in a nutshell.   Most things worth having take time and effort including our relationship with God as well as family and friends. Jesus was God himself in the flesh and only had time for a dozen close friends besides his family.  Yes he had hundreds if not thousands of acquaintences and people he ministered to but his close long term relationships were limited as they must be for all of us if we are to do His will and keep our sanity in the process.  Much of the joy in life is not in the having but in the wanting which God places in our hearts and we must respond to. Then and only then do we look back and realize the wanting motivated you toward the goal that put you on the journey that directed your entire life hopefully with God's direction and guidance.  Strangely enough the hard times are as needful as the good times to weave God's plan in our lives.

Have you ever noticed that circumstances good or bad have very little to due with true inner joy and peace.  Emotions on the other hand go way up and down through circumstances of life, but with God the joy and peace remain through them all IF our minds are stayed on Jesus.  He is our only hope and it is a sure statement: we can do nothing without Jesus!  To any non-Christian reading this I realize that statement has little meaning, but to growing Christians its basic and understood clearly.

The Titanic is another analogy I like to use. It's destiny was the bottom of the ocean just like all people are doomed to hell or everlasting separation from God.  The only solution is to change course or get into a life boat (both options referring to Jesus of course).  Lives lived well by human standards but without Jesus salvation is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic (ultimately pointless) - things may make you comfortable or look pretty for a while but doom looms on the horizon unless you take action to permanently fix your situation.

Jesus told stories (Parables) to help people of his day relate to truth (Read Acts thru Jude; the Matthew Mark Luke and John; then Genesis thru Malachi; then Revelation which can only be understood in light of the rest of Scripture.

Story of Joseph how it parallels Jesus story of redemption - one of my favorite passages in Scripture in the later part of Genesis.

Liar Lunatic Lord – only options - Many authors have used this analogy and I agree with it.  Your definition of good is critical and the Lunatic category includes anyone who isn't thinking straight and logically;  When Jesus uses the term good when he said "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments." If you are a Christian you know the answer that no one can keep the commandments thus we are all doomed unless we repent of our sinful ways & accept the sacrifice Jesus made at the cross of Calvary and ask Him to save us - one way you know when people have done this is that they declare in publicly to friends and family and neighbors.  Public declaration doesn't actually have anything to do with you actually getting saved, but simply is a proof that you have been.  It's like good works in Jesus name.  They don't have anything to do with God's love for you or getting saved yet they are a sign that you actually have been saved.  You say all this can be faked and you would be correct but to what point.  Why live like that and miss the reward at the end which is eternal life with God and wonders untold that go with that.  It doesn't make sense though I agree it does happen.  Judas was a prime example of what not to do.  He could have freely had all that the other disciples took hold of yet he never did.  He physically & emotionally experienced all the same miracles and talks and persecution the other disciples went through yet somehow he never truly repented & surrendered his heart to Jesus.  It should be very sobering to all of us to be sure we don't fall into that category of looking like a follower like Judas yet our hearts being far from Him.  Liar Lunatic Lord argument goes like this:  Jesus without a doubt claimed to be God in the flesh so that being said all mankind must individually make a choice concerning that FACT.  Either Jesus is who He said he was and we must repent and fully surrender our lives to Him and do what He said to do with our lives.  The ONLY!!!!!! other options open to us to believe are that Jesus was a LIAR and was not God and as a result very evil to have lied and decieved mankind; or your last option is that Jesus was a madman or Lunatic and didn't know he was telling an untruth about himself.  You may ask why are those my only options Why can't I just believe he was a good teacher and guru of some sort;  the reason those are NOT OPTIONS you have on the table to believe because LOGIC and Reason dictate against them.  In the prologue I stated that logic and your defintion of good where critical to this arguement.  If Jesus clearly and without question claimed to be God and He did-- then Logic dictates if you beleive he is not god then you cannot simultaneously believe he is a good man or prophet from God.  A real prophet from God and good teacher would not lie about himself.  So you see you cannot have it both ways to comfort your soul.  God doesn't want us to be comfortable or at peace except in our relationship with Him and even there where we are completely unconditionaly loved and saved God expects great things of us and obediance and letting Jesus love flow to the world through us.  We are His hands and feet in this world.
We disobey at our own risk and are held responsible for the influence we have on others during our lifetime -- if that's not sobering I don't know what is.  None of us knows when God will call us to give account -- and this mortal life will end, but it could be this very day - when this mortal life is through may you be found in Jesus our only hope and stay.  John 3

Many copies will give you the original.  Of the 5-6 thousand manuscripts that still exist of the Scriptures obviously we don't have the originals yet through what the experts call tenacity of the texts the original emerges.  What this means is that when you compare copies with other copies the autograph will emerge because not all scribes and copiers made the same mistakes and spelling errors etc.  Thus we can conclude that though none of the manuscripts today are identical by comparing them the meaning and original wording emerge which is what is important; not that we have a memorex tape of what Jesus actually said but that we understand the message.  Even the Bible itself tells us that there are countless talks and miracles done by Jesus that were never written down. But we have what God deemed enough and what mankind would need to have a relationship with God if you want one.  Luke 16:31 says: 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"

All religions and philosophy's believe they have found the truth of man's existence and how to deal with hard questions about the meaning of life and purpose etc.  But if you think about it - logically there can only be one completely true answer.  If I say 1 +1 = 2, and another says 1+1 = 5 we cannot both be correct.  One is truth on which you can build further.  The other is error which will only beget further error no matter how true to additional beliefs are that you add onto it.  Thus the reason Satan sprinkles bits of truth into all his evil schemes and propaganda to keep people from a relationship with Jesus Christ who alone can redeem them.