You were born into a very bad family: the family of Adam. You need to make a family switch and change families. You need to be adopted into a new family. This is a crucial change. Your physical ancestor is Adam who was created by God in Genesis 2, but then Adam fell into sin in Genesis 3. You now have Adam and Eve's DNA in you. But Adam's deadly sin nature has also been passed on to you from your parents (Psa 51:5). Your very nature is polluted with the evil of sin. Your relationship to Adam guarantees that your outcome will be eternal death (Romans 5:12; I Cor 15:21-22).
You must Return to God by the way of the Cross. There is no other way on this earth to Heaven. Men have invented whole religions and theories (evolution) to prevent coming to Jesus Christ for free salvation. Human nature would rather try to work its way to heaven and end up going to Hell, than trusting the Man who died for them. Your secret sins are in the light of God's countenance. God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. God knows the secrets of the heart. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to the Gospel. That's what troubles the sinner's conscience. The only way you can avoid hitting the Judgment and suffering eternal damnation for your sins against your Maker is to trust and receive the Sin-Bearer, Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, the one Person who paid for your sins, so you wouldn't have to pay for them. Evolution is a pipe dream for grown ups, it was dreamed up to give those folks who love sin some fig leaves to hide behind here on earth. If you reject the Way (John 14:6) that God gave you to stay out of Hell, because of your bitter pride, you will wind up in a Lake of Fire.
The first birth also means, as a sinner, your 'spiritual ancestor' is Satan (John 8:44; I John 3:9-10). When Adam yielded to Satan in the Garden of Eden and sinned against God's words, Adam's spirit and soul died, and he became a child of Satan and partook of Satan's evil nature. If you are lost in your sin and without Christ today, you are kin to the devil. Having the devil as a spiritual father means your inevitable outcome is eternal judgment. All those souls in the devil's family, and not in the family of God will share in Satan's final outcome - the lake of fire. What every sinner needs is a NEW BIRTH, a new Father, and a new family. The only way to get a new father is to experience the NEW BIRTH of the Spirit of God. The NEW BIRTH cannot be accomplished by human energy. The best we can do will never suffice. Jesus said, "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7). When Jesus says "MUST," we had better listen very closely. We must realize and acknowledge that we are sinners to the core, we must receive the work of the Spirit in our hearts. Religious works and experiences can never bring the NEW BIRTH to pass in your soul. Your religion or reformation can never eradicate your sinful nature. Turn from your dead works and selfishness, let the Spirit of God wash you clean with God's blood and give you a NEW NATURE inside. God's family is only entered by the NEW BIRTH (I John 5:1; I Peter 1:3-4; Eph 2:19; Eph 1:11,18).
The reason why the Bible cannot be tolerated is because it treats "man" as a fallen, depraved, degenerate, sinful rebel whom his Creator will not accept on the grounds of his "humanity"- his FIRST birth. In the Bible, the Lord God of Heaven and Earth demands a SECOND birth. All humanists, atheists, evolutionists, and pragmatists believe that "man" ("mankind") is the "measure of all things."
The lost world thinks that MAN is the ABSOLUTE supreme authority when it comes to ethical and moral standards, conduct, motives, goal setting, progress, and knowledge-just as he "is"- without any New Birth. In short, this is why all eight major "religions" (Catholicism, Protestantism, Greek Orthodox, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, and Judaism) emphasize man's ability to get to "Heaven" or "Paradise" or "Samadhi" or "Nirvana" or "Prajna" or the "Happy Hunting Ground" or "Valhalla" or etc., blah, blah, blah) by self-effort with no "new birth" required. If you die without the NEW BIRTH, you will bust hell wide open. "Religion" has always been the shortest shortcut any sinner could take to get to Hell; the road to the lake of fire is "paved with good intentions" (positive thinking about yourself) the whole way (Matt. 7:22; Prov. 14:12; Rom. 10:1-6; Ecc. 7:20; Psa. 39:5; Isa. 64:6).
"Religion" is a set of WORKS that sinners do to make themselves feel comfortable when they have a bad conscience (see Gen. 3:10). The Bible defines it as "the FIG LEAF factor" (Gen. 3:7; Matt. 21:19). Religions will teach that you can EARN immortality by WORKING your head off serving their church or temple, and being a good little boy or girl, good enough to EARN eternal life, so you can reject Christ and His FREE GIFT of salvation (Romans 5:15,18; 6:23). All religions lead to the same place - the eternal lake of fire. That is why there are so many religions and why so many people follow them instead of 'scriptural truth.' "Religion is the quickest way to HELL on which you can travel. It is an 10-lane paved slick highway, 'fully-lit' at night, and marked all the way without one curve, bump, or stop sign on it.
All the world religions are different so they can give a self-righteous sinner something 'special' which he can hold over the head of someone else, they appreciate their own 'belief.' By studying your religion, you raise your own self-esteem because you convince yourself that YOUR religion is better than theirs, and THIS gives you self-confidence, this self-confidence is satanic and will end up damning you. Every man has a conscience (Romans 2:15) with or without "religion," and every man has defiled his conscience or disobeyed it a number of times (Tit. 1:15; Rom. 9:1; Acts 9:5; 1 Tim. 4:2). When a man defiles his conscience, he then invents a set of "beliefs" and "teachings" by which he professes to live; he may or may not live up to them, according to how big a liar or hypocrite he is. Ridiculous religious beliefs are a dime a dozen, new ones come out every month.
Religions such as Catholicism, Jehovah Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventism, Taoism, Humanism, Greek Orthodox, Islam, Atheism, Buddhism, Christian Scientists, Baha'i, Church of Christ, Hinduism, Judaism, Charismatics, Shintoism, Agnostics, Protestants, Scientology, and Mormonism all have the same thing in common: they are all working their way to heaven in some way or fashion - they are just all different paths to the Lake of Fire that Satan has drawn out for self-righteous sinners that love themselves and reject Christ Jesus. All religious folks that trust in themselves and their religion do end up at the same place - The Lake of Fire. All religions are based on guilty consciences and self-righteousness no matter what 'beliefs' or 'teachings' they invent (I feel guilty, so I better go do better).
The purpose of all world religions and higher education is to destroy belief in 'absolute truth.' They will try to teach you this, all truths are 'relative,' and you are your own final authority, in other words, believe in yourself, you are God (Genesis 3:5). Man's sinful nature always tries to sidestep, duck, and dodge the truth of scripture, he loves 'relative' truths, he will avoid finding 'THE TRUTH' at any cost. Their alibi for sidestepping the truth is always "love" and "concern for others" or "being sensitive to others" or "a willingness to reach out and touch others" or "a meaningful exchange of ideas" or "doing good to your fellow man" or "making the world a better place to live in," "improving relations" or "building bridges" instead of "fences." They say, "Don't rock the boat, just believe whatever you think is right, just don't upset anyone. Let's get everyone to love each other at the expense of the absolute truth of scripture." But remember, Jesus Christ IS 'absolute truth' (See John 14:6). Modern man cannot tolerate truth; he must have his own opinions, delusion, deceit, equivocation, and counterfeit religion in order to carry out his purpose driven life in a seek for hope and change.
Your GREATEST NEED in this temporal life is to get out of your old family (Adam/Satan) and be 'born again' into a new family (Jesus Christ/God) through the NEW BIRTH. You need to switch families as soon as possible. Christ Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, left His majestic throne in Heaven, so free, so infinite His grace, He emptied Himself of all but love, and bled for Adam's helpless race (See Romans 5:8-9; 8:3; II Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13). Jesus Christ bore our infected sinful nature, our rotten sins, in His own body on the tree, so that we could freely be given His sinless nature (righteousness) freely by faith in His precious blood. The NEW BIRTH comes through the simple gaze of faith at the Bleeding Lamb of God on Calvary's tree (John 3:14-16). You can't work up this faith - it is a gift of God - not of works, lest any man should boast. Don't look at your faith - look to Christ, He will give you faith and repentance freely. Believe in Christ alone, looking only to the Cross. Give up your dependence on yourself, your cleverness, your self-improvement, your plans of doing better or becoming religious - just look to Christ and receive the NEW BIRTH and everlasting life. The 'good life' is eternal life, and a life that God approves of, that's the GOOD LIFE.
