14 Harsh Truths About Christianity

Introduction: Scripture Reading- 2 Timothy 4:1-4

Article: 14 Harsh Truths About Christianity That No One is Ready to Hear
1. Christianity has a long and complex history
2. It has many different ways to be understood and practiced
3. Some aspects of it can be challenging
She’s not exactly a religious leader but because she is writing an article and it is getting published on the internet, people are more likely to read it and believe it.
1. Read 2 Timothy 4:1-5
  1. “1. I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2. Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 5. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”
2. 1 Tim. 1:4, 4:7 Paul told Timothy to “not give heed” to and to “refuse profane” fables. He saying don’t put any stock in them as fact in your mind. He was at that time referring to Jewish fables but any false doctrine. These are a few of those fables or bits of false doctrine we need to be on the lookout for and be able to teach against.

Discussion:

“Christianity Has a History of Violence and Oppression”:
1. Each of these deal with the Catholics; church history (choices of men vs. God’s choices)
2. 2 Cor. 10:1-5
  1. “1. Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you: 2. But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4. (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5. Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”
3. Eph. 6:10-20
  1. “11. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
“The Bible is Not a Monolithic Text”:
1. In the eyes and definitions of man, yes, the Bible has many different authors. However, these men were simply scribes for God. There are 66 books and lead to one final conclusion from beginning to end. They start with the fall of man through sin entering the world and a plan of redemption through the death of Christ and his eventual return to take the redeemed to heaven.
2. 2 Tim. 3:16 All (Every) scripture is given by inspiration of God-KJV&NKJV (inspired of God-ASV; God-breathed-NIV; breathed out by God-ESV)
3. Heb. 1:1
  1. “1. God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,”
4. 2 Pet. 1:20-21
  1. “20. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
“Christianity is Not the Only Way to God”:
1. Since the fall of Adam and Eve, man has tried to find their own path. God says this leads to destruction, a falling away, and death. The people at the Tower of Babbel found this out in Gen. 11, at least the destruction part, when they tried to find their own way.
2. John 14:1-6
  1. “1. Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 4. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. 5. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 6. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
3. John 8:24
  1. “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.” -KJV
  2. “That is why I told you that you will die in your sins, for unless you believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” -NIV
  3. “They understood not that he spake of the Father.” Vs. 27
“Christianity is Not Perfect”:
1. The author is showing a lack of understanding of the Bible as a whole here. (2 Tim. 2:15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”) Man is not perfect, i.e. sinless or complete, whole mature; however, God, the true creator of Christianity is.
2. Gen. 3:15 “it shall bruise thy head (Christ’s resurrection- death blow to Satan), and thou shalt bruise his heel (Christ’s death on the cross- temporary wound to Christ). The plan was laid out and the trap was set for Satan.
3. Heb. 9:14-17
  1. “14. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15. And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. 16. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.17. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.”
4. Acts 1-2 the apostles were men that God used to get the ball rolling, Heb. 1:1-2 (God use to speak through the prophets, but now speaks through Christ.); Jesus’s baptism “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” & the mount of transfiguration “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.”
5. John 12:44-50
  1. “44. Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. 45. And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me. 46. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. 47. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. 48. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. 49. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. 50. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.”
“Christianity is Not for Everyone”:
1. This is backwards, everyone is not for Christianity.
2. Acts 17:30
  1. “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:”
3. Rev. 4:11
  1. “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” (Gen. 1-2)
4. John 4:23-24
  1. “23. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh (dzeyteho- desires) such to worship him. 24. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” [free will- we were not created to be robots, forced to worship God his way, he wants us to choose him over Satan and the world]
5. Matt. 7:7-11
  1. “7. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 9. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 10. Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”
6. This is why faith is logically the next step after hearing God’s Word and before repentance and anything else in becoming a Christian, because if you don’t believe in God and you don’t believe in His Son who died for our sins while were wretched and poor and lost in those sins, then why even repent and be immersed.
“Christianity is Not a Guarantee of Happiness”:
1. Now, this one is true. This simply takes a careful study of God’s Word. We can be happy, but it is not guaranteed, and it depends on us from day to day.
2. If we are living as a Christian, we are going to be persecuted, we are still going to have the loss of loved ones, we are still going to have aches and pains, and many other problems in our lives. It’s how we handle those problems that sets us apart from the world.
3. James 1:2-4
  1. “2. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” (pirasmos- adversity, same as in I Cor. 10:13; ekpiradzo- test thoroughly: Matt. 4:7 “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”)
“Christianity is Not a Magic Bullet”:
1. The individual problems are not isolated, they extend to the world. Death, disease, famine, etc. have not been removed from the world just because Christ brought a way of redemption from sin. Christ will rule at the right-hand of the Father until the final enemy has been overcome, I Cor. 15:26, death. This will be when Christ comes again.
2. I Thess. 5:1-11 [Read]
3. 2 Pet. 3:1-13 (Study)
“Christianity is Not Always Easy”:
1. This is absolutely true. This is why so many fall away. It was persecution that help the church grow in the first century. Like we mentioned this morning, it is all in how we perceive and handle adversity.
2. James 1:2 “count it all joy”
3. I Pet. 2:19-21 “20. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.”
4. I Pet. 3:8-18 “14. But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;”
5. I Pet. 4:12-19 “13. But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.”
“Christianity is Not Always Popular”:
1. This is only true based on context. The world’s version of Christianity is popular because all you have to do is believe and you can sin as much as you want and the maybe repent at the last minute. Some versions of the world’s Christianity teach about loving your enemy and forgiving people who wrong you. The Bible definitely teaches these principles.
2. Rom. 12:20-21 “20. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”
3. Col. 3:12-15 “13. Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 14. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.”
“Christianity is Not Always Fair”:
1. While it is true that life isn’t fair and sin and suffering are in the world, we don’t need to know all of God’s plan to be obedient and make it to heaven. The main thing we need to know is that Christ will return and there will be a judgment day. We don’t even need to know when it will be. We must simply be prepared.
2. I Thess. 5 and 2 Pet. 3 “the Lord will come as a thief in the night”
3. John 14:3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
“Christianity is Not Always Logical”:
1. The author’s definition of faith is wrong, but her last statement is correct that faith and logic “are not always compatible.”
2. Examples: Why God would choose a boy like David to be king verses all the soldiers that were more suited for the job. Why God would choose baptism as a means to salvation as far as being able to come in contact with the blood of Christ.
3. Heb. 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
4. I Cor. 1:21-29 “25. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
5. Isaiah 55:8-9 “8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
“Christianity is Not a Religion of Certainty”:
1. While many things spoken of in the Bible have been proven to be true by scientists: 1) the life is in the blood, 2) the paths of the see, 3) the stars sing their own songs, 4) the earth is round, etc. There are yet many more things that cannot be proven or demonstrated by science, which make them miraculous or supernatural, beyond the realm of natural explanation.
2. Examples: The virgin birth of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, the parting of the Red Sea (no matter how much they try to explain it away), the stopping of time, and so many more that Jesus and His apostles did in the first century. There were done to show the power of God and there were many witnesses to these events.
3. Matt. 9:8; Matt. 14:14-21 (~5,000 men + women and children)
“Christianity Can Be Divisive”:
1. As we’ve already seen Jesus is truly the ONLY way to God, no matter what man says or believes. Heb. 11:1 does a really good job at defining faith. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” -KJV “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.” -ASV [substance- hoopostasis: support, concrete, assurance, substance; evidence- elengkhos: proof, conviction, evidence, reproof]
2. Matt. 10:34-39 “35. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. …37. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”
3. I Cor. 14:26 “How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.”
4. 2 Pet. 1:20-21 “20. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
“Christianity Can Be Used to Justify Harmful Behavior”:
1. Notice the wording here, “Christianity has been used to justify…”, not Christianity justifies everything from slavery to genocide. Man can always say and do what they want, but it doesn’t every make it right or accurate. Especially when it comes to God and His Word. The NT speaks about literal earthly slavery, but it neither condones nor condemns it. It speaks of man being either of servant or slave to righteousness or to sin, but again this is not condoning or condemning slavery.
2. As we mentioned this morning, we must be able to rightly divide God’s word and handle it correctly. Let’s not be ignorant to it as the world is and when we speak on let’s know what we are talking about because we have studied it.
3. 2 Tim. 2:15

Conclusion:

When we do correct error, let’s remember to speak the truth in love, but never give up on speaking the truth!
Invitation