There's the creation account and eschatology and the doctrine of salvation, soteriology for the theologically inclined, and how it all fits into modern thinking.
Jesus did not get a warm reception when he was here on earth. Most of his messengers were not well received either. You have to wonder why the message of heaven is at odds with the way of the world. There is a rebellion on earth against the authority of heaven. The Bible tells the story in one of the parables that Jesus spoke.
33 "Hear another parable. There was a man who
was a master of a household, who planted a
vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a winepress
in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers,
and went into another country.
34 When the season of the fruits drew near, he
sent his servants to the farmers, to receive his
fruits.
35 The farmers took his servants, beat one,
killed another, and stoned another.
36 Again, he sent other servants more than the
first: and they did to them in like manner.
37 But afterward he sent to them his son,
saying, `They will respect my son.`
38 But the farmers, when they saw the son, said
among themselves, `This is the heir. Come, let`s
kill him, and seize his inheritance.`
39 So they took him, and threw him out of the
vineyard, and killed him.
40 When therefore the lord of the vineyard will
come, what will he do to those farmers?"
41 They told him, "He will miserably destroy
those miserable men, and will lease out the
vineyard to other farmers, who will give him the
fruits in their seasons."
42 Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in
the scriptures, `The stone which the builders
rejected, The same was made the head of the
corner. This was from the Lord. It is marvelous
in our eyes?`
43 "Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of G-d
will be taken away from you, and will be given
to a nation bringing forth its fruits.
44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to
pieces, but on whoever it will fall, it will
scatter him as dust."
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees
heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke
of them.
46 When they sought to lay hold on him, they
feared the multitudes, because they took him for
a prophet.
In every time and place, there are those who want to listen and there are those who do not. I ask, what difference does it make? OK. Suppose I want to believe in Jesus, and you
don't. How does my desire to believe take
anything away from your desire to not believe? The conflict is not a conflict of belief, it is a conflict of actions. Beliefs have consequences. We act on our beliefs. And this has a lot to say for christianity as soon as you take a closer look at the connection between belief and action. If everyone wanted to do what is right, then there would be no conflict. Instead, we spend a lot of time arguing about who has rights, instead of who is right. Jesus is right. The problem is that we don't want to do what's right. Here's the Apostle Paul:
Rom 7:15 For I don`t know what I am doing. For I
don`t practice what I desire to do; but what I
hate, that I do.
He says that he is not able to do what's right. But he goes on to say that there is a remedy. The only cure for the human condition is Jesus. That's not the answer that some want. But there is
no substitute.
Rom 7:16 But if what I don`t desire, that I do, I
consent to the law that it is good.
17 So now it is no more I that do it, but sin
which dwells in me.
18 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh,
dwells no good thing. For desire is present with
me, but I don`t find it doing that which is
good.
19 For the good which I desire, I don`t do; but
the evil which I don`t desire, that I practice.
20 But if what I don`t desire, that I do, it is
no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in
me.
21 I find then the law, that, to me, while I
desire to do good, evil is present.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me
out of the body of this death?
25 I thank G-d through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
So then I of myself with the mind, indeed serve
the law of G-d, but with the flesh the law of
sin.
The only answer that I can rekon is that the conflict between belief in Jesus and another way is to assume that there is something that others
want to do that is at odds with what Jesus
taught. I am not going to want to do what I
know is wrong. I am going to object, because I know that it will harm others as well as
myself. Jesus was motivated by love. It was not a love for this world. It was a love for the kingdom of heaven.
In the passage above, Jesus was concerned that
the religious leaders were not teaching the
truth about scripture. Later on he had a direct
confrontation with them as recorded in this
passage:
Mt 23:13 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you devour widows` houses, and
as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore
you will receive greater condemnation.
14 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! Because you shut up the Kingdom of
Heaven against men; for you don`t enter in
yourselves, neither do you allow those who are
entering in to enter.
15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and
land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes
one, you make him twice as much of a son of
Gehenna as yourselves.
In the passage above, he points out that they were not willing to recognize his authority. It is implied that they did not want to recognize his authority, because they wanted to see themselves as the rightful owners of the vineyard. They would not see that the land that
they wanted was not theirs. And they made the mistake of thinking that there would never come a day of rekoning.
As far as I'm concerned, people can believe whatever they choose to believe. The truth is out there, if you want it. And if you don't, there are plenty of ways to avoid the issue. But it should be obvious at this point that there has never been a successful effort to stamp out the truth. All of those efforts end in failure. Look at what happened after Jesus' resurrection. There was a good deal of persecution aimed against the disciples. But it did not stop the spread of the Gospel. Paul preached the Gospel of the resurrection from one end of the Roman Empire to the other. In the end, all that happened was the destruction of Jerusalem and the religious order that stood opposed to Jesus. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached to this day. Maybe there is another way to spin the account of history. It's not as if some don't try to revise history.
I can almost hear the objection, so what's the big deal about history. The simple answer is if we don't know how we got to where we are today, we will be mistaken about how to get to where we want to go. We won't be able to understand the lessons of history. That's the reason that the creation issue is important. It provides an accurate account of where we came from, and how we got into the mess that we are in today. We were created for something better. We were created for a purpose. That purpose is to glorify G-d. We reach that purpose by living to please him and not ourselves. And that causes conflict.
As I heard this Sunday, and Jesus preached over and over. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Everything else is of lesser consequence. Get on the bus!
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