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Given Life, Called to Die and Rise Again
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The Gospel in a Nutshell

"In the Beginning God created the heavens and the earth... God created man in his own image. In God's image he created him; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:1,27)

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"(Romans 3:23)

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23)

"'The time has come,' [Jesus] said. 'The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!'" (Mark 1:15)

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

"This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ." (John 17:3)

"Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don't be entangled again with a yoke of bondage ... the only thing that matters is the faith that expresses itself in love."(paraphrase of Galatians 5:1,6)

Given life, called to die and rise again.

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Basic Questions

This is a little skit written to introduce basic questions that one might face as a Christian and the apologetics that might be employed. I shall include the answers to the questions the skit raises as well (or at least links to the answers – some are a bit lengthy!) in the second half. This was originally written for students in the last two years of high school and is designed to equip them for the attacks they shall face at university, where statistically 75% of them will lose their faith. The ones in this skit are all pretty easy, but I think they have a fair amount of ‘shock value.’ So, without further ado, here it is (footnote numbers indicate the particular issues addressed in part 2, “Answers“):

—————————

Bethany: Excuse me, can I talk to you about Jesus?

Melissa: What? Jesus? Jesus is a myth, he never even existed. ¹

Bethany: Well, the Bible –

Melissa: [incredulously] The Bible? You can’t really believe the Bible, do you? Are you an idiot? That thing’s not trustworthy! Its been copied and copied so many times over the last few thousand years that what you have there in your hand is nothing like the original.² Besides, the church has made sure certain parts of the Bible were excluded.³ What about the gospel of Thomas? What about the Da Vinci Code?⁴

Bethany: [hesitatingly] Ah, well, I believe that Bible is the true Word of God.

Melissa: You ‘believe’? Really? Is that what it takes to be a Christian? Blind faith? What about all the contradictions? The Bible is full of them. Not even the two genealogies of Jesus in the Bible are the same. If they can’t even get his family tree right, why should I believe the rest of it?⁵

Bethany: Um…well…

Melissa: No answer. Typical.

Bethany: But…but…God loves you!

Melissa: He loves me?

Bethany: [perking up] That’s right! He doesn’t just love you, He is Love!

Melissa: [with increasing aggression] Really? And what about all the genocide in the Bible?⁶ You really want me to believe that your God is Love when He’s murdered millions of innocent people? You Christians are all the same. You’re intolerant, you’re bigoted, you’re blind to the fact that you’ve been fooled into believing in a God who doesn’t exist, by a church who just wants to control your life and take your money. You want to know the truth? I’ll tell you the truth: your God is dead! Darwin got rid of Him 150 years ago.⁷ I don’t need your God! [stalks off stage]

Bethany: [slowly walks off stage looking downtrodden and depressed]

——————–

So, that’s it. I plan to leave the kids hanging and finish off with an invitation for them to come to the meetings and learn the answers, rather than give any answers then and there. But, for the enjoyment of Layman’s Terms-ers the answers to the seven issues identified in the skit follow here (sorry, its just too long to go in one page!).