Chris R. Quinlan

As I observe humanity, I see that most people by their mid 20's have made up their mind about certain spiritual things and political things. So, my point in this short blog post is not to try and change your mind about anything, but just to mention some things I've observed and hopefully spark some thought. I've been thinking a lot lately about what makes people believe what they believe. I know that much of what we believe (our worldview) comes from our experiences in life. Specifically, the people that we've grown to trust. Our parents, our church, and our friends. So, the question... what causes perfectly reasonable and rational people to believe so differently about things? I've been thinking about politics and how divided our country seems to be.  I've been trying to figure out the core differences between the various political parties. I'm not talking about the current issues, so much as I mean the deeper differences. The issue that has me most...

Is there a God? Is there a judgement after death? How can I know that I'll go to heaven when I die? These are the big questions that truly matter. As a Christian and follower of Jesus, I need to tell you that there's good news and bad news. First, the bad news. The bad news is that the answer to the first and second question is, "yes." This is bad news because God is perfectly holy and only permits perfectly holy creatures into his presence. Unfortunately, it only takes sinning one time in your entire life to disqualify you from heaven. If that seems too harsh, it's because we don't understand how how truly blasphemous sin is in God's eyes. So, we are all rightfully banished from eternity with God because all of us are repeat offenders. Fortunately, there is good news...no, great news! It's called the Gospel in the bible, and here it is: The "Gospel" is the story of the creation, fall, and redemption of mankind. Because of the h...