2.  I try to live a good life, I think most people would say I'm a good person.  Are you saying that's not enough?  That God won't honor that?

3.  You say that good deeds won't get us into heaven and that it's faith alone, but doesn't James say that faith without works is dead?

4.  How do you become born again?

5.  Other religions have holy books.  Why should we believe that the Bible is the only true word of God?

6.  Why do you claim that Jesus is the Messiah?  Haven’t others claimed to be the promised Son of God?

7.  What do you say about all these people who claim to be psychics and the people who claim to talk to the dead?

8.  What does Bethabara mean? nbsp;What do you mean by “The House of Crossing Over”?

1.  What do you mean by "born again"?

In the third chapter of the gospel of John Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, asked Jesus the same question.  Human beings are already born once, born of the flesh.  But we must also be born of the Spirit, that is the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God, in order to enter into the kingdom of God.  You are born again when you accept Jesus as your personal Savior for He alone is perfect, He alone is truly righteous.  If you will ask Him to come into your heart He promises to do that. (Revelation 3:20)  (also see Ephesians 3:17, John 14:23, I Corinthians 6:19, Galatians 4:6, 2 Corinthians 1:22)

2.  I try to live a good life, I think most people would say I'm a good person.  Are you saying that's not enough?  That God won't honor that?

The problem is we’ve all sinned, and when compared to God, we don’t even come close. (Romans 3:23)  No matter how good a life any of us lead we do sin, and if we’re guilty of breaking one of God’s laws we’re just plain guilty. (James 2:10)  Remember, compared to God our own righteouness is as filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6)  And the “filthy rags” in that scripture refers to the cloths or rags a woman used during menstruation.  How’s that for gross?  Our good deeds just aren’t good enough to get us to heaven; it’s our faith in Jesus’s perfect goodness, His righteousness, which is accounted to us as our righeousness. (Romans 3:28, Galatians 2:16)  Jesus alone is without sin and so became the sacrifice which atones for our sin.  If we could attain heaven by our own works then there was absolutely no reason for Jesus to be crucified. (Galatians 2:21)

3.  You say that good deeds won't get us into heaven and that it's faith alone, but doesn't James say that faith without works is dead?

James is saying that our actions reflect what we believe, that if we say we believe something but our actions contradict that stated belief, then our faith is dead.  In my back yard I’ve got a wooden chair that looks a bit rickety.  Now I could tell you all day long that it’s perfectly safe, but if I wouldn’t sit in it wouldn’t you wonder how much faith I really have in that chair? nbsp;On the other hand, if I tell you it’s safe then sit right down in it, my actions have shown what I really believe about that chair.  James used two Biblical figures to illustrate how living faith directs one’s actions. (James 2:21-25)  God’s promises to Abraham concerning his progeny were to be fulfilled only through Isaac (Genesis 21:12b), which meant that Isaac had to be alive.  When God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, and Abraham obediently took Isaac up the mountain, Abraham’s actions testified to his faith in God’s promise.  Abraham could offer up his son, the son of promise, because he believed God would fulfill His promises even if He had to raise Isaac from the dead. (Hebrews 11:17-19)  Rahab believed that God had given the land to the Jews, she helped the spies that Joshua sent to Jerico and exacted a promise from them concerning her safety and the safety of her family when they came to take the land.  She was to gather her family together into her house and tie a scarlet cord on her window.  So that’s what she did. (Joshua 2:1-21)  And the walls of Jericho fell down, but Rahab and her family were saved. (Joshua 6:20-25)  Her faith was evidenced by her actions.  Abraham and Rahab didn’t just say they had faith; their actions (works) showed it.

4.  How do you become born again? Understand that you’re a sinner, but that Messiah Jesus, the only begotten Son of God who is without sin, has paid the price that allows you to be reconciled to God.  You just ask Jesus into your heart.  That’s all.  He has promised to come in and renew you by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Your spirit is born again.   (There are no “magic” or special words that you have to pray.  Jesus only waits for you to invite Him in, and He will come into you and renew you.  But if you need a suggestion or some help getting started, here’s a sample prayer.)

5.  Other religions have holy books.  Why should we believe that the Bible is the only true word of God?

Prophecy must be considered one of the major proofs that the Bible is the only true word of God.  One-third of the Bible is prophecy – but not your garden variety let’s just throw some real general stuff out there and maybe some of it will be correct or maybe people can just twist it around enough to make it sound like a fulfilled prophecy.  Nope.  There are prophecies in the Bible that are so specific that critics have tried to claim they were written after their fulfillment.  (Subsequent archeological discoveries have uncovered documents proving that the prophecies were indeed written long before they came true.)  God sets forth an impossible standard for those who purport to be His prophets; they must be 100% correct 100% of the time.  (Deuteronomy 18:22)  It’s an impossible standard for any except a true prophet of the true and living God. nbsp;Only Jehovah God knows what will be. (Isaiah 46:9-11)  The seventh chapter of Daniel prophesizes that the Babylonian empire will fall to the Media-Persians who will fall to the Greeks who will fall to the Romans.  Jeremiah 25:12 predicts that the Jews would be held captive in Babylon for 70 years.  Isaiah chapter 45 names Cyrus as the ruler who would issue a decree allowing the Jews to return from the Babylonian captivity – some 200 hundred years before!  Then there’s Ezekiel who 2500 years before it happened spoke of the restoration of Israel, which we saw fulfilled in 1948.  Another 2500 year old prophecy that was fulfilled just a few years ago is from Zephaniah 2:7.  During the time of a severe housing shortage someone realized that the Philistines’ houses in Ashkelon were still habitable, and Israeli Jews moved in.

6.  Why do you claim that Jesus is the Messiah?  Haven’t others claimed to be the promised Son of God?

Prophecy again.  God was very specific about His promised Messiah.  Here are just some of the prophecies.  You know, when two of John the Baptist’s disciples asked Jesus if He was the Messiah (Matthew 11:1-5) He answered them by referring to the prophecy in Isaiah 61:1.  How many Messiah claimants have pointed to prophecy to prove their claims?  Only one, Jesus, because only He fulfills those prophecies.

7.  What do you say about all these people who claim to be psychics and the people who claim to talk to the dead?

As to the psychics, I say are they 100% correct in their predictions?  Because that’s what God requires of His prophets.  (Deuteronomy 18:22)   Jean Dixon? – No  Edgar Cayce? – No  Nostrodomus? – No   If they’re not 100% correct 100% of the time, they’re not God’s prophets; stay away from ‘em.  By the way, those 900 numbers that you can call to consult a “psychic” – those companies hire regular people who are trained to manipulate the conversation and listen between the lines in order to elicit and deduce information which they then use to convince the listener, who already wants to believe, that the “psychic” has some special spiritual power.  Psychics that one might visit in person will combine those techniques with common magicians’ tricks to convince the client that “spirits” are present in the room.  Now as to the people who claim to talk to the dead, Luke 16:26 would indicate that God does not allow that.  You can pretty much bet that any so-called psychic, or reader, or fortune teller, or medium, or whatever – probably 99% of the time, they’re fakes.  Now there are a small percentage of these people who are possessed by or are in spiritual contact with demons, but whether fraudulent or demonic, stay away from them.   They don’t know the future; only God knows the future.  God commands us not to be of that ilk (Deuteronomy 18:10-12) nor to go after those who are (Leviticus 19:31).  We are to seek God and none other but God (Isaiah 8:19).

8.  What does Bethabara mean?  What do you mean by “The House of Crossing Over”?

Well, you know John the Baptist was baptizing people in the Jordan River.  One evening a group of Pharisees came to him to ask who he was.  John answered that he was not the Messiah but that Messiah’s time had come.  The next day Jesus came to the river where John was baptizing and John identified Him, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (see John 1:19-33)  Thus began Jesus’s ministry.  This was the crossing over from the time of the prophets to the time of Messiah.  John had has his conversation with the Pharisees at Bethabara; Bethabara means “the house of crossing over”.