The Bulletin of the Church of Christ at New Georgia
Tim Johnson, editor	May 15, 2005
In This Issue: One Correct Answer by Steve Klein His Spirit Was Stirred by Carl W. Alexander   BACK TO INDEX	One Correct Answer    Who was the first president of the United States of America?  How many quarters does it take to make a dollar?  What is the capital city of Alabama?  What do two plus two equal?  These are simple questions with simple answers.  A teacher grading an exam that contained these questions would have little trouble determining if the students' answers were right or wrong, because each question has only one correct answer.    Like questions on a school exam, many spiritual questions have only one correct answer. And if there is only one correct answer to a question, all other answers are WRONG, no matter how often they are given or how many people give them.  Consider the following questions and answers. How many Gods are there?   The Bible says that there is one true God, and that there is no other God but that one.  "We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God. . . (1 Corinthians 8:4-6). In whose name must men be saved?  Speaking of Jesus, the apostle Peter said, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) How many spiritual bodies or churches are there?  "There is one body" (Ephesians 4:4). How many spiritual bodies or churches are made up of the saved?  "Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body." (Ephesians 4:23).  "And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." (Acts 2:47)  How many faiths are there?  There is "one faith" (Ephesians 4:5). How many baptisms are there?  There is "one baptism" (Ephesians 4:5).   Religious people have many different answers to these questions.  But the Bible makes it clear that each of these questions has only one correct answer. Men may answer that one can be saved outside of Christ, or in the church of his choice, or practicing any number of faiths, or submitting to different forms of baptism or to no baptism at all.  All that means is that men are WRONG! -- Steve Klein  His Spirit was Stirred   When Paul came to Athens and saw all the images and temples in which these were served, Luke records that "his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry." But Paul did not just get stirred up and then do nothing about that which had stirred him.  The next verse says, "Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him." This tells us much about Paul: (1) HE WAS NOT PASSIVE TOWARD ERROR. He was deeply disturbed by its presence. One of our greatest dangers is that we will become nonchalant toward sin and error. When that attitude is taken, it is not a very long step to acceptance of sin. "Abhor that which is evil" (Rom. 12:9). "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil" (Psa. 97:10). "Hate the evil, and love the good" (Amos 5:15). Concerning Lot in wicked Sodom, Peter said, "For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds" (2 Pet. 2:8). How do YOU feel about the sin and error all about us? (2) PAUL THOUGHT THERE WAS SOMETHING THAT HE COULD DO ABOUT IT. Could he stop all the idolatry in Athens? He was just one man. He had just one voice. He would probably not stay in this city very long. "Therefore disputed he" in both the synagogue and the marketplace and this he did "daily." He might not be able to save them all, but he could try. He did not stop to rationalize and figure up all the excuses as to why it would be a waste of his time. He did not seek to project results ahead of time. He simply attacked the error with the truth. Wonders would be wrought today if God's people, in the midst of a crooked generation, would decide that, though they are only one, they are still one. They may have only one voice, but they do have one voice. If we would forget about results and remember that God holds us responsible for effort, we would be better off. God gives the increase. The bulk of those who heard him rejected what he said, but "certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them" (Acts 17:34). If Paul had not been stirred to make the effort he did, then these people would not have learned the truth. (3) PAUL DID NOT THINK RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY WRONG. There is a popular sentiment which says that religious controversy is foolish, out of order, calculated to do harm and not good and that men should never dispute about such things. This attitude assumes that religious differences do not really matter anyhow, that one belief is as good as another.  Paul did not believe this. He did not believe that the worship of idols was as good as true worship. He even went so far as to tell these idolaters that God expected them to repent and that there was going to be a day of judgment (Acts 17:30-31). He told them they were wrong and he had the truth and that they ought to change.    May God help us to be stirred to do something NOW to save those all about us who are lost. -- Carl W. Alexander