This article is the first in the series titled Fundamentals of the Faith
God has a Plan
Everyone, at some point in life, wonders why they are here, how did the universe come into existence and what is the meaning of life. These questions set us on a journey to find God or develop another explanation for human existence. The first question anyone asks on the road to finding God is “does God exist”? None of us are born knowing God or even knowing that He is real, but all of us if we live long enough wonder if He is real. This article will discuss God’s plan for the human race. His plan is best viewed in 3 sections or phases and will be discussed in the next 3 articles.
3 Phases of God’s Plan
Phase 1 of God’s plan is to bring us to salvation through faith in Christ. In order to reach faith in Christ we must come to God consciousness and then hear the gospel. Phase 2 of the plan begins the moment we believe in Christ for salvation and ends at our death. Phase 2 is called the Christian life, life as a believer on the earth. Phase 3 begins at death and stretches throughout eternity. This phase is our life with God in the eternal state. In this article will look briefly at Phase 1 and describe its characteristics.
Timeline of God’s Plan
God Conscious Gospel – Faith Christian Life Eternal State
Birth____________1__________Salvation________2___________Death________3_________
Does God Exist?
Phase 1 begins at birth and goes to the point of salvation by faith in Christ. At birth, we are born separated from God and unaware of His existence. The first obstacle to reaching faith in Christ is to believe that God exists. There are many who do not believe in God as a person or in a God of any kind. Some believe that God is an impersonal force and some believe that God is the life force within us all. To reach a decision about God’s existence, He uses nature to bring us all to God consciousness (GC). GC is an awareness of the question, “does God exist”? Everyone reaches GC at different points or ages. Some may reach this point early in life while others ask the question later in life. Many factors are involved in reaching GC, especially the beliefs of those in our environment. If many in our surroundings believe in God, then we will be aware of His existence early. If talk of God is scarce among or peers, then we may reach awareness late.
God Consciousness
The beauty of nature and the existence of an orderly universe demand that we ask how this order came to exist. Logic leads us to ask how, when and why life began. Did life happen by some cosmic accident or was there a Creator who initiated all that we experience as life? Logic leads us to look for a “first cause” of creation. Science has developed the “Big Bang Theory”, which theorizes that the universe began in one moment of time with a tremendous explosion. This idea says that all matter originally existed in one place and this explosion has resulted in our present day universe. This popular theory of creation while explaining many aspects of the universe, does not explain where matter came from in the first place or what caused the explosion. The only possible explanation for the existence of matter, space and life itself is that the Creator exists and that He initiated the universe. God is the first cause and the source of life. The logic of a Creator makes sense even without the bible. It is the only possible answer to the questions of how, when and why we exist. When anyone reaches this place of logic and believes that God exists, he has reached God consciousness and said yes to God.
Gospel Hearing
In eternity past, before God created the universe, He knew that Adam was going to sin and that all mankind would be born condemned. He knew the eternal problem we would face and it was then that He devised a solution. God’s solution devised in eternity past was to send His Son to redeem mankind from the wages of sin. He would send Jesus to the cross to pay for sins of man and resurrect from the dead. His plan for everyone is to trust in Christ for eternal salvation. To trust in the gospel, we must first come to GC and believe that God exists. Whenever a person believes that God exists, He then takes them to the next step, which is hearing the gospel of Christ. He sends someone to explain the gospel so that they can choose to believe it or reject it. When they hear and understand the gospel, they have 3 choices. The first choice is to accept it for salvation by believing that Christ died for them and raised from the dead. The second choice is to remain undecided and neutral, neither believing nor rejecting. God views this choice in the same way He views the third option, rejecting the gospel by choosing not to believe it.
Summary
Phase 1 of God’s plan for the human race is focused on bringing us to saving faith in Christ. To arrive at saving faith we must first reach God consciousness and believe that God exists as a real person. When we choose to believe in God, He sends us the gospel to believe for salvation. If we reach GC but decide not to believe that He exists, then God may or may not send us the gospel. In this day of instant communication, most people on the earth have heard the gospel. When we hear, understand and believe the gospel of Christ, we are given eternal life and enter into Phase 2 of God’s plan, the Christian Life.
The next article will discuss the characteristics of the Phase 2, The Christian Life.
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