important?

If the existence of mankind was doomed to destruction from a catastrophic event on earth, and someone came to tell us there was a way of escape, that would be good news. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is good news. The word "Gospel" is translated "Good News." We are all doomed to eternal damnation. The Bible says, None is righteous, not one...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:10, 3:23). It is a given. If something was not done to pardon us from the consequences of our crimes against God, we would all be condemned to a death sentence. Jesus is our only escape. He came to tell everyone the Good News that he accepted the punishment for the sin of every member of the human race. Jesus' sacrifice allowed God to declare us "Not Guilty" and set us free.  Have you accepted the free gift of eternal life? Are you involved in a relationship with Jesus Christ?  If not, please visit the page Who is Jesus Christ? before moving on.

Jesus told Nicodemus in the Gospel of John, Chapter 3: "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again" (verse 3). In Chapter 14 of John, Jesus told his disciples, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (verse 6). Jesus took it one step further in Chapter 8 when he told the people, "I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins" (verse 24). If we do nothing in our own lives, we are condemned. If we do nothing to tell others the Good News, they are condemned. Judgment is not necessary. Without Jesus to take the punishment for our offenses against God, we will take it upon ourselves. We are all lost.

To paraphrase Jesus’ message from the three verses, If you want to see the Kingdom of God, believe in me, listen to me, follow my lead. If you don’t allow me to show you the way, you will never make it, you’ll die trying. If there was only one human being on this earth that didn’t know who Jesus really was, it would still be very important.

Sixty-eight percent of the estimated 5.3 billion world population are considered non-Christian. That translates into 3.6 billion people floundering in their quest to "see" the Kingdom of God. Many non-Christian world religions think highly of Jesus Christ. To them he is a prophet of God, a teacher, or at least a good man. But do they know who he really is? The majority of the Christian Church holds a Trinitarian perception of God. This "three-in-one" concept of God is contradictory to the Word of God, the Bible. It is also in direct conflict with the second largest, and strict monotheistic faith of Islam (Muslims) and also the Jews. Muslims and Jews consider Trinitarianism to be a worship of three gods which has resulted in their resistance to accept the Good News of Jesus Christ. Though Trinitarians are strictly monotheistic in their worship of God, there is a misunderstanding in their perception of God's Oneness. Included in the Christian total are Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints) who do not accept Jesus as Almighty God.

The graph illustrates the distribution of religious denominations in the world. The 1990 United Nations calculation of world population totaled approximately 5.3 billion. In 1990 Christianity was reported to be the strongest with 1.7 billion people(consisting of Roman Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, Anglicans and other Christian denominations). Roman Catholic membership was determined to be about 958.4 million (about 17 percent of the world population). In the mid-1990s the world had about 469 million Protestants, (including some 78 million Anglicans), constituting about one-fourth of all Christians. Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses are assumed to be included in the category of "Other Christian" found in the graph. Mormonism is considered a major world religion with more than eight million members. The best determination of Jehovah's Witnesses in the United States is about 4.9 million with active membership totaling nearly 936,200. Islam, also called Muslim or Muhammadism, follows Christianity in size with an estimate of more than one billion. Hinduism is next with more than 700 million and Buddhism with between 150 and 300 million. In the early 1990’s the Jewish population was about 12.8 million throughout the world.

The majority of the world has either never heard the "Good News" or they have an inaccurate perception of Jesus. It doesn’t take long to see that Teaching Others Who Jesus Really Is should be a most important objective. The consequences of doing nothing, are catastrophic beyond our worst dreams.

 

Bibliography

All statistical information and religious distribution graph based on the best estimates according to:Microsoft® Encarta® 97 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1996 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.