For many the cost of being a true Christian is too great

Dear Dr. Graham: Why are people looking to politics, science and education for the solution to the problems we face today? P.T.

Dear P.T.: Many people who call themselves Christians actually doubt the authority of the Scriptures, believing in a god of their own imagination. Jesus Christ has been robbed of his deity. The truth of Jesus the Christ can be a disturbing thought. He did not come the first time to bring peace. He came to show mankind our sin against him.

Scripture warns that multitudes will reject that message, and we see that happening today. There is a cost to being a Christian and the cost for many is too great.

In this country we are engaged in a debate on the separation of church and state.

But there is a sense in which Christ cannot be separated from anything that pertains to life, for he “is all and in all” (Colossians 3:11). True Christianity is dependent on a personal relationship with God, not on externals. No pagan philosophy, no atheistic ideology, no deep sorrow can dislodge the joy of living as a true believer in the lord Jesus Christ. He is big enough to cope with the gigantic social problems of these times. Man does not in himself have the capacity to do this.

When someone repents of sin and receives Jesus as savior, he gives newness of life — new direction, new strength, and a new dimension of living.