Ready … Set … God

Introduction

What is the most important decision you will make in your entire life? There are many important decisions we make along the journey of life, but I’m asking about the absolute, most important one. What would you say?

In less than thirty seconds, you can probably name a few possibilities. Whom will I marry? Where will I live? Should I have kids? What will I do for work? Obviously, these types of questions come to mind because they have such a huge impact on your life. If you change the decision, your journey and destination will be quite different.

Yet as important as any of those decisions are (or were), they aren’t the most important one. I am talking about a decision that will impact you forever. Literally forever. A decision that will determine the eternal destination of your soul. Don’t brush over the word eternity; it is essential. We tend to live for the here and now, but at some point, we will move beyond this life to a final destination.

You may be thinking, I’m all set. I already have my beliefs about God and life after death. Maybe you are a Christian or follow a different religion. Perhaps you contend that God doesn’t exist (“atheist”), or maybe you would say you don’t know (“agnostic”). You may already have an opinion about heaven and how to get there. How did you arrive at these conclusions? Are you open to some important evidence that may inform your position?

Let me be very clear: This book isn’t intended to be disrespectful or insulting. I respect everyone’s free will to choose what he or she believes, but I feel compelled to share critical information most people are unaware of. Whatever your current view is, it will take time to consider the information in this book and perhaps incorporate it into your spiritual journey. Thank you for taking this time to read and reflect.

According to Christianity, everyone makes a decision about God, which leads to one of two paths—either to a place of extraordinary happiness (heaven) or to a place of horrible torment (hell). If this is true, it’s easy to see thatthe most important decision you will ever make is about God, since it will determine where you spend eternity. How can anything in this life compare to eternity? One is like the blink of an eye compared to the other.

Don’t get me wrong. Life is very important. But let’s put it in perspective. If you could live your perfect life, what would it look like? President of the United States? CEO of your company? Super Bowl-winning quarterback? Oscar-winning actor? Winner of the lottery and traveler of the world? Beautiful spouse, two kids, and a great home with a white picket fence? Imagine you were actually able to live your dream life. Then what? Your life may be fantastic, but it’s only a nanosecond compared to eternity. I want to enjoy life and make a difference in the world, but I also have an interest in what happens when I die. This isn’t “dwelling on death” but rather being mindful of what is at stake.

This book is about considering your eternal destination.

Purpose of This Book

So what is this book about? Football? God? Life after death? Yes, yes, and yes. Essentially, it is about giving you information regarding the most important decision of your life. What is the truth about God and my commitment to it? The decision actually has two parts: looking beyond our preferences to discover the truth about God. Then it becomes personal—our decision about whether to truly commit to that truth.

Is there anything more important than getting eternity right? No reasonable person can dismiss it. That said, most people aren’t aware of the evidence. Being sincere isn’t enough; we must be committed to what is the actual truth about God.

There are already numerous great books on apologetics, but to appeal to a different audience, I have decided to combine Christian apologetics with a football story. I will be using elements from the game of football to illustrate some key evidence. Each chapter will be fairly brief, but it will always include two parts:

1. The first part of each chapter will be a fictional football story, written from a first-person perspective. It is one continuous story that begins in chapter 1 and continues through chapter 13. This first part will end with the following symbol:

2. The second part of each chapter will explain how an aspect of football from that chapter illustrates a key piece of evidence for Christianity. This part is organized by questions. Feel free to read or skim questions that are of interest.

It’s important to note that number one is a fictional story, but number two is nonfiction, providing real evidence and rationale.

I hope the illustrations are helpful, but I want to be very clear that no analogy or illustration is 100 percent perfect. Illustrations are meant to be helpful to understand and remember a key concept, but there will always be some differences and a point at which the analogy doesn’t fit. Moreover, there is no substitute for reading the Bible and getting the truth about God directly from His Word. That said, I hope this book provides some interesting and helpful illustrations.

Is this book for Christians or non-Christians? Both. See below.