The Christian Message,
Let’s for a moment look at the focus of the early church.
They were persecuted, the first martyr being Stephen. Herod Agrippa persecuted the church in Jerusalem having James the brother of Christ executed and throwing Peter in prison (Acts 12:1-4).
Still the focus of the early church was purely on Jesus and His saving grace.
Christ had established the church at the cross roads of the ancient world. Trade roots brought everyone from merchants to ambassadors through Palestine. Thus the Gospel was able to reach everyone from Roman officials to the Ethiopian eunuch and others.
They by example set out for the church in all generations how the message of God was to be presented.
There message was simple. The Apostle Paul writing,
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”
Romans 5:8-10.
The early church stuck to their message the writer of Hebrews stating,
"The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father’” ?
Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son” ?
And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”
Hebrews 1:3-6
The Apostle Paul speaking in Athens states,
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill.
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”
Acts 17:24-31.
The apostle John states,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life, and that life was the light of men.... Conquering
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:1-4, 10-14.
The message of the early Church put simply was that Jesus is the Son of God. That he is God in the flesh who is the creator of the world.
Jesus the Saviour each and every person who will in faith turn to Him and accept Him into their lives.
Jesus died and rose again from the grave conquering sin and death, to sit at the right hand of God the Father.
The writer of Hebrews makes clear that believing all of this is an act of faith saying,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.’
Hebrews 11:6
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Hebrews 11:1.
The gospel of John recording a choice all people everywhere must make when Jesus said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”.
John 3:16-18
This is the message of the true Church and the choice you as an individual must make.
Please think about it.
Friday, 6 November 2015
Thursday, 5 November 2015
Man and God
Man and God
“A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.”
C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain.
Over the sixty plus years I’ve been on this earth I’ve listened to many people say there is no God. I know they are wrong.
To quote C. S. Lewis again,
“We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God.”
C.S. Lewis.
The other day a friend and I took our camera’s and went to take some photographs of the autumn leaves in the area. We ended up in a small nature trail a few hundred metres from the mighty Niagara Falls. There, there was in contrast to the mighty Niagara a series of tiny small falls, just a metre or so high connecting a couple of small ponds in which a group of ducks were swimming.
Compered to the roar of Niagara this was peaceful and quiet. Yet in it I could see the handiwork of God. The trees bedecked in their fall colours. The ducks quietly swimming. I cannot believe that all of what I seen was by chance.
God was at work. I’m not one to worry if it took a six billion years or six days to get this way. I only know in my heart that there was a divine creator behind it all.
I think the reason people cannot see God is that they have to varying degrees closed their minds to the fact that He exists.
We have become very much a people that demand concrete signs.
The apostle Paul said,
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
We as individuals want God to reveal himself using our rules. After all it would be far easier if God just appeared in the flesh standing in Jerusalem with a legion of angels demanding we worship Him. At least then we’d know for sure.
God however does not work like that. God asks us to have faith in him. The writer of Hebrews stating,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.’
Hebrews 11:6
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Hebrews 11:1.
And perhaps Faith in God is the hardest thing for a person to have in this day and age?
Please think about it.
“A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.”
C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain.
Over the sixty plus years I’ve been on this earth I’ve listened to many people say there is no God. I know they are wrong.
To quote C. S. Lewis again,
“We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God.”
C.S. Lewis.
The other day a friend and I took our camera’s and went to take some photographs of the autumn leaves in the area. We ended up in a small nature trail a few hundred metres from the mighty Niagara Falls. There, there was in contrast to the mighty Niagara a series of tiny small falls, just a metre or so high connecting a couple of small ponds in which a group of ducks were swimming.
Compered to the roar of Niagara this was peaceful and quiet. Yet in it I could see the handiwork of God. The trees bedecked in their fall colours. The ducks quietly swimming. I cannot believe that all of what I seen was by chance.
God was at work. I’m not one to worry if it took a six billion years or six days to get this way. I only know in my heart that there was a divine creator behind it all.
I think the reason people cannot see God is that they have to varying degrees closed their minds to the fact that He exists.
We have become very much a people that demand concrete signs.
The apostle Paul said,
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
We as individuals want God to reveal himself using our rules. After all it would be far easier if God just appeared in the flesh standing in Jerusalem with a legion of angels demanding we worship Him. At least then we’d know for sure.
God however does not work like that. God asks us to have faith in him. The writer of Hebrews stating,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.’
Hebrews 11:6
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Hebrews 11:1.
And perhaps Faith in God is the hardest thing for a person to have in this day and age?
Please think about it.
Wednesday, 4 November 2015
A gentle slope
A gentle slope
“The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”
C. S. Lewis.
I strongly believe many people in out society are on the road to hell. That’s one of the reasons I write these blogs.
Our society here in North America is full of diversions. Things that misdirect us. We are challenged to go for the “American or Canadian Dream” a good life of prosperity, and health. Something that in itself is good.
We are told by advertisers that we need this gadget or that gadget. We need the nice home with all the amenities. Again in proper prospective there is nothing wrong with having the latest gadgets, toys and luxury items.
However we are even led to believe by popular culture, that there are many ways to heaven. Some would even have you believe there is not a heaven or hell at all.
I as a Christian cannot force nor would I ever try to force what I believe on anyone. They have a free will to choose what they wish.
I would however state that I believe there is a Heaven we need to reach for and a Hell to shun.
I believe that getting to heaven cost us nothing. It is strictly an act of faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus said,
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”.
John 3:16-18.
The apostle Paul notes,
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Ephesians 2:8,9
The writer of Hebrew stating,
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Hebrews 11:1
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Hebrews 11:6
Christians believe that God fully understood that we could not live a life good enough for Him so God reached down to man in the form of Jesus Christ. The apostle John noting,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life, and that life was the light of men.....
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
John 1:1-4, 10-13.
If I am right and I strongly believe that I am a lot of people today in our society have a lot to fear.
C. S. Lewis said,
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”
C. S. Lewis.
Please think about it.
“The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”
C. S. Lewis.
I strongly believe many people in out society are on the road to hell. That’s one of the reasons I write these blogs.
Our society here in North America is full of diversions. Things that misdirect us. We are challenged to go for the “American or Canadian Dream” a good life of prosperity, and health. Something that in itself is good.
We are told by advertisers that we need this gadget or that gadget. We need the nice home with all the amenities. Again in proper prospective there is nothing wrong with having the latest gadgets, toys and luxury items.
However we are even led to believe by popular culture, that there are many ways to heaven. Some would even have you believe there is not a heaven or hell at all.
I as a Christian cannot force nor would I ever try to force what I believe on anyone. They have a free will to choose what they wish.
I would however state that I believe there is a Heaven we need to reach for and a Hell to shun.
I believe that getting to heaven cost us nothing. It is strictly an act of faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus said,
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”.
John 3:16-18.
The apostle Paul notes,
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Ephesians 2:8,9
The writer of Hebrew stating,
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Hebrews 11:1
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Hebrews 11:6
Christians believe that God fully understood that we could not live a life good enough for Him so God reached down to man in the form of Jesus Christ. The apostle John noting,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life, and that life was the light of men.....
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
John 1:1-4, 10-13.
If I am right and I strongly believe that I am a lot of people today in our society have a lot to fear.
C. S. Lewis said,
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”
C. S. Lewis.
Please think about it.
Tuesday, 3 November 2015
God's Work
God's Work
“We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”
Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men!
The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.
God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.
We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death.
But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while.
Then he addressed them: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing.
After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered.
Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.
But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
Acts 5:28-39.
The above is about an incident in which a couple of the apostles who had already been told not to preach in the name of Jesus were caught doing so. The general consensus of the religious leaders was to have them put to death.
However a “Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people” stood up and made a wise statement. After giving them a brief history of men who had risen up claiming to be great men with purpose who had all failed. Told the assembled men,
“Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.
But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
I believe he was right.
Over the centuries many have come against the message of Christ. Many have predicted the demise of Christianity. Instead it continues to grow. Today there are close to three billion Christians in the world and that number is growing throughout the world.
Jesus was and is all he said he is. The Son of God the Saviour of each and every person who will accept him into their lives.
Jesus came into this world for each individual.
C.S. Lewis said,
“He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less.”
C.S. Lewis
Lewis also said,
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”
C. S. Lewis.
I think the importance of Christianity is in part demonstrated by the fact it continues to grow. That it’s message is as relevant today in the twenty-first century as it was in the first century.
I firmly believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God that the words he spoke when he said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”.
John 3:16-18.
Are completely true.
Please think about it.
“We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”
Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men!
The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.
God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.
We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death.
But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while.
Then he addressed them: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing.
After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered.
Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.
But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
Acts 5:28-39.
The above is about an incident in which a couple of the apostles who had already been told not to preach in the name of Jesus were caught doing so. The general consensus of the religious leaders was to have them put to death.
However a “Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people” stood up and made a wise statement. After giving them a brief history of men who had risen up claiming to be great men with purpose who had all failed. Told the assembled men,
“Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.
But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
I believe he was right.
Over the centuries many have come against the message of Christ. Many have predicted the demise of Christianity. Instead it continues to grow. Today there are close to three billion Christians in the world and that number is growing throughout the world.
Jesus was and is all he said he is. The Son of God the Saviour of each and every person who will accept him into their lives.
Jesus came into this world for each individual.
C.S. Lewis said,
“He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less.”
C.S. Lewis
Lewis also said,
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”
C. S. Lewis.
I think the importance of Christianity is in part demonstrated by the fact it continues to grow. That it’s message is as relevant today in the twenty-first century as it was in the first century.
I firmly believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God that the words he spoke when he said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”.
John 3:16-18.
Are completely true.
Please think about it.
Monday, 2 November 2015
A dying declaration
A dying declaration
“One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?
We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’”
Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Luke 23:39-43
Here’s something to think about. The above quote from Luke’s gospel tells us not only of the reaction of the two criminals crucified with Jesus but about what Jesus said.
Jesus when faced with death said to the one criminal “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
This was something only God could guarantee. If Jesus was not the Son of God and simply a man why would he say such a thing. Especially as he was about the face death.
Remember Jesus before going to the cross had been whipped unmercifully. Yet he never recanted what he said about himself.
The apostle Paul makes the point,
“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:7,8.
Jesus was all he said he was the One and Only Son of God.
C. S. Lewis notes,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
What do you think?
Please think about it.
“One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?
We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’”
Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Luke 23:39-43
Here’s something to think about. The above quote from Luke’s gospel tells us not only of the reaction of the two criminals crucified with Jesus but about what Jesus said.
Jesus when faced with death said to the one criminal “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
This was something only God could guarantee. If Jesus was not the Son of God and simply a man why would he say such a thing. Especially as he was about the face death.
Remember Jesus before going to the cross had been whipped unmercifully. Yet he never recanted what he said about himself.
The apostle Paul makes the point,
“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:7,8.
Jesus was all he said he was the One and Only Son of God.
C. S. Lewis notes,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
What do you think?
Please think about it.
Sunday, 1 November 2015
The most important message
The most important message,
The Book of Acts records this message by the apostle Paul spoken to intellectuals in Athens in the first century A.D. It is as relevant today as it was back then.
The book of acts records,
“So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.
A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?
You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”
(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.
For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill.
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”
At that, Paul left the Council.
A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others”
Acts 17:17-34
Please think about it.
The Book of Acts records this message by the apostle Paul spoken to intellectuals in Athens in the first century A.D. It is as relevant today as it was back then.
The book of acts records,
“So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.
A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?
You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”
(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.
For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill.
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”
At that, Paul left the Council.
A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others”
Acts 17:17-34
Please think about it.
Saturday, 31 October 2015
Why I talk about Jesus
Why I talk about Jesus
I believe Jesus like all Christians believe. I believe Jesus when he said,
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.
When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”
Matthew 13:44-46.
Think about it like this.
If you knew something that could change the life of someone for the better, or something that could save a life, wouldn’t you want to tell people about it?
That is what Christians believe. We believe that a true personal relationship with Jesus Christ can change your life. It can also assure you of where you will spend eternity.
Jesus said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
John 3:16-17
Being a Christian is knowing God the very creator of the universe. The gospel of John stating,
“In the beginning was the Word,(Jesus) and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life, and that life was the light of men....
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
John 1:1-4, 10-13.
This is why Christians want to tell everyone about their faith.
Jesus said,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30.
From a personal prospective I can testify that to the above statement. I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour when I was nineteen. I’m sixty plus now so I’ve had a life time of experience with respect to knowing what it’s like to follow Jesus.
In my life I have gone through many tragedies. I have survived cancer and I live each day with Bi-polar affective disorder (manic depression) along with an anxiety disorder, something that at times has drove me to the point of suicide.
I firmly believe that it is because of my personal relationship with Jesus that I have not committed suicide.
Jesus has been their for me through my darkest hours. I
I remember when I got the diagnosis for my cancer praying and asking for God’s peace. He answered my prayer and all went well.
A few weeks later as a side effect of the operation I was rushed to the hospital with blood clots on my lungs that almost killed me. Again I turned it all over the Jesus. Again I had a peace that passed understanding.
And remember through all of this I still had the Bi-polar disorder and the anxiety disorder that magnifies the worry, yet Jesus gave me peace.
I do not believe in forcing my faith on anyone. God gave everyone freedom of choice. That means they have the right to believe in Him and believe Jesus is the Son of God the Saviour of mankind, or not to believe.
The choice is yours. I can only say Jesus has had a profound effect on my life no matter the circumstance.
I leave the choice to accept Jesus into your life up to you.
Please think about it.
I believe Jesus like all Christians believe. I believe Jesus when he said,
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.
When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”
Matthew 13:44-46.
Think about it like this.
If you knew something that could change the life of someone for the better, or something that could save a life, wouldn’t you want to tell people about it?
That is what Christians believe. We believe that a true personal relationship with Jesus Christ can change your life. It can also assure you of where you will spend eternity.
Jesus said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
John 3:16-17
Being a Christian is knowing God the very creator of the universe. The gospel of John stating,
“In the beginning was the Word,(Jesus) and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life, and that life was the light of men....
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
John 1:1-4, 10-13.
This is why Christians want to tell everyone about their faith.
Jesus said,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30.
From a personal prospective I can testify that to the above statement. I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour when I was nineteen. I’m sixty plus now so I’ve had a life time of experience with respect to knowing what it’s like to follow Jesus.
In my life I have gone through many tragedies. I have survived cancer and I live each day with Bi-polar affective disorder (manic depression) along with an anxiety disorder, something that at times has drove me to the point of suicide.
I firmly believe that it is because of my personal relationship with Jesus that I have not committed suicide.
Jesus has been their for me through my darkest hours. I
I remember when I got the diagnosis for my cancer praying and asking for God’s peace. He answered my prayer and all went well.
A few weeks later as a side effect of the operation I was rushed to the hospital with blood clots on my lungs that almost killed me. Again I turned it all over the Jesus. Again I had a peace that passed understanding.
And remember through all of this I still had the Bi-polar disorder and the anxiety disorder that magnifies the worry, yet Jesus gave me peace.
I do not believe in forcing my faith on anyone. God gave everyone freedom of choice. That means they have the right to believe in Him and believe Jesus is the Son of God the Saviour of mankind, or not to believe.
The choice is yours. I can only say Jesus has had a profound effect on my life no matter the circumstance.
I leave the choice to accept Jesus into your life up to you.
Please think about it.
Friday, 30 October 2015
Our Society
Our society
“I would recommend that we straighten out a few things before we contemplate any interplanetary transportation system. Suppose a man from Mars should suddenly appear on Earth? I think it would be terribly embarrassing if he learned that a second-rate singer in a night club makes four thousand dollars a week, and a high-school teacher makes three thousand eight hundred and ninety dollars a year. This and many other things should be straightened out first if we intend to maintain our dignity when planet folks start visiting us.”
Harry Golden.
Harry Golden is right. The Americans have a statement that stays “all men are created equal.” a good and noble statement. Yet when it comes to healthcare some people cannot afford it while their elected government officials all of whom are wealthy get excellent healthcare benefits.
People in one of the richest and most powerful nations in history go without food. Men and women who work all their lives end up with pensions that are below the poverty line.
And it’s not just the Americans. I live in Canada and while our healthcare system in far better than the American system there are some very serious deficiencies.
Pensions too are below the poverty line. Even private pensions governments urged people to sign onto are being lost because companies are backing out of them. While elected government officials after only a few years in office get a gold plated pension plan far more than the average Canadian can hope for.
Here in Canada also people are still living on the street. Men women and children go hungry. This in one of the richest countries in the world.
Think about it some guy who pushes a frozen piece of rubber around the ice or runs around a few bases earns more than a doctor, a policeman, fireman, or for that matter a garbage collector.
Tell me who would they notice first if they went on strike the baseball player or the garbage collector? I know from past strikes people scream pretty quickly when garbage collectors go on strike.
Our society has its priorities all mixed up. Now there is nothing wrong with paying professional sports players millions. It, after all is a business, and in a free society people can charge for their services what they feel other people are willing to pay.
However it is wrong to let people go hungry. To deny them adequate healthcare, pensions and other necessities of life.
The Talmud makes two interesting points. It states,
“Rabbi Akiba was asked by a Roman general, “Why does your God who loves the needy not provide for their support Himself?” He answered, “God the Father of both the rich and poor, wants the one to help the other so as to make the world a household of love.”
The Talmud.
In this world there are always going to be poor. People who need help. Not everyone can be rich. After all as someone has said if everyone was rich who’d do the jobs considered menial.
Still I believe it is the duty of those who can help the poor and needy of our society to do so.
I do believe God will hold people accountable when it comes to dealing with ones fellow man.
The Talmud stating,
“When a man appears before the Throne of Judgment, the first question he is asked is not, “Have you believed in God?” Or “Have you prayed and observed the ritual? “He is asked: “have you dealt honourably and faithfully in all your dealings with your fellow men?”
The Talmud.
I believe the writer of Ecclesiastes who said,
“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”
Ecclesiastes 12:13,14.
Please think about it.
“I would recommend that we straighten out a few things before we contemplate any interplanetary transportation system. Suppose a man from Mars should suddenly appear on Earth? I think it would be terribly embarrassing if he learned that a second-rate singer in a night club makes four thousand dollars a week, and a high-school teacher makes three thousand eight hundred and ninety dollars a year. This and many other things should be straightened out first if we intend to maintain our dignity when planet folks start visiting us.”
Harry Golden.
Harry Golden is right. The Americans have a statement that stays “all men are created equal.” a good and noble statement. Yet when it comes to healthcare some people cannot afford it while their elected government officials all of whom are wealthy get excellent healthcare benefits.
People in one of the richest and most powerful nations in history go without food. Men and women who work all their lives end up with pensions that are below the poverty line.
And it’s not just the Americans. I live in Canada and while our healthcare system in far better than the American system there are some very serious deficiencies.
Pensions too are below the poverty line. Even private pensions governments urged people to sign onto are being lost because companies are backing out of them. While elected government officials after only a few years in office get a gold plated pension plan far more than the average Canadian can hope for.
Here in Canada also people are still living on the street. Men women and children go hungry. This in one of the richest countries in the world.
Think about it some guy who pushes a frozen piece of rubber around the ice or runs around a few bases earns more than a doctor, a policeman, fireman, or for that matter a garbage collector.
Tell me who would they notice first if they went on strike the baseball player or the garbage collector? I know from past strikes people scream pretty quickly when garbage collectors go on strike.
Our society has its priorities all mixed up. Now there is nothing wrong with paying professional sports players millions. It, after all is a business, and in a free society people can charge for their services what they feel other people are willing to pay.
However it is wrong to let people go hungry. To deny them adequate healthcare, pensions and other necessities of life.
The Talmud makes two interesting points. It states,
“Rabbi Akiba was asked by a Roman general, “Why does your God who loves the needy not provide for their support Himself?” He answered, “God the Father of both the rich and poor, wants the one to help the other so as to make the world a household of love.”
The Talmud.
In this world there are always going to be poor. People who need help. Not everyone can be rich. After all as someone has said if everyone was rich who’d do the jobs considered menial.
Still I believe it is the duty of those who can help the poor and needy of our society to do so.
I do believe God will hold people accountable when it comes to dealing with ones fellow man.
The Talmud stating,
“When a man appears before the Throne of Judgment, the first question he is asked is not, “Have you believed in God?” Or “Have you prayed and observed the ritual? “He is asked: “have you dealt honourably and faithfully in all your dealings with your fellow men?”
The Talmud.
I believe the writer of Ecclesiastes who said,
“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”
Ecclesiastes 12:13,14.
Please think about it.
Thursday, 29 October 2015
About God
About God
“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”
Ecclesiastes 12:13,14
Here is I believe a simple truth. I as an individual can present what I believe about God from now to the day God calls me home. I can put all the proofs I can muster out there for people to read. And I know despite all that I do there will be people around me and people who read the blogs I post that will not believe in God.
The writer of Hebrews more or less admits to this, noting,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
Hebrews 11:6.
Faith defined as,
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Hebrews 11:1.
I think that’s the hard part. Believing in what we cannot see. Yet it is a requirement of God that you believe in Him without seeing Him.
That’s not to say we cannot see his handy work all around us. The psalmist wrote,
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
Psalm 19:1.
One just has to look at the perfection of the world around us to see that there has to be a creator of it all.
Do you believe?
Please think about it.
“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”
Ecclesiastes 12:13,14
Here is I believe a simple truth. I as an individual can present what I believe about God from now to the day God calls me home. I can put all the proofs I can muster out there for people to read. And I know despite all that I do there will be people around me and people who read the blogs I post that will not believe in God.
The writer of Hebrews more or less admits to this, noting,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
Hebrews 11:6.
Faith defined as,
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Hebrews 11:1.
I think that’s the hard part. Believing in what we cannot see. Yet it is a requirement of God that you believe in Him without seeing Him.
That’s not to say we cannot see his handy work all around us. The psalmist wrote,
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
Psalm 19:1.
One just has to look at the perfection of the world around us to see that there has to be a creator of it all.
Do you believe?
Please think about it.
Wednesday, 28 October 2015
Christians Believe
Christians believe
“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.
For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father’” ?
Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son” ?
And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” In speaking of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.”
But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”
Hebrews 1:1-9.
Here the writer of Hebrews states what Christians believe about Jesus. He states,
“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
The Son (Jesus) is the exact representation of God’s being. He provided purification for the sins of man and is now sitting at the right hand of God in heaven.
These are the core beliefs of Christianity. Without believing this you cannot be a Christian.
To the non-believer it presents a challenge. Either you believe this or you do not. There’s no in between. Jesus himself said,
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6.
He also said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”.
John 3:16-18
To my knowledge no other religious leader has ever made such a statements. Yet they are the core belief of Christianity.
C. S. Lewis wrote,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
The choice dear reader is yours.
Please think about it.
“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.
For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father’” ?
Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son” ?
And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” In speaking of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.”
But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”
Hebrews 1:1-9.
Here the writer of Hebrews states what Christians believe about Jesus. He states,
“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
The Son (Jesus) is the exact representation of God’s being. He provided purification for the sins of man and is now sitting at the right hand of God in heaven.
These are the core beliefs of Christianity. Without believing this you cannot be a Christian.
To the non-believer it presents a challenge. Either you believe this or you do not. There’s no in between. Jesus himself said,
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6.
He also said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”.
John 3:16-18
To my knowledge no other religious leader has ever made such a statements. Yet they are the core belief of Christianity.
C. S. Lewis wrote,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
The choice dear reader is yours.
Please think about it.
Tuesday, 27 October 2015
I Know
I know
“I have not seen the robin but I know he is there because I heard him singing through my window from the tree-top outside.
I have not seen God. But I have looked at my child’s eyes, and have been overwhelmed by the miracle of unfolding life.
I have watched the trees bedeck themselves with new garbs of green in the spring, and have been stirred by the miracle of continual rebirth.
I have looked at the stars, and have been overcome by the miracle of the grandeur and majesty of the universe.
I know that God exists, because I have heard the song of His presence from all the tree-tops of creation.”
Ben Zion Bokser
For me the above is true. I know God exists. I cannot conceive of a universe in which there is no God.
The majority of people through out history have believed in an afterlife and God. I cannot believe they were wrong.
I know for many if not most people it’s hard to believe in someone they cannot see or feel but that is the nature of faith. The writer of Hebrews stating,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Hebrews 11:6
The writer defining faith as,
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Hebrews 11:1.
And that perhaps is the hardest thing to do?
Please think about it.
“I have not seen the robin but I know he is there because I heard him singing through my window from the tree-top outside.
I have not seen God. But I have looked at my child’s eyes, and have been overwhelmed by the miracle of unfolding life.
I have watched the trees bedeck themselves with new garbs of green in the spring, and have been stirred by the miracle of continual rebirth.
I have looked at the stars, and have been overcome by the miracle of the grandeur and majesty of the universe.
I know that God exists, because I have heard the song of His presence from all the tree-tops of creation.”
Ben Zion Bokser
For me the above is true. I know God exists. I cannot conceive of a universe in which there is no God.
The majority of people through out history have believed in an afterlife and God. I cannot believe they were wrong.
I know for many if not most people it’s hard to believe in someone they cannot see or feel but that is the nature of faith. The writer of Hebrews stating,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Hebrews 11:6
The writer defining faith as,
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Hebrews 11:1.
And that perhaps is the hardest thing to do?
Please think about it.
Sunday, 25 October 2015
Jesus is
Jesus is
Flavius Josephus,(37AD-100AD) a Jewish historian, who became a Pharisee at 19, later commander, of the Jewish forces in Galilee. Who was captured by Romans and attached to their headquarters. Wrote this about Jesus,
“Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ, and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first, did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians so named from him are not extinct at this day.”
Does Jesus exist? Yes he does. There is no doubt in my mind that Jesus exists, but then I’m a Christian.
I know there are Atheist that claim he didn’t. There are people out there that dismiss out of hand all the historical evidence of Jesus both inside the Bible and outside.
That being said from all that I’ve read from credible historians the majority of Christian and Atheist historians both believe Jesus existed.
It, I believe is easy to say Jesus didn’t exist and say that the historical evidence is flawed. It’s much harder to believe he existed because once you admit he existed then you have to admit that what the bible says about him has to have some merit.
I believe Jesus existed not only because of the evidence inside the Bible but outside also.
I also believe the fastest way to turn people away from something is to make outrageous claims that if not true would turn people away and thus become counter productive to the movement one is starting.
Jesus made what to man’s way of thinking could be considered outrageous.
John in his gospel records this incident,
The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
I and the Father are one.”
Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”
John 10:24-32
Notice Jesus says “I and the Father are one”
That’s quite a statement considering in Jewish culture of the time making oneself equivalent to God was considered a heresy and punishable by death. As seen by the fact the Jews were going to stone him.
John also record an other incident this time with the apostle Philip,
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.
John 14:8-11
C.S. Lewis wrote of Jesus,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
In the end the choice to believe Jesus is all he said his or to reject him comes down to an act of informed faith.
You can read the evidence that Jesus existed from sources outside the bible. You can read what Jesus said about himself and what the disciples believed about him from the Bible.
Then you must make your decision.
Please think about it.
Flavius Josephus,(37AD-100AD) a Jewish historian, who became a Pharisee at 19, later commander, of the Jewish forces in Galilee. Who was captured by Romans and attached to their headquarters. Wrote this about Jesus,
“Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ, and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first, did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians so named from him are not extinct at this day.”
Does Jesus exist? Yes he does. There is no doubt in my mind that Jesus exists, but then I’m a Christian.
I know there are Atheist that claim he didn’t. There are people out there that dismiss out of hand all the historical evidence of Jesus both inside the Bible and outside.
That being said from all that I’ve read from credible historians the majority of Christian and Atheist historians both believe Jesus existed.
It, I believe is easy to say Jesus didn’t exist and say that the historical evidence is flawed. It’s much harder to believe he existed because once you admit he existed then you have to admit that what the bible says about him has to have some merit.
I believe Jesus existed not only because of the evidence inside the Bible but outside also.
I also believe the fastest way to turn people away from something is to make outrageous claims that if not true would turn people away and thus become counter productive to the movement one is starting.
Jesus made what to man’s way of thinking could be considered outrageous.
John in his gospel records this incident,
The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
I and the Father are one.”
Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”
John 10:24-32
Notice Jesus says “I and the Father are one”
That’s quite a statement considering in Jewish culture of the time making oneself equivalent to God was considered a heresy and punishable by death. As seen by the fact the Jews were going to stone him.
John also record an other incident this time with the apostle Philip,
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.
John 14:8-11
C.S. Lewis wrote of Jesus,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
In the end the choice to believe Jesus is all he said his or to reject him comes down to an act of informed faith.
You can read the evidence that Jesus existed from sources outside the bible. You can read what Jesus said about himself and what the disciples believed about him from the Bible.
Then you must make your decision.
Please think about it.
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