Saturday, April 11, 2009

He is Risen

And that's the problem for all those of other faiths that "recognize" Jesus Christ as a prophet or a teacher, but not as the son of God/God in the flesh. The fact that He died for our sins and rose again to show that He had conquered death and paid for the sins of the entire world, should they choose to accept His free gift of salvation, is the entire point.

The problem for Muslims and Jehovah's witnesses and all others who claim that Jesus was only a teacher or a prophet is His resurrection. Without that fact, He would not be the foundation of the Christian faith today, nor could He be counted as a prophet.

Either He was telling the truth and He was/is God, or He was a madman for claiming to be God. His status is wholly dependent upon the truth of His words. If He spoke the truth, He is/was God and deserves our worship as our creator and if He lied, He deserves nothing more than to have been forgotten by history as one more madman claiming to be God.

Throughout His ministry He claimed to be God. There are numerous accounts of His being attacked for such claims in the Bible. There are numerous, credible accounts of His death and His appearances after His death.

This Easter, I will be praying that all those who recognize Jesus only as a teacher or prophet examine their beliefs and come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and His work for us on the cross.

Veritas Vos Liberat

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." ~John 14:6

"And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him." ~ Mark 16:6

"He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay." ~Matt 28:6



2 comments:

Dr.D said...

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

As you point out, Mom, this is the key point in all of Christ's ministry, the ultimate proof of His divinity. Those who deny this salient point might just as well deny that He ever existed.

This is a very difficult thing of modern people to believe; it requires faith. We have the written testimony of those who were there at the time, but modern people are prone to discount such testimony and say, "this is impossible, we cannot reproduce the experiment in our laboratory." Well of course it is impossible to replicate in the laboratory. God does not do command performances. And that is where the element of faith comes in.

We have the testimony of those who were there, and we have the testimony of those through the intervening ages whose lives have been forever changed by the power of Christ. It is up to us to look at that testimony and choose to believe or not to believe. One choice leads to eternal life, and the other choice leads to eternal separation from God. God coerces no one and we are free to choose. It seems clear as we look around us that many will freely choose the path to eternal separation. This is a sad choice, but one that we cannot ultimately prevent.

We are called to spread the Gospel. This is a word that we usually do not fully understand. It is the translation of the Greek word evangelion which is closely tied to the Latin evangelium. This last referred to a proclamation from the Roman Emperor, a message that was understood to, in and of itself, make the world a better place, a message that has power by itself. This is the Gospel of Christ -- evangelium!

Call Me Mom said...

My apologies to any of my readers who may have followed "Jennifer"'s back links.
Jennifer, if your comment was sincere, I appreciate it but I refuse to allow a pathway to such pages through my blog and I sincerely advise you to distance yourself from such things. Should you wish to comment on this blog in the future, I must insist that you post as anonymous or I will delete your posts regardless of content.

Thank you Dr. D.
I wish you and yours a glorious Resurrection Day!