Archive for the ‘ Gospel ’ Category
I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20, CSB
We are in a spiritual war, and we must live in the light of Jesus’ victory on the cross, knowing that we may fight battles but He has won the war already.
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1, CSB
We are in a spiritual war, and our enemy will try to steal our peace and make us doubt our salvation. Scripture is our primary weapon to fight back and remain near our Savior who fights for us.
“I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.”
John 6:35, CSB
We are in a spiritual war, and even communion is an act of warfare, declaring the triumphant death and resurrection of Christ our Savior and Lord.
Today is a special day in my life.
This weekend is the 40th anniversary of the day that Marty McFly traveled through time for the first time. (My favorite movie. 😉)
I also enjoy many other great stories about time travel and such, one of those being Douglas Adams’ “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” books and other media. Even though he was writing as an atheist who thought religion should be done away with, he was very witty and wrote well.
Within this story we discover that the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything is 42. (The question being discovered is part of the plot of the series.)
And it is special to me because I get to joke around that I am now the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything.
However, I am aware of the greater truth:
John 14:6, CSB
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.John 14:15-17, CSB
“If you love me, you will keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.”
I am not really the answer, but I have the answer living within me.
The Creator of Life, the Universe, and Everything lives in me and gives me life amd truth, and I must be ready to share this answer with all people.
Matthew 28:18-20, CSB
Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”1 Peter 3:15, CSB
but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6, CSB
We love the Church, for this is where Christ dwells by the Holy Spirit, and we share the Truth as the only Way to eternal Life as a collective Body for His glory.
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”
Matthew 9:37-38, CSB
We love the Church, for we are sent out by God to reach people for Christ as the Body of Christ, encouraging each other to rely on Hod who is already working in the harvest.
“But love your enemies, do what is good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High. For he is gracious to the ungrateful and evil.”
Luke 6:35, CSB
We love the Church, knowing Christ’s love was extended through the Church to us when we were enemies of Christ, and now we seek to welcome others into the Church and Christ’s love and grace.
For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift — not from works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9, CSB
We love the Church, knowing it is through the Church we hear the gospel of grace and receive salvation through faith. We lift each other up with the Word.
Full disclosure: I had to make this for a class. Fuller disclosure: I have wanted to make a similar video, so it worked out. I thought of doing it as a Give Me Five video, but I decided to make it a simple response video as if recorded in the middle of a conversation.
Below is a basic transcript, though I did deviate slightly here and there, especially the beginning and end.
In 2007, the “documentary” “Zeitgeist” was released, claiming in the beginning that the Christian Church took stories from pagan myths and created the Jesus Myth. In 2008, Bill Maher released his mockumentary “Religulous” which used many of the same claims when dealing with Christianity. Each Christmas and Easter, many of these same claims pop up:
The issue is that these are all mostly or completely false.
Edward Winston of SkepticProject.com confirmed that Zeitgeist was based largely on books of questionable sourcing, especially Acharya S and her book “The Christ Conspiracy,” a book that holds to the claim that you become what you were raised to be (so, a Christian if born in a Christian home, a Buddhist if in a Buddhist home, etc.), a claim that Maher also repeated (which begs the question how so many atheists came from religious homes, and vice versa.) Her book and many others seem to be influenced mostly by the 1890 book “The Golden Bough” by James Frazer, of which Winston, and most scholars, say is a “gross misrepresentation of facts and research.”[1]
As Mark Strauss pointed out in his book Four Portraits, One Jesus, this virgin birth is unlike other mythologies, because, unlike gods coming to impregnate women, the Holy Spirit caused Mary to become pregnant and have a normal birth.[2] Ian Wishart researched multiple sources to show that none of the other gods had true “virgin births” if they even had a traditional birth; and in terms of death and resurrection, only one comes close from before the time of Christ – Osiris, who was chopped up and reassembled, becoming the god of the underworld – with all other supposed resurrection stories appearing after AD 150.[3] Others who went to the underworld either had not died first or were rescued by others, and they were not killed to take on the sins of others.
Whether the stories come from 150 years after Christ or 150 years ago or yesterday, there is no other story like that of Jesus. The Jewish believers would not accept a paganized story, and both Jews and pagans alike would have disregarded a physical resurrection in this current world if at all, as William Lane Craig has argued.[4]
It must be known and remembered that God gave Mary the choice to carry his Son, as seen in Luke 1:26-38. The resurrected Jesus was witnessed by not just the Twelve Apostles (technically Eleven, after Judas Iscariot killed himself), but, as shown in 1 Corinthians 15:3-9, he was also witnessed by over 500 people including his brothers, women, and the first major persecutor of the Church, Paul himself. And as he stated in verse 6, most of them were still alive when he wrote 1 Corinthians, though some had been martyred. He and Luke, especially, as seen in Luke and Acts, gave historical facts that could be checked out.
So, this is a “no” to modern skeptics and religious pluralism: Jesus was not an amalgam of ancient myths that were stolen by people hoping to get rich and famous. Most myths stole from the gospel, and the early Christians used history, evidence, and eyewitnesses to back up their claims. We can discuss each of these and other topics, but the story of Jesus is unique and even the inspiration for other stories. There is enough historical evidence to know that Jesus not only lived, but that his claims to be the Son of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29) and has died, risen again, and now sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven can be trusted. Maybe next time we can talk more about the Trinity.
Bibliography
Craig, William Lane. “.” In Christian Apologetics: An Anthology of Primary Sources, edited by Khaldoun A. Sweis and Chad V. Meister, 651-685. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2012. https://bibliu.com/app/?bibliuMagicToken=fN5WbNnohghpomry73TRECj73V6JvLP9#/view/books/9780310589686/epub/OEBPS/c39.html#page_651.
Strauss, Mark L. Four Portraits, One Jesus: A Survey of Jesus and the Gospels. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2020. https://bibliu.com/app/?bibliuMagicToken=zAHzUQRokwv4Rp32Enrxfs59fNwStS5O#/view/books/9780310528685/epub/OEBPS/cover.html#.
Wishart, Ian. “The Jesus Myth: Is Christianity’s Central Story Borrowed from Older Legends?” Investigate 9, no. 107 (December 2009): 52–59.
Winston, Edward L. “Zeitgeist, the Movie Debunked – Movie Sources – Skeptic Project.” Skeptic Project, November 29, 2007. https://skepticproject.com/articles/zeitgeist/movie-sources/.
[1] Edward L. Winston, “Zeitgeist, the Movie Debunked – Movie Sources – Skeptic Project,” Skeptic Project, November 29, 2007. https://skepticproject.com/articles/zeitgeist/movie-sources/.
[2] Mark L. Strauss, Four Portraits, One Jesus: A Survey of Jesus and the Gospels, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2020), 564-65. https://bibliu.com/app/?bibliuMagicToken=zAHzUQRokwv4Rp32Enrxfs59fNwStS5O#/view/books/9780310528685/epub/OEBPS/cover.html#.
[3] Ian Wishart, “The Jesus Myth: Is Christianity’s Central Story Borrowed from Older Legends?” Investigate 9, no. 107 (December 2009): 52–59.
[4] William Lane Craig, “The Bodily Resurrection of Jesus,” in Christian Apologetics: An Anthology of Primary Sources, eds. Khaldoun A. Sweis and Chad V. Meister (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2012), 674-77. https://bibliu.com/app/?bibliuMagicToken=fN5WbNnohghpomry73TRECj73V6JvLP9#/view/books/9780310589686/epub/OEBPS/c39.html#page_651.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are protected.
Proverbs 18:10, CSB
God loves us and became one of us because of His love, and just as Christ overcame sin and death we know we have hope for eternity and this life. Now we confidently share this love and hope with others.
a simple man of God 