For those who are not Christians or are maybe agnostic in their faith, I ask the question.
Who is Jesus Christ?
The Romans documented his crucifixion so we know that he was not a mythological character such as Zeus or Apollo. So that leaves us with a few alternatives. He was either a fraud, a lunatic, a normal guy or the messiah.
If he was a fraud, do you think he would have allowed himself to be executed? Most criminals have this thing about self preservation so I would think that when things got harry he would have bolted at the first sign of trouble.
If he was a lunatic, would the Romans have gone to the trouble to execute him? In addition, how many guys do we see wearing aluminum hats having the staying power of their message for more than a minute, let alone 2000 years?
A normal guy? Well Jesus had hundreds of people follow him from city to city in an attempt to hear his message, hardly normal.
So that leaves us with the Messiah.
I've always loved the movie Braveheart because it illustrates in incredible vivid fashion as to what it means so passionate about a cause that you're willing to die for the cause. William Wallace still lives in the heart of many Scots, 600 years after his death.
What if someone was so passionate about God and his relationship with people, he was willing to die in order to reconcile the relationship between God and humanity? That's what Christ did for us.
So if you are still in doubt about Christ's cause, give some thought this Easter weekend about someone who created a legacy that's lasted more than 2000 years and lives in the souls of more than 2 billion people today.
Many people are put off by Christian evangelism. I know, I was one of them. But a few years ago, someone told me that when you watch a really great movie you tell people about it, you don't remain silent. Well imagine how much you want to share the greatest thing that ever happened in your life.... You want to share it with the world.
Have a great Good Friday and Easter weekend.
1 comment:
I'm always baffled when people say that Jesus was a good person and holy and good but not really God or the Christ. If a mere human claims to be the Son of God, the Messiah and says he can forgive people's sins.... he's the furthest thing from being a "good person" or a "moral teacher". I ran into this quote from CS Lewis a few years back that says it well. It hits the nail on the head regarding who Jesus was and is.
I am trying to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I am ready to accept Jesus as the 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 a 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 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 (from Mere Christianity)
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