"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear..."
There are millions of people out there who have rejected the Christian faith out of hand. One reason is that it puts restrictions on what we can do. We like to think that we are free to do whatever we want whenever we want. Well, for example, we’ve had a sexual revolution. How has that worked for us? What the “cool” people didn’t tell us was there are all kinds of sexually transmitted diseases out there, and one of the worst is AIDS. Sin brings its own judgment, and sexual sins have certainly brought their own judgment. This is an example that if left to our own devices, we human beings will make a big mess. Just ask Adam and Eve. Another reason people reject the Christian faith is that many think that the whole basis for the Christian faith is based on a lie. The apostles, and other early Christians, taught that Jesus arose from the grave. Those who doubt the veracity of the Christian faith, say the apostles lied about the resurrection. The story goes like this: Jesus was not resurrected and the early apostles hid the body. Another story goes like this: Jesus survived the grave but He went on to live a “civilian” life, married to Mary Magdalene. I would really feel like a fool if I believed either of those tales. Let’s look at some good old-fashioned human logic on this matter. We would have to believe that Peter, Andrew, James and John knew that Jesus didn’t survive, so they wove an elaborate tale about the resurrection of Jesus. Are we to think that these men were stupid enough to keep a lie going after the authorities began to persecute the “church”? (If Christ is still dead, “church” would be the correct word.) Then there is Saul of Tarsus. He hated Christian people and wanted to either kill them or put them in Jail. After he encountered Jesus on the Damascus Road, he became a follower of Jesus and eventually gave his life for his faith in Christ. He must have really been stupid to write all of those letters to churches about the reality of Christ, although his life was under threat everyday for it. All of these men were people who lived in history, whose paths crossed with Jesus and whose lives were changed by Him. We have to accept them as either, charlatans, dupes, or both, or as people whose lives were genuinely changed by Jesus of Nazareth. Finally, the fact that there are still Christian churches around the world is proof of the reality of the risen Christ. The world has tried to stamp Christ' Church out since its inception. From the human perspective, there should not be an extant church in the entire world. The enemies of churches have tried to kill them, but that’s not all. Christians have not tried to kill it, but our actions in history have sometimes revealed bad missteps in the cause of the Risen Christ that caused harm to His work.. The “Crusades” are not as bad as unbelievers paint them, but these military crusades in the name of Jesus, prove that we can do some stupid things that bring harm to our own cause. That’s right, the fact that Christ’s Church has survived us proves that Jesus is still alive. Jesus told His disciples that the “gates of hell” would not prevail against His Church (His people). Satan has been unable to kill Christian work around the world. The skeptics have been unable as well. We stand on pretty solid ground with Jesus. Give some thought to your faith!!!!!!! Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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September 2021
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