THE WORD

THE WORD 

       "The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth."

John's writings portray Jesus Christ in a number of ways, but here he presents Him as a means of communication--"the Word". That is the great Creator God        was present at the beginning. The creator (who atheist say "nothing existed", but this nothing created everything)--this Creator was the one who created everything.

         "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn`t overcome it" John 1:1-4   World English Bible

            At this point you might ask, "well why should I believe in Jesus Christ?" What proof is there?

            Judged by human standards of success, the life of Jesus Christ was his pathetic failure. He was born in a manger, He was buried in a borrowed grave. His family was pathetically poor, and for his first 30 years He lived in an obscure village of Palestine working as a carpenter. His own brothers thought he was crazy and tried to dissuade Him when He started out to preach.

            His teachings were hated and scoffed at by theologians of that day. Some of his followers came from the lowest level of society. His intimate friends misunderstood Him. He didn't have a public relations campaign advertising his preaching. In fact, the religious component of his culture bitterly opposed Him, and tried to block every move that He made. In the end, like cowards, His followers (disciples and apostles specially trained) abandoned Him, letting Him die alone at the hand of His enemies.

            He never wrote a book. He never commanded an army. He never addressed the Senate, or spoke to the plotting Parliament. He never occupied a throne. At the age of 33, His enemies he died in torture in disgrace, nailed to a cross between two thieves. Even that cross, that he was nailed to, the most painful way to die, had a special spiritual meaning to it--a curse of God, to those of His heritage and culture.

            Amazingly, He asserted that He was a teacher whose doctrine should be as accepted unquestionably; He was the perfect example of human character and conduct; that He was an absolutely sinless Being; that He was able to work miracles such as no one else had ever worked; even more astonishingly that He would rise from the dead; that He would be the final judge of the world; that He was equal with God in power and authority,

            He Commanded his disciples to love Him, obey Him, follow Him, sacrificially live for Him trust in Him, worship Him, and, if need be, die for Him, exactly as they would for God.

            
            Much of the above writing was taken from the tract, "liar, Lunatic, or Lord of All," by Vernon Grounds.

            He asked the question, "what is one to think concerning Jesus Christ? Faced as you are with these amazing claims in all her implications, what is your opinion regarding..." Jesus must be crazy or he is certainly a liar or he must be who he says he is as Grounds which sit in his title.  In his tract , Grounds lists a number of philosophers and well-known thinkers of his day. What is their opinion of Jesus Christ? All of them, having little use or were direct opponents of organized or institutional Christianity, could hardly be called biased people.

            A world renowned German scholar, David Strauss, said "He represents within the religious sphere the highest point, beyond which posterity cannot go; yea, who went cannot even equal, inasmuch as everyone who hereafter should climb the same height, could only do it with the help of Jesus, who first attained it."

            One of the most noted historians of Great Britain, William Lecky, who spent his life in an attempt to destroy organized Christianity, wrote: "it was reserved for Christianity to present to the world an ideal character which to all the changes of 18 centuries has inspired the hearts of men with an impassioned love; has shown itself capable of acting on all ages, nations, temperaments and conditions; has been not only the highest pattern of virtue, but the strongest incentive to its practice...."

            One of the keenest philosophers of his time, John Stuart Mill, who had little use for Christianity, wrote: "about the life and saying of Jesus there is a stamp of personal originality combined with profundity of insight, which must place the prophet of Nazareth, even in the estimation of those who have no believe in His inspiration, and the first rank of the men of the sublime genius of whom our species can boast. When this preeminent genius is combined with the qualities of probably the greatest moral reformer and martyr to whom that nation who ever existed upon the earth, religion cannot be said to have made a bad choice and picking on this man as the ideal representative and guide of humanity; nor even now would it be easy even for unbeliever, to find a better translation of the role of virtue from the abstract into concrete, then to endeavor so to live for Christ would approve our life."

            So if you're of the mind, as these listed thinkers were, then you must believe that Jesus is not crazy and is not a liar. Mills went on to write, "whenever anybody seriously argues that Jesus was an extreme pathological case, I like to point out how strange it is the most learned, cultured, critical intellects of all ages about in reference to this man--at the feet of this young fanatic, addressing Him as master. And whenever any critic insisted He was demented, I like to exclaim,' would to God that the whole world were affected with His kind of insanity!'"

            SO WHY BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST? 

            One thing about what you just read, is that nobody is forcing you to do anything, but one thing you cannot do is push Jesus Christ aside. Why would you want to?

JOHN 1:12-13 "but as many as received Him to them He gave the right to become the children of God, even to those who believe in His name, were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God."
    What this means is upon believing and trusting that Jesus Christ died for your sins and what you have done wrong , your greatest wrong and least son,-- that he died for those sins on the cross.
  This is not a matter of your signing anything or joining anything-:- it's like the thief on the cross next to Jesus; he didn't absolutely nothing except to say "remember me Jesus", and then he died the most assured man of having entering heaven, that there could possibly be.

        YOU MIGHT IGNORE ALL,THIS, OR LIKE THE THIEF ON THE CROSS ASK JESUS TO REMEMBER YOU WHEN IN HIS KINGDOM--ACTUALLY ASKING JESUS TO SAVE YOU,  BUT WHATEVER YOU DO,  IGNORING JESUS MEANS YOU ARE MAKING A DECISION.

         While I want you to accept THE FACT that Jesus Christ is God, and that what  he says is the truth, It is going to mean you have gained eternal life by trusting in Jesus--please let me know--I would like to pray for you. and unite in spirit with you. Jesus is my pastor, and His word is my guide.
But what you do is not going to be any worldly gain for me. I would like you to read my blogs, join this cyberchurch, but I don't know you--I'm not asking you to sign my church membership roll. We can pray together, and I would appreciate your praying for God to guide in writing and those who read these blogs. I'm certainly not now nor will I ever ask for  money--give it to the poor and needy.