I was pondering the verse (that coincidentally scrolls across my laptop as my screen saver) We walk by faith not by sight 2 Cor. 5:7 And pondering the the number of people that I know that view that admission as "simple", "unchallenged", "ignorant" the funny thing is I dare say we all walk by faith in something. Faith in science, faith in knowledge, faith in "spiritual awareness", faith in the status quo, etc... even paranoid people who claim to doubt and feel nothing is trustworthy, I'd argue believe in their paranoid coping mechanism to get them through the day. We all believe in something, but do you know in whom or in what you have placed your faith? Throughout history there have always been those among us who have painted Jesus Christ with their own special hue. But I'm convinced He is not up for debate. At least not who He claimed Himself to be. We may debate what a picture of a true believer might look like, or just what pre, mid or post trib tribe you'd align yourself with. But either Jesus is who He himself said He is, or He is not.
The late C. S. Lewis, noted author & professor at Cambridge Univ. (& an agnostic prior to his conversion ), wrote:
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a 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.
Lewis also adds:
You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a 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.
Lewis also adds:
You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
Just a few of the claims Jesus made:
John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me."
John 18:36-37 "Jesus said, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.' 'You are a king, then!' said Pilate. Jesus answered, 'You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.'"
John 10:28-30 "I give [my followers] eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one."
Luke 18:31-33 "Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, 'We are going up into Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.'"
Ponder on... xo - Kari
Great video link below:
