Poached Egg, or Saviour?
John’s gospel records this incident of a friend of Jesus, Lazarus being raised from the dead. John states,
“When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
“Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
Jesus wept.
Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.
“Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” John 11:32-44
If this story and that of the other Miracles are false then it puts doubt on just how truthful the New Testament is.
Thus my question becomes. If it and the other miracles are untrue and easily disproved, why would those who believed in Christ, people who wanted to spread the gospel message put them in the Gospels? Such a thing would turn people away from Christ.
If on the other hand they are true, as I and other believers in Christ believe, then they would certainly add a measure of credibility to the claims that Jesus is the Son of God, God incarnate.
Jesus said,
“So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” John 11:41,42.
Here Jesus lays things on the line. He prays to God to raise Lazarus from the dead and Lazarus does.
Now for anyone to pray for a man dead for four days to be raised to life you either have to be insane or the Son of God.
C. S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity said,
“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 the 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 a 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, Mere Christianity
Thus my question to you the reader. Who do you think Jesus is?
Please think about it.
John’s gospel records this incident of a friend of Jesus, Lazarus being raised from the dead. John states,
“When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
“Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
Jesus wept.
Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.
“Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” John 11:32-44
If this story and that of the other Miracles are false then it puts doubt on just how truthful the New Testament is.
Thus my question becomes. If it and the other miracles are untrue and easily disproved, why would those who believed in Christ, people who wanted to spread the gospel message put them in the Gospels? Such a thing would turn people away from Christ.
If on the other hand they are true, as I and other believers in Christ believe, then they would certainly add a measure of credibility to the claims that Jesus is the Son of God, God incarnate.
Jesus said,
“So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” John 11:41,42.
Here Jesus lays things on the line. He prays to God to raise Lazarus from the dead and Lazarus does.
Now for anyone to pray for a man dead for four days to be raised to life you either have to be insane or the Son of God.
C. S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity said,
“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 the 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 a 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, Mere Christianity
Thus my question to you the reader. Who do you think Jesus is?
Please think about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment