Life is a sexually transmitted disease, with a 100% mortality rate! In other words, we are all going to die. It is just a question of when the trapdoor opens underneath us and we fall off the planet. At that moment, gravity will no longer work for us and keep our feet connected to earth. The only question for us to be concerned with is “What do we fall into?” Do we tumble into the arms of a loving God or do we slide into a place where God does not dwell? When we stop and take a hard look at this fact, we must decide what our options are. For some, The End is just…The End…that’s it…food for worms. For others an afterlife that involves reincarnation seems to work for them. But on what basis, or worldview are those scenarios based? Man-made philosophies to be sure, and while convenient, perhaps, they have very little intellectual rigor.
The Jesus alternative does have intellectual integrity but produces two tough choices. In John, chapter 1, Jesus calls His first followers. He simply asks them to “Come and See” about Him. This is a call to investigate who He claimed to be and then to decide for oneself. When we come and investigate Jesus we are faced with two choices…both at the extremes of credulity. We either must conclude that Jesus is a loony-tunes wing nut…or…exactly who He claimed to be…Savior and Lord.
Jesus claimed to be God…One with the Father. He asserted that He had the authority to forgive sins and that He was the ONLY way to God. Pretty hard to believe this guy, on first blush.
But, the opposite is also hard to believe. For if Jesus is bogus then we have to conclude that His followers, the disciples, made the whole story up. His mostly, uneducated “band of brothers” concocted a wild story…that incidentally agreed with all 66 Old Testament prophecies. And, after Jesus was crucified all decided to live the lie going forward. Well, of course they would live the lie…I mean, they all received loads of money, fame and women by the score. Wait…that’s not what they got! All the disciples received their lies was persecution, poverty, and gruesome deaths. Would anyone “live the lie” for this outcome? More poignantly, would anyone knowingly DIE for a lie? Lastly, to ignore this option, you have to account for the growth of Christianity around the world for the last 2,000 years.
The only option NOT open to us is the “Jesus was a Good Man” option. When a person claims to be God, one with God the Father and able to forgive sins…He is either nuts or the Son of God.
We are all going to fall off the planet someday. We are all going to die…which hard belief choice makes the most sense to you?