It’s no longer fashionable to attack Jesus. The days when
scholars distinguish themselves by their diatribe against the “founder” of
Christianity seem to be over. Islamic clerics and scholars are increasingly
emphasising the distinguished status the Quran accords al-Masih (Arabic “Messiah”); and remind us that Jesus is “the most
mentioned person in the Quran”. Secular humanists in the meanwhile are freely
admitting the foolishness of denying that Jesus ever existed or that he was a
great charismatic teacher.
The attack on Christianity has now been shifted from Christ,
to the founding Christians – those who allegedly changed the glorious,
revolutionary message of Christ into an utterly objectionable religious
movement. Critics of Christianity have taken the Mahatma Gandhi approach to the
problem: “There is nothing wrong with
Christianity, the trouble is with you Christians”; (or, “I like your
Christ, I do not like your Christians”).
At the fore of the list of hated original Believers are the
apostles John and Paul. The writings of these two men form the core of
Christian theology. Paul gives us the most systematic delineation of
“Justification by Faith” and John is responsible for our clearest understanding
of the divinity of Jesus, the summary of the Gospel message, and the
exclusivity of our Faith (Rom 4-8; Jn 1:1; 3:16; 14:6).
It’s no wonder then why the “fire” of the world (the ad hominem attacks, the refutations, the
slander, etc.) is always trained on them. If we remove their books from
scripture, what we'll have left is just another nice religion; a Christianity
of rites, rituals, hymns, prayers and teachings on morality… but one that has
no power to save the soul or regenerate the spirit.
So take the hint, Beloved, and “Follow the Fire”: for you to know what Christianity is all about,
you need to be grounded in the writings of John and Paul.
AMEN.
More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.
GREG ELKAN
No comments:
Post a Comment