(Please review the July 17 Reflection.)
This reveals that the master-mind existed for the duration of the human race and shared knowledge of the future with various people. Since only God can do that, I have no recourse but to accept what the Bible says about him.
John 1:1 -- In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. Verse 14 tells us that the Word became flesh. The Word was Jesus.
So far, I have related what the Bible said about God and Jesus, and revealed that everything said about them came true. Therefore, since it verifies that Jesus is God, I have no problem believing whatever the Bible authors said about Him.
The Bible says Jesus raised people from the dead. Can God do that? Of course, He can. He created life in the first place; He can certainly restore life.
The Bible says Jesus turned water into wine. Can God do that? Yes, of course. He created vegetation and water out of nothing, so he can change water into fermented grape juice.
The Bible says Jesus died, was buried and raised from the dead three days later. Can God do that? Again, yes. God created rocks, planets, stars, galaxies, vegetation, animals, and humans -- all out of nothing. Therefore, it is no big deal for God to prevent the body that He lived in for 33 or so years from decomposing and re-inhabit it.
Side-Note: If humanistic evolution were true, dissolved inorganic rock material would have to be miraculously transformed into organic material. That is an impossibility. Therefore, it would still require the miraculous power of a Creator -- Almighty God. Only God can do the impossible. However, since the Creator would still be necessary, He wouldn't need billions of years to create and establish life: He could do it within days if he desired.
Did the Bible authors tell us that God or Jesus did something they COULDN'T do? No, not at all.
Did the Bible authors tell us that God or Jesus did something they DIDN'T do? There is no evidence that could verify a negative response. The last verse in the Gospel of John says, "Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books."
I asked my dad once how that could be true. Dad responded with, "Do you know all that Jesus, as God, did throughout the history of the universe? The Bible is a history book, but it doesn't have room to tell us everything that happened. How did Jesus make rocks? How did he make flowers? How did he make a star? How many stars did he make? How many galaxies did he make? How did he make people? And the questions continued.
Obviously, I don't know how many books it would take to record every single thing Jesus/God did throughout the history of the universe. Perhaps John referred only to the available libraries in the world? I don't know, so I will believe the verse. Now, that is faith. Faith is believing what we cannot prove. And every human being on earth believes hundreds -- if not thousands -- of things he or she cannot prove.
There are many detractors -- including theologians, scholars, and scientists -- who deny the truth in the Bible. There were even people back in the first century who outright lied about Jesus and about what took place. But remember my comment in the third sentence of last week's Reflection: "...to explicitly affirm what God and Jesus actually said and did would require eye-witnesses." And there were many eye-witnesses who wrote down what they saw and heard.
And yes, they -- as with all people everywhere -- remembered different parts of the story. But the differences never deny who and what Jesus was or what he did. I don't see a dichotomy between what Jesus did and what was said that he did.
Also remember: the Bible is true regardless of what skeptics, naysayers and higher-critics say.
Because I believe the facts that built the story, I place my faith in Jesus, the Christ; and because of that, I know I'll have a home with Him eternally in heaven. That is faith.
We serve an amazingly almighty God who can do anything he can imagine, and he has a great imagination. After all -- He created everything out of nothing.
Gene Linzey is a speaker, author and mentor. Send comments and questions to [email protected]. Visit his website at www.genelinzey.com. The opinions expressed are those of the author.
Religion on 07/31/2019