Unknowing
Today she said to me, "We don't know if Jesus actually died on the cross or if the disciples took him down." It seemed more plausible to her that Jesus was rescued from imminent death, married to Mary Magdalene and then moved to East Asia where he studied Hinduism, Buddhism and other Eastern religions.
I was speechless, but not without a thought on the matter.
What this girl said a couple weekends ago makes perfect sense now. She said, "I don't have an amazing testimony to give, but my testimony is this: I believe in the unseen." How pertinent is that now, to this? To believe in something that you can see isn't anything new; to believe in a rational explanation is what we desire because our minds are considered our strongest, most reliable organ. But belief isn't merely in your mind. To me its in my gut, but deeper than my organs, though just as concrete. I know its there. It exists.
Sitting there who was to say that I didn't give in or back down. There were things about the Church that, even I, am dumbfounded with: Why priests aren't allowed to marry now when the disciples who were closest to Jesus had wives (Peter and Luke to start). Wouldn't he have taken them aside and given them a few inside pointers if that's what it takes to be close to him? Why do we have to have a Papacy when for the first 400 years there wasn't a Papacy? Why does it have to be made so complicated? She asked me why does the Church spend so much money on new buildings, new art, new stained glass windows when there are so many hurting and sick and simply poor in the world? I told her I wondered the same things. I struggle with that very question. Why do we make following Jesus so hard?
As for the first question. I simply don't believe the historical facts point to Jesus being secretely rich; secretely in love with Mary Magdalene; secretely planning to bypass the pain of dying and being separated from God. I don't believe his disciples would have undergone excrutiatingly horrific deaths if they didn't believe with all their hearts that Jesus physcially died and miraculously rose again from the dead to show them that God really did have the power to destroy their sin and enable them to live forever with Him in everlasting life. I believe it was that miraculous and that awesome. I don't believe that we can see these things clearly with our mere minds but it takes the Almighty God to show us the truth of just how ridiculous it was for GOD himself to come rescue us and then, just how incredible that single act is. Replace disbelief with thanks.
Even I need to think about this some more...
I was speechless, but not without a thought on the matter.
What this girl said a couple weekends ago makes perfect sense now. She said, "I don't have an amazing testimony to give, but my testimony is this: I believe in the unseen." How pertinent is that now, to this? To believe in something that you can see isn't anything new; to believe in a rational explanation is what we desire because our minds are considered our strongest, most reliable organ. But belief isn't merely in your mind. To me its in my gut, but deeper than my organs, though just as concrete. I know its there. It exists.
Sitting there who was to say that I didn't give in or back down. There were things about the Church that, even I, am dumbfounded with: Why priests aren't allowed to marry now when the disciples who were closest to Jesus had wives (Peter and Luke to start). Wouldn't he have taken them aside and given them a few inside pointers if that's what it takes to be close to him? Why do we have to have a Papacy when for the first 400 years there wasn't a Papacy? Why does it have to be made so complicated? She asked me why does the Church spend so much money on new buildings, new art, new stained glass windows when there are so many hurting and sick and simply poor in the world? I told her I wondered the same things. I struggle with that very question. Why do we make following Jesus so hard?
As for the first question. I simply don't believe the historical facts point to Jesus being secretely rich; secretely in love with Mary Magdalene; secretely planning to bypass the pain of dying and being separated from God. I don't believe his disciples would have undergone excrutiatingly horrific deaths if they didn't believe with all their hearts that Jesus physcially died and miraculously rose again from the dead to show them that God really did have the power to destroy their sin and enable them to live forever with Him in everlasting life. I believe it was that miraculous and that awesome. I don't believe that we can see these things clearly with our mere minds but it takes the Almighty God to show us the truth of just how ridiculous it was for GOD himself to come rescue us and then, just how incredible that single act is. Replace disbelief with thanks.
Even I need to think about this some more...
posted by Adelheide at 12:25 AM
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