Quoting George Will's op ed newspaper column of 24 Dec. 1998,
"Truth survives Christmas in America", "A sardonic British
skeptic of the late 19th century suggested that three words should be carved in
stone over all church doors: 'Important if true.' "
Jesus claims to be divine & the Son of God
and to have all authority in Heaven and on
earth. Along with early Judaism, Christianity is God's divine revelational
effort to link up with man (other religions not based on actual divine
revelation). Although the list below speaks of the
uniqueness of Christianity, I urge everyone to remember that the thing of utmost
importance is not to be a student of "religion"...it is to be one who truly
searches for truth & finds a
personal relationship with God through Jesus. Also, being "religious"
(using "religion" as a higher, more moral kind of lifestyle) is
different from being a Jesus follower and believer (knowing about God is
different from knowing God).
Did you know that the Bible never records Jesus telling a
sinner that, "You are going to hell!"?
Only one unchanging God has been proclaimed
uninterruptedly for thousands of years, through all of those changes of mankind,
and through virtually all cultures: the God of Abraham...the actual original creator and
the continual current creator and sustainer of all there is, the only true supreme being...true God.
[check out God's ways] There have been several
major religious views of this God of Abraham: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity
(see below) [views compared].
Mankind
failed; a PARDON is Crucially Essential
It has been clearly and copiously demonstrated
in the Bible Old Testament that mankind...on his own...is unable to be
"good" enough for eternal life with God, The Father. So, Jesus was
sent to obtain a general pardon...by the grace and love of God...as the saving
doorway (The Way) to (1) a current relationship and (2) eternal life with God.
There is a wide & deep difference in knowing Jesus and knowing ABOUT
Jesus!
It is Jesus of Nazareth that "makes"
Christianity as He brings salvation through the love and grace of God. Tried in
a Roman court, condemned to crucifixion by the demanding clamor of His own
people, killed by the Romans, and beloved by thousands of the ordinary Jews of
His day (hated by the Jewish power structure)...all according to the
prophecies
(delivered by prophets
[unrefuted over the
past 3000 years]) from God. Jesus has promised such a "knowing" God relationship
through his resurrected self as savior...with you as a Jesus believer. The
savior, Jesus, is available even to the lowest and most ignorant of humans if
they will "believe" (see the
gospel New Testament of John).
So, intellectualizing it all into "religion" becomes a "human effort"; it is then liable to distortion into "doing" in order to be pleasing enough to merit God's favor. Christianity is about what God has already done for you! Religion is about working your way to heaven; Christianity is God's good news...Gospel... that heaven is a free gift of God through Jesus. "Religion" puts a new coat on the person; Christianity puts a new person in the coat. The pardon is "on the table" for you! Will you claim it?
While considered important by many, the study
of any and all religions runs the risk of making an idol out of theology and
religiosity. In 1960, estimates indicated 3% of the world's population were
Christian; in 1998, it is 10%. Further, it is currently estimated that at least
1.7 billion have hardly any access to the hearing of the Gospel!
Yet there are realistic hopes that all of the world's people will have a really
decent chance to hear the "Gospel" [defined] of Jesus by the year 2005 AD.
 | WHAT GOD DID FOR YOU: There are only two kinds of religions. One kind (all but one religion is in this category) has to do with the "religion" that YOU carry: all of these are predicated on what YOU do to get to God. The other kind is the religion that carries you: there is only one in this 2nd category...Christianity. Uniquely, Christianity starts with what GOD did to make it possible for any human to get to Him: He made Jesus of Nazareth to be the atoning Christ, the Messiah, the pardon-obtaining Savior available (through one's personal acceptance of the general pardon) to the entirety of mankind! To get to heaven, you must be pardoned! As C. S. Lewis has pointed out, "The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God." He made the Holy Spirit to indwell & empower the believer. God exists as Father, Jesus (the Son), and the Holy Spirit. The Father came to Adam & Eve after they sinned...Adam & Eve did not search for God to atone. Jesus came to the Christian exterminator, Saul, and transformed him into His apostle to the gentiles & even changed his name to Paul. And, Revelation 3:20 assures that Jesus is knocking on the door to the hearts of mankind so that He might come in and dwell through the Holy Spirit. From the viewpoint of Christianity, God seeks you! |
| GOD BECAME A MAN: Rev. Eli Stanley Jones (1884-1973) is quoted as saying that the uniqueness of Christianity is summed up in John 1:14...the incarnation. Christianity...the only religion claiming that God became a man. |
| SINLESS SAVIOR: No other
religion offers a sinless savior through whom people can be saved; others
offer prophets, gurus, founders, and leaders...usually promising
enlightenment and position through merit. And, that Christianity
savior was killed and arose from the dead, appearing over a 40-day period to
over 500 witnesses, and He is a living savior at work in the world to this very
day. And, true Jesus believers must be eternally saved (the
believer's guarantee of Acts 4:12). By personally accepting the One who
obtained the general pardon on our behalf, we thereby actually and
specifically accept our share of the pardon and get saved for our time on
earth AND eternity in heaven. |
| THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE MEDIATOR: in that God's most distinctive attribute is "holiness",
then it is impossible that any human could not have offended God by sinning.
How arrogant that any human could feel qualified to represent themselves as
the offending party before an almighty God. The only acceptable mediator is
one on a par (Christianity uniquely makes this provision) with the offended
God...Himself as His only son who came to dwell amongst us as a man, Jesus
of Nazareth, the Christ. (Job 9:32-34; John 14:6; Hebrews 10:11-14; Hebrews
7:26; 1 Timothy 2:5-6) "We can access God only on the coattails of the
one Man who has the right to enter into His presence." "God
does business with us by doing business with Christ. To stand in the
presence of God without representation would be like standing a hundred
yards from the sun; God's holiness would liquefy us." (Lutzer, 2000).
As mediator, Jesus is the final judge of all humans (John 5:22 & 27):Jesus
is the Son of Man & can relate to each one that He is judging; and, as
the Son of God, He can relate to God's concept of justice. Jesus is the
perfect mediator (Evans, 2002). |
| THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICE: Justice demands a sacrifice or payment for an offense (sin)
against God. A sacrifice must be equal to the offense committed; and, to
God, all sins are equally offensive. With any sin being an awful thing to an infinite
God, we need a sacrifice of infinite value: it must be the sacrifice that
He, Himself made for us, uniquely believed and honored in
Christianity...Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. That is the meaning of the
gospel: God met His own requirements for us (by providing/being the savior,
mediator, and sacrifice... Jesus obtaining the general pardon for all of
mankind). |
| THE ONLY RELIGION WHEREIN THE MEDIATOR AND THE ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICE
ARE ONE AND THE SAME: This
combination of factors, provided in the person of Jesus, is unique to
Christianity. |
| BASED on FACTS: While
there is some factual material in other religions, most of them consist of
philosophies or world views based on words or writings of a single human
individual. Christianity, including the prophecies and co-beliefs embedded
in Judaism, is extremely rich in fulfilled prophecy, documented facts
by the hundreds (in at least 39 ancient, non-biblical sources), the
testimony of numerous eye-witnesses, and the documented presence of
hundreds-to-thousands of other witnesses. All of this is documented in
copious historical documents which have been tested over the millennia by
thousands of the best minds of the human race. No archaeological discovery
has ever disproved a single Biblical reference! It is The Truth because the
facts are there for all to see and for the believers to believe! Ironically,
one of the surest ways for a skillfully investigative, truth-seeking doubter
to become a Jesus believer is for that doubter to set out to disprove Jesus
and Christianity. |
| mediator CLAIMS TO BE GOD and KING of kings and LORD of lords:
Except that Judaism and Islam recognize the God of Abraham (who is
"triune," and is thereby also Jesus), Jesus of Christianity is in
a league of His own, by comparison to the key figure of all other religions:
Jesus claims to be God (no leader of any other major religion has ever even
pretended to be God). Seven secular sources and several very early creeds
concern the deity of Jesus. And He, Himself, indicated that he is King of
the Jews (Luke 23:3), while others indicate that He was and is King of kings
and Lord of lords (Paul says so in I Timothy 6:15). And the angel says so in
the revelation vision to John in Revelation 17:14; and John sees it written
on Him, too, in Revelation 19:16, now and into eternity. In addition, in
that status as King, Jesus will be the leader of the final war on earth and will be
the final judge of every human who has ever lived (Revelation 19:11)! Where is the reign of this King Jesus? How do we show our allegiance to Him? Jesus was never to be a political or conquering king. He rules by faith and not by force! He is King of a Kingdom that is in peoples' hearts...He asks for a person's heart! His throne is in the head & hearts of believers. Therefore, He rules & reigns through these followers as their lives reflect Him to all others. |
| POWER SOURCE: Other
religions indicate blessings from the founder or from
"gods"...even to the extent of perceiving answering of prayers in
a positive way. Such answers may be coincidental. In Jesus, however, the
born-again, true believer has the relational "plug" into the true,
all-sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:1-10) power source of the universe...the
one and only, true and living God. I'm not aware of stunning and
miraculous and lifelong changes in lives by other religions that are
a common and regular feature of true Christian believers: hardened sinners,
scofflaws and criminals fully and nearly instantly changed.
[see
only a few examples] |
| MORALITY: As with many other religions, the Jesus follower believes that God has spoken regarding right & wrong (The Bible). therefore one does not attempt to develop a morality of one's own, attainable only by one's own efforts. The moral structure has already been divinely spoken, and the true Jesus follower has become indwelt by the Holy Spirit...morality is attainable by a combination of one's willingness and the power of the Holy Spirit. |
| SPREADING THE WORD: Most
other religions are content to, either culturally or by other means (such as
"the sword"), let
their religion spread. Christianity (and a few Jesus-related
cults)
is the only religion which has such a compelling message and such
supernatural empowerment of the believer (because it is real and true and
Holy Spirit empowered) that a large number of its believers willingly risk
ridicule and persecution in their efforts to spread The Word...the
"good
news" (the Gospel). A small
percentage are even being "called" in a life-risking way into
savage or uncivilized regions or regions where they will suffer death if
discovered. If a chronically starving person finds an unlimited source of
food which is free to any and all who will eat it, would that truth not be
such "good news"...so powerfully compelling...that he would spread the word to all he saw
(especially who
appeared to be "starving")? The Bible book of Acts is all about how there is no
force in the universe which can turn aside the Gospel of Jesus the messiah
from Nazareth. |
| FOUNDER'S DEATH: Other
religions base their claim to recognition on the teachings of their
founder (s); Christianity, alone, distinguishes itself from all others by the
importance it assigns to the prophecy of, the circumstances of, the facts
of, and the significance of the death of its "founder". All
other founders or key figures are fully dead; only Jesus still lives (over
500 witnesses to His resurrected self). |
| BONES: Uniquely, there is
no grave containing the bones of the key figure in Christianity...Jesus. The
grave of Jesus is empty; and, of all the world's religions, only the
bone-containing grave of Jesus can't be located. Why not? Because, uniquely,
Jesus arose from the grave (see below) & lives today! |
| PROPHECY FULFILLED: A
religious prophecy is the passing on of a word from God.
Therefore, if truly a prophecy, it must be fulfilled. Written at
least 400 years prior (and possibly as many as 1000 years) to the birth of
Jesus, the Bible Old Testament (Jewish) contains some 333 prophecies about
the messiah (the savior; the Christ...an example is Isaiah chapter 53).
Jesus fulfilled every one, and the subsequent 2000 years have failed to
refute them. |
| RELATIONSHIP: It is the
only religion based on a personal (your) relationship with God (through
Jesus): take Christ (Jesus) out of Christianity and Christianity disappears.
By way of the Christian "believer's" union with the
body
of believers and his personal relationship with God/Jesus/Holy Spirit [the
Trinity], Christianity is unique. (The religion of Christianity
is an organization and effort of humans. It is a mix of "cultural Christians"...those
choosing, or born into, or ethnically situating their church identity as
"Christian"...and the true "Jesus believers." It
is, therefore, a blend of human influences and the workings of God through
the people...and fully subject to human frailties...thereby accounting for
major atrocities and daily, smaller bad things done "in the name"
of religion). |
| ELECT: It's the only
religion (with the possible exception of Judaism) where God already has
foreknowledge of the "saved" (The Elect) from the beginning of
time. And, for The Elect [check out how
"election" works], God initiates the saving process for a given individual based on
His timing at a point in the person's life. God seeks a person; the person
doesn't seek God. People don't beg or merit themselves into God's favor. And
the effecting of prophecy and election into salvation is through a
"savior", Jesus, Christianity being the only religion with a
savior. |
| DEATH: It is the only
religion with such a clear word on death: the unsaved go to hell (apart
from God); the saved are, at death, absent from the body and present with
The Lord (Jesus)...ultimately to be in eternity with God (in Heaven). |
| RESURRECTION: It is the
only religion with a resurrected mediator/savior (key figure is not dead), proof already
being on record that God accepted the
pardon-obtaining sin sacrifice of Jesus...the resurrection is the proof (and
the proof is outstandingly documented in the Bible and many modern books)!
And, it is the only religion with a clear statement as to the mechanism of
eternal life...in that Jesus is the resurrection for the Jesus
believer. Jesus himself arose from death, leaving an empty tomb, and will be
the life-changing, eternity-with-God resurrection mechanism for the believer
(John 11: 25). |
| TRIUNE GOD: It is the
only religion worshipping one God who is recognized, scripturally declared,
and manifests Himself as three persons (the Trinity):
the Father...when He is exerting the divine "will" He is
God; the Son...when He is exerting the grace of salvation He is
Jesus; and the Holy Spirit...when He is enabling/empowering the Jesus
believer He is Holy Ghost/Holy Spirit. |
| SERVING: It is the only
religion truly reaching out also to the needy (and most societal efforts of
true, sacrificial "good will" can be traced to Christian origins),
the lowest, the poor, and the worst (as well as all other humans), educated
or ignorant, regardless of race or ethnic origin. All are potentially
gracefully granted love and fellowship of each other in a boundary-bridging
way. One reflection of this is in the volunteerism and response to tragedies
pouring out of Christian societies toward others. Another example is the
community-rich societies of Amish or Mennonites, which have succeeded for
centuries (based on Jesus). Whereas the communes of the secular hippies
(based on primary human "goodness") rarely, lasted even a year. |
| INCLUSIVENESS: It is the
only religion immediately and fully available to any human who chooses to
believe. Claiming the pardon personally results in the conferring of eternal
salvation and marks instant membership into the universal
"church", the universal body of believers. All other religions of
the world require man to perform in his own power, in a certain way, for a
certain time in order (or trying to) to merit the favor of God (reflecting
the man-madeness of those religions: performance is the manner by which man
himself goes about reconciling relationships and bestowing grace and mercy).
They are performance-based, self-centered, and self-actualized. Christianity
is grace-based with its believers being heaven-bound so that they become
freed to be God-centered (not worrying and anxious about the future). God's
"grace"
(it's a grace-based religion, uniquely) is dispensed even in our disgrace
and sin...unique among religions. In fact, it has been pointed out that the
lesson of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11) was that mankind will never be
allowed to co-operate and bridge cultural and racial differences
successfully apart from the blessing of God (Jesus). God being the Father
and creator of all humans, we are all "brothers and sisters":
hence, Christians have been the key moral force behind all positive change
in slavery and racism. |
| STAY PUT: It is the only
religion in which you don't necessarily give up your culture or turn your back on
current/former relationships. As a Christian, you become a "fisher of
men", and you "fish" at least from where you are. A Jew who
becomes a Christian believer need not quit being a Jew; he becomes a Jewish
believer. |
| GRACE-BASED: It is the
only religion in which salvation is entirely apart from human effort or
merit...it is based entirely on the
grace
of God. All others are based on the works/meritoriousness of the worshipper.
Though it is implicit that it is possible to be good enough...the
Bible suggests that perfect holiness is required...to be approved by God as
"righteous" and worthy of eternal life, only Christianity offers a
guarantee of approval...absolutely free. There are no strings
attached: you must only hear the news of it, ask for help from the Savior,
and believe in Him. You must recognize and claim the pardon! Christianity,
alone, is based on the "done" plan...Jesus has done for us on the
cross what we cannot do for ourselves: He has paid the death penalty that we
deserve for our rebellion and wrongdoing, you don't do anything except
believe, accept, and receive. |
| SIN: While other
religions deal with specific sins, only Christianity (and maybe part of
Judaism) deals with the innate sin disposition of the natural (human
nature) man and man's inability at self-redemption. Jesus actually delivers
people from sin. |
| EDUCATION: It alone, of
the world's religions, insists on the primacy of language and the need for
literacy for all (so that scripture...the Word of God...can be studied by
all)... hence, Protestant Christianity's impact on worldwide education. Voted
the most important man of the 2nd millennium (1000-2000 AD), Johannes
Gutenberg was an ordinary German with a passion to make The Word of God
available to the masses; and God blessed his passion by giving him the idea
for inventing (1448 AD) the movable-type printing press. With widespread
reading of The Word of God, common Europeans became interested not only in
religious freedom but in migration to the New World and other parts of the
world (by the 1600's AD) in order to
evangelize
and carry out The Great Commission. |
| COUNTER-CULTURAL:
Contrary to popular notions that Christianity is equal to mainstream,
good/wholesome society, true, biblical Christian characteristics are so
counter-cultural that the significant presence of Christians in a society
will balance off some of the tendency of "fallen" mankind to sink
lower. And, with the principal of God creating all humans, then evangelical
outreach goes to all people and leads to an inclusiveness (all Christians
are brothers and sisters in Christ) which fosters a willingness toward
multiculturalism (the antithesis of raw human nature). |
| MULTICULTURAL: Contrary
to perceptions held by non-Christian and Christian alike, the majority of
Christians are not white (not Caucasian). Christianity was in Africa before
Europe, India before England, and China before America. Seventy-five percent
of all Christians live outside of the western world! Jesus was as
"eastern" as one can get! How can such diversity be accommodated
by the church...what is the church? |
| CALENDAR FROM POWER: So
powerful a force is Christianity that the world's calendar reflects BC and
AD...time is split by the birth of Jesus. The force and power of
Christianity became so resounding after the Protestant Reformation that
nations such as Russia honored God with artistic treasures (have you seen
the "Treasures of the Czars" touring exhibit?). And monarchs were
successively named in honor of Christ, as in Denmark...beginning with
Christian I. Many believe that the collapse of the Soviet Union and Eastern
European godless communism can only be explained as a direct result of
active, prolonged, and intensely organized Christian prayer by students and
adults, followed by God's response. The power is incredible, and it
continues to be acknowledged in the conventions of dating of the calendar.
Secular and academic changing of "AD" and "BC" will only
give enhanced opportunity to discuss Jesus. By the way, note the key annual
periods in the modern church calendar. |
| GOODNESS: Uniquely,
Christian believers are divinely declared righteous (good)(2
Corinthians 5:21); they are still subject to sin and to being bad. "The
Way" of the gospel is "good". |
| NEW: To quote from
Reynolds Price's book, Three Gospels: The Good News According to Mark, The
Good News According to John, an Honest Account of a Memorable Life, page
166, "That seems a fair outline of John's story. Yet the outline can be
pressed further down, to a sentence- the force that conceived and bore all
things came here among us, proved his identity in visible human acts, was
killed by men no worse than we, arose from death, and walked again with
early believers, vowing eternal life to those who also come to believe that
he is God and loves us as much as his story shows. None of the other active
world religions says anything remotely similar or comparable. John's story,
which- more than the story of the other gospels- became the Orthodox
Christian faith, is in fact repugnant to Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and to
all the indigenous beliefs of India and Japan. There is likewise no parallel
in the theologies of John's contemporaries- the dead myths of Greece or
Rome, with their demigods and deified bureaucrats. Again, John hands us a
brand-new thing." |
| JUDGMENT: It is the only
religion asserting that there will be an accurate, detailed, and final
reckoning of the behavior of every human being who ever lived (Romans
14:9-12) [and Jesus will be the Judge...Rev. 19:11]. |
| SPEAKING GOD:
Christianity not only asserts that God is capable of intelligent speech but
that He has (being the triune God) actually chosen to speak directly to all
of mankind, Himself also becoming the incarnate messenger (as Jesus). |
| SPIRIT DETECTOR:
Christianity alone asserts that one can accurately identify "The
Spirit" as truly coming from the One True God if that Spirit
acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. (I John 4:2) |
| THE TRUTH: While all
"prophets" have simply claimed to speak the truth, Jesus actually
claimed to be THE TRUTH (John 14:6). This either is or is not
so...each human is entitled to their own opinion about each issue of life; but,
persons are not entitled to their own private and personal
"truth"...truth must be universal (whether
"believed" or not). Jesus is the only one to make such a claim! |
| A FRIEND: In no other
religion is the key figure actually a friend (who sticketh closer than a
brother does) to the believer (Proverbs 18:24). During his life on earth, his opponents cast
condemnation on Jesus by saying that he actually was a friend of sinners,
tax collectors and other low people. |
| EXISTED, BORN, DIED, EXISTS: It
is the only religion declaring: (1) the existence of the key figure since
before creation, (2) non-human conception [virgin as to any human male
participation] but a very human birth (the incarnation), and (3) a
violent death followed by resurrection to an earthly, then a heavenly
eternal existence as a living and ruling Lord...all of which was
prophetically declared 400-1000 years before his human birth. Written 600
years after Jesus, even the Islamic Koran [see Surah 19.19-21] affirmed
Jesus' virgin birth! The true "incarnation...putting on of human
flesh". Spurgeon is said to have
commented on the incarnation, "How great a stoop: from the highest
height of Heaven down to the dunghill of humanity!" (John 1:1-18) |
| DIVINE: It is the only
religion where the key figure actually claims to be (and is) God...God who
came down as a man (Jesus). Jesus came, fully as man (human), yet fully God:
The Word became flesh (but devoid of sinful human "nature") [see
John 1:1-14]. Were Jesus only fully God, he would have been able to die on
the cross devoid of pain and suffering as a human. Yet, so obedient was
Jesus to the will of God the Father that he also "stooped" and
took on all of the physical attributes of man. When the nails were driven
in, Jesus felt the pain as you or I would; he felt the thorns and the spear;
he felt the life draining away; and he felt the pain of the weight of his
body hanging on his arms and hanging beneath his diaphragm such as to slowly
suffocate him. Keep this dual nature in mind and truly appreciate what God willed
(as The Father God) and then what God did (lived as Jesus and
agreeably & obediently & voluntarily suffered the agony of The
Cross) in order to get in further touch with the miracle of God's love for
mankind. He did this to atone for the sins of man before a holy/righteous
and just Jehovah God. The key figure in all other religions simply
represents "The Pattern/Figurehead/Example"...Jesus does that and
so much more! |
| HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS/BIOGRAPHIES:
As legalist and investigative reporter Lee Strobel has so well pointed out
in his 1998 book, "The Case for Christ", Jesus is again unique in
that his biographies began to be written in only 20+ years after his death.
Whereas biographies of key figures in all other religions begin no sooner
than 5 generations (over 100 years) after their deaths...such a long
interval allowing ample time for legend making and revisionism. These and
the abundance of written documentation provide credibility for truth seekers
that the claims of Jesus are true! |
| THE 10/40 WINDOW: Does
hard evidence of consequences/results help to illuminate The Truth? Every
nation or society [since the death of Jesus] which has been peopled by a
large percentage of Jesus believers/followers has been blessed. Today, the
greatest concentration of alternative-religions peoples is in the
geographical "window" between north latitudes 10 degrees and 40
degrees and from the longitude just to the west of the west coast of Africa
to the longitude to the east of Japan. There currently being 6 billion
people on earth, this window of our earth's surface: (1) contains 3.2
billion people, (2) 85% of them are the poorest of the world's poor, (3) 95%
of these people are unevangelized (not exposed to the Gospel of Jesus), and
(4) millions of them have never even once heard of Jesus or this Gospel. The
true God of Abraham, possessing an array of perfect personal
attributes
(including being sovereign and all-powerful) must have at least allowed
(the "curse" of their ignorance or misguidance?) this result.
Afghanistan under the Taliban is in the center of this window! What does it
mean when peoples with the highest concentration of the poorest and most
desperate of lives on planet Earth are also the least committed to Jesus?
Are largely Islamic? In the USA, why is Islam so attractive to hate-filled
incarcerated (because of their own crimes) prisoners? Go
figure... |
| "THE TRUTH" IS THE MOST-VIEWED FILM IN HISTORY:
What story, what message, what power could possibly transcend cultural and
political barriers and, since 1979, have been viewed on film, TV, or the
internet by (as of the end of Jan. 2000) billions of people...3.3 billion to
be exact? [check out more] |
ONE
SOLITARY LIFE
He
was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman.
He grew up in another obscure village,
where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty.
Then for three years he was an itinerant preacher.
He
never wrote a book.
He never held an office.
He never had a family or owned a home.
He never lived in a big city.
He never traveled 200 miles from the place where he was born.
He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness.
He had no credentials but himself.
While
he was still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him.
His friends deserted him. He was turned over to his enemies,
and went through the mockery of a trial.
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves.
While
he was dying, his executioners gambled for his garments,
the only property he had on earth.
When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave,
through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen
centuries have come and gone,
and today his is the central figure for much of the human race.
All the armies that ever marched,
All the navies that ever sailed,
All the parliaments that ever sat,
All the kings that ever reigned,
put together have not affected the life of man upon this earth
as much as this
One Solitary Life.
Anonymous
| IT IS UNIQUE BECAUSE IT IS THE TRUTH!! |
###########
Recommended reading: the modern findings of a legally trained Chicago investigative reporter who was an atheist..."The Case For Christ, A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus", Lee Strobel, Zondervan Publishing House, 1998.
Recommended reading: a native of India and authority on Eastern culture, scholar, Christian, and popular (now American) speaker, Ravi Zacharias, pens a 197 page, highly readable and convicting book, JESUS Among Other Gods: The Absolute Claims of the Christian Message, Word Publishing, Nashville, 2000.
Note: secular writer
Michael Hart's out-of-print book, The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential
Persons in History, even ranks Jesus #3. But, Reynolds Price, having been
requested by Time Magazine to write about Jesus at the close of 1999, notes,
"It would require much exotic calculation, however, to deny that the single
most powerful figure--not merely in these two millenniums but in all human
history--has been Jesus of Nazareth." [Time, Dec. 6, 1999]
***give
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[posted June 1998; latest addition 6 October 2008]