A shiny penny or £2 coin

Posted on my Facebook status, today [I've edited it a bit]:

 

Was thinking today that the world is like a little child who is offered a choice between a dull £2 coin or a bright, shiny penny.

 

Despite the £2 coin being worth 200 times more than the shiny penny, they choose the penny because it's shiny, bright and looks pretty!

 

The world is like this with Christ. He is worth infinitely much more than the world could EVER offer, but the way of Christ looks dull and boring. The way of world seems much more exciting with its disco lights, its pleasure parks, its parties and such - they last for a moment and I'm not saying that going to pleasure parks or parties is wrong, but compared to Christ they are passing follies!

 

Years ago (before becoming a Christian), I built my life on the shiny penny principle - it was great fun going out with friends, but the fun only lasted a few drinks, before I was spent out. Or a few dances, before I went home smelling of cigarette smoke and with hurting feet. It seemed like fun, but really these things are just distant memories.

 

On 10th December 1990 I committed my life to Christ and now I LIVE - not just now, but in eternity! My perspective on things changed. My definition of fun changed! I would much rather have a seemingly dull £2 coin than a worthless bright penny which can't buy anything, nor give any returns!

 

 

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Colossians 3:3-4

There is forgiveness at the Cross

When we see pictures of the cross, obviously it's empty (well, most of the time it is, and should be because Jesus has risen and has ascended to the right hand of His Father)

 

We see a sanitised picture. Even the paintings of old, can't really convey what went on, that day. We can't really imagine what it was like, we can't feel the physical pain and torment, we definitely can't know what spiritual torment Christ went through!

 

This isn't sanitised, this is what I think of when I think of my Saviour dying for me!

 

He was friendless - all of His disciples fled. Peter tagged along, but only out of curiosity. Three times He denied the One he had once declared as being the Christ:

 

Matthew 16:13-16 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”

So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

 

Matthew 26:69-75  Now Peter sat outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came to him, saying, “You also were with Jesus of Galilee.” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you are saying.” And when he had gone out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, “This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth.” But again he denied with an oath, “I do not know the Man!” And a little later those who stood by came up and said to Peter, “Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you.” Then he began to curse and swear, saying, “I do not know the Man!” Immediately a rooster crowed.  And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So he went out and wept bitterly.

Jesus was given a trial, where the 'witnesses' lied about Him or twisted the truth. He was bounced back and forth to Pilate and the Sanhedrin. He was proclaimed 'guilty' of trumped up charges. He remained silent because, although He hadn't sinned, He would soon be bearing the guilt and sins of His people!

He was whipped, scourged - the whips used were more than likely fastened with hooks so that every lashing would rip out chunks of flesh, He had His beard torn out - this wasn't a slight pulling, it would have been ripped from his face, He was naked, He had a crown of thorns rammed onto His head, He was mocked, His kingship was mocked, the blood and pain would have been weakening and that was before He hung on the cross. They made Him walk, with all His injuries, originally with the cross He would be hung upon. The heat would have been draining alone, without having all those wounds. No doubt blood from those wounds would have dripped on the floor where He walked. Before being crucified, the people called for a real criminal to be released - Christ was alone and friendless, but soon an even worse aloneness would be felt!

As He got to Golgotha (the place of the Skull) - it looks like a skull and with the executions going on there, it was aptly named! Huge, thick iron nails would have torn into His flesh, tearing the nerves and tendons - the pain would have been indescribable! He was hoisted up, all His body weight on His arms, pulling His shoulders out of their sockets, dislocating them. The heat of the sun (before the sky went dark) would have been horrendous, heat stroke, sweat, congealing blood, festering wounds, muscle cramps, ALL of the body's nerves shooting messages of pain, to His brain, His lungs filling with fluid, water building up around His heart, dehydration - the Water of Life, being dehydrated. Still people mocked Him, Pilate had a mocking sign hung above His head. Hunger - the Bread of Life is hungry. Perhaps sickness set in, bodily functions kicking in (we don't like to think about this). Soldiers gambling for His clothes. He hung there naked and uncovered, in shame and humility. He thought of His mother (how she must have suffered, but not in the same way as Christ, her Son did). YET in all this horror, He could still look down and say

Luke 23:34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

FORGIVE THEM? FORGIVE those who did all that to You, Lord? Yes, for the way of the Christian is by the example of the Saviour, we forgive as He once forgave us!

This is my view on this: I believe Jesus was looking into the future too and asking His Father to forgive ALL of His people - the ones He chose before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4a).

His death was so horrific - our sins deserved that punishment or even worse punishment (could there be anything worse? Yes - hell. An eternity without love, joy, peace, blessing etc). He took it ALL, every last one of the sins of His people were laid to His account!

ANYBODY can come to Him, including those we deem unworthy (because we were unworthy - that's why He suffered so much)! Even those we find distasteful in life - murderers, thieves, paedos, slanderers, liars, adulterers, fornicators, terrorists, abusers, mockers etc - ANYBODY who turns to Christ and asks for forgiveness and repents of their sins - repentance is a turning away from the past life and seeking to live for Christ. It's more than a glib sorry!

Is Jesus a Myth? A copy of pagan religions?

From: https://www.gotquestions.org/

Question: "Is Jesus a myth? Is Jesus just a copy of the pagan gods of other ancient religions?" Answer: There are a number of people claiming that the accounts of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament are simply myths borrowed from pagan folklore, such as the stories of Osiris, Dionysus, Adonis, Attis, and Mithras. The claim is that these myths are essentially the same story as the New Testament’s narrative of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. As Dan Brown claims in The Da Vinci Code, “Nothing in Christianity is original.” To discover the truth about the claim that the Gospel writers borrowed from mythology, it is important to (1) unearth the history behind the assertions, (2) examine the actual portrayals of the false gods being compared to Christ, (3) expose any logical fallacies being made, and (4) look at why the New Testament Gospels are trustworthy depictions of the true and historical Jesus Christ.  The claim that Jesus was a myth or an exaggeration originated in the writings of liberal German theologians in the nineteenth century. They essentially said that Jesus was nothing more than a copy of popular dying-and-rising fertility gods in various places—Tammuz in Mesopotamia, Adonis in Syria, Attis in Asia Minor, and Horus in Egypt. Of note is the fact that none of the books containing these theories were taken seriously by the academics of the day. The assertion that Jesus was a recycled Tammuz, for example, was investigated by contemporary scholars and determined to be completely baseless. It has only been recently that these assertions have been resurrected, primarily due to the rise of the Internet and the mass distribution of information from unaccountable sources. This leads us to the next area of investigation—do the mythological gods of antiquity really mirror the person of Jesus Christ? As an example, the Zeitgeist movie makes these claims about the Egyptian god Horus: • He was born on December 25 of a virgin: Isis Mary • A star in the East proclaimed his arrival • Three kings came to adore the newborn “savior” • He became a child prodigy teacher at age 12 • At age 30 he was “baptized” and began a “ministry” • Horus had twelve “disciples”  • Horus was betrayed  • He was crucified • He was buried for three days • He was resurrected after three days However, when the actual writings about Horus are competently examined, this is what we find:  • Horus was born to Isis; there is no mention in history of her being called “Mary.” Moreover, “Mary” is our Anglicized form of her real name, Miryam or Miriam. “Mary” was not even used in the original texts of Scripture. • Isis was not a virgin; she was the widow of Osiris and conceived Horus with Osiris. • Horus was born during month of Khoiak (Oct/Nov), not December 25. Further, there is no mention in the Bible as to Christ’s actual birth date. • There is no record of three kings visiting Horus at his birth. The Bible never states the actual number of magi that came to see Christ. • Horus is not a “savior” in any way; he did not die for anyone. • There are no accounts of Horus being a teacher at the age of 12. • Horus was not “baptized.” The only account of Horus that involves water is one story where Horus is torn to pieces, with Isis requesting the crocodile god to fish him out of the water. • Horus did not have a “ministry.” • Horus did not have 12 disciples. According to the Horus accounts, Horus had four demigods that followed him, and there are some indications of 16 human followers and an unknown number of blacksmiths that went into battle with him. • There is no account of Horus being betrayed by a friend. • Horus did not die by crucifixion. There are various accounts of Horus’ death, but none of them involve crucifixion.  • There is no account of Horus being buried for three days. • Horus was not resurrected. There is no account of Horus coming out of the grave with the body he went in with. Some accounts have Horus/Osiris being brought back to life by Isis and then becoming the lord of the underworld. When compared side by side, Jesus and Horus bear little, if any, resemblance to one another. Jesus is also compared to Mithras by those claiming that Jesus Christ is a myth. All the above descriptions of Horus are applied to Mithras (e.g., born of a virgin, being crucified, rising in three days, etc.). But what does the Mithras myth actually say? • He was born out of a solid rock, not from any woman. • He battled first with the sun and then with a primeval bull, thought to be the first act of creation. Mithras killed the bull, which then became the ground of life for the human race. • Mithras’s birth was celebrated on December 25, along with winter solstice. • There is no mention of his being a great teacher. • There is no mention of Mithras having 12 disciples. The idea that Mithras had 12 disciples may have come from a mural in which Mithras is surrounded by the twelve signs of the zodiac. • Mithras had no bodily resurrection. Rather, when Mithras completed his earthly mission, he was taken to paradise in a chariot, alive and well. The early Christian writer Tertullian did write about Mithraic cultists re-enacting resurrection scenes, but this occurred well after New Testament times, so if any copycatting was done, it was Mithraism copying Christianity. More examples can be given of Krishna, Attis, Dionysus, and other mythological gods, but the result is the same. In the end, the historical Jesus portrayed in the Bible is unique. The alleged similarities of Jesus’ story to pagan myths are greatly exaggerated. Further, while tales of Horus, Mithras, and others pre-date Christianity, there is very little historical record of the pre-Christian beliefs of those religions. The vast majority of the earliest writings of these religions date from the third and fourth centuries A.D. To assume that the pre-Christian beliefs of these religions (of which there is no record) were identical to their post-Christian beliefs is naive. It is more logical to attribute any similarities between these religions and Christianity to the religions’ copying Christian teaching about Jesus.  This leads us to the next area to examine: the logical fallacies committed by those claiming that Christianity borrowed from pagan mystery religions. We’ll consider two fallacies in particular: the fallacy of the false cause and the terminological fallacy.  If one thing precedes another, some conclude that the first thing must have caused the second. This is the fallacy of the false cause. A rooster may crow before the sunrise every morning, but that does not mean the rooster causes the sun to rise. Even if pre-Christian accounts of mythological gods closely resembled Christ (and they do not), it does not mean they caused the Gospel writers to invent a false Jesus. Making such a claim is akin to saying the TV series Star Trek caused the NASA Space Shuttle program.  The terminological fallacy occurs when words are redefined to prove a point. For example, the Zeitgeist movie says that Horus “began his ministry,” but the word ministry is being redefined. Horus had no actual “ministry”—nothing like that of Christ’s ministry. Those claiming a link between Mithras and Jesus talk about the “baptism” that initiated prospects into the Mithras cult, but what was it actually? Mithraic priests would place initiates into a pit, suspend a bull over the pit, and slit the bull’s stomach, covering the initiates in blood and gore. Such a practice bears no resemblance whatsoever to Christian baptism—a person going under water (symbolizing the death of Christ) and then coming back out of the water (symbolizing Christ’s resurrection). But advocates of a mythological Jesus deceptively use the same term, “baptism,” to describe both rites in hopes of linking the two. This brings us to the subject of the truthfulness of the New Testament. No other work of antiquity has more evidence to its historical veracity than the New Testament. The New Testament has more writers (nine), better writers, and earlier writers than any other document from that era. Further, history testifies that these writers went to their deaths claiming that Jesus had risen from the dead. While some may die for a lie they think is true, no person dies for a lie he knows to be false. Think about it—if someone was about to crucify you upside down, as happened to the apostle Peter, and all you had to do to save your life was renounce a lie you had knowingly told, what would you do? In addition, history has shown that it takes at least two generations to pass before myth can enter a historical account. That’s because, as long as there are eyewitnesses to an event, errors can be refuted and mythical embellishments can be exposed. All the Gospels of the New Testament were written during the lifetime of the eyewitnesses, with some of Paul’s Epistles being written as early as A.D. 50. Paul directly appeals to contemporary eyewitnesses to verify his testimony (1 Corinthians 15:6). The New Testament attests to the fact that, in the first century, Jesus was not mistaken for any other god. When Paul preached in Athens, the elite thinkers of that city said, “‘He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,’—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, ‘May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean’” (Acts 17:18–20, NASB). Clearly, if Paul were simply rehashing stories of other gods, the Athenians would not have referred to his doctrine as a “new” and “strange” teaching. If dying-and-rising gods were plentiful in the first century, why, when the apostle Paul preached Jesus rising from the dead, did the Epicureans and Stoics not remark, “Ah, just like Horus and Mithras”? In conclusion, the claim that Jesus is a copy of mythological gods originated with authors whose works have been discounted by academia, contain logical fallacies, and cannot compare to the New Testament Gospels, which have withstood nearly 2,000 years of intense scrutiny. The alleged parallels between Jesus and other gods disappear when the original myths are examined. The Jesus-is-a-myth theory relies on selective descriptions, redefined words, and false assumptions. Jesus Christ is unique in history, with His voice rising above all false gods’ as He asks the question that ultimately determines a person’s eternal destiny: “Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:15).