I just returned from a wonderful week in Chicago where I made several new friends while attending a meeting. The topic of the meeting was of great general interest, and we, the educators attending this training workshop, were, actually, a fairly diverse group, religiously speaking, a mix of Jewish people, Christians, a Buddhist, and maybe some others I didn't realize. We had some fun and friendly conversations outside of class time about our varying beliefs, which prompted my reflecting on the drive home about why I believe what I believe.
Last week's class was about building thinking skills, and I realized, as we discussed thinking skills, that I must have a high internal need for logical evidence. This, then, affects how I think about what I am willing to place my faith in. If I had to distill it down, I would have to say that I am a Christian because Jesus rose from dead. Without that, Christianity would be just an empty shell, with only some interesting teachings by a mere man long gone. Chapter 15 in I Corinthians puts it well, ". . . If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. . . and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. . . If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied."
So if Jesus didn't really rise from the grave, then I guess I'm crazy for believing in Christ. But, on the other hand, if He really was God in the flesh, and if He really did rise from the dead, then not believing in Him is a risk I'm personally not willing to take. This spring, I tried reading the gospels as if I'd never heard anything about Jesus before, with as open a mind as I could. You might want to try it yourself sometime. Anyway, I still couldn't help concluding, on nearly every page, that this man was clearly trying to show and tell His hearers that He was God. That's a really bizarre thing to do if you're a sane person, and, interestingly, no one really disputes His sanity. In fact, He was absolutely brilliant, and the crowds He drew were amazed at how He said things. Almost everyone agrees He was a great teacher.
What it boils down to for me is, if Jesus really was God, and He proved His claim by rising from the dead, then I've decided I can't risk ignoring Him. I decided nearly forty years ago that I'm going with the eye-witness accounts from those who saw Him alive after He died and who also heard Him make the claims He made. If somebody finds His body, I'll give it all up.
As my dear Grandpa used to say, "That's my story, and I'm sticking to it."
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delightful place II
