Saturday, August 28, 2010

Back to Basics, Part 3


We continue with week 3 of our study of the Apostle's Creed. This week we focus on Living with Jesus as Savior.
Countless books have been written about Jesus. No other life or death has affected history and humanity like Jesus' has. But what are we to do with that? The writers of the Apostle's Creed felt it was important to deal with His life, death, and resurrection as a cornerstone of the Creed. Have you notice the Creed deals with Jesus more than anything else?
It reminds me of one of my favorite passages by C.S. Lewis. I offer to you for your reflection:
"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."
Lewis, C.S. The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics. HarperCollins: San Francisco. 2002.
**You'll fin that paragraph in Lewis' Mere Christianity, Book 2, Chapter 3: The Shocking Alternative.

You can find our messages on our website: www.fairhopeumc.org or on iTunes.

No comments:

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Back to Basics, Part 3


We continue with week 3 of our study of the Apostle's Creed. This week we focus on Living with Jesus as Savior.
Countless books have been written about Jesus. No other life or death has affected history and humanity like Jesus' has. But what are we to do with that? The writers of the Apostle's Creed felt it was important to deal with His life, death, and resurrection as a cornerstone of the Creed. Have you notice the Creed deals with Jesus more than anything else?
It reminds me of one of my favorite passages by C.S. Lewis. I offer to you for your reflection:
"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."
Lewis, C.S. The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics. HarperCollins: San Francisco. 2002.
**You'll fin that paragraph in Lewis' Mere Christianity, Book 2, Chapter 3: The Shocking Alternative.

You can find our messages on our website: www.fairhopeumc.org or on iTunes.

No comments: