How
come people would like to relate to God the father and enjoy the benefits of
that relationship, but hey deny, indeed loathe the name of, Jesus Christ,
the very representation of God. I do not get this. Jesus spoke the word of
God; he did not say anything different what God the father had told humanity
through the prophets before the incarnation of Christ. Many people today
accept the fatherhood of God but reject the sonship of Jesus Christ. Sadly,
some of these people claim no other religion but Christianity; some claim no
specific religion, but they just hate the idea of a Jesus.
Could
it be because Christ not only spoke of the individual’s need for a
relationship with him but also spelt out the conditions for attaining such a
union? Could it be that people perceive Christ as arrogant in his claim to a
status some people are unwilling to accord another mortal? But that seems
unlikely because people, through the ages, have literally worshiped human
heroes and followed religious teachers who claim to have a message from God.
Besides, Jesus wasn’t another mortal, for he demonstrated his immortality by
his historic resurrection. Could it then be because Christ did not offer a
democratic compromise, as he limits humanity’s access to the Almighty to the
Christ channel? In a world floating in the euphoria of liberalism, surely,
someone might disparage Christ’s certitude and insistence that only one way
leads to God. Such “bigotry “ undoubtedly draws the ire of the modern
intellectual. Yet, Christ speaks without apologies: “I am the way and the
truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:
6). Now Christ must be meddling, someone might interject; how could any
rational consciousness accept such narrow mindedness in the face of so many
different claims to the truth?
Perhaps, people reject his Lordship because Christ offers salvation through
a non-meritorious channel of grace through faith in his death and
resurrection, not through human goodness and relative righteousness. By
doing so didn’t Christ pull the rug from under the feet of human pride and
sense of personal achievement? Anyone who would come to God will advance no
personal merit, as Christ has already paid the price for our salvation We
are left with no chance to engage in the hideous game of the survival of the
strongest, of the most ruthless, of the richest, or of the most arrogant. We
only need to pledge our acceptance of the efficacy of the blood of Christ to
wash us clean and make us presentable to God.
However, many object to this notion of helplessness and the need for
salvation Humanity is essentially good and need no savior, and if need be,
man is adequate to chart his own destiny, someone might claim. Such a claim
flies in the face of countless confirmations that the human trajectory must
have gone out of joint somewhere. But for the omnipotence of God, humanity
and indeed the entire universe stands at the mercy of people who believe
they possess the right and power to terrify and even destroy fellow human
beings. The catalog of misery imposed on humans by fellow humans speaks
notoriously about humanity’s need for deliverance from evil and
self-destruction.
Could
it be because man, in his arrogance and opinionated thoughts about what God
should have done, fails to eat the humble pie and accept the simplicity and
universal efficacy of the cross of Christ. Life shouldn’t be a matter of
struggle and competition. Through Christ, God has provided a level playing
field for everyone, so that everyone who desires true freedom can approach
the author of freedom with the ticket purchased for all by Jesus Christ. No
one has any advantage over any other.
I still don’t get it. What did the father do
that the son did not equally do during his life on earth? Christ would have
made preposterous claims to Godhood if he could not demonstrate his
credentials through many astounding proofs: his birth, life, death,
resurrection, miracles, ascension, and total fulfillment of prophecy. He
changed the human landscape, as he became the central reference point in
human history. In claiming to be God Christ merely stated what human beings
should have deduced from his supernatural qualities and moral perfection.
But some people still hate the idea of Christ maybe because their
imperfection and irresistible tendency to sin stands in jittery judgment in
their unfading awareness of Christ’s unparalleled moral excellence. If
Christ’s exemplary, unmatchable credentials didn’t show him as God, what
else would. Why do people withhold their loyalty and commitment from such a
celebrity and question his authenticity while they devote themselves to
fellow mortals who demonstrate but a few spurts of intellectual, musical, or
athletic accomplishments? If one should seek salvation, shouldn’t one do so
through Christ, whom history confirms as man and other than man? Are people
simply so blind that they can’t see a reality, a truth so obvious? If you
get it, please tell me; I’m at a loss.
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