We are busy with life here. Sally is helping with implementing ongoing change for the clinic as directed by the Board. She has also been helping several children with specific medical needs. One girl, Alice, will have ear and adenoid surgery in a few weeks, which hopefully will improve her hearing and decrease the number of infections. She took Sylvia to the hospital today and in the morning Sylvia will have bilateral cataract surgery. Please pray that this will significantly improve her vision as she is a very bright 6-year old girl. She is very eager to see well enough to learn to write. Then on Thursday Sally takes Enoch to a pediatric neurologist. Enoch is a two-year old that came to the medical clinic that the team did back in late June. He appears to have some serious neuromuscular disease so hopefully an accurate diagnosis can be made that will help the parents assist the child. He is not able to sit, crawl, walk, or talk. Unfortunately there are not the early intervention resources here that are prevalent in the states.
The construction project races on. We anticipate finishing five of the seven buildings in the next week. Then we will focus our attention and limited resources on the final 2 two-story buildings. The final roofing has begun and we hope to attain usable status for both buildings. The promised finances for the buildings include an end-of-the year gift that will come later to complete the structures but we hope to have them ready for occupancy even though not completely finished. This is the third time I have reduced the crew size due to lack of finances.
Now to the latest scoop. August 20 was our anniversary (31 years) and August 21 was Sally’s latest birthday past 30-something. We read in our Lonely Planet book of East Africa that there is an actual boat here that was used in the filming of the movie, The African Queen, which gives dinner cruises on Lake Victoria. However, no one in our immediate African family knew any information about the boat. Our adventure began at 6:00 AM on the 20th with a long taxi ride to the docks at Entebbe. The taxis are minivans, usually packed with about 16 people that are the public transportation system here. After (1) locating the correct part of town (2) getting a boda boda (motorcycle) ride to the dock and (3) realizing that most of the people around the dock did not speak English, we realized that no one had heard of the boat. We began to realize that without more information our quest was impractical at best. We again consulted our book, which gives only part information, and decided that there may be other options for the berth of the “Queen.” We again took a taxi and went to Kampala and had morning coffee. We then took another taxi to Port Bell, another dock close to the city, but alas no “Queen” to be found. We did however find a guide with a boat who took us on an island excursion on the lake. We visited a small island inhabited by 250-300 people living mostly in one community. Housing was of sticks and mud for walls and thatch or tin for roofs. The folks are totally self-sufficient by fishing as well as farming the island because of the rich soil and constant water supply. They have a 12-month growing season so crop rotation is the key to success. There is no school, clinic or buildings of business, other than what is sold from windows out of the huts. There are hundreds of such islands on Lake Victoria and many are hours away from any major port or city. It is quite possible to be born, live your life, and die without ever leaving the island and its immediate waters.
A taxi back to Kampala and another taxi to Gabba Beach, our last option to search for the “Queen” this day. Another port, more fish and fishmen, boats, and ferries did abound, but alas no “Queen.” We had been informed by friends of a great restaurant up on the hill overlooking the lake and the city so we took a culinary detour as we foraged for food. We could see the island we had just explored as we sat at a table and enjoyed an outstanding meal. More bodas and taxis to make it back home ended a very memorable 31st anniversary and we have preserved the quest for the “Queen” for another day of adventure. Sally received roses for her birthday and a beautiful set of soapstone coasters.
Our time of fellowship with the singles continues and we are working on their upcoming retreat. We are excited to be a part and honored to be included in the planning.
Please pray for:
1. Sylvia’s surgery tomorrow
2. The singles retreat (September 5-7)
3. The work project
4. Finances for the project
5. Changes at the clinic
6. Wisdom as we enter our last month here (we would like to finish well)
7. Gorden’s knee which is injured and painful
8. Wisdom in relationships
9. Our son Ben arrives here September 3 and will stay until we leave the 23rd
Thank you for your prayers and financial support, both of which sustain us.
Gorden and Sally
PS we have attached some photos as we received a great used digital camera from a friend of our daughter. Hope you enjoy!
Whew! Things are moving very rapidly here, yet we continue to be in the more hurried I go the behinder I get syndrome. Some major changes have taken place in the clinic relative to staffing, hours, and operations so Sally keeps busy assisting with implementation and advice connected with the changes to try to have the smoothest transition as possible. Please pray as change is hard for most of those involved.
Last week Sally took three orphan children from the school to an eye specialist for an evaluation. One child had an eye injury when he was two (he is now fou4) and it seems there is nothing that can be done to help him to have any sight from this eye. The second child has severe lazy eyes but he is 13 so the brain patterns are well set by this point so we are not sure if we can help him. We did get some glasses for him to use and Sally will take him back in a month for further evaluation. The third child, Sylvia, has congenital cataracts. She is six and again it would have been helpful to have this problem addressed when she was little. The ophthalmologist felt surgical removal and glasses would definitely improve her vision. So on Thursday Sally took Sylvia to the Uganda Heart Institute and after a seven- hour wait and an echocardiogram, got the approval from the cardiologist to proceed with the surgery. (Kids with congenital cataracts often have congenital heart problems as well.) Sally takes the report back on Tuesday and then the surgery will be scheduled. These three children all come from extremely poor homes where the family lives in a one-room dirt floor shack. They are being raised by the grandmother or other family members. As we have said many times, the needs here are overwhelming and you just try to follow through on what God leads you to do. At times it feels like it is just a drop in the bucket that is too little, too late. Please pray that the glasses for William help and that the surgery and glasses for Sylvia will greatly help. She wants so badly to see so she can have a notebook and learn to write like the other children.
The construction project could use your prayers, as well. The Seminary Masters Program begins August 19th (requiring four buildings to be finished) and the College begins September 1 (requiring two additional buildings.) The remaining administration building is needed as soon as possible and definitely before we leave here September 23. With all the construction projects under a time crunch, we are working feverishly, but seem to be crawling to a conclusion. I am, however, optimistic.
On the local scene we continue to meet with the leadership team of the singles and encourage them with food, fun, and fellowship. We are planning their first ever singles retreat. We are praying our son, Ben, will be able to join us for a time in September where he can assist us in the retreat. What a gamemiester he is!
Our latest cultural antics found us attending our first Introduction last weekend. An Introduction is where the groom is introduced officially to the brides family and the brides family determines if they will allow the wedding to take place. So I purchased a konzu which is a long white gown and borrowed a suit coat to wear over the konzu. Sally borrowed a gomas which is the traditional Buganda dress. The event took place in a village near Mt. Elgon (close to the Kenyan border) about 45 minutes drive outside of Mbale. Sixty of us in two small buses and a van left the church around 6:30 am for the journey. This introduction happened to be between two different clans so there was a little bit of tension and suspense not knowing if one clan would approve of a groom from another clan. We took many gifts for the family which are all part of the dowry. When we arrived at the home of the bride, her family and friends were already gathered. The yard was decorated with flowers, lights and other items. Several tents were set up so we could be seated out of the sun. The brides family and the grooms family each had a spokesperson and several hours of questioning and exchanging of cash proceeded. Then in a game they searched for the groom and he at last was chosen. We then went out to get all the gifts. In a procession back into the yard each of us carried gifts, which included bags of flour, sugar, baskets of fruits and vegetables. Sally elected to carry some hand baskets of clothes so she wouldnt have to balance a basket on her head. She hasnt mastered that talent yet! After the presenting of the gifts we ate a big feast. Sally and I were chosen to eat inside the house at the table of honor with the bride and groom and family. All this was eaten without silverware and without talking as Ugandans dont talk much when they eat. After dinner there was more celebration with music and tribal dancing which includes bobbing, weaving, and shoulder dipping. My workers loved my attempts! We then all piled into the buses for the five- hour trip home where we sang, laughed and talked together. It was a great day of fun and celebration for all.
Thanks so much for your encouragement and prayer support!
Each term of service brings new rewards, new challenges, and more or better cultural understanding, if you participate as the learner. Consequently we remain in somewhat of a perpetual state of being stretched.
The project is going well with your normal daily disasters. (That's why I make the big bucks!) There is one area I could use specific prayer and that would be in the area of plaster. There are some complications probably from poor materials, not techniques, but because plastering is all but dead art in the U.S. I have very little experience with it. It is interesting to note that in 1969 one of my first summer construction jobs was working with a plastering company in Birmingham. I smile as I reflect on how God prepares us for service, usually in our ignorance. I thought it was just a summer job.
Sally continues to serve at the clinic. Giving Josephine a couple of days off each week is one of her priorities. She is now taking a special interest in some kids at the school with special needs. She will take these three kids to see an eye specialist August 5, thanks to a wonderful gift from the medical team from Birmingham and South Carolina. On Monday Sally and Josephine (the nurse on day shift) did a mini clinic at Nkumba Orphanage where they saw over 60 kids in a very busy day. Most of these children have lost parents due to AIDS. Yesterday she went to Garuga and helped with a small medical team. It was heartbreaking as several of the children were extremely malnourished, which is such a foreign concept in the States. One baby who was only a month old was severely dehydrated and so weak he could not suck to breast feed. They were able to take the baby to a nearby hospital where hopefully this Sudanese child can get some help. The young mother did not know how to take care of a baby and had no family to help. The needs here can be absolutely overwhelming.
Please pray for our effectiveness with the singles. We moved to our new location for safety and security issues but some of the locals do not feel comfortable coming here due to the location and distance. Pray that we can bridge the gap and for transportation issues as there is almost no public transportation in the immediate area. So we do a lot more walking and Sally has tuned up a bike that she rides to the clinic.
Driving to work one morning last week our driver narrowly missed a young man who darted to the center of the highway. Determined he could not outrun the oncoming traffic in the second lane. he reversed his field, causing us to narrowly miss him, only taking the color off his T-shirt. Tony (my interpreter) turned to me and said the Ugandans would tell him to go and eat his chicken. You must remember Africa is a verbal, not written, society and things are handed down through the generations by word of mouth. One must also keep in mind that village influence and the tribal/clan importance must be kept in the context of stories, idioms, etc. here. It seems that there was a master of the house who lived with a rat, a chicken, a goat, and a cow. The rat and chicken lived inside while the goat and cow lived outside. One day a snake comes in the house and goes into the rat hole. The rat approaches the chicken, Please help me get rid of the snake. No, he says, Go to the goat as I am too small. When the goat was approached he said, No, I don't live in the house. Go to the cow. The cow in turn said, No, as she had no interest in killing the snake as she did not live in the house either. The rat, determined to rid himself of the snake, proceeded to be bitten and died as did the master of the house. In turn, the snake bit the chicken, goat and cow, killing them all. The moral of the story is with full cooperation, death and disaster may have been avoided. In order to remember this lesson, whenever a person dies, the family eats chicken before the funeral, goat upon arriving home from the burial, and beef a short time thereafter. Hence the response to near-miss costing one his life is, Go eat your chicken, as you have cheated death.
To train a mazungu it takes a village. I think we are having vegetable soup for dinner!
During my quiet time this morning I am praying and looking with wonder out the window of our house in Africa. Wonder? Yes, for a country boy with roots in rural Alabama to have papaya, banana, and royal palm trees growing naturally in my yard, it is marvelously wonderful. Who would have thought?!
I have been studying in Philippians and a cross reference sent me to Ephesians 2:8-10. Verses 8 and 9 are very familiar to all of us saved by grace, but, verse 10 has me chewing on it a bit. God created us uniquely to perform predetermined works in a predetermined location. Sally and I are so very thankful for being sent by you to minister here with our talents and abilities. We are also thankful for your prayer support which sustains us here as well.
We have been here 2 = weeks now and we are beginning to regroup. We hit the ground running. Our housing was not repaired as was promised. (Surprise!) The construction site was a conglomeration of mini-disasters which have by now either been resolved or absorbed reasonably into the project. It was discovered that financial projections at the beginning of the project have provided a few opportunities to be creative at financial management. Solutional opportunities are forthcoming, we trust.
We had the opportunity to interact with an incredible short-term medical team partially comprised of members from our home church. Days were long and peanut butter did abound, but what a blessing to see them minister to the people in a practical and spiritual way. This team came at a time when Zana Presbyterian Church was in the final outreach stage of planting a new sister church in Namelanda. The medical tem ministered daily there and a group form Zana Presbyterian did evening rallies for a week with music, preaching, and film outreach. This culminated in the first official church service last Sunday morning. Sally and I were honored to attend their first church meeting along with the medial team. What a blessing. Many of the singles we are working with were part of the evening rallies and served daily as interpreters, etc. for the medical team. They are tired as well, but blessed.
It is interesting to us that as we start this 12 week commitment, the spiritual warfare has increased significantly. As I mentioned, the housing was not repaired as promised, which was discouraging, but we managed. Then right on the road in front of the work site, one of the trucks for the job ran over a 3 = foot long cobra which measured about 3 = inches wide at his thickest point. He may not have been so wide before the truck episode. This had all the workers looking for the snakes family--another concern. Thursday night we were robbed in our home and relieved of one of our cell phones, our digital camera (sorry, no picturesL), my briefcase with all the plans and references books for the project, my personal bag of tools I use daily, Sallys personal bag with stethoscope and other items, and a significant sum of money.
God greatly encouraged us through the experience as our neighbors found, in two different locations, and returned the discarded briefcase with the plans, reference materials, my tools, and Sallys stethoscope. Yeah God! These were the irreplaceable items for us as they are not found in Uganda, to our knowledge. We were also encouraged that we were unharmed especially when we realized the robbers were in our bedroom while we were sleeping. After talking to one of the missionaries here and consulting Pastor Emma the decision was made to relocate our housing to a facility with better security for us. This decision comes with a cost as this is not what we wanted to do. We felt that one of the reasons we were effective on our previous term here was because we lived in the village with the people. Please pray that our effectiveness and acceptance will not be hampered. Also pray for safety and wisdom as the next few weeks will hold many opportunities to make decisions that will have long-term effect on the clinic and the seminary. We see Gods hand in all this and believe we are at the right place at the right time (Eph 2:10) for our tasks. Please praythe most you can do. See Psalm 121
There are so many ways to approach this and I just simply had to choose one because we only have a few minutes to devote.We are spending this summer looking at apologetic topics that I believe will help our faith grow.Some of these do help as we attempt to relate the Gospel to others.
Today we are looking at is Jesus God?And next week we will look at the final proof of His Deity – the Resurrection.
Introduction
Why would God become a man?One reason would be to communicate with us more effectively.
Throughout human history, God has used numerous means of communication to reach humankind with His message.
He lastly sent God, the Son into the world.The opening verses of the book of Hebrews state, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers. By the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son”Heb 1:1, 2.John:“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.No one has seen God at any time.The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” John 1: 14, 18
The prophets gave us God’s words. But Jesus is THE Word of God in human form revealing God to us in person, not just in verbal statements.He is God Himself in a form we could touch, hear, and see. Jesus brought God to our level and lifted us up with Him in the process.
Not only did God want to communicate with us, He wanted to demonstrate to us just how much He loves us.For God so loved the world, Jesus said, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be savedJohn 3:16, 17
Exercise here.
His made an utterly unique entrance into Human History
Mohammed, Confucius, Buddha, and all other human beings were conceived by natural means:a male human sperm fertilizing a female human egg.Not so with Jesus Christ.His mother conceived Him while she was yet a virgin.He had no paternal father.The virgin conception and birth of Christ is utterly unique in human history.
Biblical Testimony for the Virgin Birth
The OT predicted the Messiah’s unusual conception hundreds of years before Matthew and Luke ever wrote their Gospels.
Isaiah 7:14 and Genesis 3:15
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
Genesis 3:15
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:14
1.If God became a man, we would expect Him to be without Sin
a.Jesus’s View of Himself
To a hostile crowd:
“Which of you convicts Me of sin?”John 8:46He got no answer.Though He invited scrutiny, no one could accuse him of anything.He was innocent.He couldencourage this public examination because He was without sin.
John 8:29:“I always do those things that please Him.”He was in unbroken communion with His Father in heaven.
Did God become a Man? Another quality which has often been remarked was the absence of any sense of having committed sin or of a basic corruption of Himself…It is highly significant that in one as sensitive morally as was Jesus and who taught His followers to ask for the forgiveness of their sins there is no hint of any need for forgiveness for Himself, no asking of pardon, either from those about Him or of God.
Kenneth Scott Latourette, Historian
A History or Christianity, 47
The best reason to consider Him sinless:“is the fact that He allowed His dearest friends to think that He was(sinless).There is in all His talk no trace of regret or hint of compunction or suggestion of sorrow for shortcoming, or slightest vestige of remorse.He taught other men to think of themselves as sinners, He asserted plainly that the human heart is evil, He told His disciples that every time they prayed they were to pray to be forgiven,but He never speaks or acts as though He himself has the faintest consciousness of having ever done anything other than what was pleasing to God.
Jefferson, CJ, 225
Another quality which has often been remarked was the absence of any sense of having committed sin or of a basic corruption of Himself…It is highly significant that in one as sensitive morally as was Jesus and who taught His followers to ask for the forgiveness of their sins there is no hint of any need for forgiveness for Himself, no asking of pardon, either from those about Him or of God.
Kenneth Scott Latourette, Historian
A History or Christianity, 47
The Witness of His Friends
Jesus’ closest associates, Peter and John, attest to His being without sin:
1 Peter 1:19:“but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
1 Peter 2:33:“Who committed no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth.”
1 John 3:5:“And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.”
While saying this, John also declared that anyone who declares himself to be without sin, he is a liar and he is calling God a liar also!!!
Even Judas—the one responsible for Jesus’ death—recognized Jesus’ innocence.“I have sinned by betraying innocent blood”Mt 27:3,4
Hebrews 4:15:“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin”
The Witness of His Enemies
One thief rebuked the other:This Man has done nothing wrong.”Luke 23:41
Pilate also found Jesus innocent of wrong-doing“You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people.And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him”Luke 23:14
The Roman centurion at the cross of Jesus:“Certainly this man was innocent”Luke 23:47
If God became a man, He would perform miracles
The Scriptural Witness
Jesus said, Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard:the blink see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them Luke 7:22.
Jesus miracles demonstrated a great variety of power:
Power over nature
Power over disease,
Power over demons,
Powers of creation
Power over death
His demonstration of power also fulfilled prophecy and pointed to Him as the Messiah predicted in Hebrew Scriptures.
Miracles of Physical Healing
LeperosyMatthew 8:2-4; Mark 1:40-45; Luke 5:12-15;
ParalyticMatthew 9:2-8; Mark 2:3-12; Luke 5:18-26;
Peter’s mother-in-law Matthew 8:14-17; Mark 1:29-31;
A nobleman’s son John 4:46-53; John 5:1-9;
A withered hand Matthew 12:9-13; Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6:6-11;
Deafness and dumbness Mark 7:31-37;
BlindnessMark 8:22-25; John 9; Mark 10:46-52;
Ten lepersLuke 17:11-19;
Malchus’s severed earLuke 22: 47-51
HemorrhageMatthew 9:20-22
DropsyLuke 14:24
Miracles of the Natural Realm
Water converted to wine at Cana John 2:1-11
Stilling a storm Matthew 8:23-27
Supernatural catch of fishLuke 5:1-11
Multiplying food
5000 fed Matthew 14:15-21
4000 fed Matthew 15:32-39
Walking on watermatthew 14:22,23
Money from a fishMatthew 17:24-27
Fig tree dried upMatthew 21:18-22
Miracles of Raising the Dead
Jairus’s daughterMatthew 9:18-26
Widow’s sonLuke 7:11-15
Lazarus of BethanyJohn 11:1-4
Comments on His Maracles
All His miracles are but natural manifestations of His person, and hence they were performed with the same ease with which we perform our ordinary daily works.PC, 76-77“His miracles were, without exception, prompted by the purest motives and aimed at the glory of God and the benefit of men; they are miracles of love and mercy, full of instruction and significance and in harmony with His character and missionPhilip Schaff, The Person of Christ, 91
Bernard Ramm,If miracles are capable of sensory perception,they can be made matters of testimony.If they are adequately testified to, then the recorded testimony has the same validity for evidence as the experiences of beholding the events.!!!!
Here is what Bernard Ramm observes on Lazarus’s resurrection:
If the raising of Lazarus was actually witnessed by John and recorded faithfully by him when still in soundness of faculties and memory, for purposes of evidence it is the same as if we (who read John’s account) were there and saw it.Bernard Ramm, PhD, Protestant Christian Evidences, 140-141
If God became a man, then we would expect him to live more perfectly than any human who has ever lived.
Friends:
His life was holy; His word was true; His who character was the embodiment of truth.There never has been a more real or genuine man than Jesus of Nazareth.
Thomas, Christianity Is Christ, 11
Carnegie Simpson wrote:
Instinctively we do not class Him with others.When one reads His name in a list beginning with Confucius and ending with Goethe we feel it is an offense less against orthodozy than against decency.Jesus is not one of the group of the world’s great.Talk about Alexander the Great and Charles the Great and napoleon the Great if you will…Jesus is apart.He is not the Great; He is the Only.He is simply Jesus.Nothing could add to that…He is beyond our analyses.He confounds our canons of human nature.He compels our criticism to overleap itself.He awes our spirits.There is a saying of Charles Lamb … that “If Shakespeare was to come into this room we should all rise up to meet him, but if that Person (ie, Jesus) was to come into it, we should all fall down and try to kiss the hem of his garment
Quoted by Stott, Basic Christianity, 36
Jesus was the most Jewish of Jews; even more Jewish than Hillel
Yosef Klausner, Jewish intellectual & scholar of
Jewish religion and history, Yeschu Hanostri, 1249
It is universally admitted…that Christ taught the purest and sublimest system of ethics, one which throws the moral precepts and maxims of the wisest men of antiquity far into the shade.
Philip Schaff, The Person of Christ, 44
Only a Christ could have conceived a Christ
Joseph Parker in Ecce Deus, from Martin, CC, 57
Napoleon:
I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man.Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison.Alexander, Ceasar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires.But on what did we reast the creatsion of our enius?Upon force.Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.
Frank Mead, Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations, 56
Antagonists:
I esteem the Gospels to be thoroughly genuine, for there shines forth from them the reflected splendour of a sublimity, proceeding from the person of Jesus Christ and of as Divine a kind as was ever manifested upon earth.
Frank Ballard, MU, 251
He was too great for his disciples. And in view of what he plainly said, is it any wonder that all who were rich and prosperous felt a horror of strange things, a swimming of their world at his teaching? Perhaps the priests and the rulers and the rich men understood him better than his followers. He was dragging out all the little private reservations they had made from social service into the light of a universal religious life. He was like some terrible moral huntsman digging manking out of the snug burrow in which they had lived hitherto. In the white blaze of this kingdom of his there was to be no property, no privilege, no pride and precendence; no motive indeed and no reward but love. Is it any wonder that men were dazzled and blinded and cried out against him? Even his disciples cried out when he would not spare them the light. Is it any wonder that the priests realized that between this man and themselves there was no choice but that he or priestcraft should perish? Is it any wonder that the Roman soldiers, confronted and amazed by something soaring over their comprehension and threatening all their disciplines, should take refuge in wild laughter, and crown him with thorns and robe him in purple and make a mock Caesar of him? For to take him seriously was to enter upon a strange and alarming life, to abandon habits, to control instincts and impulses, to essay an incredible happiness....
Is it any wonder that to this day this Galilean is too much for our small hearts?" -- H.G. Wells, The Outline of History, 535-536
“I am a historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history.Jesus Christ is the most dominant figure of all time.”-- H.G. Wells
It's an interesting thing to be convicted of Christ by an atheist.
If God became a man, then certainly He would speak the greatest words ever spoken
Jesus said about his own words,“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away”Luke 21:33
It was common for the crowds who heard Him to be “astonished at His teaching”Luke 4:32.Even a Roman officer exclaimed, “No one ever spoke like this Man!” John 7:46
Bernard Ramm:
Statistically speaking, the Gospels are the greatest literature ever written.They are read by more people, quoted by more authors, translated into more tongues, represented in more art, set to more music, than any other book or books written by any man in any century in any land.But the words of Christ are not great on the grounds that they have such a statistical edge over any body else’s words.They are read more, quoted more, loved more, believed more, and translated more because they are the greatest words ever spoken.And where is their greatness? Their greatness lies in the pure, lucid spirituality in dealing clearly, definitively, and authoritatively with the greatest problems that throb in the human breast; names, Who is God? Does He love Me? What should I do to please Him? How does He look at my sin? How can I be forgiven? Where will I go when I die? How must I treat others? No other man’s words have the appeal of Jesus’ words because no other man can answer these fundamental human questions as Jesus answered them.They are the kind of words and the kind of answers we would expect God to give, and we wo believe in Jesus’ deity have no problem as to why these words came from His mouth.
Ramm, PCE, 170-171
Napoleon:Never did the Speaker seem to stand more utterly alone than when He uttered this majestic utterance.Never did it seems more improbable that it should be fulfilled.But as we look across the centuries we see how it has been realized.His words have passed into law, they have passed into doctrines, they have passed into proverbs, they have passed into consolations, but they have never ‘passed away.’What human teacher ever dared to claim an eternity for his words.
G. F. Maclean, Cambridge Bible for Schools, 149
Though without formal rabbinical training, He showed no timidity or self-consciousness, no hesitation as to what He felt to be truth.Without any thought of Himself or His audience, He spoke out fearlessly on every occasion, utterly heedless of the consequences to Himself, and only concerned for thruth and the delivery of His Father’s message.The power of His teaching was also deeply felt.“His word was with power” Luke 4:32. The spiritual force of His personality expressed itself in His utterances and held His hearers in its enthralling grasp.And so we are not surprised to read of the impression of uniqueness made by Him.“Never man spake like this man”John 7:46. The simplicity and charm and yet the depth, the directness, the universality, and the truth of His teaching made a deep mark on His hearers, and elicited the conviction that they were in the presence of a Teacher such as man had never known before.And thus the large proportion of teaching in the Gospels, and the impressions evidently created by the Teacher Himself, are such that we are not at all surprised that years afterward the great Apostle of the Gentiles should recall these things and say, “Remember the words of the Lord Jesus” Acts 20:35.The same impression has been made in every age since the days of Christ and His immediate followers, and in any full consideration of His person as the substance of Christianity great attention must necessarily be paid to His teaching.
W. H. GriffithThomas, Christianity Is Christ, 32
If God became a man, then we would expect Him to have a lasting and universal influence
The person of Jesus Christ has made such an impact on humanity that even after two thousand years the impact has not worn off.Each day,there are persons who have revolutionary experiences with Jesus.
I love what Philip Schaff has to say about Jesus’ influence.
Born in a manger, and crucified as a malefactor, He now controls the destinies of the civilized world, and rules a spiritual empire which embraces one-third of the inhabitants of the globe.
There never was in this world a life so unpretending, modest, and lowly in its outward form and condition, and yet producing such extraordinary effects upon all ages, nations, and classes of men. The annals of history produce no other example of such complete and astonishing success in spite of the absence of those material, social, literary, and artistic powers and influences which are indispensable to success for a mere man."
Philip Schaff,The Person of Christ, 33
This Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Mohammed, and Napoleon; without science and learning, he shed more light on things human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of schools, he spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since, and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line, he set more pens in motion, and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art, and songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times
-historian Philip Schaff The Person of Christ, 33
Christ alone has succeeded in so raising the mind of man towards the unseen that it becomes insensible to the barriers of time and space.Across the chasm of eighteen hundred years Jesus Christ makes a demand which is beyond all others difficult to satisfy.He asks for that which a philosophy may often seek in vain at the hands of his friends, or a father of his children, or a bride of her spouse, or a man of his brother.He asks for the human heart; He will have it entirely to Himself;He demands it unconditionally, and forthwith His demand is granted.Its powers and faculties becomes an annexation to the empire of Christ.All who sincerely believe in Him experience that supernatural love owards Him.This phenomenon is unaccountable, it is altogether beyond the scope of man’s creative powers.Time, the great destroyer, can neither exhaust its strength nor put a limit to its range.
Frank Ballard, MU 265
THE GREATEST MAN WHO EVER LIVED
"He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another 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 a home. He didn't go to college. He never visited a big city. He never travelled two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself. He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied 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 He is the central figure 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 effected the life of man on this earth as much as that One Solitary Life."
If God became a man, then we would expect him to satisfy the spiritual hunger in humanity
Christ claimed to do that.There are evidences in the New Testament that he satisfied the deep longings of man’s heart.There is much evidence around me and right in this church that he continues to do that today.
His Words:
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.Matthew 5:6
If any one thirsts, let Him come to Me and drink John 7:37
But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirstJohn 4:14
Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you.Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraidJohn 14:27
I am the bread of life.He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst John 6:35
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you restMatthew 11:28
I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantlyJohn 10:10
Man has changed his word in a remarkable way, but has not been able to alter himself.Since this problem is basically a spiritual one, and since man is naturally bent toward evil (as history attests), the sole way that man can be changed is by God.Only if a man commits himself to Christ Jesus and submits himself to the Holy Spirit for guidance can be be changed.Only in this miraculous transformation rests hope for the atom-awed, radio-activity-ruffled word of our day and its inhabitants.
George Schweitzer, TSLL, n.p.
Yet thousands and millions today, as in all ages, are testifying to the power and glory of Christianity in dealing with their sin and wickedness.These are facts which stand the test of examination and carry their own conclusion to all who are willing to learn
Thomas, CIC, 119
Christian experience alone provides man with an experience commensurate with his nature as free spirit…Anything less than God leaves the spirit of man thirsty, hungry, restless, frustrated, and incomplete.
Bernard Ramm, PCE, 215
He [Jesus] rose above the prejudices of party and sect, above the superstitions of His age and nation.He addressed the naked heart of man and touched the quick of the conscience.
Philip Schaff, HCC, 104-5
A Univ. of Pittsburgh student:
Whatever joys and gladness, all put together of my past experience, these can never equzl that special joy and peace that the Lord Jesus Christ has given me since that time when He entered into my life to rule and to guide.
Ordonez, IWBBNIS, n.p.
Then I asked Jesus to come into my life and dwell there.For the first time in my life I experienced complete peace.The lifetime of emptiness I had known was removed, and I have never felt alone since.
Frank Allnutt, C, 22
I have found happiness and the fulfillment of all I have desired in Jesus Christ.
J. C. Martin, CC, n.p.
If God became a man, then we would expect him to overcome humanity’s more pervasive and feared enemy--DEATH
Supplement from Lee Strobel (his testimony) :
Not the video used in class but a younger Strobel lecturing on the proofs that Jesus is God:
Dorm
Two-Story Classroom
Temporary Library
