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Oct. 30, 2005 The question of if Jesus ever existed. The fact that Jesus did indeed exist and was a historical figure is not in question. Some ancient Jewish and pagan writers - Josephus,(a Jewish historian) Pliny the Younger,( better known as Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, a roman lawyer and author) Tacitus( better known as Gaius Cornelius Tacitus, a roman orator, lawyer and senator) , Suetonius(better knows as Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus a roman writer) , and Livy(better known as Titus Livius, a roman writer) all wrote about the existence of Jesus. None of these people were Christian so you can’t say that it’s collaboration. The question of him being the son of GOD is one taken on faith. Faith is one of the corner-stones of the Christian belief. In fact, faith is the corner stone of any belief system. If you believe in evolution, then you have faith that the scientists are correct. Atheists have faith that GOD does not exist. When you contribute to a 401k account, you have faith that you will be around to retire and that the money will be there. If GOD did the talk show circuit once a week, we wouldn’t require faith. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” and “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them:… are not contradictory statements. The first statement refers to your actions, the way you conduct yourself. Non-Christians should notice something different about Christians. The second statement means don’t boast about giving to charity or to the church. You write your check or give your money and don’t tell anyone about it or call attention to yourself. The scribes and Pharisee’s of that time spent more time legalizing the laws of Moses then they did actually living the laws. In essence, they should have been practicing what they preached. The word “testify” comes from the Roman practice of placing your right hand on your testicles before making statements before the senate. Jesus does say later in the gospels that if you do make an oath, do not take it lightly. “Ask, and it shall be given you….”refers to salvation and understanding of GODS word. “Therefore I say unto you….” Is referring to too much worry about everyday life. Yea. Ok, everyone has some worries about what is going to happen tomorrow, but Jesus is saying don’t let it occupy all of your time and effort. If you spend all of your time and effort worrying about what tomorrow has in store, then you don’t have any time for GOD or time for prayer. This brings us to prayer. The Lords prayer is an example. It’s short and to the point. GOD already knows what our needs and concerns are. We don’t have to make some 5 hour prayer asking for the same thing over and over again, thinking that we’ll eventually wear down GOD with repetition. When we tell our children how to behave do we expect that they’ll never make any mistakes? No, we know that they will slip up some-where. Sometimes even on purpose. So does that mean we don’t love them anymore? No, we’ll forgive them, remind them again and keep trying. Christians are human. We are going to make mistakes. We’re going to get angry. Do we as parents tell our children to do something and in the same breath explain that it’s ok if they fail? “ Well son, I know your going out with your friends, but no drinking and driving , no drugs and I want you back by 10pm, however if you do drink and drive, do drugs and don’t make it home till 2am, I’ll understand.” The “sermon on the mount” is Jesus telling us how our Father expects us to behave. Did Jesus actually expect us to live that way all the time? No, but he expects us to make the attempt. Before the obvious question of “if Jesus knew that there was no way to live up to those expectations then why did he do the sermon”? The same reason that we as parents make demands on our children. We tell our children to never lie, and then tell them about santa clause, the easter bunny, “No officer, I wasn’t aware that I was speeding,” calling in sick to work (if your not sick) and countless others. Christians are going to slip up at times. We will get angry, tell lies and do things we shouldn’t do. Then we come to Jesus, ask for forgiveness, he’ll admonish us to not do it again, give us a spiritual pat on the head and send back out to play. Do our children get everything they ask for? No, we as parents give our children what we think they need. Why don’t we give our children everything? Because as older, wiser and smarter parents, we know what is best for our children. Then why should we as children of GOD expect that we will get everything we ask for when our father in heaven is older, wiser and smarter then we will ever be. As Mr. Keyes stated in his article “it won’t work on planet earth” is true. There-in is the problem. As one person shows mercy to someone else, there is always someone to see that as a weakness. Instead of putting blame on those that prey on the weak, Mr. Keyes would rather see the Christian community as a bunch of idiots, following some myth made up centuries before. As a Christian, I may never be rich or powerful. My reward on this planet will know that I’v taught Christian values to my children and by the grace of GOD to live to see them live those values. I’v never harmed anyone or taken advantage of anyone. That I can be trusted. My ultimate reward will be eternity in heaven, with the Father, Jesus and my family. If everyone on earth followed the supposed myth of Jesus, then the Sermon on the Mount would be easier to live. My question to Mr. Keyes is which planet would you rather live on? This one we live on now or one where everyone followed Jesus’ teachings from the Sermon on the Mount? ------------ Email Tracey Stevens: phoque62@hotmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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