THE GOSPEL IS PREPOSTEROUS!
|
Consider for a moment how utterly ridiculous Christianity really is. Here we are, all lined up on our pews on any given Sunday morning
gathered to worship a God we cannot see whose Son supposedly became a man by being born to a virgin. The message gets even more
preposterous when we are told that he was crucified, which is an historical fact, but that he rose from the dead? This simply cannot
happen.
The preacher stands in the pulpit and proclaims things that are absolutely unnatural. For example, he tries to convince us that we
should love our enemies and pray for folks who wrong us. Doesn’t he realize this is impossible for someone to do? He tells us about
some guy named Peter walking on water! That just can’t be. Has he tried it lately? We are told about miracles like an entire sea parting
and several million Jews walking across the sea bed on dry land. Who can believe such things?
This whole “Jesus thing” started 2000 years ago. I cannot for the life of me understand how something this silly can still be around. It is
the story of some itinerant rabbi with no credentials, no formal education, no sending organization that ordained him and thus qualified
him to minister. He gathered twelve less-than-notable fellows around him as disciples, none of whom any self-respecting religious entity
would even give the time of day to. He begins the task of building the Church with these re-treads and castaways. Furthermore,
Scriptures even tell us these no-good-for-nothing misfits performed miracles themselves in the name of this Jesus guy. Wow! Who is
going to believe all of this nonsense?
The message of Jesus is impossible to believe, at least for someone whose thinking is limited to natural things. The Gospel of Jesus
Christ defies all human logic and therefore must be relegated to either the trash heap or to something other than this natural realm to
which we are accustomed. In fact, the latter is the case. This message about Jesus can only be grasped spiritually, that is why it is utterly
rejected by intellectuals who define reality by that which is seen or provable or naturally comprehended.
The Gospel cannot be seen, it cannot be proven scientifically, nor can it be comprehended through rational thought. Paul the apostle
says it this way in I Corinthians 1:18:
“For the message of the cross (of Jesus) is foolishness to those
who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
He goes on to say in this same chapter in verse 27:
“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and
God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.”
The strength, the validity, and the awesome power of the Gospel is proven by its success and longevity over 2000 years of assault by
evil people, scrutiny by natural thinkers, and intellectual analysis by scientific minds. These folks simply cannot grasp something that is
comprehended only with the mind of Christ, (I Corinthians 2:16) something only believers in Jesus Christ possess.
Can you see why it is fruitless trying to help those in the world whose minds are limited only to the natural realm to see and accept the
things of the Spirit of God? To be sure, such things are received only by faith, and that is so far removed from rational thought the two
cannot be mentioned in the same sentence. There is nothing rational or logical about faith. In fact, the smallest child is capable of
demonstrating faith, yet he is not capable of intellectual efforts. God intended for the simplicity of His gospel to confound the wise [those
who depend upon rational thought to establish truth] and to be grasped only by those who will accept the Word with a childlike faith.
The only possible way a wise man [one who depends upon rational thought to establish truth] can enter into this divine place where he
himself can possess the mind of Christ is to first of all accept Jesus – by faith – as Lord and Savior and receive His free gift of
righteousness. Until then, he will not be able to comprehend the Gospel he hears, nor will he be able to dissect and analyze this thing
called the new birth. The word “salvation” will remain foreign to him until he experiences it for himself. But when he receives the Good
News of Jesus apart from understanding it, in that instant he will pass from death into life and suddenly those impossible, preposterous
things in the Bible he once opposed are now believable to him and he acknowledges them as truth. What made the difference in this
fellow? Jesus.
Yes indeed the “Jesus Message” seems preposterous and all the stuff in the Bible is impossible to believe and comprehend, unless
you have faith and use it. Faith ushers you into the covenant of God where all the good stuff is. One of the good things in there is this
wonderful truth that the child of God possesses the mind of Christ. He can literally think like God because he has His mind. So, let the
skeptics rant and rave about the absurdity of the Bible, you now have the mind of Christ and you know better. Wow! How cool is that!