Holiness = JOY!

EXCERPT FROM THE PURSUIT OF HOLINESS, CHAPTER 1:

The concept of holiness may seem a bit archaic to our current generation. To some minds the very word holiness brings images of bunned hair, long skirts, and black stockings. To others the idea is associated with a repugnant "holier than though" attitude. Yet holiness is very much a scriptural idea. The word holy in various forms occurs more than 600 times in the Bible. One entire book, Leviticus, is devoted to the subject, and the idea of holiness is woven elsewhere throughout the fabric of Scripture. More important, God specifically commands us to be holy (Leviticus 11:44)...

If holiness, then, is so basic to the Christian life, why do we not experience it more in daily living? Why do so many Christians feel constantly defeated in their struggle with sin? Why does the church of Jesus Christ so often seem more conformed to the world around it than to God?

At the risk of oversimplification, the answers to these questions can be grouped into three basic problem areas.

Our first problem is that our attitude toward sin is more self-centered than God-centered. We are more concerned about our own "victory" over sin than we are about the fact that our sins grieve the heart of God. We cannot tolerate failure in our struggle with sin chiefly because we are success-oriented, not because we know it is offensive to God...

Our second problem is that we have misunderstood "living by faith" (Galatians 2:20) to mean no effort at holiness is required on our part. The words of J.C. Ryle are instructive to us on this point: "Is it wise to proclaim in so bald, naked, and unqualified a way as many do, that the holiness of converted people is by faith only, and not at all by personal exertion? Is it according to the proportion of God's Word? I doubt it. That faith in Christ is the root of all holiness... no well-instructed Christian will ever think of denying. But surely the Scriptures teach us that in following holiness the true Christian needs personal exertion and work as well as faith."

Our third problem is that we do not take some sin seriously. We have mentally categorized sins into that which is unacceptable and that which may be tolerated a bit... But the Scriptures says it is "the little foxes that ruin the vineyard" (Song of Songs 2:15). It is compromise on the little issues that leads to greater downfalls. Andrew Bonar once said, "It is not the importance of the thing, but the majesty of the Lawgiver, that is to be the standard of obedience"....

It is only as we see His holiness, His absolute purity and moral hatred of sin, that we will be gripped by the awfulness of sin against the Holy God. To be gripped by that fact is the first step in the pursuit of holiness.

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In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

-Romans 6:11-14

Devotional: An "Acts 2" Church

ACTS 2:42-47

⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. ⁴⁴ All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵ Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. ⁴⁶ Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Woodbridge on Scripture, Inspiration, and Inerrancy

Listen to this interview from Dr. John Woodbridge on why the inerrancy of Scripture is important. He makes a solid argument, integrating biblical exegesis, theology and history:

Woodbridge on Scripture, Inspiration, and Inerrancy

Sermon: Jesus, Lord of Storm and Hurricane

Here is the sermon Pastor Chris preached on the eve of Hurricane Irene:

THE REVERSE

HE IS RISEN

In Jesus death, death has been brought low, the sin of our first parent destroyed, hell plundered, resurrection bestowed, the power given us to scorn the things of this world and even death itself, the road back to the former blessedness made smooth, the gates of paradise opened, our nature seated at the right hand of God, and we made children and heirs of God. By the cross all things have been set aright... It is a raising up for those who lie fallen, a support for those who stand, a staff for the infirm, a crook for the shepherded, a guide for the wandering, a perfecting of the advanced, salvation for soul and body, an averter of all evils, a cause of all good things, a destruction of sin, a plant of resurrection and a tree of eternal life.

-John of Damascus

Quoted in Oden, Classic Christianity

Great Power, Great Responsibility: A Pastor's Review of "Love Wins"

Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. -James 3:1

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. -Hebrews 13:7

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. -Proverbs 1:7

Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. -1 Timothy 4:16

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. -Philippians 2:12-13

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. -Galatians 1:6-10

In the beginning God created man. Then man, being a gentlemen, returned the favor. -Often attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau


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Last week a very popular pastor from Grand Rapids named Rob Bell wrote a book beckoning the church to rethink its classical view of hell. Bell has created a firestorm of controversy because he claims to a self-professed evangelical pastor and yet is now teaching a form of universalism.

Before we begin, some preliminary questions:

How sacred do we consider the blood-bought gospel of Jesus Christ? To what degree are we, as broken, confused and finite sinners, utterly dependent upon God's gracious revelation in Christ and in Scripture for life and ministry? What is the best way for a pastor to serve the flock God has entrusted into his care considering the fact he will have to one day give an account before the blazing majesty of our holy God?

In this blog entry, I am not interested in giving a full, point-by-point, theological assessment of Rob Bell's new book "Love Wins." I really do encourage you to go read yourself. You can read it faithfully in several hours. I am interested, though, in focusing on the high calling put on the pastorate and using "Love Wins" as a illustration.

Here are some excerpts from Rob's new book. I encourage you to read them slowly:

At the center of the Christian tradition since the first church have been a number who insist that history is not tragic, hell is not forever, and love, in the end, wins and all will be reconciled to God (pg 109).

Secondly, it's important that we be honest about the fact that some stories are better than others. Telling a story in which billions of people spend forever somewhere in the universe trapped in a black hole of endless torment and misery with no way out isn't a very good story. Telling a story about a God who inflicts unrelenting punishment on people because they didn't do or say or believe the correct things in a brief window of time called life isn't a very good story (pg 110).

Hell is our refusal to trust God's retelling of our story (pg 170).

But there's more. Millions have been taught that if they don't believe, if they don't accept the right way, that is, the way the person telling them the gospel does, and they were hit by a car and died later that same day, God would have no choice but to punish them forever in conscious torment in hell. God would, in essence, become a fundamentally different being to them forever. A loving heavenly father who will go to extraordinary lengths to have a relationship with them would, in the blink of an eye, become a cruel, mean vicious tormenter who would ensure that they had no escape from an endless future of agony.

If there was an earthly father who was like that, we would call the authorities. If there was an actual human dad who was that volatile we would contact child protection services immediately.

If God can switch gears like that, switch entire modes of being that quickly, that raises a thousand questions about whether a being like this could ever be trusted, let alone be good (pg 174).

Because if something is wrong with your God, if your God is loving one second and cruel the next, if your God will punish people for all of eternity for sins committed in a few short years, no amount of clever marketing or compelling language or good music or great coffee will be able to disguise that one, true, glaring, untenable, unacceptable, awful reality (pg 175).

Let me be very clear, then: we do not need to be rescued from God. God is the one who rescues us from death, sin and destruction. God is the rescuer. This is crucial for our peace, because we shape our God, and then our God shapes us (pg 182).

The only thing left to do is trust. Everybody is already at the party. Heaven and hell, here, now, around us, upon us, within us (pg 190).


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These are not only audacious statements, but they are rife with a condescension bordering on contempt for classical, biblical orthodoxy.

First, let me say that up until this point I have had no bone to pick with Rob Bell. I always thought he was quirky, but never considered his teachings to be antithetical to Christ's teachings. So hear my heart in this review: Love necessitates truth. Justice demands holiness. Our faith is based on Christ, informed by Scripture, and centered around the substitionary cross and supernatural resurrection of Jesus. If Bell is teaching something entirely other than what Christ clearly taught in Scripture, the most loving thing to do is to confront him.

Truth be told, after reading this book, I feel like Michael Corleone in Godfather II when he discovers his brother Fredo's deception. Do you remember the scene? Michael kisses him forcefully on the lips and declares, "I know it was you Fredo, you broke my heart."

"Love Wins" breaks my heart. You may see this as condescension or judgment, but when you prescribe a Gospel without sin, judgment, holiness, the cross, new birth or eternal consequences and condescend that that Gospel is an "untenable, unacceptable, awful reality," you have stepped outside the bounds of biblical truth. You are leading people astray. More than that, you are shockingly suggesting to be more loving than God. It is an affront to God himself. I hope Rob wrote this book on his knees trembling before the Holy God of the Bible... but one gets the impression he did not. He is too quick to flippantly label the God of historical orthodoxy as untrustworthy and unworthy.

Let me say, also, that the doctrine of an everlasting conscious hell is the doctrine that I struggle with the most. More than theodicy, this is it. Still, I am fully aware of my inability, in my short thirty-three years of life, to dictate the laws of the universe. God has lovingly redeemed my soul and continues to redeem my mind through the sanctifying work of His indwelt Holy Spirit and the piercing revelation of Holy Scripture. I am forced to humbly submit my finite and convoluted emotions to the veracity of His Gospel.

More than that, I hope I will never have the audacity to let my doubts and reservations lead others astray. When Jesus refers to us as sheep (Matt 10:16, Luke 15:4-6), it is not an uplifting exhortation. Sheep are dumb. Sheep are easily deceived. Sheep wander off very, very easily. Jesus is basically saying that we all have this propensity and ability to be led astray. I know this, mostly, of myself. That is why I sit humbly before God's Word, stand on the shoulders of many faithful sheep/shepherds before me and accept no imitations to Jesus' words and declarations.

Words and declarations like these (psst, don't skim over this part!):

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. -Matthew 10:28

The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows.
-Luke 12:42-47, see also Matthew 24

“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where “‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’"
-Mark 9:42-48

(SEE ALSO: Matthew 5:22 Matthew 5:29-30 Matthew 10:28 Matthew 18:9 Matthew 13:42 Matthew 13:50 Matthew 23:13-15 Matthew 24:51 Matthew 25:30 Mark 9:43-47 Luke 12:5 Luke 13:8 John 3:16 John 10:28 Luke 16:19-31)

You see when we suggest that this story is untenable and awful, we are subtly (or very naively) saying that Jesus' teaching was untenable and awful. We are suggesting that we are, in effect, more loving than Jesus.

That is why "Love Wins," while meant to be a loving book, is really a harmful book. It allows those who do not know Jesus to continue living how they want because in the end "Love Wins." It completely devalues the hopelessly depraved state of the human heart. If you don't believe me, read the book reviews on amazon or in mainstream media. Jews, athiests, and agnostics can sleep better at night living how they want, all while their current destiny is one of everlasting separation from God.

That is why this matters.

If you think I am being unreasonable, I humbly encourage you to read pages 64-69 of Bell's book. It is both amazing and wildly irresponsible the way Bell handles the New Testament's teachings on hell.

Bell likes to make statements like the ones quoted above and then say he is "not a universalist" or he is in the center of biblical truth or he is "evangelical and orthodox to the core." From the trajectory of his argument, though, there is no logical grounds to believe he is not a universalist. Teaching one thing and then claiming you are something else doesn't work. I can't play for the New York Yankees and wear a Boston Red Sox jersey. I can't own a house in New Jersey but tell others I live in Wichita Kansas. I can't teach my son that sticking a fork into an electrical outlet will not have very real and immediate repercussions and then claim to be a good daddy.

This is what is frustrating about Bell's work. He will say that what we believe matters in one moment (pg 176) and then teach the afterlife is purely speculative in the next. He will say justice matters deeply to God and those bearing His image (pg 38-39) but somehow dislocate that unswerving, perfect justice away from God onto a cross-less emphasis for social action. He will say Hell exists (pg 71) but (shockingly!) suggest it is mostly those who live like the older brother in the prodigal son story who are currently experiencing hell (176-191).

Ultimately, what is most shocking about "Love Wins" is how human-centered and cross-emptied it is. The cross takes a distant back seat to "God's love," as if the two were in perpetual contradistinction. Bell loves to quote 1 John 4:8 that says "God is love." To which I can wholeheartedly proclaim "Amen and Amen"! I agree! We have to be careful, though, that we do not reverse this axiom and suggest "Love is God." Especially not with our limited and sinful understanding of love. If we recreate God in our image, with our understanding of love as the plumb line, we are idolaters.

This is why I hope throughout Bell's travels and interactions with people who love him, but more importantly love Jesus, love His Gospel and realize that this life is not some kind postmodern, bloodless, casual "conversation," he will revisit some of these dangerous teachings and admit the irresponsibility of his actions.

As I read this book, I couldn't help but think of Spider-man. Yes, Spider-man. The guiding mantra of that character's story is what his Uncle Ben taught him before being shot by a burglar... "With great power comes great responsibility."

Rob Bell has a platform and an audience that I will never have. He is a fantastic communicator and I'm sure, in many ways, a good pastor. But "Love Wins" is an abuse of power. I weep for those who read it and believe that if they are enemies of God (Rom 5:10), blind (2 Cor 4:4), deceived (Tit 3:3), slaves to sin (Gal 4:8-11), dead in sin (Eph 2:1-5), deserving of wrath (John 3:36) God will somehow save them in Hell regardless.

That is why this conversation is important and that is why this book needs to be challenged.


For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. -John 3:16

The Incomparable Christ

In response to the idea that all religions are the same:

It is not logically possible for Jesus Christ both to be God incarnate (Christianity) and not to be God incarnate (Judaism, Islam). He either is God incarnate or is not; no other logical options are available.
-Ken Samples


For as soon as notion of sameness moves beyond vague generalities (ie every religion has some version of the Golden Rule), it founders on the fact that the religions differ in what they consider essential and nonnegotiable.
-Huston Smith, University of California.


How, then, are we to have salvation? For most religions, man must take the active role. Hinduism and Buddhism offer solutions that are remarkably similar: Through meditation we confront our selfish desires and recognize that the “self” is the core of the problem. So we strive, in various ways, to eliminate this self and achieve its extinction. In effect, we seek to become nothing. We can advance toward this goal not merely through meditation but also through disciplined self-renunciation: renunciation of possessions, renunciation of sensual pleasure, and so on. This is a supremely difficult project. Among Buddhists only the monks claim to even approach nirvana. I believe the awareness of the chasm separating holiness from human weakness has produced, in Hindu and Buddhist cultures, their distinctive fatalism. Many Hindus believe fate will decree whether they reappear as prince, a dog, or a flea in the next life.
-Dinesh D’Souza, author of What's So Great About Christianity?


There are some significant ethical contradictions between religions, however, based on their different theological beliefs. For instance, suppose you were an orthodox Hindu. You would believe that (a) this body is ultimately only an appearance; (b) we must all work out our karma, or moral fate; and (c) after death everyone except a fully enlightened mystic must go through many more reincarnations. For these reasons, you would not be a swift to rescue a dying derelict from the gutter. For (a) bodily death is not very important (b) you many be interfering with the person’s karma, or fated learning experience through this suffering and dying; and (c) death is not terribly tragic because it is not final – we go round again and may get other chances through reincarnation. If, on the other hand, you were a Christian… you would act like the good Samaritan because you believe that (a) the body is real and good and important (b) we are not fated but free (or both fated and free); and (c) we only live once, so life is incalculably precious.
-Peter Kreeft, Boston College


Christianity is not a religion; it is the proclamation of the end of religion. Religion is a human activity dedicated to the job of reconciling God to humanity and humanity to itself. The Gospel, however – the Good News of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – is the astonishing announcement that God has done the whole work of reconciliation without a scrap of human assistance. It is the bizarre proclamation that religion is over – period!
-Robert F. Capon


How should we respond to the spirit of pluralism? With great humility, I hope, and with no hint of personal superiority. But we must continue to affirm the uniqueness and finality of Jesus Christ. For he is unique in his incarnation, he is unique in his atonement and he is unique in his resurrection. And since no other person but in Jesus of Nazareth did God become human, then bear our sins and then triumph over death, he is uniquely competent to save sinners. Nobody else possesses his qualifications. So we may talk about Alexander the Great, Charles the Great or Napoleon the Great, but not Jesus the Great.

He is not great – he is the only.

-John Stott


I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. -Jesus, recorded in John 14:6

All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. -Jesus, recorded in Matt 11:27

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. -Hebrews 1:3

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. -Colossians 1:19-20

The Miracle of Life

The Miracle Of Life from Catholic Media House on Vimeo.

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground"... God saw all he had made and it was very good. -Genesis 1:27-29, 31

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. -Psalm 139:13-14

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?... So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. -Jesus, recorded in Matthew 6:25-27,31-34

See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed... Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life... -Deuteronomy 30:15-20

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. -John 1:1-5

The Supremacy of Christ and Aren't All Religions the Same?

Tim Keller, in his fantastic book The Reason for God, shares:

"I was once invited to be the Christian representative in a panel discussion at a local college along with a Jewish rabbi and a Muslim imam. The panelists were asked to discuss the differences among religions. The conversation was courteous, intelligent, and respectful in tone. Each speaker affirmed that there were significant irreconcilable differences between the major faiths.

A case in point was the person of Jesus. We all agreed on the statements: 'If Christians are right about Jesus being God, then Muslims and Jews fail in a serious way to to love God as God really is, but if Muslims and Jews are right that Jesus is not God but rather a teacher or prophet, then Christians fail in a serious way to love God as God really is.'

The bottom line was - we couldn't all be equally right about the nature of God."

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. -Colossians 1:15-20

Snippets of Veritas: The Historical Reliability of the New Testament

A comparative study of the historical manuscript evidence for the New Testament with other writings from or about Caesar, Plato, Aristotle, etc.

JULIUS CAESAR
LIVED: 100-44 BC
EARLIEST MANUSCRIPT: 900AD
GAP OF TIME: 1,000 years
NO of COPIES: 10

PLATO
LIVED: 427-347 BC
EARLIEST MANUSCRIPT: 900AD
GAP OF TIME: 1,200 years
NO of COPIES: 7

ARISTOTLE
LIVED: 384-322 BC
EARLIEST MANUSCRIPT: 1,100AD
GAP OF TIME: 1,400 years
NO. of COPIES: 5 of any one work

JESUS CHRIST
LIVED: 3 BC to 30 AD (estimate)
EARLIEST MANUSCRIPT: The earliest manuscript of the New Testament was discovered about 50 years ago. P52 is a small papyrus fragment of the Gospel of John (18:31-33 on the front; 18:37-38 on the back), and it has been dated to about 125 AD.
GAP OF TIME: 30-40 years
NO. of COPIES: 5000 individual Greek manuscripts that contain all or part of the New Testament. 8000 Latin manuscripts from early fifth century.

Snippets of Veritas: Extra-biblical Evidence about Jesus

About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Christ. When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing among us, had condemned him to be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he appeared to them restored to life, for the prophets of God had prophesied these and countless other marvelous things about him. And the tribe of Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared.
-Josephus in Testimonium Flavianum (63-64 AD)

At this time there was a wise man named Jesus. His conduct was good and [he] was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. But those who became his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive; accordingly he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders. -Josephus in Antiquities (93-94 AD)


Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures of a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus (Latin for Christ), from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate. -Tacitus (First Century Roman Historian)

They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to do any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which was their custom to separate, and then re-assemble to partake of food - but food of an ordinary and innocent kind. -Pliny the Younger, in a letter to Emperor Trajan, 112 AD

Snippets of Veritas: Jesus is Truth

I am the way and the truth and the life. –Jesus recorded in John 14:6

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
-John 1:1-5

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. -Hebrews 1:1-3

C.S. Lewis and "Trilemma":
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 up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

Rick Warren:
As a young man I studied all the major religions of the world. One thing I discovered was that all the major religions point to truth. The Hindu Scriptures, The Vedas, teaches that truth is evasive and hard to find. At the end of his life Buddha confessed, “I am still seeking the truth.” Muhammad said, “I point to the truth.” Compare all of these philosophies with Jesus who said, “I AM the truth.”