Jesus Christ

At some point in time in the average person’s life they will be confronted with the question: “Who was or is Jesus Christ?” Many people have developed their view of Him by how they were raised, what their parents believed about him, or what religion was promoted in their household. Also, the media and television, including what  people were taught in school, can also be contributors to one’s view of Christ. For me, it wasn’t until my twenties that I started seeking truth and was introduced to the God-Man, who claimed to be fully human and fully God approximately 2000 years ago.

Religions and Me

Although there are a lot of kids who do grow up in a Christian home and are privileged to get educated on who the true Christ is, I was the outcast like the rest of the post-modern world who did not. Though my mom came from a family of Mormons (which is not the same as Christianity), and my sister’s family continues to practice those beliefs to this day, my mother was not as active as my sister. But, she still believed much of the L.D.S. doctrine, and even now still holds on to some of those teachings, but I don’t believe she has a true knowledge of the Mormon faith. And although true Orthodox Christianity would denounce Mormonism as a cult, I believe my mother sees them as both the same. I’m not sure she understands that they teach what the Bible would condemn, e.g. that Christ was a created being and the half-brother of Lucifer, or that the Bible is correct “as far as it is translated” (The Articles of Faith, verse 8), which both would be seen as false by the Christian community. So, in the end their doctrine contradicts Orthodox Christianity and denies Christ’s deity, which I learned later on. When it came to my dad, he had a sort of A.A./Higher Power thing going on, but I guess I would just call him Agnostic. My brother is somewhat of a Eastern New Age guy who has traveled all around the world, and this included the country of India which is widely known for it’s religion of Hinduism. I’m not too sure, but I think this is where some of his beliefs started, and which led to his worldview. As for me, I grew up in Catholic Schools, so that is where I first got my religious education from. All I really learned was that in order to get closer to God I had to perform religious works and traditions, and even tell all the bad things I had done in my life to a priest behind a wall. I did learn that Jesus died on a cross, but that was never elaborated on or made the most crucial part of the church. It was all so strange and foreign to me, and it didn’t really grab my attention. Mormonism, New Age, Agnostics, Catholics, it just confused me more. So, when it came to religion and Jesus, I really didn’t care too much.

What is Truth?

In my adolescence I was traumatized by some dark events (I will not get into this now), that started to effect me and it led to a debilitating anxiety disorder, which I still have to this day, but has improved over time with God, therapy, and medication. But after this had happened to me I started to question the meaning of life and wanted to know what was truth and how could my soul be fulfilled. Was it the Catholics who knew the truth? The Mormons? What about Buddhism or Hinduism and all the other Eastern religions, including the new age movement which is so popular in America today? Or what about the prophet Muhammad who founded Islam? Or would it be (in my opinion), the dark reality of Atheism? Were we just the random results of evolution over time and process, and just “dancing to our DNA” like the famous atheist Richard Dawkins said (133)? Or was there a sense of purpose and meaning to this life? Also, what happens after we die?

After graduating from high school, and attending some community college, my quest for meaning and truth continued, as the black cloud of depression and anxiety from the past began to grow larger. I read about astrology and started studying Buddhism. I also read around 70 percent of the Koran. I even read some books by the famed philosopher and atheist, Friedrich Nietzsche, who was the one who made the phrase “God is Dead” popular. While none of these books and religions seemed to help, and after finding out my first girlfriend and love of my life was cheating on me, I went deeper into a dark hole and began using drugs and alcohol. This continued through all of my twenties until my father gave me a Bible, and the funny thing was, and which I said earlier, my dad was not a Christian-believer or religious in any sense. He just believed in a “higher power” and to “always do what was right” in his eyes. 

The power of the Living Word (Bible)

I told myself that I was going to read that new Bible my dad had given me within a year and I did. As I read it, and at the same time continued to participate in the dark world of sin and rebellion by using girls, drugs, and getting drunk at parties, I started to notice things in the Bible that really stood out to me compared to the many other books I had read or studied. I noticed how in the Old Testament there were hints of Jesus first coming, otherwise known as Biblical prophecy. An example of this would be Isaiah 53. In Isaiah 53: 3 it says, “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not”. It speaks of how this “man of sorrows” would be “pierced for our transgressions and crushed for iniquities” and “with his stripes we are healed” (English Standard Version, Isa. 53. 5-6). And there were many other examples of prophecy about Jesus first coming in the Old Testament. So much so, I would have to write a whole other article or book just to go through them all. The Old Testament was opening my eyes about this coming Messiah.

I AM

After going through the Old Testament, and finally getting to the New Testament, I read the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Gospels are basically the autobiographies of Christ and His Apostles, including  the people around Him who witnessed His miracles, preaching, and eventual resurrection. What really drew me in here was the fact that Jesus kept referring to Himself in a way that many other prophets and people of other religions just didn’t say about themselves. He didn’t straight out say “I am God”, but He did say other things or make remarks about Himself that would certainly point in that direction. In John 10:30 Jesus says, “I and the Father are one” to the Jews around Him. This made them furious because they knew the Old Testament scriptures, and what Jesus was doing was putting Himself on the same level as their God of Israel who took them out of slavery in the land of Egypt. In essence, He was saying that He was in the same authoritative position of the God of Israel which the Jews worshiped. This was considered blasphemy in those times. That’s why they said to Jesus, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God” (John. 10. 33). He even made the bold statement saying “Before Abraham was, I AM” (John. 8. 58). He basically was telling the Jews that He existed before Abraham was even born, and they saw Abraham as the father of Israel. Also, when Jesus was on trial before the leaders of Jerusalem and Caiaphas the high priest, they asked Him the same question they had asked in the past, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” (Matt. 26.63). And what was Jesus’s response? He said, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Translation: YES! I AM GOD! This remark really pulled at my soul and convicted me that this so-called man was making the absolute statement that He was their creator and the same God of Israel. If the average person today heard someone say the things that Christ was saying, we would think he was insane or just lying. Was Jesus crazy? Was he a liar? Or was He really the Lord of the universe? 

Miracles

Another thing that caught my eye was the miracles that Jesus performed and how the Bible said thousands witnessed these miracles. From the turning of the water into wine (John 2), the walking on water (Matt. 14), the calming of a storm (Matt. 8), and even rising someone from the dead (John 11), Jesus’s miracles made me see Him in a whole other light, rather than just some great teacher or prophet that many people think of Him today. These things had to come from God. If Jesus could do all these miracles, then He would be more than just a nice guy who had lot’s of knowledge. He had to be who he kept claiming to be, which was the Son of God.

Resurrection

This was what finally did it for me. The resurrection. If this man truly did rise from the dead, had the authority to forgive sin, and would ultimately judge me when I died, I knew I had to make a decision. Time went on and I continued in my fleshly ways, but I couldn’t ignore the fact that something (The Holy Spirit) was nudging at my heart to just give up, repent of my sin, and lower my knee to the one who claimed to be the Alpha and Omega (Rev. 22.13). I tried to avoid Him, but He just kept tugging at my heart. It is what we call in the Reformed Church “Irresistible Grace”. I knew He was electing me and choosing me to be adopted into the family of God. I don’t really remember the details or the day, but finally I knew I couldn’t deny the the truth anymore, and I dropped to my knees, admitted I had sinned against Him and other people, and that I needed His grace and forgiveness.  I had experience the “new birth”. The Bible told me that I was dead spiritually and that I needed a new heart and to be born again. Jesus told Nicodemus, a pharisee who was secretly following Him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3.3). Jesus was saying to Nicodemus that he couldn’t be morally good by his own merit, but that he had to be made alive all over again. He was dead and needed a heart transplant, and this is what Jesus was offering him, which is the free gift of salvation to those who repent and put their trust in Christ. This wasn’t another religion that tells you to do this or that, but that only God was the one who could save and make a person clean in His sight. 

The Aftermath

After Jesus saved me, I started to learn and understand what God had done for me. As I went to church and was around more mature Christians, I told them that I still struggled with my bad habits and sin, and that I would feel really convicted when I did these things. They said this was because the Holy Spirit lived within me and was changing me from the inside out. They told me that I was now at war with my flesh, the secular world, and that the devil was now my enemy and against me because before being born again I was on Satan’s side. I had betrayed him. They also told me to not be surprised that things would get harder in life, but that it was worth it to suffer for the One who chose me and given me a new joy I had never experience before. I started asking God for His help in this new life of mine, and slowly, but surly, the sanctification process began to take effect. I started wanting to read more of his Word and be with His people at church, which is something I had never desired in the past. It was apparent to me that He did in fact save me and opened my eyes because I never used to think or want to act the way I was. 

A few weeks later God blessed me with my wife-to-be, Rhianna, who I knew in my past when her friends and my friends used to all hang out and party. I told her about my experience and she told me how God had put it on her heart to go back to church because in high school she was active in a youth group and attended church from time to time, but after going into college she fell away from the faith and went into a rebellious time like I did. I told her of a church my friend had brought me to and asked her if she wanted to go with me, and she agreed. We both began to grow in the Word and the teachings being preached to us. We even attended Christian counseling to help our marriage grow, and because of this knowledge that God used through these teachers, I believe it is because of them and God’s grace that we are still together today. I love my new life in Christ, along with my wife who I have been married to for over 10 years. We have two children, Alina, my 4-year-old daughter, and Lexton, my 1-year-old son. One will never fully know the love your kids have for you and you for them until you have a child for yourself. It is a reflection and reminder of God’s love for His children. And though the world is still fallen (Gen. 3), so we still have tough days, I am more content and joyful than I have ever been. And after years of growing in my relationship with God, studying theology (even going to school for a little while), and reading sound books from famous theologians, I look back and I’m just in awe of the fact that He did all of this for me. I still sin, but I now know that I don’t have to do some magic ritual or religious works to get clean again. It was already paid for at the cross when Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19. 30). My debt has been paid! I can now walk out of the courtroom a free man because Jesus paid my fine. And He did it for me. I can rest in that assurance.   

Conclusion

I will end my first blog with this: If you find yourself being called by God, and are curious about what the Bible says about Christ, I plead with you to do your homework. Look at the claims Jesus made. See how every other religion or cult says something different about Jesus and how He was just a man or created being, compared to what He said about Himself. Throw down your pride, acknowledge your sins and come to Him. We all have to stand before the Judge of the universe, and your resume of good works isn’t going to cut it. We are all guilty before Him and have broken His commandments. And though He is just, and must punish sin, He is also rich in mercy and He provided a way for us to escape His righteous wrath. He sent His son to take that wrath upon Himself and die for us. He imputes His righteousness to us. He loves us, and it is the only way to be reconnected to Him. And please know this, Christ did not give us the option of seeing him as a so-called good teacher or even a created being. He claimed to be much more than that. I will end this with a quote from one of my favorite theologians, who was once an atheist, but became a Christian later in life. His name is C.S. Lewis, and in his book, Mere Christianity, Lewis says: 

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 the 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 with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to (52).

Works Cited

Dawkins, Richard. River Out Of Eden: A Darwinian View Of Life. Harper Collins Publishers, 1996.

Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity. Bles, 1953.

“A Quote From The Book Of Mormon”. Goodreads.Com, 2018, https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/227509-the-book-of-mormon-is-the-most-correct-of-any. Accessed 10 Dec 2018.

“What To Say To Mormons – 2. The Bible Is Reliable”. Bethinking.Org, 2018, https://www.bethinking.org/mormons/what-to-say-to-mormons/3-the-bible-is-reliable. Accessed 10 Dec 2018.