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The stumbling block

 

I rather recently read an article  by one of our best known historians here in Sweden named Dick Harrisson, who also used to be my sons professor in History at Lunds university. 

 

The headline was :"There is a militant anti-Jesus current in our society"  Some say that he never existed. He is a fairitale figure.
 
Harrisson has just written a book about the Historical Jesus and to say that he never existed is ridiculous.

 

I also read that there is a change in the attitude towards Jesus, especially among young people. Many will say that they believe in God and are even open to the idea of the Holy Spirit. 
But increasingly, Jesus has become the stumbling-block. They say things like, ‘I don’t get the Jesus bit.’

 

 ‘The battle today is around Jesus.’
 
Yesterday I listen to the actor  Peter Stormare, well known for many Hollywood movies. 
 
He said he has faith, not a religious person but a spiritual one, he mentioned Jesus but avoided the obvious facts about him. 
 
Fear !?
 
Is Jesus the universal Saviour? This is the same battle as the first century. People today are happy to accept Jesus as ‘one of many’. Just as they did back then.
 It is the uniqueness of Jesus that causes offence. 
 
In the Bible we meet some fantastic people , like Moses, Joshua, Elijah and John the Baptist, but there was no one like Jesus. Jesus is unique. He is the universal Saviour.

 

The whole of John’s Gospel from start to finish is an answer to the question, ‘Who is Jesus?’ 

John’s answer is that God is like Jesus and he is worth believing in. Jesus is totally unique. He is the ‘One and Only’

 

Jesus says I am the way, not one way, The truth and the life!!!
 
We tend to devide people into groups. We tend to hang out with people just like us. We treat people differently if they can help us or not. Jesus never did that. He was hanging out with people others despised. He was eating with sinners. He treated women, children, poor people so different than the society did.  

He was and still is very controversial..

 

We pray in Jesus name, we are forgiven through Jesus,  we can have this personal relationship with God through Jesus.  We do believe in God, not just one God amongst many others,  we believe in the God reviled in Jesus Christ.  AMEN 


 

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