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Why
Jesus?
Opinion
polls and surveys consistently tell us one thing about people
in America:
- The
vast majority of us believe there is a God.
-
We believe there's something up there.
-
Something that is beyond us.
- Something
bigger than us.
- Something
that put the universe together, or at least got it all started.
We
may not know much more than that, but most of us have a vague
understanding that we are not alone.
Over 80% of Americans say they pray to this Something, particularly
when they are in a crisis. People get "religious"
in a crisis because tough situations force us to think about
the big questions of life.
- Who
am I?
- Where
did I come from?
- Where
am I going?
- What
does my life mean?
A
crisis opens up a window to a larger universe where we recognize
the spiritual dimensions of life.
Unfortunately, this is often only a passing interest. American
novelist Ernest Hemmingway perfectly captured this temporary
spirituality in a one paragraph short story about a soldier
in World War I hugging the walls of his foxhole during an
enemy artillery barrage.
"While
the bombardment was knocking the trench to pieces
at Fossalata, he lay very flat and sweated and prayed
'Oh Jesus Christ, get me out of here. Dear Jesus please
get me out. Christ, please, please, please Christ.
If you'll only keep me from getting killed I'll do
anything you say. I believe in you and I'll tell everyone
in the world that you are the only one that matters.
Please, please dear Jesus.'
The
shelling moved further up the line. We went to work
on the trench and in the morning the sun came up and
the day was hot and muggy and cheerful and quiet.
The next night back at Mestre he did not tell the
girl he went upstairs with at the Villa Rosa about
Jesus. And he never told anybody."
The
soldier prays with everything he's got, pleading with
God to protect him. He makes all kinds of promises
about how he is going to love and serve God if only
God will get him through the battle. The artillery
stops. He's still alive! What happens to his spiritual
commitments? They disappear as soon as the smoke clears.
Sound familiar? That's what is often called foxhole
religion. When the crisis is over our interest in
spiritual things fades as we return to the normal
details of daily life. Our thoughts and our time get
taken up by other things. The busyness of life floods
back over us like a tidal wave and our brief awareness
of God gets washed out to the sea. The interest in
spiritual things is still there but it is overwhelmed
by other necessities that seem more urgent.
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I
believe that people are inherently spiritual beings. Instinctively,
we know there has to be something more to the Universe than
just the physical world we see around us.
Recently, I read an article about Eric Carlson, a senior astronomer
at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. He has a cartoon on his
office wall. The first panel shows a cave man dressed in animal
skins looking up in amazement at the canopy of stars over
his head. In the balloon of his thoughts we read his simple
question: "Where does it all come from?" In the
next panel we see a modern astronomer dressed in a lab coat
surrounded by walls of computers and high-tech equipment,
staring with wonder and awe into the eyepiece of his huge
telescope. His thought bubble reads: Where does it all come
from?"
You
see, the questions we face are the same ones as those of our
most ancient ancestors. We may have progressed technologically,
but when it comes to the big issues of life we still struggle
for answers.
Where
does it all come from? Where do I fit into this mystery of
creation?
Did you know that the best scientific guess right now is that
the Universe contains one sextillion stars? That's a one followed
by twenty-one zeros 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000! Frankly,
this is a number too big for us even to imagine! Could this
unfathomable creation have happened merely by chance? The
enormous complexity, beauty, design and intricacy of the Universe
compels us to believe there must be some intelligent Designer
behind it all!
We
don't even have to look outside ourselves to see this
incredible Designer at work.
The best computer humans can create cannot compare
with the complexity of your brain. Your brain is capable
of processing up to thirty billion bits of information
per second! If you could stretch it all out you would
have the equivalent of six thousand miles of computer
cable. Your brain contains almost twenty eight billion
neurons that conduct electrical impulses and send
signals better than any computer processor. The neurons
also communicate with the rest of your body, over
one hundred thousand miles of nerve fibers, at a speed
faster than the blink of an eye! All this and it runs
on the oxygen in your blood and some glucose. This
could not have come about merely through chance and
evolutionary mutation. There must be some intelligence
behind it all. Something has to be out there.
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If
this is true, we are then faced with an even more difficult
question.
If there is some intelligence, some Higher Power out there
at the center of all creation, how do we discover what that
Something is? What is it like? Is it an impersonal energy
force that pulsates throughout the Universe, or is it a divine
Being that actually cares about my existence, that hears my
prayers, that will respond to my needs? Today we have an entire
cafeteria of choices to go to for answers to these questions.
There are so many religions, philosophies and options, how
do we decide which one is right? Or, should I simply pick
and choose the best ideas from this buffet of beliefs? Where
does one go for an answer? Is my own intuition the most reliable
guide? What if I am wrong?
Have
you ever tried to cash a check when you're on vacation in
another state? I attempted to do it one summer. They automatically
think you must be a criminal. They want five pieces of identification
including your driver's license, your social security number,
two credit cards, a birth certificate, fingerprints, a lie
detector test and a DNA sample! It is really a question of
credibility. They are asking: is your check good? Are you
who you say you are? Can you be trusted?
We
are faced with the same questions of credibility when seeking
answers to spiritual questions.
There are many who claim to have the right answer, but can
they be trusted? There are too many charlatans out there for
us not to be suspicious - especially when it comes to such
a critical issue as the nature of spiritual reality.
I
have put these thoughts on-line because I have come to know
about one man who claimed to have the answers to these questions
about spiritual reality - not just in his teachings but in
his very self: Jesus of Nazareth.
You may have heard of him. I know you have at least heard
his name. You hear it all the time - when someone stubs a
toe, gets angry, or excited. But quite frankly most people
don't have a clue about what Jesus really said or who Jesus
really was. They've heard rumors. They've gathered some second
hand information. They may remember a few children's Sunday
School stories or a lecture from some all-knowing college
professor, but they have never encountered the real thing.
I
want to look at Jesus in three ways to judge his credibility,
three ID's, if you will, that he gives about this Higher Power.
Three ways he identifies the nature of God. Three ways to
help us answer our most basic questions:
What is God
like?
What does God think about me?
How can I get to know God?
I
hope you'll keep logging on to look at how…
God
is Personal * God is Powerful * God is Passionate
If
you are seeking answers to spiritual questions then I urge
you to take an honest look at the teachings of a person who
is unquestionably one of the most influential spiritual leaders
in all of human history. If you have had some kind of negative
experience with a church or religion in the past, don't confuse
human institutions with the real Jesus.
I
believe you will discover that Jesus has a fresh, exciting
and compelling perspective on spirituality that will challenge
you to think about God in new and dynamic ways.
Jeff
Ebert
Senior Pastor
Jeff@pcnp.org
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to continue reading "God is Personal">>
©
2002 PCNP
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