4. REASONS TO BELIEVE IN JESUS
This is the fourth
of a series of Reasons to Believe blog
posts with my sister, Betty Haynie. Our thoughts may be helpful to those who
don’t believe in God as well as others. Betty wrote down her beliefs in detail
several years ago. I’ll post her thoughts monthly and add my thoughts and
beliefs to each one. Our thoughts are intentionally brief on subjects that
could fill volumes.
WHY
I BELIEVE IN JESUS
By Betty Haynie
It’s the divinity of Jesus that sets him apart. I believe He
was 100% human and 100% God. There are many examples but his human and divine
attributes come together in the following story. Jesus was in the boat with His
disciples, sleeping in the stern when a storm came up. The disciples, full of
fear, woke Him up. With a wave of His hand and an admonition about the limits
of their faith, He quieted the storm. Now, obviously He was mortal - He needed
sleep; but He was also capable of stopping a storm - hardly a human ability!! (Matthew
8:23-26, Mark 4:36 -30,
Luke 8:22-25).
I believe Jesus is the second person of the trinity. God
gave us His Word in the Bible and He gave us His Word made flesh. Jesus was the
Word made flesh. John writes that Jesus existed even before the beginning of
time. “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.” John 1:1-3 NIV
My Bible commentary says that “In the beginning” meant not
the beginning of time, but before time was. John used the phrase in an absolute
sense to refer to the beginning of time, prior to the world and the universe. Thus,
Jesus, the second person of the trinity always existed, he always was.
It is difficult for us mere humans to understand God’s Word
so He made the Word into a form we can understand. We can identify with another
human because we are human. We are not gods (no matter what some religions
believe). Jesus came as God’s expression of Himself - to give us a God we could
relate to.
Did Jesus claim to be God? Yes, he did. In the following
verses Jesus is clearly claiming that He and the Father are one.
Philip
said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied.” Jesus replied, Phillip,
don’t you even yet know who I am, even after all the time I have been with you?
Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking to see him?
Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?” John
14:8-10 NLT
Further, Jesus claimed that He existed before Abraham was
born. “Jesus said to them, ‘’Truly,
truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM.’" John 8:58 NASB
Jesus also asked his disciples who they thought he was: Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ,
the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon son
of John for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in
heaven.” Matthew 16:15-17 NASB
C. S. Lewis, a Cambridge University
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things
Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher... Either this man was, and is,
the Son of God - or else a mad man 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.”
No one in history is like Jesus. He alone deserves our trust
and He alone is the path to God. No one comes to the Father EXCEPT through
Jesus!
Blessings, Betty
WHY I BELIEVE IN JESUS
By Dottie Parish
Betty said it very well, Jesus is our only path to God. I didn't believe this when I walked into Main Street Church
Jesus is now my Lord and
Savior. Jesus is God. Jesus lived on this earth – fully man and fully God. He
performed miracles, healings, stopped storms, held children on his lap and
taught 12 men profound things about who God is and what he wants from us. Jesus
died on a cross to save us from our sins. Because God is Holy, no one unholy
can be in his presence. If we accept Jesus as our Savior his blood covers our
sins and we can enjoy his loving presence and guidance here and now and we will be with him in heaven.
Remember, Jesus is alive! After his resurection He was seen by the twelve disciples and by two men on the road to Emmaus
and by 500 people. His followers were told to spread the Good News about Him and
they did. Our faith is built on historical facts as well as the evidence of missions,
ministries, hospitals and churches all over the world with followers of Jesus.
What if this is true?
Don’t wait and be left behind. Seek God and he will embrace you. Jesus lived in
history and is still alive in glory with the Father. Who do you say Jesus is?
“I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes
to the father but by me.” John 14:6
“It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and in everyone.” Ephesians1:11 The Message
“It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and in everyone.” Ephesians
Blessings, Dottie
Watch for the next Reasons
to Believe post on WHY I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY
SPIRIT in late September by Betty
and Dottie
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