Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons @Claudi Ungarl
“If Christ is risen – then nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen – then nothing else matters.”
-Jaroslav Pelikan
On this Easter Sunday, we celebrate the most important event in human history. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead. I’m struck by the profundity of Pelikan’s quote. Because the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is either the most important event in human history or it is utterly meaningless. There is no middle ground, no gray area with the resurrection. It happened. Or it didn’t. Jesus died and rose, or he didn’t. (more…)
At 80 years of age, Tony Campolo has been a well known speaker and pastor in Christian circles.
Yesterday, Campolo released a statement where he now affirms same-sex marriage. His more recent public position on the matter had been that it was not sin to be gay, but that it was a sin to act on it.
Gay marriage in the church is a complicated issue. It has become a major political issue in this generation.
My issue with Campolo’s arguments is that I think his reasoning is flawed. (more…)
At the beginning of each year, millions of Americans make new year’s resolutions. Common resolutions include eating healthier, saving more money, quitting smoking, or learning a new skill. All of those are great things.
But the reason why we create new year’s resolutions is because there are areas in our life where we know we should be doing something and where we aren’t. Maybe it’s something we’ve tried and failed at before, but new year’s gives a sense of optimism. I think before we focus on anything else in 2015, our resolution should be to start (or continue) living each day for God. (more…)
Photo Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons
What do you do with an empty tomb?
On Friday, a man had been put in there. On Sunday, it was empty. Why?
Was it that he had merely been badly wounded but didn’t die? Was it that his body had been removed by his followers?
The tomb was empty or it wasn’t. If it wasn’t empty or if Jesus didn’t raise from the dead, than Christianity is pointless. But if that tomb was empty, then the gospel is true and that reality is more important than anything else in your life.
What do you do with this reality if it’s true? Do you just put it off to the side? Do you say that you accept it without actually believing it or caring?
If Jesus Christ rose from the dead on Easter morning, and you actually believed it to be true, how would that impact how you lived?
It shows that God loves us enough to take the penalty for our sin. It shows that our sins were bad enough to warrant such a serious penalty. It affirms the truth of the scripture which foretells and points to Jesus, while recording his teachings, ministry, death, and resurrection. It shows that Jesus is more than just a good moral teacher. It gives purpose to our lives, and that purpose is to know this God. It gives us hope for the future because Jesus died and rose and the same power that raised him can raise you.
It’s easy to believe that Jesus lived, but there’s no reason to worship him if he didn’t raise from the dead. What hope do we have in our own resurrection otherwise?
What do YOU do with the empty tomb? You can disregard the issue if the you don’t believe he rose. But if you don’t know, it’s a question worth exploring. Not at some distant point in the future, but right now. Because if you don’t know, maybe you’ll discover you believe it’s true. If you do believe it, is it impacting your life?
Statistically, we know that the vast majority of Americans believe in some form of a higher power. There are relatively few who are atheists. Since people do believe that there is something, and since it’s so easy to think of the majority of Americans as Christians, many simply attach themselves to Christianity.
But what does it mean? Christianity?
For so many, we call ourselves Christians but then never pray, or read the Bible, or go to church, or experience fellowship with other believers, or show any actual desire to have a relationship with Jesus. Without these, how can a person be Christian?
