I know someone who just cannot bring himself to believe in our Christian Good News. He is a thoughtful person. He is not turned off by our call to a high standard of living nor is he reluctant to be sacrificial in giving. He understands that a Christ-like life style is a blueprint for a happy life. He understands that we live in a world where bad things can happen to anyone. Good people are not exempt from diseases and accidents. What he objects to is the absurd idea that a being so powerful, so wise and so omnipresent could become one of us. The universe is so vast, so endless. It is filled with trillions of galaxies, each filled with trillions of solar systems containing an endless amount of opportunities for intelligent life on Goldilocks planets. We are a mere speck of cosmic dust in a wonder of gigantic proportion. Too him, for us to believe that we are so significant that the Creative Force would become a human baby and spend thirty some years with us, only to have us mercilessly slaughter Him, is egotism to the nth degree.
He believes our inflated idea that we become God’s sons and daughters giving us a future inheritance equal with God Himself, is simply out of proportion to reason.
I have to agree with my doubting friend. The story of redemption, the story of Bethlehem, the story of Calvary, the promises of resurrection and eternal growth are outrageously beyond reason. He believes the Good News should be called the Outrageous News. But just because it is too good to be proportional doesn’t make it untrue. It just makes it all the more stunning. It does not nullify but enhances our grasp of just how much we are loved.
Written by Roger Bothwell on December 1, 2014
Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org