Holy Week

The Right Wing doesn't often tackle religious issues, but it seemed like a good time to do this. This is Easter weekend. I know that some people will say that this is a Pagan holiday and that Christianity simply took over this date to spread itself around the globe. Anyway you choose to believe it, it is known that Christ was crucified around the time of Passover, which is going on at the moment.

I've had several conversations lately concerning Christ, Christianity, and issues of faith. I think it would be a good break from sports to actually bring up some of these issues.

Continental Drift:

Wait, seriously. Continental drift? In religion? Well, yes. I was discussing this with some people one time and I was basically told that science should have nothing to do with God, and that God should have nothing to do with science. My answer to that is simple: God gave us science so that we could unveil even more of his glorious works. In many instances, the Bible will actually back up science, and science will back up the Bible. Take continental drift, for instance. The Bible states that there was a man named Peleg, and in his day the Earth was divided. Some say that means the Earth was politically divided, but it could just as well mean that the land was, quite literally, divided.

The Shroud of Turin:

I'll say this straight forward: I do NOT believe that the Shroud of Turin is the burial cloth of Christ. This does not mean that my faith is any weaker. In fact, I'm glad that God gave me enough faith that I don't require relics to believe. That being said, I respect the history of the Shroud. Close study reveals the brutality of a Roman flogging and crucifixion. The death on the cross was so painful that the Romans invented a phrase for it ex crucio, or as we now say "excruciating", meaning "out of the cross."

The relics of St. Helena:

Three hundred years after the crucifixion, the mother of Emperor Constantine, Helena, went to the Holy Land seeking the places where Christ walked, and where he was crucified. Of course, there was no real documentation at that time, and she was basically shown places with people saying, "Yeah, uh, he walked down this road." I can't help but feel sorry for those who require these relics to strengthen their faith.

The Crucifixion and Resurrection

This is it. Without this moment, there is no Christianity. As Paul stated, "If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. (1 Cor. 15:17). As the Bible tells us in the prophecies of the Old Testament, Christ came to Earth with the intent of dying for our sins. He was beaten beyond recognition, spat upon, had a crown of thorns placed on his head, and even nailed to the cross. Here is another sticking point with some people. Were the nails through his hands or wrists? Does it matter? The most important thing is that he willingly died for us. Then, the Sunday after his crucifixion, the borrowed tomb He'd been placed in was found empty. He was later seen by many, and after issuing the Great Commission, he ascended into Heaven. Had none of this occurred, we probably would not have had any idea of Christianity.

I have no qualms in proclaiming my faith. As Romans 1:16 states, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." When it comes to the things of God, I'm not going to sugarcoat anything. Take, for example, this passage from John, Chapter 6:

⁴²And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?

⁴³Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.

⁴⁴No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

⁴⁵It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.

⁴⁶Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.

⁴⁷Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

⁴⁸I am that bread of life.

⁴⁹Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.

⁵⁰This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.

⁵¹I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

⁵²The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

⁵³Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

⁵⁴Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

⁵⁵For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

⁵⁶He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

⁵⁷As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.

⁵⁸This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.

⁵⁹These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.

⁶⁰Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?

⁶¹When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?

⁶²What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?

⁶³It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

⁶⁴But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.

⁶⁵And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.

⁶⁶From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

⁶⁷Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?

⁶⁸Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

⁶⁹And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

Christ did not intentionally offend anyone, but He knew, as most of us do, that the truth will offend more than a lie will. I chose the truth long ago, and I do not regret it. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.