Tag: death on the cross

The Historical Christ

Perhaps, the most significant of the New Testament statements of the resurrection comes from Paul’s recollection of the events that occurred after the death of Jesus on the cross (1 Cor. 15:1-8).

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Once a year people remember the death of Jesus Christ on Good Friday. Few historical facts are as well-documented as the death of a man referred to as Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah (Hebrew) or Christ (Greek) around 33 A.D. The claim that he was resurrected from the dead is a different matter. The modern mind, influenced by many centuries of science and discovery and the relatively recent (200 hundred years) of ascension of materialist thought, is highly skeptical.

Looking back at the Gospel accounts with a modern, skeptical filter, the implausibility of the story colors our view. Some modern thinkers conclude that the story was manufactured by the followers of Jesus.

For what end, one might ask. What did it gain those early followers? If they knew it was a lie, why would they die for that lie?  Continue reading “The Historical Christ” →

In My Place

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Pilots Working in an Aeroplane During a Commercial FlightFew things really bring the story of Christ and what he did for us into sharp focus. We know it intellectually, but it does not really register with the clarity and presence that such a cosmic event should. We get distracted with the mundane elements of life and the fleeting excitements that pull our attention away from God’s ultimate act of love.

I am as guilty as anyone. I find myself registering somewhere in the depths of my soul, somewhere in the back of my mind, that this amazing, unbelievable act of love was (is) as real as anything in my life, actually the most real and profoundly significant reality in my life, and yet I do not live as if that were really true. The fact that it registers so dully with my senses most of the time is something I recognize, but seem powerless (or lacking in will) to summon to the surface of my daily consciousness.

There are times when that eternal Act becomes more present than others. For some people, experiences have etched the reality of that Act more deeply into the consciousness, and it usually comes through pain, tragedy or great mercy and near avoidance of pain and tragedy. I think it can happen on both sides of that divide.

This link is to one of those events, an event that we know all too well. This is a view from a pilot who sat in the cockpit of one of the planes that never reached its intended destination on 9/11.

In My Seat – A Pilot’s Story from Sept. 10th-11th