It is generally considered impolite to ask someone an intrusive question like “What is your religious belief?” We could reword it to sound more innocuous and say “What is your philosophical worldview?” They really are the same question but the first might get you a mildly offended look while the second would be most likely greeted by a quizzical expression. But have you thought about it?
For most people, the question remains unanswered; they’ve just never thought about it, they really don’t know. So they are left to the influence of advertisers and newscasters, the opinions of characters in movies and sitcoms all just accepted in with little grid that could help them to filter out the bad or acknowledge the good.
Confused, subconsciously trying to hold to contradictory beliefs, they wander through life riding up and down, forward and backward on the manic-depressive emotional waves lapping the shore of their daily life.
Funny thing is, these same people will be the first to trash your Christ. They know church sucks, every religious person is a hypocrite, the bible is a bunch of old, dumb stories and history that have no relevance to their lives. Jesus bones were found and a documentary about it done by that guy who made “Titanic” right? Besides, “The DaVinci Code” showed it all to be a misogynistic plot against pagans who, after all, understood and honored women more than the christian religion does.
Opinions like that from the under informed, misinformed, pop-culture consuming masses do nothing to dent what makes Jesus so awesome.
Jesus was born about 2000 years ago in humble circumstances to a teenage mother and a carpenter father. He never traveled more than a few hundred miles from his home, never made significant amounts of money, never held a powerful office, never married, never had children, never wrote a book. He life was humble in every way.
He made the most extraordinary, unparalleled truth claims in the history of the world. He said things that no other religious leader has ever said! He said he was without any sin (John 8:46). He said he could forgive sin (Mark 2:5-12). He claimed to be the way to God (John 14:6-7). He claimed he was omnipotent (Matthew 28:18). More, he claimed to be GOD (John 8:56-59, John 10:30-33)!
Jesus simple life went off like a bomb in history and the echo of Jesus person and work continues 2000 years later. A few billion people on earth claim to worship him. Our calendar rotates around him. More songs have been sung to him, more paintings painted of him, more books written about him than anyone who has ever lived. There are no less than 17,000 books in the Library of Congress catalog about Jesus. Love him or hate him, everyone is talking about Jesus.
He is the most towering person in the history of the world!
My favorite philosopher Dallas Willard once related “Because I make my living as a university professor and philosopher I am frequently asked, in so many words, “Why do you follow Jesus Christ?” My answer is always the same: “Who else did you have in mind?”
To whom do you go for your worldview? Who has the answers? Or as I put it, “What else have you got?”
