All that to say, once again, I wish I could get on here more often. Before I get to India, and trust me there is a lot, I must conclude some last thoughts of Europe. Although there was a lot of cool things in Europe - rich food and desserts, diverse cultures and people, and the very, very, very strong EURO!!!!!!, the thing that struck me the most was the history. One thing we lack in Canada for sure. The history in Europe is soooo rich. And its all there for you to see. It's really cool. The massive cathedrals in the UK, the daunting ruins in Rome, the museums in Paris, the gothic castle and Charles bridge in Prague, the granduer of St. Peters and of course the start of Western civilization (you and I), at the Partheon in Athens, Greece. All simply stunning. Peoples' lives right before you. But the thing I kept finding was that so much of it is drenched in Christianity. It is everywhere. You can't avoid it. It doesn't take very long before you see the story of Christianity on the outside of an ancient cathedral or inscribed on something more durable than drywall. Still there.....2000 years later. Facinating.
It brought me to recognize one very important and central fact regarding Christianity. At its very centre, at its heart, its very core - is a historical event. The resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is what makes Christianity unique. NO OTHER RELIGION has this. ALL other religions are based off an ideology or ideas. A way of life. A philosophy. (Clayton, this is where you correct me if I'm wrong). It is a set of ideas or beliefs written down that somehow explain our life, our existence. And, I don't find it ironic, this usually happens only through one man - a "revelation." Usually alone. But Christianity is different. It claims that Jesus Christ was and is God and that he actually, literally died and rose from the dead. Not only that, but that he prophesized that this would happen while he was still living. It was the one event above all that proved his divinity. That is what the writers of the Bible are telling us. That is the message they had to get out to the world. And from that moment on, the world has never been the same. From this event, time itself was split in half. 2009 A.D........after death. It's been 2009 years since this event.
Also, God trusted his message of love and salvation to us. This is also unique. He himself, Christ, didn't write anything. He let his disciples, his followers, his prophets write it down for us. Which creates the Bible. It is beautiful how it all fits together. Like 50 different writers all telling the same story through 2000 years of time. Amazing. That itself is a miracle, how it all fits. They were all writing through history - giving each letter significance and importance - correlating together. To offset this, Joseph Smith (the founder of Mormonism), wrote the premises of Mormonism in a cave by himself, as an angel "revealed" it to him - the real revelation. Seems a tad sketchy to me. And since then, there has never been anything found, no city, no coins, no historical or archeological evidence that would suggest the story in the Book Of Mormon is anything but a fairy tale. The Islam story with Mohammed and the Koran is strikingly similar - the final revelation (again Clink, correct me if I'm wrong). Christianity on the other hand is often used as a source for archelogical digs ITSELF because it IS so reliable historically.
That's because the gospel writers simply are trying to tell us WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED. What they saw. What they experienced. What they touched. Where it happened. To give us as much info as they can.....so that we might see and understand and believe. They saw and touched the risen Christ. I journaled about this the other day....if a miracle happened how would you prove it to people. Or what would you do? If its a miracle then its out of the ordinary, extraordinary - for thats what makes a miracle, a miracle. For everyone to see it, it would have to happen every second of every moment for all of time - so we would all experience it, but then it would cease to be a miracle. So.....all that to say.....all the apostles could do was run and tell everyone they knew!!! They saw something. They experienced something. And they couldn't help but tell everyone. Their friends. Their family. To travel around telling strangers. And eventually, thank goodness for us, they even wrote it down (the gospels). It is up to us whether we trust their testimony - if we take what they say to be true.
A friend in Turkey asked Curtis and I after getting to know us a bit if we were "religious." Curtis hesitantly said.....yes. But everything inside of me wanted to say NO!!! I'm not just "religious."I don't follow a dead religion. I'm not just picking to be religious or follow something. To choose the one that sounds the best or most funky or fits with my lifestylde. That gives me something to believe or do on the weekends. I want the truth. To follow the one that is TRUE!!! The one that is actually real. I believe with all I am.....that I have found it. Found the one who laid the earths foundations. The one who created life. Who makes life complete and make sense. I am connected to him. He is a part of my everyday life. He is changing me. I am a Christian. I know and follow Jesus. The risen Christ calls me his child, his son. So....no......I am not religious, slugging away at a set of rules for life. I serve a living God. The tomb was empty that day. I wanted to scream - HE LIVES!!!!, just like the apostles. THAT is what I really wanted to say.
Which brings me back to the ruins. Its everywhere. It literally has spread everywhere. All the way to us in Canada. From a little, crappy stable and manger. It has changed the world. I stood at where Paul gave his address to the Athenians (Acts 17:16-33). It blew me away. It's right in the Bible. In Athens there are all these monuments to Dionysis, cause he was some sort of Priest there to the Greek gods (Apollo, Zeus, Athena). Paul in Acts tells us of how Dionysis was there when he spoke and that he was one of the first to believe in Christ and eventually started his own church. It was right there in front of us to see!!! Solid. Correlating. Secure. It is woven through history. GO READ IT!!! This was where Christianity spread to the west, to Europe, to North America and eventually to me. Because Paul was so bold as to stand at this place and preach the TRUTH. Athens, Thessonalica, Corinth, Ephesus - they are all there to testify to the Bible's story, still today. Churches begain to spurt up everywhere - the message was out. The Messiah, the king had come.
So the ultimate question is why? How did this all happen? This massive following out of nowhere? I think because of one thing - because its actually true. Not because a new set of ideas came up that were better than the rest, but because Jesus claimed to be God himself and then proved so by actually dying and then rising from the dead. The apostles said, we write to you so that you may know and believe. That simple. I'm sure for those 3 days after Jesus died when he had not risen they were pretty rattled, confused and depressed. The Bible says they scattered. I would have too. They probably thought it was over. They were wrong. A fib. If that was the case I doubt they would have run around telling everyone about it - let alone dying for it. But then BAM!!! Jesus rises and shows up with his scared hands and feet and says - I'm alive, now go and tell the world!!! And so they did. They were in the unique position to actually KNOW without a doubt whether or not it was true, because they were actually there, and every single one, save John, paid for it with their very lives. They offered their vary lives professing it was true. I don't know many people who will die for a lie, let alone 11. The reason the structures are there - the museums, the cathedrals, the archeology, the inscriptions, the history - is because its true. He indeed lives.
But the best part is still yet to come. Not only did he rise again.....but he still lives today. He is alive today. With you and me. He still beckons each one of us. If there is one thing I've learned from this trip, is God's faithfulness and graciousness, to us out here on the road...each and every day - now. When things are easily out of our hands.....he comes through. When we are lost.....he comes through. When we really need something and we offer it up in prayer......he comes through. And for a couple of punks no less, like Curtis and I. It is awesome. So as much as I see it scattered across history, written down on tablets of stone, on ancient ruins - I find it written on my own heart. His new promise for his believers and followers for today.
It is not ironic that he gives us just enough "proof" or "history" or "evidence" to find him. Not too much to overwhelm us, but not too little so as our doubt starts to consume us. Just enough so that our decision is really free. Cause thats what love is - free. You must choose to love somebody. You can't force love. It must be freely given. He has given us that freedom. That choice. That is our gift. To seek and to find. It doesn't take long once you believe to see his fingerprints everywhere - in Creation, history, archeology, the Bible and eventually, your very heart. So as I leave Europe I am reminded of what Paul said that day on Areopagus Hill in Athens so long ago - "he is indeed not far from each and everyone of us."
And so ultimately it comes down to the exact question he asked of his disciples way at the beginning - Who do YOU say I am? It's the same question he asks of you. Is he just some other founder of an outdated religion? A good man? A good moral teacher? Just a man? A myth? OR............is he the living God. The very centre of existence. The very founder of life itself. The Alpha and Omega. The begining and the end. The ruler of life AND of death. C.S. Lewis says - you can either shut him up as a fool, or fall down at his feet and worship. The choice is yours.
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