Easter: A "Life-Saving" Act of Love? Or A Senseless, Irrelevant Act of Violence?

'Whether Jesus was a real person or not' was never my issue.

Any semi-intelligent person can read The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel and get all the historical facts and archeological evidence they could ever need or want that will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus of Nazareth did indeed walk this earth. If you don't believe ME, then take it from the atheist lawyer who ONLY set out to write this book so he could prove to his Christian wife that she was wrong in her beliefs. So, if you're a skeptic, Lee Strobel's your guy.

What I had trouble believing?was that "He DIED for our SINS."

Because what does that even mean??

As someone who was raised Roman Catholic,?

... But chose "Spirituality" over "Religion" in my teenage years...?

(meaning, I dismissed the Church as a money-laundering scheme, and the Bible as an allegorical literary work of art-- a collection of near-legend parables from a group of questionable characters)...

I've only just begun to unravel some of the mysteries that kept me from LETTING myself believe in his LIFE-SAVING grace for all those years.?

But what do I mean by "LIFE-SAVING"??

Walk with me. Talk with me...

* * * * *

For starters,

The wages of SIN is DEATH.?[Romans 6:23]

{Before I get into what this scripture means, let me make something clear--

{This is not just a silly little rule?written in a book of nonsense?that you either choose to live by, or don't.?

{This is a SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLE.?A law under which the entire world as we know it operates.?

{Just because you cannot "see it" in action,?or "don't know how it works"?doesn't mean it isn't true, and constantly AT WORK in your life.?

{The same applies to PHYSICAL principles,?but most people have zero problem believing those... aka, the laws of physics.

{Take gravity, for instance.?

{Can you honestly tell me you know EXACTLY how gravity works??

{WHY the exact speed at which the earth is spinning is enough to tether us to this giant rotating sphere??But we can jump without floating away, and the sheer force of the earth's rotation doesn't simply crush us?

{Or do you just know that "it's there" because you've seen and felt the effects of its presence??

{When you jump, you inevitably come back down; when you drop something, it falls.?

{We operate under many principles and laws which we ourselves do not understand.?

{Yet, people seem to think,?"If I don't believe in it, it doesn't apply to me."

{Let me ask you this:

{If a three-year-old child,?who does not yet know about gravity?(and therefore cannot "believe in it"), climbs out of a second-story window, would you assert that he or she is EXEMPT from gravity's effects simply due to "lack of knowledge"?

{I should hope not.?

{Yet many people hold this exact view when it comes to why are known as SPIRITUAL Laws or SPIRITUAL Principles.?

Now... why does SIN bring DEATH??

Is it because.. if you SIN, you go to hell??And therefore, SIN brings "spiritual death" because it keeps you from entering Heaven and partaking in everlasting life??

Well, yes... But that's not the whole story.?

Because honestly (Christians, don't hate me), that part (the salvation of your soul) only really matters later...?

So, allow me to explain why HIS SACRIFICE MATTERS TO YOU NOW, in THIS LIFE...?

Not JUST the afterlife.

First, let's get this out of the way:

All have SINNED and fallen short of the GLORY of God.?[Romans 3:23]

But before we address the "All" part, let's get some definitions in place.?

((SIN. What is it?

((Most people, Christian or not,?are familiar with the Ten Commandments.?

• They know that murder is bad.
• Just like lying is bad.
• And they know that cheating on your husband or wife is bad...

((And because of the starkness of those examples, we often forget all the other sins mentioned in the Bible.?

• Like having a mole.?
• Or being left-handed.?
• Or entering public spaces or coming into contact with others while menstruating.

"But wait... HOLD ON.?

None of those things are things that I HAVE CONTROL OVER. How is that even fair???

So, you're telling me..?that even though God supposedly MADE ME, if HE made ME "wrong,"?then *I* get punished for it????

That doesn't even make any sense."

((And I was right.?

((It didn't.?

((It doesn't.

((BECAUSE THAT'S NOT THE FULL STORY.

((That was never God's plan to begin with.?

((And when I was younger, I made the mistake of deciding?HOW I WOULD LIVE MY LIFE?

((based on partial knowledge.?

((My people are destroyed for lack of KNOWLEDGE. [Hosea 4:6]

((And believe me... I was slowly being destroyed

((from the inside out...

((But at the time, NO ONE I knew was either able or willing (probably a combination of both) to answer the questions I had... not even in Church.

((So instead of turning to God's Word to find the answers... I said,?

(("This is stupid. Peace out, Christianity."

((But SIN, does not have to be something HORRIFIC.?

((SIN is simply ANYTHING THAT IS NOT DIVINE IN NATURE.?

((Did you know that simply *being late* is a SIN??

((Because if you SAY, "I'm going to be there at 8:00,"?

((and you arrive at 8:01,?

((your words were a LIE.?

((Do you think you deserve to DIE for that???

((Spiritually OR physically..?

((The simplest things,?that just seem to be a part of life sometimes (or even just every once in a blue moon)..?

((All of our minor flaws and quirks, that aren't WORTHY of killing us or putting us in jail...

((All examples of IMPERFECTION; the polar opposite of divinity.

((This is what humanity IS in a fallen world.

Now, in contrast,?the God of the Bible IS PERFECTION.?

And because He is Divine, He is unable to commune with anything that is NOT.

BUT He created us to BE IN FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM; to seek and be in RELATIONSHIP with Him.

But He knew we would question His benevolence, inevitably bringing sin into the human experience...

So, BEFORE THE FOUNDATION of the Earth (was laid out), HE (knew he) WOULD GIVE HIS ONLY SON as PAYMENT, in love, so that WE would be holy and BLAMELESS IN HIS SIGHT. [Ephesians 1:4]

Do you understand what that's saying?

God KNEW we would mess up. But He DOESN'T WANT us to get hung up on all that, therefore distancing ourselves from Him even further as the years pass, out of the fear that "we will never measure up."

GOD WANTS to be able to view you as your most perfect self. And once you receive Jesus into your heart, THAT is how GOD sees you-- as blameless in His sight. Forever.

As far as "All" goes... you can try all you want,?but you will inevitably do something at some point in time that is either?

a) NOT divine in nature, or

b) doesn't sit well with your spirit

And what I mean by THAT is...

Think of the last time you let a little bit of gossip cross your lips?(something that person wouldn't want others to know) about someone who you actually LIKE.. but maybe you were just "joining the conversation"...?

How did that make you feel?

Do you even notice when your SPIRIT is "grieving"??

This is what happens when we do things that are not OF God-- things that are SINS.

Some people are less sensitive to (or conscious of) it than others, but we all operate in this way.?

And when we act OUT OF alignment with HOW GOD CREATED US (before the fall of man), we then "open ourselves up"?to participating in other forms of SIN..?

which in turn, causes more damage to our own selves...

BUT THE POINT I WANT TO MAKE HERE?is:

THIS "DAMAGE" HAPPENS IN TWO WAYS.

So when Jesus "died on the cross for our sins,"?it wasn't JUST so we could "go to Heaven."?

Nahnahnahnahnonono.?

HE DIED TO SAVE US FROM THE WAYS IN WHICH WE DAMAGE OURSELVES,

Spiritually... AND PHYSICALLY.?

1) Spiritually-- Because the less and less sensitive we become to the nudges of the Holy Spirit, the EASIER it becomes to act IN CONTRADICTION WITH OUR DESIGN, (which is to operate in a spirit of power, of love, and of sound mind).

2) Physically-- Because when we DO THINGS?that cause us to?

a) feel poorly about ourselves

b) fear consequences

c) experience regret or remorse

what starts happening is:

OUR DESIGN?

LITERALLY?

BEGINS?

TO BREAK?

DOWN.?

That list right there of a) through c)--

Think about this for a moment. What kinds of FEELINGS do those things cause?

Would it be reasonable to say that FEELINGS of CONDEMNATION or GUILT cause "worry" or "stress"? Even if only on a small scale?

I believe so.?

Now... Do you know what happens in your body

(BIOLOGICALLY,?

(CHEMICALLY,?

("SCIENTIFICALLY",

when you FEEL stress of any kind??

Your adrenal glands release a hormone called CORTISOL.?

Do you know what cortisol does to the cells of your body??

To your DNA?

To put it simply, everyone has a genetic code.?This is what tells our body how to function PROPERLY.?

But SICKNESS and DISEASE occur when these codes inside our cells (that tell them how to replicate) get messed with, hacked.?

. . And then either the cell, and eventually, the code itself MUTATES into something else

. . . Which causes ERRORS to occur when our BODIES run these PROGRAMS or CODES (a.k.a. continued cell production).?

This is what cancer is; all cancer is, is some mutated cells that got inflamed, and won't stop growing.?

Cancer HAPPENS?because a CARCINOGEN (something that's known, or unknown, to cause cancer)?got into your body,?

and WAS ABLE TO MANIPULATE YOUR GENETIC CODE?

to the point where it started PRODUCING MUTATED CELLS?

that DO NOT FUNCTION in the FASHION/CAPACITY?

that they are SUPPOSED TO.?

And when cortisol gets released into our systems,?

In excess, it actually starts to BREAK DOWN

the genetic codes within our cells—

The “barriers” that KEEP our cells from being ALTERED in any way—?

It literally “OPENS UP” the cells in our bodies?

and makes them INFINITELY MORE SUSCEPTIBLE to DISEASE.

Carcinogens can "walk right in." There is no fight. The door's wide open.

If you’d like to learn about this on a more detailed level, I highly suggest reading or listening to anything from neuroscientist and quantum physics researcher Dr. Caroline Leaf . Her book Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess has a lot of excellent explanation on this topic.?

?

THE POINT IS—

I don't know if you've ever heard this one before, but

THERE IS NO CONDEMNATION IN CHRIST. [Romans 8:1]

Meaning: when we are operating UNDER THE ASSUMPTION that GOD SEES US THROUGH CHRIST, instead of as our own physical, imperfect selves, WE ARE FREE from condemnation.

This means, whoever so wishes to receive the gift of HIM into their hearts, accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, is SET FREE from any OBLIGATION to feel CONDEMNED by the things that ordinarily cause us SHAME and GUILT.

-- Now, don't misread me. Yes, I believe in His grace, and I'm grateful for it.

But I'm not citing this as a reason to act however we want...

Because if we all just start doing whatever we want whenever we want, then we start to infringe upon other people's rights, which violates the most important commandment of all, which is to

LOVE ONE ANOTHER (as I have loved you). [John 13:34]

But Jesus didn't JUST die to save your soul from a blazing inferno-- although, that would still be a nice deal.?

He has PAID THE PRICE for OUR SINS, our INFIRMITIES, and our DISEASES.?[Matthew 8:17, Isaiah 53:4]

How??

Because when we ACCEPT THE FREE GIFT of HIS sacrifice,?

We take OUR BURDENS,

OUR GUILT,

OUR SHAME,

OUR SIN,

And we LAY IT ALL ON HIM.?

This is literally what God TELLS us to do.

Meaning, we don't have to "carry it around" anymore, and worry about how God sees us, or whether He's going to punish us and when,

This was huge for me. I had learned about Jesus all my life, but it took me until 27 years old to understand that God's not waiting behind the corner with a rod waiting to beat me every time I mess up.

When we lay it all down at the cross, we don't have to "open ourselves up" to that sort of thinking... Which in turn, PROTECTS the health of our PHYSICAL BODIES at a cellular level.

Amazing, isn't it?

Goodbye, chronic illnesses.

Goodbye, multiple auto-immune diseases.?

This isn't make-believe. This isn't story time. This isn't a fairy tale.

Jesus SAVED ME from 7 of them.?

Because when we ACCEPT HIM AS OUR SAVIOR,

And we renew our minds consistently with His Word,?

We are not only TRANSFORMED spiritually?

into a NEW CREATURE--

We are transformed PHYSICALLY as well.?

You want "proof?"?

Let's have a chat. You and me.

But okay, okay, okay...

So, maybe now some of you can see how his sacrifice is ACTUALLY applicable to life on earth...

But mayyyybbeeee are you still hung up on?

"I still don't get how can ONE man DYING possibly 'pay the price'

for ALL PEOPLE

for ALL of TIME?"?

That's okay.?

I was, too.?

So I kept asking questions.?

And I kept looking for HIS answers.

ASK, and KEEP ON ASKING, and it shall be given unto you.?

SEEK, and KEEP ON SEEKING,?and you shall find.

KNOCK, and KEEP ON KNOCKING,?and the door will be opened to you.?[Matthew 7:7]

With love,

Charley