Stories of Life – The Many Resurrections in the New Testament

Good is Stronger than Evil

Truth Is Stronger Than Falsehood

Love Is Stronger Than Hate

Life is Stronger Than Death

The Ultimate Story of Life

World Religions

Hinduism and the Bread of Life

Buddhism and the Way The Truth and the Life

Islam and the Good Shepherd

Judaism and the Light of the World

New Age and the Gate to Abundant Life

A Mother’s Day Story – Amber Sees the Big Picture

Mormonism

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"Stories of Life -- Good Is Stronger Than Evil" - Dr. Brant D. Baker

Do not fret because of the wicked; do not be envious of wrongdoers, for they will soon fade like the grass, and wither like the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; so you will live in the land, and enjoy security. Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will make your vindication shine like the light, and the justice of your cause like the noonday. Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for him; do not fret over those who prosper in their way, over those who carry out evil devices.

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath. Do not fret—it leads only to evil. For the wicked shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land. Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look diligently for their place, they will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land, and delight themselves in abundant prosperity. The wicked plot against the righteous, and gnash their teeth at them; but the LORD laughs at the wicked, for he sees that their day is coming.

The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to kill those who walk uprightly; their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. Better is a little that the righteous person has than the abundance of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous.

Psalm 37:1-17

Some time ago I was teaching a Bible study in which we happened to come upon a story in the book of Acts about Peter bringing back someone from the dead. One of the participants commented on her surprise to find such a story in the Bible. It gave me an idea to look at the stories of life found in the Bible as preparation for Easter, stories that have something to say about resurrection. There are surprisingly more of these stories then most of us realize. We know that Jesus was resurrected, and perhaps we've heard the story of Lazarus, but in fact there are half a dozen additional stories of people who came back to life. We need to be careful to observe that these people were re-vivified, not resurrected because, as far as we know, all of these people died again at a later time. (Although I have seen claims in the National Enquirer that someone has located Lazarus still living on a remote island in the Mediterranean…) Still, each of these stories of life shows some part of the larger truth of what full resurrection is like, and the story we consider today illustrates the resurrection truth that good is stronger than evil.

Good is stronger than evil. It’s a rather audacious claim to make. Whatever your politics, whatever your view of this war, thoughtful people know that we don't have to look very far to see that evil too often triumphs over good. And even without the brutality of war, the news is full of stories about evil on the march. For many of us this experience is personal: we have been good, and we have been victims. "Why be good?" we might ask in despair, "look what it's gotten me." Cynicism and pessimism are to be forgiven, perhaps, when we look around and see evil people getting ahead, and getting away with it. While many of us in the church will continue to do good because we think it’s the right thing to do, we have an uncomfortable suspicion that evil is stronger than good, and that if we were really smart, or really gutsy, or really free from all our middle class values, we could be a lot happier if we lived like those around us: living for today, living for ourselves, and to hell with everyone else.

Harder to make and defend is the claim that, in fact, good is stronger than evil. And yet that is the claim of our faith. As the psalmist says,

"Do not fret because of the wicked, do not be envious of wrongdoers,

for they will soon fade like the grass…

Do not fret over those who prosper in their way, over those who carry out evil devices

For the wicked shall be cut off.

The wicked draw the sword…to bring down the poor and needy,

But their sword shall enter their own heart

The wicked plot against the righteous

But the Lord laughs at them

For he sees that their day is coming.

The words of Psalm 37 recognize the reality of what we see around us. The wicked are getting ahead, there is no justice. But that's not the last word. The Lord laughs, because the day is coming when the wicked will fade like grass, when they will be cut off, when the sword in the hand of the wicked will be plunged into their own hearts. The day is coming when there will be vindication, when there will be justice, when the meek will inherit the land, and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

What we’re really talking about is a resurrection claim. Because it turns out that belief in resurrection is more than belief in an afterlife, as important as that may be. The resurrection is a claim on the future that covers all of creation. The resurrection is about God's insistence that the original beauty and goodness of creation not be thwarted, that the fullness of life intended at creation and lost through sin and death will be reclaimed (Note in Oxford RSV on Matt 22:31-32). To this end the later chapters of the book of Revelation describe God's ultimate recreation of the new heavens and a new earth, the absolute perfection that God intends for God's people, a situation where death and crying and pain will be no more (Rev 21:4). This is not pie in the sky by and by, this is the solid theology of our belief in a future resurrection, and it can greatly impact how we live in the here and now, because it affirms that evil and injustice are not the last word, that God will have the last laugh, as the psalmist says, and it will be a hearty one!

Our story today comes from the Old Testament. Resurrection hope and truth, while only fully realized in Jesus Christ, are not the domain of Christians only, and in the Old Testament we have a wonderful story from the life of the prophet Elijah. Perhaps you recall the showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, when each were given a chance to ask their respective gods to make it rain, and only Yahweh, the God of Elijah, was able to do so.

That story from 1 Kings 18 really begins in 1 Kings 17, when Elijah announces to the evil king Ahab that Yahweh is going to cause a three year drought, which is exactly what happens. During this time Elijah is lead by the Spirit to go to Zarephath, a city outside of Israel, because there God has arranged for a widow to feed Elijah. Here's how the story goes:

Elijah set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” But she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the LORD the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth.”

Elijah is essentially saying to her, "Do you trust Yahweh? If so, fix something for me first, and then you will have plenty for yourself…" She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.

After this the son of the woman …became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. She then said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!” But he said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. He cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” So the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.”

Our faith as Christians means that, in the last day, and perhaps even before then, truth will triumph over evil, because the Lord is risen indeed. This is a resurrection faith, a faith that good is stronger than evil.

Amen.

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"Stories of Life -- Truth Is Stronger Than Falsehood" - Dr. Brant D. Baker

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The disciples of John reported all these things to him. So John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” When the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’” Jesus had just then cured many people of diseases, plagues, and evil spirits, and had given sight to many who were blind. And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

Luke 7:11-23

"What is truth?" According to a recent poll, Americans are likely to answer the question based on how they feel at any given moment. By more than a 3-to-1 margin American say that truth is relative to a person's situation, and that they are likely to make moral and ethical decisions on the basis of whatever feels right or comfortable in a situation. Truth in America is relative.

Truth in first century Palestine may have been equally difficult to ascertain. John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus "are you the truth?" Now, just to remind you, John the Baptist was Jesus' cousin. They had grown up together, but despite this long history, John still isn’t sure it Jesus is the truth.

The disciples of John are invited to observe the evidence: at the hand of Jesus the blind receive sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the poor hear good news. Oh, and one other thing: the dead are raised (vs. 21-22).

The dead are raised? Jesus almost makes it sound like an everyday occurrence. How often it happened we can’t know for sure there are three stories in the gospels that involve Jesus raising people from the dead, and one of these comes just prior to the arrival of John's disciples.

In our story from Luke 7 Jesus has left Capernaum, where he carried out quite a bit of his ministry when not in Jerusalem, and goes to a town called Nain. At the gate of the city Jesus and his disciples encounter the funeral procession of a man who has died, his mother's only son, and she is also a widow. Jesus had compassion for her and said to her, "Do not weep, and then breaks all religious and social custom by touching the coffin, which brings everyone to a stop. Jesus then says, "Young man, I say to you, rise!" He does and Jesus, Luke tells us, gives the man back to his mother.

Now the first detail for us to notice is the obvious parallels between this story and the one we looked at last week about Elijah. Both involve a widow, both involve the death an only son, which is to say, the death of the widow’s only means of support, and in fact, each story concludes with the almost identical phrase, that is, that both Elijah and Jesus, upon raising the son, "gave him back to his mother." It is very clear that Luke tells his story in such a way as to show the parallels between Elijah and Jesus. Elijah is generally recognized as the greatest prophet of the Old Testament, Luke is telling us that someone greater than Elijah is here, someone who did all that Elijah could do, and then some. Jesus doesn’t go through all the stuff Elijah did, stretching himself out over the boy three times, and crying out to God to act. Jesus acts himself and does so by giving the command, “Young man, I say to you arise.”

The second thing to note, if only briefly, is that in verse 15 Luke gives us the detail that the son, upon being raised, “began to talk." As you have heard me say before, there are no wasted words in the Bible. This is not simply stray background material to move Luke’s story along. These words function very much in the same way as another little tidbit we have in John’s gospel: that following his own resurrection Jesus ate some fish. The message in both cases is clear: ghosts neither talk nor eat because ghosts have no body and thus no means of vocalizing nor of processing food. The fact that this son began to talk is proof that it was not a ghost, but a physical being. He was brought back to life.

Finally, as if we needed to know, Luke tells us in verse 16 that fear seized the people and they glorified God. Some scholars have tried to soften the claim of a bodily resurrection by suggesting that the people in Jesus day were superstitious, backward, and gullible, inclined to want to believe in miraculous occurrences. These scholars would suggest that the people in Nain only think they saw a person come back to life, as an extension of their pre-scientific worldview, and due to their psychologically fragile state of mind, both of which predisposed them to make their spiritual claims in physical terms.

The view of these scholars is that the physical resurrection is too great a truth claim to make. Instead they believe that resurrection language is expressing theological truth in mythological garb. According to them, when more enlightened people say, “The Lord is risen,” they are not making a claim about the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ, but instead are saying something like this, “I don’t really know what happened to Jesus’ body, but the truth is that Jesus continues to live on in our hearts. As enlightened people we do not need to make physical claims in order to believe the spiritual truth that Jesus lives, because he has influence on us through his memory and our adherence to his teachings.”

But verse 16 suggests another truth. The reaction of the people was one of shock, amazement and fear. Bear in mind that these people were much more in touch with death than are we. They were around dead people all the time, and even without a coroner they knew when someone had died--like the parrot in the old Monty Python sketch: “He's dead I tell you, dead, deceased, gone to the great beyond." In other words, the people of the first-century were no more superstitious, foolish, or gullible than we are. The reactions of the people at the funeral in Nain suggest that this was not part of their ordinary experience or expectation. What happened there was that a man who was dead came back to life, and that was very strange indeed!

The story of the man at Nain is a story of life, but not a story of resurrection. Still, it holds a resurrection claim for us, namely, that truth is stronger than falsehood. In terms of our beliefs about Christ it is the truth about the physical resurrection that we're debating, the fact that Jesus returned from the grave and spoke and ate and talked and that his body was of a different sort even than that of this man in Nain, that his body was a resurrected body, unique in ways we will deal with another time. For now it is enough to know that the people around Jesus did not merely claim the spiritual reality of Jesus in their hearts. They claimed to see Jesus as a physical presence that spoke and ate and had substance. And it was to this physical presence that they went on to give their own lives.

Christian scholar Craig Blomburg makes the observation that Christ's resurrection as bona fide historical event actually sets Christianity apart from all its major rivals. In the case of Buddhism and Islam there is no claim made for the deity or the resurrection of their originators. Both Buddha and Mohammed are merely prophets whose teachings “live on” in the hearts of their followers. And of course in some religions such as Hinduism, there is no attempt to prove the actual historical existence of their founders and gods. But Christianity lives or dies with the claim of Christ's physical resurrection from the dead. Put another way, if we were to discover the bones of Jesus, it would have a seriously negative impact on Christianity as traditionally understood and practiced (Blomburg, 308).

What is truth? Perhaps it isn't relative, but perhaps we do need to decide what truth to believe…. At the end of the story of Jesus raising the widow’s son the people say, “A great prophet has arisen among us.” …he has risen indeed!!

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"Stories of Life -- Love Is Stronger Than Hate" - Dr. Brant D. Baker

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Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” He looked all around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

Mark 5: 25-34

Why do bad things happen to good people? How could an all loving, all powerful God allow the kinds of things that happen to the people God supposedly loves? It's a question that plagues us all, and it is usually answered in one of three ways.

The first answer is that perhaps God isn't as good as we think God is. Perhaps evil and good are cut of the same cloth, that there is really just one cosmic reality out their, and this cosmic being is a little capricious. This is the answer of many eastern religions, that there is a kind of ying and yang to human experience that reflects a deity who is good some of the time, but not all of the time.

The second answer holds intact God's goodness, but suggests that maybe God isn't really all powerful, that perhaps God isn't able to control as many things as we thought. This is essentially the answer that Rabbi Kushner came up with in his book on this subject several years ago. Basically Kushner argues that while God's heart is in the right place, God just doesn't have as much power as we'd like God to have, and so is unable to shield us from some of the things that happen to us.

Finally, some people believe that human suffering is God's way of teaching us important life lessons. These people have a strong need to believe that there is a reason for everything that happens, and so they must find meaning in the suffering that comes our way. "God must really be trying to teach you something," they will say, and not quite sympathetically. This is a view expressed by well-intentioned Christians who end up doing more harm than good.

I have to tell you that I believe all three of these views are wrong. I believe, in contrast to some eastern teaching, that God is always and completely good. I disagree with Rabbi Kushner because I believe that God is fully powerful to do all that God intends to do. And finally, I believe that looking for a reason in everything that happens is also misguided. As Philip Simmons says in his book, Learning To Fall, The Blessings of an Imperfect Life, "Wanting human suffering to fit some divine plan is like wanting to fly an airplane above tornado wreckage and see that it spells out song lyrics or a cure for acne." ("Christian Century," June-19-26, 2002, p 34).

But there is an answer as to why bad things happen to good people, and it is one we've touched on before, namely, that we have an ancient enemy who hates our guts. The Devil, Satan, our ancient enemy, hates our guts and seeks to work us woe. This enemy attacks without reason, explanation, or provocation, often with disastrous results. And before you disregard such talk as superstitious nonsense, you should know that the famous theologian Karl Barth suggests that modern Christians pass over this reality too lightly. "There exists," says Barth "a superior, relentless enemy whom we cannot resist unless God comes to our aid." He continues by saying that he doesn't care to dwell on such matters, but that it is necessary for us to know that the Devil exists (Barth, Prayer, 73).

The Devil exists, and hates our guts, but thanks be to God for the resurrection claim that love is stronger than hate, and specifically, that the love of God in Jesus Christ is stronger than the hate of our ancient enemy.

That was certainly the case for the unnamed woman in the story we heard this morning. For 12 years the ancient enemy had worked woe in her life. For twelve years she not only suffered physically, but also emotionally and spiritually, treated as an outcast and banned from participation in the temple because she was ritually unclean. For twelve years she no doubt asked, "Why me? What have I done to deserve this?" -- a question that could only be answered by making reference to a dark, evil, malicious enemy, who doesn't need a reason to hate.

But love is stronger than hate. Of course it was a risk--to be out in public, to be identified and sent away, but she had to get to the man who was said to love, a man who would perhaps be able to help her. Besides she only intended to touch his garment--who would know? She would slip in and slip out and no one would be the wiser.

According to plan she touched the fringe of Jesus' clothes, and perhaps beyond her hopes the bleeding stopped immediately. But then something unplanned happened as well. Jesus knew. He stopped. He turned and demanded to know who had touched him. Could it be that this man would be angry at her? Could it be that she was once more to be confronted by hate? No, but by a love she could scarce imagine. Not only is she healed, but in fact, she is saved.

But now…the rest of the story. You see the story we've just heard is actually in interlude, an interruption, in an even larger story of life. The woman to touched the fringe of Jesus' robe did so as Jesus was on his way to the home of Jairus, a leader of the synagogue, whose daughter was sick. Curiously, this daughter had been born twelve years before, about the same time as the woman Jesus encountered on the way began to have her trouble, but beyond that there is no other connection that we know of. Except perhaps this, at the moment the woman is healed, the ancient enemy thrashes out and takes the life of the little girl. It's as if one prisoner is set free and thus Satan demands another. There is even a sense in the story that by pausing to deal with the woman, Jesus missed the chance to heal the girl before the illness could take her. No doubt this is the opinion of Jairus, the loving father. “Oh Jesus, if only you had hurried, perhaps my daughter would not have died!”

But Jesus is undeterred by the news. He tells Jairus not to fear, only to believe, and his daughter will be saved. There's that word again. Not just healed, not just restored to life, but saved. In Greek the word is sozo and it means a complete and total healing and restoration--physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. It is the word of life.

Jesus and Jairus continue to the house, where already the mourners have gathered and weep and wail. Jesus asks them not to weep, for the girl, he says, is only sleeping. They all laugh at him. They laugh! Jesus might be a great man, a wonderful teacher, a loving healer, but these people know death when they see it, and the little girl is dead.

But Jesus took her by the hand and says, "Talitha, cum," "Little girl, get up," and immediately she got up and began to walk around. Not only this, but Jesus further instructs that she be given something to eat, so that everyone knows and understands that this is a physical presence.

And once more, the hate of an ancient enemy is overcome by the love of an even more ancient God. And once more love turns the very devices of hate back on themselves, thwarting Satan's plans and bringing healing, salvation, and life. Friends, believe the Good News, the resurrection claim, love is stronger than hate, even an ancient and smoldering hate, because the Lord is risen indeed!

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"Stories of Life -- Life is Stronger Than Death" - Dr. Brant D. Baker

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For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:1-11

Will Willoman, Dean at Duke University, tells the story of a man at the school we'll call Chris. One day Chris came to visit Willoman and told him a story. Basically Chris had been a bad boy, and an even worse teenager, so bad, in fact, that he had had been sent to a camp for delinquent teens. So bad, in fact, that he broke out of the camp and escaped to the city. There he became a male prostitute and one night he rolled a business man and stole his American Express card.

Chris was caught and sentenced to hard time at the Joilet Prison. We could say that he was as good as dead. But life is stronger than death, and something happened at the prison that was unexpected. Chris was taken under the protection of an older prisoner. Every night before lock down this older man would read to the younger man a chapter of Luke's gospel. It took a long time, because the old man didn't read well, but one night they finally came to the story of the Prodigal Son. Chris told Willoman that that Jesus "body slammed" him with that story. In fact, Chris claims that he heard Jesus speak directly to him, and what Jesus said was this: "You owe me, I've got plans for you." and with that Chris was saved. He served his time, got off for good behavior, earned his G.E.D., and now was a student at Duke University. As Chris finished his story he looked Willoman in the eye and said, "I'm the only proof of the resurrection you've got."

Life is stronger than death. The Apostle Paul puts it this way, "For since we have been united with Christ in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin."

In his book Through the Valley of the Kwai, Ernest Gordon recounts the life of prisoners of war during the second world war, a life of death. "Death called to us from every direction. It was in the air we breathed--it was the chief topic of our conversation. The rhythm of death obsessed us with its beat… On one occasion" he writes, "a whole string of barges came floating downriver to our camp. Their cargo consisted of corpses--the bodies of prisoners from upcountry. They were no more than skeletons covered with skin" (63).

This constant press of death meant that such life as was lived was lived according to the law of the jungle: stealing from one another; cursing one another, their captors, and God; waiting for one another to die in order to rob the corpse of its few meager belongings. Nor was faith of any help or consolation. It may be hard to imagine for those who have never experienced it, but the total debasement of the human such that there is no shred of dignity or decency can reduce people to something even less than animals. "We were," writes Gordon, "forsaken men--forsaken by our families, by our friends, by our government. Now even God had left us" (67).

Then one day a new story of death made its way through the camp. A man named Angus had died, nothing exceptional, except in the manner of his dying. It seems that Angus had a friend who was ill, and had made up his mind that his friend wouldn't die. When someone stole his friend's blanket, Angus gave the man his own. At mealtime Angus would show up to get his food, but instead of eating it himself, he would take it back to his friend. At night he took to slipping out of the camp, denying himself sleep, in order to trade on the local black market for medicine and extra food. His friend got better, but Angus collapsed, dead from starvation and exhaustion. And someone remembered, "Greater life has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Life is stronger than death, and so this death was a turning point in the life of the men. As the story was told and retold, the men began living differently. "Death was still with us," writes Gordon, "no doubt about that. But we were being slowly freed from its destructive grip. We were seeing for ourselves the sharp contrasts between the forces that make for life and those that make for death. Selfishness, hatred, jealousy, and greed were all anti-life. Love, self-sacrifice, mercy, and creative faith, on the other hand, were the essence of life, turning mere existence into living in its truest sense. These were the gifts of God to men" (94).

Life is stronger than death. The Apostle Paul puts it this way, "…if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus."

One of the most well known stories of life in the entire Bible concerns Jesus' good friend Lazarus. He became ill, and his sisters, Mary and Martha, sent word to Jesus. But when Jesus heard it he stayed where he was for two more days, saying that the illness of Lazarus would not lead to death, but rather to the glory of God.

When Jesus finally announced to his disciples that they were going to Judea, to Bethany, within an hour's walk of Jerusalem, his disciples reminded him that the Jews there had just recently tried to stone him to death. Of course Jesus knew this, as he also knew that the jubilant crowds who would welcome him with waving palms would quickly turn into the lynching mobs of Good Friday.

When Jesus and his disciples arrived in Bethany they found that Lazarus had died four days earlier. Martha and Mary were each grieving in their own way. Martha, the practical one, was polite toward Jesus but we get the sense that quietly she was smoldering. Mary, the emotive one, simply cried. Both conveyed to Jesus their belief that, had been there, Lazarus would not have died. The shortest verse in the entire Bible sums up our Lord's response to the whole scene, "Jesus wept." Several people present noticed this, but others were critical and wondered if a man who could open the eyes of the blind couldn't have done more to keep a friend from dying.

According to middle eastern custom, the body had been buried on the same day Lazarus had died. According to Jewish belief, the soul of an individual lingered for three days against the possibility of some revivication. According to ever sensible Martha, if they opened the tomb there would be a stench. Lazarus was dead in every possible sense of the word, but Jesus insisted. In an act that would foreshadow events just weeks away, Jesus asked that the stone be rolled away. Then he looked upward, prayed a prayer of thanksgiving, and then called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." He did, still bound and wrapped in his burial cloth.

Life is stronger than death. Jesus puts it this way, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die." Then he asks, "Do you believe this?"

Amen.

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“The Ultimate Story of Life” - Dr. Brant D. Baker

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35But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body…

42So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 43It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body…

50What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

55“Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”

56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-44, 50-57

Someone teaching a Sunday School class asked the children this question, “If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the church, would that get me into Heaven?" "NO!" the children all answered.

"If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into Heaven?" Again, the answer was, "NO!"

"Well, then, if I was kind to animals and gave candy to all the children, and loved my wife, would that get me into Heaven?" the teacher asked again. Again, they all answered, "NO!"

"Well, I continued, "then how can I get into Heaven?"

To which a five-year-old boy shouted, "YOU GOTTA BE DEAD!"

For the last several weeks we’ve been looking at some of the fascinating stories in the Bible about people who were dead and then came back to life. In total we’ve looked at only four of the ten stories in scripture that involve people coming back to life, and in each of these we’ve taken pains to suggest that in order to come back to life, “you gotta be dead.” In the process we have challenged the charge that the people in Jesus day were superstitious, backward, gullible, and therefore unable to accurately determine if someone was really dead or not. Against this we argued that when those people said someone was “dead, deceased, gone to the great beyond,” they knew it.

On this Easter Sunday, as we turn our attention to the ultimate story of life, it is again important that we substantiate that Jesus was, in fact, really dead, and there is some rather gruesome evidence to support that fact. According to medical examiner Dr. Alexander Metherell, Jesus was already in hypovolemic shock after his flogging at the hands of the Roman guards. Hypovolemic shock means a person is suffering from loosing a large volume of blood. The whips used by the Romans had bits of bone and metal imbedded in the braiding, with the express purpose of opening the flesh as much as possible, thus bringing about this large loss of blood.

From there Jesus was taken to the cross. No one is exactly sure what causes death on the cross, but one theory is that death comes by slow asphyxiation. It is impossible to take in breathe when hanging by your arms, so in order to breath the individual must push up on the spike through his ankles, tearing open his already lacerated back. Eventually exhaustion would set in and death would come due to lack of oxygen.

At the same time, as a person’s breathing slows, he goes into what is called respiratory acidosis—the carbon dioxide in the blood is dissolved and causes the acidity of the blood to increase, which eventually leads to an irregular heartbeat. This together with the loss of blood would bring cardiac arrest.

Finally, if neither asphyxiation nor heart failure get you, the Roman guards are there to either break your legs, or, in Jesus case, to puncture your heart with a spear. Again, these Roman guards knew death, and also knew that their own death would be required if they took someone off the cross prematurely. There can be no doubt that Jesus was dead.

Jesus’ body was placed in the tomb late Friday afternoon, just before the Jewish sabboth, which started at sundown and continued until sundown on Saturday. Among other things that meant that no one could come and tend to the body until first thing Sunday morning, and so it was, even before first light, that some of the women went, hoping against hope that the Roman guards posted there might move the heavy stone and allow them entry. While the four gospels differ slightly in who exactly was in this group of women, the important detail is that the four gospels agree that it was women who first found the empty tomb.

Why is this important? Because if the early church were going to fabricate this story they wouldn’t have done so with female witnesses. In Jesus’ day a woman was not considered a worthy witness, and any self-respecting group trying to establish its credibility would have put someone with credentials at the tomb if given the chance. The fact that all four gospels agree that it was women who were the first witnesses is perhaps the strongest evidence possible that this story was not a fiction written by the early church, but in fact what actually happened as God arranged events.

My favorite version of the Easter story is in John’s gospel. In his telling it is Mary Magdalene, perhaps the most suspect of all the women, who finds the empty tomb. She runs and gets Peter and John, who race back to the tomb, perhaps because they don’t believe her either. They find the linen wrappings, and while they leave convinced that the tomb is empty, they don’t really know what to make of it. John comments that “they did not understand the scripture, that [Jesus] must rise from the dead” (John 20:9). Then, probably because they are guys and can’t think of anything else to do, they go home.

But Mary…Mary stays put. She stands weeping outside the tomb because she also still believes that Jesus is dead and that someone has taken his body. Something must have caught her attention because in the midst of her crying she bends down to look inside and sees two angels sitting where Jesus’ body had been. They chat a moment and then she turns around and sees Jesus, but she thinks maybe he’s a gardener, and asks him if he knows where Jesus’ body is. As it happens, Jesus knows exactly where his body is, and furthermore he knows that this resurrected body is different than it was before. It is still a physical body, and as the story unfolds Jesus is prodded and poked by various disciples satisfying themselves on this point. But it is also a spiritual body, something quite different from the body it was before.

The best description of what the resurrected body of Jesus was like, and indeed what our own resurrected bodies will be like, can be found in 1 Corinthians 15. The Apostle Paul offers a vivid analogy on the differences between earthly and heavenly bodies. Consider a seed, says Paul. You look at a seed and it’s dry and lifeless and gives little indication that anything could possible grow from it. Then you bury it in the ground and it further decomposes. But then a mystery of life from death occurs, and that seed gives way to something vibrant and alive and really quite amazing. Yes, there is molecular and biological continuity between the seed and the plant, but the plant is about as different for the seed as it can be. So, too, says Paul will our resurrected bodies be in continuity with our current bodies, but different in ways mysterious and amazing.

Over the past few weeks we have made some amazing and audacious claims about the resurrection: that good is stronger than evil, that truth is stronger than falsehood, that love is stronger than hate, and that life is stronger than death.

Today we make one final audacious claim: namely that Christianity insists that life after death is not mere immortality of the soul, but that it is also physical. Over-against any philosophy or belief that tries to suggest that created matter is inherently evil, the Bible declares that God’s created world is good, that matter is good, that physicality is good, and that this goodness extends to include human bodies as well. Human beings were created to live in a bodily form, in a material world, and this reality will not end at the resurrection. The resurrection victory of Jesus Christ against an ancient enemy who sought to end his physical life is a foreshadowing of God's ultimate resurrection victory for all creation, a victory that, according to the book of Revelation, includes not only a new heaven, but also a new earth. Put another way, God started something back in Genesis when God created the heavens and the earth, and God intends to see that original creative purpose fulfilled. If our resurrection is simply a spiritual reality it would essentially say that God’s original intention of a physical and material world was somehow a mistake. The fact that Jesus was resurrected in a physical body is God’s way of giving us a hint of what’s to come.

To get to heaven you gotta be dead, but to get to the new heaven and the new earth you gotta be resurrected. Thanks be to God that Jesus Christ is risen indeed…!

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“Hinduism and the Bread of Life” - Dr. Brant D. Baker

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Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.”

Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”                                                                                            John 6:32-51

            This is really, really bad.  This is so bad it’s good.  Are you ready?

            Ok, as you may know, Mahatma Gandhi walked around barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet.  He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath.  This made him......a super callused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

Today we begin a five-week series on the major world religions.  We will look at Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Isalm, and New Age, trying to be respectful of each tradition while we get some clarity about what it is that each believes and how those beliefs might differ from Christianity.  Of course it is almost a fool’s errand to try and present an overview of any of these belief systems in a fifteen to twenty minute sermon, which I guess makes me a fool.  But if so, hopefully a fool for Christ, one who hopes to challenge the wide-spread assumption of our day that all of these religions are basically the same.  They are not, and to pretend they are is an oversimplification that disrespects each of them.  Certainly there are some similarities, and we will try to note these, but if we are to truly respect the adherents of these other religions as well as our own, we need to understand some key differences.

We begin today with Hinduism, the oldest of the major world religions still practiced today, and in some ways the most remarkable because of the great variety of practices among its adherents.

Over its 4000 year history Hinduism has gone through many changes in direction and emphasis.   In its earliest form Hinduism was a blend of religions from the native Indian population infused with the beliefs of an invading Aryan culture.  The Aryans brought with them a religion with gods that represented various natural forces like the sun, the moon, and the fertility of the soil, and so early Hinduism had many gods and godesses, and was primarily a form of nature worship  (Hopfe, 76).

Hinduism in is most classical form came into being around 1000 BC.  This form of Hinduism was very dependent on a priestly caste and on an elaborate system of sacrifice.  The main religious text of the classical period, the Bhagavad Gita, is a dramatic poem mostly having to do with the god Krishna, who became incarnate to protect good, destroy evil, and re-establish true piety (Hopfe, 30). 

Krishna, it turns out, is actually one of ten incarnations, or earthly appearances, of the god Vishnu.  Vishnu is himself one of the three primary gods that form the focus of Hinduism today.  Vishnu, is known as a god of love, benevolence, and forgiveness, as a being who loves to play, and who enjoys tricks and pranks.  It is because Vishnu is so concerned for humanity that he has appeared on earth so many times in so many forms.  In every case he has come to aid humankind because he is the preserver and the restorer.  The two other gods in the Hindu trinity include Brahma the creator, who receives the least attention; and Shiva, who receives quite a bit of attention as the god of death, disease, destruction, dance, fertility and sexuality (Hopfe, 92).  

So, while Hinduism allows for literally millions of gods and goddesses, and even though in modern times the focus is on the three we’ve just named, there is ultimately only one god in Hinduism, the god Brahman.   Like the Christian God, Brahman is eternal, infinite, and without gender.  But unlike the Christian God, Brahman is totally impersonal.  In fact, there is no distinction between Brahman and the living beings that inhabit our world.  Each living thing is really only an expression of the Brahman, each soul only a part of the great ocean of souls that make up the Brahman. 

And here is one place where Hinduism is a very different religion then many others: Hinduism believes that all existence is actually an illusion arising from ignorance of the true nature of reality.  A person’s individuality apart from the Brahman—the world in which we  live, that which we see, hear, touch, and feel—all of this an illusion, a dream according to  Hinduism (Hopfe, 82).  The plight of human beings, according to Hinduism, is that we are bound up in this world of illusion and ignorance, thinking that it is real, and unaware of our true identification with the Brahman. 

A story of Hinduism serves to illustrate what we’re trying to say: there once was a tiger who was orphaned as a cub and raised by goats.  All of his life, he believed that he was a goat; he ate grass like a goat, he talked like a goat, he lived like a goat.  But one day me met another tiger who took him to a pond where the first tiger saw his true image.  The second tiger then forced him to eat meat for the first time and he slowly came to realize his tiger nature.  In a similar manner, says Hinduism, human beings are deceived about their true nature and need to be set free from their illusions (Hopfe, 82).  Each of us is really a god in embryo, and the purpose of life is to discover that divinity within us and be set free. 

This all leads to one last thing to know about Hinduism.  This quest to discover our true identity and be set free is accomplished through a spiritual journey we in the west have come to call reincarnation.  Hinduism believes that the life force of an individual does not die with the death of the body, but instead moves on to another time and body, where it continues to live.   Far from being a desirable thing, reincarnation is actually a curse, showing that the individual continues to be bound to the ignorance and pain of this illusory life.  The goal of most forms of Hinduism to break this cycle and free from the burden of life (Hopfe, 83).  This view of salvation is realized by simple cause and effect: if you do good things you reap good reward in your reincarnation, if you do bad things, you reap punishment in your next life.  That’s karma.  Among other things this means that someone who has a good life right now is realizing the benefit of positive actions in the past, while someone who has a bad life right now is obviously reaping the consequences of choices made in the past.

What can we make of all this?  Two quick conclusions from this very quick overview: First, religious beliefs have consequences in everyday life.  You may know that a feature of life today in India, where Hinduism is primarily practiced, is the caste system.  The caste system divides people into different groups from lowest to highest.  A person’s caste is determined by the caste of their parents, and a person’s caste determines what they do for a living, where they live, who they marry, and even what they eat.  Overall, the lower one’s place in the hierarchy of caste the more that person will do menial and unpleasant labor (Hopfe, 103).  People in the lowest caste, the untouchables, handle the dirtiest and most undesirable jobs. 

To the outside observer it’s hard not to notice that this whole system of social stratification is completely justified by the religious beliefs of Hinduism.  Untouchables must be in this situation because their karma from a previous life dictates it.  If the outcasts will simply accept their duty (or dharama) of this life and not rebel against it, they can hope for a better caste in the next life (Hopfe, 104).  This self-justifying social inequality of Hindu religion and society is obviously very different from Christianity’s concern for the poor and outcast.  Christianity doesn’t believe in a pre-assigned reality based on a person’s previous life: instead Christians are called to take special care of cause of the poor and the oppressed.  This may be one of the clearest examples we will encounter of the way in which the beliefs of one religion lead to consequences, in this case social and perhaps moral, that are quite different from the consequences reached by another religion.

A second conclusion, perhaps even more troubling, however, has to do with Hinduism’s ultimate goal of salvation.  As we said earlier, the goal of this entire religious system is for the individual to achieve intimate union with the deity Brahman.  But as we noted, one of the primary characteristics of Brahman is that this god is totally and completely impersonal.  Brahman is almost less a god than simply an amalgamation of souls.  You might say that Brahman wouldn’t know us from Adam, or perhaps more precisely put, from any atom, since all matter is part of what Brahman is.  So it is that Ravi Zacharias, who is himself an Indian Christian, has noted that however much we may respect the intent of such teaching, seeking intimate union with an entity that is impersonal simply doesn’t make sense. 

Another way we might say this is that, from a Christian perspective, personal union with an impersonal deity does not satisfy our yearning for relationship, our longing for communion.  As Christians we propose and purpose to know a God who has been revealed as Father, we believe we can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, a relationship in which we remain distinct as individuals, and yet which promises a communion that is almost beyond what we can imagine. 

Jesus makes it clear in John 6 that in offering himself as our spiritual food we are given access to the very heart of God, and to a life that is eternal and abundant.  Jesus said, “I am the bread of life…the living bread that came down from heaven.  Whoever eats of this bread will live forever…” (John 6)

Religions of the World (8^th edition), Lewis M. Hopfe and Mark R. Woodward, Prentice Hall: New Jersey, 2001)

Ravi Zacharias, Jesus Among Other Gods, W Publishing Group, Nashville, TN: 2000.

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“Buddhism and the Way The Truth and the Life” - Dr. Brant D. Baker

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“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me  In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴And you know the way to the place where I am going.”  Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.                       John 14:1-6

Did you hear about the Buddhist who went up to the hot dog stand and said, “Make me one with everything”?  Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal?  He wanted to transcend dental medication.

            Today we consider the third of five world religions, looking for points of comparison and contrast with Christianity, in an effort to evaluate whether all religions are the same.  Hopefully it is becoming clear that they are not the same, and that in Jesus Christ we have a truth that is wonderfully unique.

            The practices of Buddhism were begun sometime around 525 B.C.   The man who history would come to call the Buddha was born the son of a raja.  His given name was Siddhartha Gautama.  Gautama was raised by his father in a rather peculiar way.  Growing up the young prince was not allowed to see a dead body, an old person, a diseased person, or a monk, for fear that exposure to these extremes would fulfil a prophecy that the young man grow up and become a religious teacher.  Thus Gautama grew up surrounded by youth, beauty and health.  He received a normal education, and when he was nineteen years old married his cousin and founded a happy home (Hopfe, 127).

            By the time he neared middle age, however, Gautama was becoming aware of the ugliness of the real world.  He became more and more troubled about the problems of suffering and pain, the issue that we suggested last week all religions must sooner or later deal with.  Gautama attempted to find solutions first in the study of philosophy, and then in a full immersion into the world of asceticism.  It is said that he became a sort of champion ascetic, seeking out anything that was unpleasant, painful, or disagreeable as a means by which he might find release from the miseries of this life.  You know all of those supposed statues of Buddha as a plump, jolly person?  Those aren’t Gautama, those are actually Chinese kitchen gods.  The real Gautama supposedly reached the point of living on a single grain of rice each day, and so became quite thin.  He wore irritating garments and sometimes sat for hours on thorns.  For a time he slept in a graveyard, and in the tradition of many ascetics in his time, allowed filth and vermin to accumulate on his body (Hopfe, 128).

As the story goes, the turning point in Gautama’s quest came one day when he was walking by a stream.  Weakened by his rigorous practices, he fainted and fell in.  As the cold water revived him he suddenly realized that for all of his heroic efforts he still had not found enlightenment.  He went and ate a full meal, and then sat under a tree, deciding he would meditate there until he had at last solved the problems of pain and suffering in human life.  As he sat it came to him that humans are bound to the endless cycle of birth and death because of desire.  It is desire that causes karma, the Hindu concept that if you do good things you reap good reward in your next reincarnation; if you do bad things, you reap punishment.  Desire thus traps people in this endless cycle.  As proof of this Guatama realized that he had desired enlightenment and had sought it through asceticism and knowledge, but when it eluded him and he ceased to desire it, he found it.  We see some truth in this concept in our own lives: when we stop trying so hard to remember what we forgot, we remember it; many couples have found that when they stop trying so hard to have children, they have them; creative people understand that you can’t desire your way to creativity, it comes unbidden when you least expect it.

And so, with the insight that desire is the thing that traps us, and enlightenment is only reached through the cessation of desire, Gautama became the Buddha, which literally means “the enlightened one.”  In many respects the practices and beliefs that Gautama came to espouse were protests against certain features of Hinduism, including the idea of a fixed caste system, dependence for salvation upon paid priests or bribable deities, and having sacred scriptures written in an unintelligible ancient language.   It is important to realize that in its rejection of gods, scriptures, and priests the original practice of Buddhism is not actually a religion at all.  Gautama’s main emphasis was on saving oneself from a world infected with misery, not with the help of a personal deity, or forms of worship or prayer, but instead through self-discipline and ethical behavior.

Buddhism today has basically two branches.  Hinayana Buddhism, which means “the exclusive way,” is both smaller and more orthodox.  Like the practices of Guatama himself, those following Hinayana Buddhism rely on themselves for enlightenment, and in this regard the monk is seen as the ideal figure.  The Buddhist monk shaves his head, puts on the yellow robe, takes up a begging bowl, and seeks release from life by attempting to escape desire through meditation and self-denial.  If he achieves this goal he becomes a saint, and when he dies, he attains Nirvana and thus release from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.

The larger and in a sense more liberal form of this religion is called Mahayana (Ma-ha-ya-na) Buddhism, which means “the expansive way.” (Review Hinayana Buddism, “the exclusive way,” and Mahayana Buddism, “the expansive way.”)  One of the key features of Mahayana Buddhism is the belief that Gautama was really more than a man, that he was in fact a compassionate, eternal being who came to earth in the form of man because he loved humankind and wished to be of assistance (Hopfe, 136).  And in this regard, it is one of the great ironies of religion and history that a man whose main message was a call to a self-reliant, ethical life without need for a divine being should himself be subsequently worshipped.

            Buddhism in both its exclusive and expansive ways is sometimes called a simple religion of compassion and ethics.  The truth is that there is probably no religion more complex than Buddhism.  Buddhism starts off with four noble truths, first that all existence involves suffering; second, that all suffering is caused by indulging in inherently insatiable desires; third, that all suffering will cease upon the suppressing of these desires; and forth, that the way leading to the cessation of suffering is the Eight-fold Path.  The eight-fold path includes having right views, right aims, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right contemplation (Zacharias, 65).

But as one enters the eight-fold path, there emerge hundreds upon hundreds of other rules to deal with various contingencies.  There are 75 rules for those entering the order, and upon entering, 227 rules of discipline for men and 331 for women.  There are 30 rules on how to avoid the loss of one’s discipleship status, with an additional 92 rules that apply to just one of these cases.

The most common prayer for forgiveness in Buddhism reflects this numerical maze:

I beg leave!  I beg leave! …May I be freed at all times from the four states of Woe, the Three Scourges, the Eight Wrong Circumstances, the Five Enemies, the Four Deficiences, the Five Misfortunes, and quickly attain the Path, the Fruition, and the Nobel Law of Nirvana…

Contrast then, all of the rules of the exclusive way and the expansive way of Buddhism, with the message of grace found in Christianity, which has only one way, Jesus Christ, who is not only the way, but also the truth, and the life.  As we have said throughout this study, the claims of the various world religions are not all the same, and in fact logically exclude one another.  Both Buddhism and Christianity cannot be simultaneously true on this point.  Either there are two ways, or one way, but you can’t have it both ways.

Many people outside of Christianity take issue with this exclusivist viewpoint, that Jesus is the way.   (It is interesting that you don’t hear those same people attacking the exclusive Hinayana way of Buddhism…)   Many Christians are themselves uncomfortable with such an idea, not wishing to offend, such is the cultural sensitivity of our time.  The result is that we are left unsure about whether or not to say anything about the wonderful good news that we have: that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, that he has come to show us the way to the Father.

We might be helped to remember that it is not our claim, but the claim of Jesus Christ himself.  In other words, we’re not trying to force a cultural or religious worldview on someone else, we’re trying to accurately say what Jesus said.  Of course to do this well we need to first decide whether or not we believe that Jesus is truly God.  If he is, then we need to listen closely to what he has to say, because whether we understand him or not, agree with him or not, like it or not, this is what he said.  If Jesus said it, and if Jesus is God, then we need to try and understand why he would make such an exclusivist statement. 

And if we think about it, there might be two good reasons for Jesus to say, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”   First, Jesus said it because it is true, and he wants us to know the truth.  Second, Jesus said it because he loves us.  He loves us!  The point of being exclusive about the way to the Father is not that Jesus is trying to send some people to hell.  We’re all going to hell without this truth!  Jesus came to tell us how to avoid this fate.  You can argue with the fact that there is only one way if you want, but that doesn’t change the motivation of God’s love, or the fact that Jesus Christ is God’s way for us to avoid what is otherwise our sure and certain fate.

Think about it this way: if you go to the doctor and he says that you have a disease and you will die unless you get treatment, what do you do?  Do you say, “How dare the doctor tell me I’m going to die”?  Do you say, “Well, I don’t want that treatment because there are a lot of other people who have my problem and never hear about this treatment, and what’s going to happen to them”?   Do you say, “Well, I’ve read that some doctors say all treatments are equally valid and effective, so I choose to eat chocolate and watch TV for my treatment”?  No!  You do what the doctor says so you can live, and then you start telling others about how to live as well.

Friends, Jesus Christ is the doctor for our soul, the Great Physician.  He has come to tell us the treatment not because he wants us to die, but for the very opposite reason, he desires us to live.  All treatments, like all truth, are not equal nor effective.  There is only one cure for the deadly disease of sin: Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life.  Thanks be to God!

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“Islam and the Good Shepherd” - Dr. Brant D. Baker

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Coming Soon!

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“Judaism and the Light of the World” - Dr. Brant D. Baker

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Coming Soon!

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“New Age and the Gate to Abundant Life” - Dr. Brant D. Baker

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Coming Soon!

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“Amber Sees The Big Picture” - Dr. Brant D. Baker

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Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty, You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to use,?to bring forth food from the earth, and wine to gladden the human heart, oil to make the face shine, and bread to strengthen the human heart.

The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. In them the birds build their nests; the stork has its home in the fir trees. The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the coneys.

You have made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting. You make darkness, and it is night, when all the animals of the forest come creeping out. The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God. When the sun rises, they withdraw and lie down in their dens. People go out to their work and to their labor until the evening.

O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.

These all look to you to give them their food in due season; when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.

May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works!

Psalm 104:1, 14-31

Amber was at the age where she liked to draw: it was a kind of power to watch the lines appear on the page, flowing from her head, through her hand, down to a clean sheet of paper. While she couldn't have named it as such, there was a mystery and a beauty in this act of creation that surprised Amber every time it happened.

Amber was also at the age of wondering. If she drew animals, she wondered where they came from. If she drew a tree, she wondered why they grew. Lately she had been drawing pictures of her house and her family, and she wondered where she came from and why she was here. There was a lot to wonder about when you were only seven.

On this particular morning Amber was finishing a picture for her mother. It was a special picture because it was a gift for Mother's Day. Amber loved her mother, and thinking about her mother as she drew filled her with happiness. Her heart conceived her picture, and so the sun, carefully placed in the upper right hand corner of the page, had a smile too.

The rest of the picture was of Amber and her mother planting flowers, as they had a few weeks before. Amber had liked working together, had liked the fact that they had gotten dirty but had laughed because it was alright to get dirty when you were planting flowers. Although Amber couldn't have said so at the time, it was this goodness of creating something together, something that would bloom in time, that had been so special. And so in the picture her seven year old artistic sense showed the flowers being planted already in full bloom, just as the ones that they had put out were now in full bloom outside the downstairs window.

At breakfast the family talked of the their plans for the day. Lunch at grandma's and a walk in the park were planned for later, but first was church. Amber liked church, and she especially like the children's sermon. It came right after they read out of the Bible, which Amber listened to, even though she was usually drawing while she did.

Today the Bible reading was from the Psalms. It was about God, and some animals, then the pastor called the children forward. He gave them each some playdough, and with it asked them to make a lion, and then a bird and then a fish. Then he asked,

"Can you make a real lion, or a real bird, or a real fish?

"NO!" The children all said.

"Who can?" he asked, and after a long pause one of the children said, because they all knew it was always the right answer,

"God."

"That's right, God even made you and me. Let's thank God.

"THANKS GOD!" they all called out loudly.

"But what about your mom and dad, didn't they help God make you too?" The children all nodded their supposed agreement as the pastor continued,

"And since today is Mother's Day, let's thank mom too"

"THANKS MOM!" they all yelled. Then they giggled and then they prayed and then they went back to their seats.

When she sat down beside her mother Amber she started to draw a new picture. She drew a lion, and then a bird, and then a fish. Then she tried to draw God, but she couldn't, and so she drew her mother instead. She started to wonder about what the pastor had said, and a jumble of questions came to her head. She needed to know more about this special power shared by God and mommies.

In the car on the way to grandma's house Amber finally sorted out her wondering and questions.

"Mommy and Daddy," she asked, "who made me, you or God?" Her parents looked at one another, but fortunately they had been listening to the children's sermon, and one of them said,

"God made you, and we helped."

"What for?" asked Amber. Her father, assuming her question was about the relationship between God and parents, answered by saying that it was God's gift that people get to help God in making special things. He had assumed wrong.

"No," said Amber, "what did you and God make me for."

"We made you so there would be more love in the world." Amber's mother said. Amber fell silent while she thought about this for a minute, and her mother continued,

"Before you were made we didn't have you to love. Helping God make you meant that there was more love in the world because Daddy, and me, and grandma, and God all love you. Because you were made there is more love in the world than there was before.

Amber was quiet the rest of the way to grandma's house. When they got there Amber took out the picture she was soon to give her mother and after some thought she wrote across the top:

God made the whole world to love,

mommy and daddy made me to love,

I made this picture to love you.

________________________________

“Mormonism” - Dr. Brant D. Baker

A Presbyterian Perspective

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Historical Background

The United States of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was a place of intense religious fervor. Traveling preachers emphasized personal spiritual experiences and feelings. Church authority, baptism, predestination, and the origin of the American Indian were questioned and discussed. Many new churches were being started. Skepticism of religion abounded among the educated.

Into such a time as this Joseph Smith was born to Joseph and Lucy Mack Smith, in Sharon, Vermont, on December 23, 1805. The young Joseph received little formal education, but would prove to be a man with an acquiring intellect, a natural curiosity, a fertile imagination, and a keen sense of the religious needs of those around him.

According to the official history of the LDS church, young Smith had his first religious vision in 1820 when he was almost fifteen years old. In his report of this incident, he says that he was confused by the competing claims of the Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists during a religious revival in Palmyra, the town in upstate New York where he and his family lived at the time. So he went into the nearby woods to pray and to ask God which church to join. There he allegedly saw a pillar of light descend upon him. When it rested on him he saw two bright and glorious figures standing above him in the air. According to Smith, one of the figures spoke to him, and said while pointing to the other one, “This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” Smith says he asked which of the various churches was right. He was told that he must join none of them, and that those who believe in them were “all corrupt” (Joseph Smith, The Pearl of Great Price, History 1:5-20)

Smith reports that three years later he was visited by an angel named Moroni. Moroni identified himself as a prophet of an ancient American race of people who were now extinct. He allegedly told Smith of buried gold plates upon which the history of Moroni’s people was engraved. The ancient record was said to have been written by Moroni’s father Mormon, as well as others of the race. Smith was given a vision as to where these plates were buried in the nearby woods, but he was not allowed to take possession of them until four years later when he was 21 years old.

On January 18, 1827, Smith secretly married Emma Hale of Harmony, Pennsylvania, without her father’s permission. Later that year, he reported receiving another visit by the angel Moroni, this time directing him to remove the gold plates along with some special stones, which he was told were the Urim and Thummim mentioned in the Old Testament. Smith says he used these stones in translating the gold plates from a language he called Reformed Egyptian (Joseph Smith, The Pearl of Great Price, History 1:35). His wife assisted him in this translation, writing down the words Smith called out from behind a curtain. No one other than Joseph saw the stones, but eight witnesses claimed to have seen the plates and the writing on them. Emma never saw the plates, but believed they existed. Her father, on the other hand, in whose house the alleged translation work took place, always questioned their existence. The plates were said to be swept away by the angel Moroni after Smith finished his work.

The Book of Mormon purports to be a history of people who lived in the ancient Americas. Its major story begins in Jerusalem in about 600 B.C., just before the final Babylonian conquest. Warned by the Lord, a prophet named Lehi and a small band of Hebrews left Jerusalem, traveled east over the Arabian peninsula, and set sail in boats to the west coast of America. In the course of time, they divided into two competing groups, the Lamanites and the Nephites. Because of their evil ways, the Lamanites were cursed with a dark skin (and thus the origin of the American Indian is explained, if in somewhat racist terms).

According to LDS teaching Jesus Christ visited the Americas to teach the people and organize his church after his resurrection. Two hundred years of peace followed his visit, then conflict broke out, culminating in a great battle in A.D. 421 that ended with the evil Lamanites completely destroying the Nephites. The last prophet of the Nephites, Moroni, supposedly completed engraving the record of these events on gold plates and buried them before he died. This same prophet became the angel who would later be said to guide Smith.

Thus for Mormons, the Bible is the first revelation from God, but only one of many. In itself the Bible does not contain sufficient information for salvation. It is to be understood only as correctly interpreted by proper Latter-day Saints authority, as the Bible is believed to have been corrupted through the centuries. The King James Version is the only acceptable and complete English version of the Bible. To understand the King James Version from a Mormon perspective, Joseph Smith revealed the Inspired Version of the Bible (his own translation). Other books were later revealed to Smith, key among them Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price, and these are also called “scripture” by Mormons. These later books and revelations, more than the Book of Mormon, contain the essence of Mormon beliefs (see below).

Reflection Questions

Why are certain written words called “scripture?”

What makes such words authoritative?

Observations

Despite extensive archeological activity, in America and elsewhere, by both Mormon and non-Mormon scholars, no historical or otherwise independent record of the peoples spoken of in Book of Mormon has ever been found:

-no Book of Mormon cities have ever been located

-no Book of Mormon names have been found in New World inscriptions

-no genuine inscriptions of Hebrew have been found in America

-no genuine inscriptions of Egyptian or anything similar to Egyptian (which could correspond to Joseph Smith’s “Reformed Egyptian” have been found in America

-no ancient copies of Book of Mormon scriptures have been found

-no ancient inscriptions of any kind in America which indicate that earlier peoples had Hebrew or Christian beliefs have been found

-no mention of Book of Mormon persons, nations, or places has been found

-no artifact of any kind which demonstrates the Book of Mormon is true has been found

-rather than finding supportive evidence, Mormon scholars have been forced to retreat from traditional interpretations of Book of Mormon statements

Dr. Walter Martin states the matter succinctly

With one “Special Revelation” the Mormon Church expects its intended converts to accept the totally unsupported testimony of a fifteen-year-old boy that nobody ever preached Jesus Christ’s gospel from the close of the apostolic age until the “Restoration” through Joseph Smith, Jr., beginning in 1820. We are asked to believe that the church fathers for the first five centuries did not proclaim the true gospel—that Origen, Justin, Iraneaus, Jerome, Eusebius, Athanasius, Chrysostom, and then later Thomas Aquinas, Juss, Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Tyndale, Wycliff, Knox, Wesley, Whitefield, and a vast army of faithful servants of Jesus Christ all failed where Joseph Smith, Jr., was to succeed.

With one dogmatic assertion, Joseph pronounced everybody wrong, all Christian theology an abomination, and all professing Christians corrupt—all in the name of God! How strange for this to be presented as restored Christianity, when Jesus Christ specifically promised that “the gates of Hell” would not prevail against the Church (Matthew 16:18). In Mormonism we find God contradicting this statement in a vision to Joseph Smith, Jr., some eighteen centuires later (The Maze of Mormonism, Santa Ana, CA: Vision House Publishers, Inc. 1977, p 25, 31).

Mormon Beliefs

God

Mormon theology teaches that God was once a male human being. He is said to have lived on a planet similar to Earth, and to have experienced basically what we are now experiencing as he moved through life. He wasn’t yet a god at that point, but he was on the way.

“Heavenly Father,” as Mormons call God, obeyed the god of the world on which he lived as he progressed through life. He followed the principles of the gospel set forth by that god, and moved steadily toward the status of godhood in life beyond mortal existence on that planet. He married on that earth, and he and his wife had children and lived a full life. After Heavenly Father and his wife died and passed into post-mortal existence, he achieved the status of godhood. Where the god of that world as well as that world itself came from, Mormon theology does not claim to know, nor does it address the origins of matter and intelligence, which it considers to be eternal.

According to LDS teaching, having become a god, Heavenly Father, or Elohim (the Hebrew word for “god”), planned for some the eternal matter to come together to form the earth we now inhabit. Heavenly Father and his wife then began begetting spirit children. All of the people who have lived or ever will live on this earth are spirit children of Heavenly Father and his wife (or possibly wives); therefore, all humans are literally sisters and brothers to one another.

The process of allowing these spirit children the opportunity to progress and become like their Heavenly Father and Mother unfolded as this god shaped bodies of flesh and bones for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, which Mormon belief locates near present day Independence, Missouri. Their pre-mortal spirits were joined with these mortal bodies. Mormonism teaches that, as the human race grows through reproduction from these original parents, eventually enough bodies will be made available for all of the spirit children in pre-mortal existence to come to earth and pass through mortal existence.

In contrast to the Mormon view of God as having once been a human being, Christians believe that God is Spirit (John 4:24), infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth (The Shorter Catechism, 7.004). There is one God and only one God (Isaiah 45:15, 18, 21) whose authority and power is over all persons and all worlds. And although the male pronoun is used by biblical writers in speaking of God, God is not considered male or female, but, in the parent imagery of the scriptures, carries aspects of both. In the Christian tradition, humans are made in the image of God, not the other way around.

Reflection Questions

What kind of God is it you want to believe in—one who was once human and “climbed the ranks,” or one who is eternal and infinite, one who all people can eventually come to be like, or one who is substantially different from all humanity?

Why is the difference significant?

Observations

Mormon theology appears to want to claim for God what Christian theology claims for Jesus Christ, that is, that the divine took on human flesh and dwelt among us. Beyond the problematic assertion that God “worked his way up through the ranks,” there is the important distinction that, in Christian understanding, Christ’s work on earth was part of God’s saving work. The Mormon god had no apparent salvific intention in mind, only his own reward.

Jesus Christ/Salvation

In Mormon belief Jesus is the firstborn of the many spirit children of Heavenly Father. In his pre-existent state Jesus is known as Jehovah (a non-biblical word commonly used as a name for God). In a heavenly council before creation, Jesus/Jehovah volunteered to accomplish Heavenly Father’s plan for the redemption of the world. Jesus’ brother, Satan/Lucifer, offered an opposing plan that would have eliminated free will and forced total obedience with Satan/Lucifer receiving the credit for not losing anyone. Jesus’ plan was accepted and Satan’s rejected.

Although Jesus was the first born spirit child, he did not come to earth to begin his mortal existence until later. In the fullness of time, Heavenly Father had union with Mary, who was a virgin, and Jesus Christ was born to be the Savior of humankind. He was Savior in that he revealed and modeled Heavenly Father’s intentions for human character, attitudes, and actions. Although the New Testament is silent on the matter, Mormons have speculated that Jesus was married, perhaps at the wedding at Cana in Galilee, to Mary, Martha, and/or Mary Magdalene. The LDS church also holds that, following his ascension, Jesus appeared on the North American continent to the Nephites and Lamanites, and in this appearance established the church and the Melchizedek priesthood along the lines presently found in the LDS church. They also hold that when Christ returns to establish his kingdom on earth (at the beginning of the millennium?), a New Jerusalem temple will be built on a site in Jackson County, Missouri, with a companion temple to be built in present-day Jerusalem (Ether 13:5, Book of Mormon).

In Mormon belief the goal of mortal existence is to learn to distinguish between good and evil. Memory of pre-mortal existence is blocked out, and in their mortal existence on this earth people make the choices that will affect their destiny. The Mormon belief that Mormon families are the best settings for that growth is the major reason behind the large families that are encouraged by the LDS church (although some Mormons deny that there is any explicit teaching on the issue of family size). After death, those persons who have chosen to respond positively to the gospel, be baptized by a man holding the priesthood, and obediently live according the principles and ordinances of the gospel, will achieve the status of godhood and pass into post-mortal existence. There they will beget their own spirit children, and the whole process repeats itself. Joseph Smith himself suggested that very few will achieve the status of godhood.

Mormons believe that Jesus went to the cross to die and thus broke the hold of physical death over the human race. Jesus’ resurrection makes bodily resurrection a reality for all of humanity. Thus he made it possible for human beings to overcome spiritual death and to attain exaltation by their faith in the gospel. But while salvation is understood as the gift of God for all persons, it is exaltation that is necessary to achieve the highest heaven and godhood.

Exaltation requires acts of obedience as specified in the “gospel” (or Restored Gospel). These acts include tithing, temple work, celestial marriage and other temple rites, obedience to the Word of Wisdom (refrain from use of tobacco, coffee, tea, and alcoholic beverages), and the pursuit of moral purity. By obedience to the “gospel” a male achieves godhood with a female. It is LDS belief that this “restored gospel” contains the necessary ordinances for exaltation.

In contrast to the Mormon view of Jesus as the first spirit child of the Heavenly Father, Christians believe that Jesus is “the only Son from the Father” (John 1:14) who exists from the beginning with God. In the mystery of the incarnation Christian teaching affirms that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine, and thus able to accomplish God’s saving work. That saving work is complete in Jesus Christ: there is no “higher” state (exaltation) that we attain by our own works. In Christian belief the emphasis is not on works of obedience but on the gift of God’s grace. Christians accept on faith (which is also part of the gift of grace) that Jesus’ death on the cross breaks not only the power of physical death, but more importantly, the power of sin. In this sense, the atoning death of Jesus Christ is a completed act that opens the way of eternal life to those who accept this unconditional act of grace: no further act is necessary from human beings in the way of works of obedience. Salvation is not a reward for works, but God’s gracious gift to all persons through Jesus Christ.

Reflection Questions

What might be some results of believing that Jesus and Satan are brothers (and thus presumably equal in power)?

What is the connection between salvation given as a gift and the holy (obedient) life demanded by the Bible?

Do you believe that there are different levels of heaven for different groups of people? What does the Bible teach in this regard?

Observations

Having applied incarnational theology to “Heavenly Father,” Mormon theology seems at something of a loss to know what to do with the person and work of Jesus Christ. It seems clear that Joseph Smith, Jr., was trying to link obedience and salvation, perhaps in well-meaning ways. His error, from a Christian perspective (and one that had been made by many before him), was to condition salvation on works, rather than seeing works as a response to God’s gift of salvation.

Beyond this significant theological error, of course, is the stratification of heaven into multiple levels: the Celestial Kingdom for Mormons (which is itself divided into three parts, the highest of which—godhood—is reserved for those Mormons married in the Temple); the Terrestrial Kingdom for honorable men (and women?) who didn’t accept Mormonism; and the Telestial Kingdom for the wicked of the world. In addition there is a Spirit Prison/Hell/Second Death condition that is reserved for Satan and his followers. To arrive at this multi-heaven understanding requires Mormons to go far afield from anything even remotely suggested in the Bible.

Holy Spirit

In Mormon theology the Holy Ghost is referred to as the Comforter or Sanctifier through whose influence wicked desires are purged, and worthy saints move toward peace and perfection. He is the personage of spirit with a body of “refined matter” who is also the source of miracles, gifts, and godly powers by which enemies are defeated and the people of God blessed. The Holy Ghost dwells permanently only with those who desire him and are worthy of him, having received him through the laying on of hands by one holding the Melchizedek priesthood.

Some Mormons differentiate between the Holy Ghost (above) and the Holy Spirit who is the “Spirit of God” or the “Spirit of Truth” and operates in the lives of those other than Latter-day Saints “striving to bring men to the knowledge of the truth” (Smith, Gospel Doctrine, 66-68).

In contrast Christians believe that the Holy Spirit is not something other than God, but the very presence of God with us. When Jesus left this earth he sent the promised Holy Spirit to be his continued presence with us. While Christians would agree with Mormon theology in viewing the Spirit as the giver of gifts, the reception of such gifts is not a matter of “worthiness” or of having had hands laid on us by the right person.

Christians do not differentiate between the Holy Spirit and the Holy Ghost. It may be that Smith, having access primarily to the King James Version of the Bible, followed the style of the KJV which used two terms, “Spirit” and “Ghost,” to translate the Greek word pneuma (spirit).

Reflection Questions

The Holy Spirit remains a mystery for many Christians. What do you know and believe to be true about the Holy Spirit?

Can you support your views biblically?

Church and Priesthood

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not see itself as a part of the continuous witness of Christ from the time of the apostles to the present. The Mormon church views itself as a restored church, not a reformed church. Their belief is that, following the time of the apostles, the authority of the priesthood was lost and along with it certain important practices and doctrines. Mormons are now willing to state that the Lord continued to work through various Christian traditions, preserving the essentials of the gospel, particularly the atoning work of Jesus Christ. But this is clearly not enough in Mormon opinion, and so Mormons see their mission as converting others to what they believe is Christ’s restored gospel.

Because Mormons understand that their beliefs grow out of Joseph Smith’s original vision, in which all Christian churches were condemned as “an abomination,” Mormon theology does not encourage ecumenical cooperation. Although some Mormons do cooperate in limited ecumenical enterprises, for the most part Mormon theology views Christian churches as teaching a corrupt gospel. In Mormon belief, complete sanctification and exaltation are not possible outside of the restored priesthood and ordinances of the Mormon church.

Central to advancing through earthly existence to godhood is the priesthood, which can only be held by males. There are two levels of priesthood in Mormon practice: the Aaronic (or lesser) priesthood and the Melchizedek (or greater) priesthood. These priesthoods have their own divisions, and a man must move through the hierarchy, ordinarily starting at age twelve. Mormon practices uses the word “elder” as a common title given to all who hold any level in the office of Melchizedek priest (“elder” is the first level in this priesthood). Only those holding the Melchizedek priesthood can officiate at marriages in temples and administer other gospel ordinances. This priesthood is also the key to leadership in the church at the highest levels.

In contrast to these Mormon beliefs, Christian theology affirms the priesthood of all believers (male and female). This view of priesthood suggests that all Christians are to be about the work of ministry, without distinction of “levels.” Christian theology does practice the concept of “ordination,” which is a “setting apart” for special kinds of ministry, where those gifts have been confirmed through a process of discernment. But in making this distinction Reformed Christian theology is careful not to set up a hierarchy within the church. Calvin, in particular, was suspicious of investing too much power in one or in many, and thus created the kind of shared power structure observable now in Presbyterian churches.

In further contrast, most Christians recognize that the “church” is the body of Christ around the world, present wherever the gospel is preached and heard, the sacraments administered, and Jesus Christ served. The Head of the church is the Lord Jesus Christ, and no other person can claim that place. Christians believe that a continuity exists between the church of the apostles and the present Christian church, and the Reformed branch of the church believes that the church is reformed and always reforming, as the Holy Spirit works in our midst.

Reflection Questions

Does