In the last mail, a short write up on the 'Co-Existence' had featured... the text below is the continuation to it... read on...
The question that Christ put to the Pharisees in Mt. 22:42, “what
think ye of Christ”, often baffles everyone. The
famous oration of Mark Antony to the agitated crowds in Caesar’s funeral [as narrated
by Shakespeare], two lines of that would aptly fit in here… “you
are not wood, you are not stones, but men! And being men, reading the will of
Caesar, it will inflame you, it will make you mad, ‘tis good you know not that
you are his heirs”.
Besides faith being enkindled, and stimulated for greater intimacy
with the Lord, one would acclaim the similar words of the disciples on the way
to Emmaus, “were not our hearts burning within us…” and one would ‘literally’ become
‘mad’, and get sucked in Christ’s love as were Peter and Paul and the other
Apostles when one comprehends what really happened, the most ‘crazy’ thing, and
the most unthinkable that took place in the first century A.D. in that
God-incarnate Jesus and his historical times.
Reading through books
like, The Founder of Christianity, Jesus through the Centuries, Rebuilding a
Lost Faith, the Crucified Rabbi, Life of Christ, Tacitus Annals, Younger Pliny
Letters, Josephus [the historian] and Eusebius himself,
besides the latest arrival the tri-series of ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ by Pope
Benedict XVI, we are amazed to learn and bow in worship for that
historical person, God-Incarnate Jesus, who asked the pharisees, 'what
think ye of Christ?'.
Especially the tri-series of Pope Benedict XVI on 'Jesus of Nazareth'... it is an
account of what the man who sits on the Chair of Peter thinks about the key
question: “Just who was this Jesus of Nazareth, anyhow?” We were asked simply,
about Christ: what is the evidence on which you base your acceptance of His
Divinity? The book clearly and forcefully lays it out. We can take it or leave
it, but not without a nagging sense that we really have not looked at the
evidence.
What Pope Benedict did was to state, in brief, his
considered opinion and research. He concluded that all the evidence available
to us over a 2,000-year period, including the latest scientific evidence,
indicates that Jesus Christ is who He said He was. That is, He was in
fact the Son of God, sent into the world by the Father for the redemption of
mankind from their sins. The Pope proceeds to examine all the evidence that
this position is not true. Tome after tome has been written to try to prove
that Christ never existed, that He was merely a man, that He was a political
fanatic, that He was a prophet, that He was a spirit, that He was almost
anything but who and what He said He was. Yet, once one’s evidence is set down,
it can be examined for its coherence and logic. This examination is what our
Pope Emeritus has done. If some evidence that makes sense can be shown to
disprove the fact, well and good. But it has not been produced yet. In fact,
the evidence tends in the direction that the Church has always said it did. If
the Word was made flesh and did dwell among us, we want to know it, and
acknowledge that it does make a difference to our lives, to how we live and how
we think.
Jesus of Nazareth has affected human thought, human
character, human ideals, and human history more deeply than all the other
children of mankind combined. Even the great Strauss tells us, “Christ and
Christianity represent the highest moral ideals to which the world can ever
expect to attain”, and Renan declares, “Jesus will never be surpassed. His ‘religion’
will forever grow young again… all ages will proclaim that among the sons of
men there has not been born a greater than Jesus”. If such were the
declarations including the testament of Emperor Napoleon, who are secular in the eyes of the
world, what would be the thought of those who hold HIM to be divine?
Buddha is sometimes thought to bear a closer
resemblance to Christ than any other prominent figure of the past. In gentleness,
humility and charity this probably is true. The mighty multitude of Buddhists
in the world attests the fact. But there is still a heaven wide difference
between their respective attitudes. Buddha advanced no claim to be either God
or the Son of God. He longed for death, and taught his followers to long for
it, and to extirpate from their souls the will to live, because the miseries of
life were too intense to be endured. Christ, on the other hand, while
recognizing all the sin and misery of earthly existence, did not proclaim
annihilation to be man’s greatest boon, but pointed to a life hereafter, as the
compensation and justification of the present one. Professor Harnack of the
University of Berlin, although a radical free thinker, uses in regard to Christ
such phrases as the following, “a ray from His light transforms a person
inwardly…His Gospel cannot be replaced by anything, and it stands above all
rivals of that time and all time… the appearance of Christ is and remains the
most unique foundation of all moral civilizations.”
But not only are the words which have been spoken and
written about Christ absolutely unique; His own declarations in regard to
Himself are without a parallel in history… “I am the Way, the Truth, and the
Life… He that has seen me, has seen the Father… I and the Father are one…I am
the light of the world…He that believes in me shall not perish but shall have
everlasting life… before Abraham was I am… Come to me all who labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and lowly of heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls…” who
else in all the course of history has justified such language, who won and has
retained for 2000 years the love and adoration of unnumbered millions, not as a
saint or teacher, but as very GOD!
It is impossible to suggest for Him a single
virtue that is wanting in His flawless record. When one connects such profound
greatness of that God-incarnate Jesus of Nazareth with proofs of His miracles,
His Gospel and the way He transformed the every sphere of the world and
creation, he/she is compelled to speak with the centurion, “truly this was the SON
OF GOD”.
In what way, then did the Incarnate
Son of God, before parting from this earth, provide for the continuance and
advancement of His Kingdom? He did not write a book, nor did He order one to be
written. Instead of doing that, He founded a Church, against which He declared
the gates of hell would not prevail, and with which He promised to be present
while the world should last.
To conclude this little write up,
recalling again that quotation of Cardinal Manning, “If Christianity is
historical, Catholicism is Christianity”. And so, ‘pack up’ O you, Secularists,
Protestants, and even Catholics, [those Catholics, many of whom have got into that rut of secularity
and at times worse than the secularists themselves], and turn to the Church of God, for,
"hers the kingdom, hers the sceptre!
fall, ye nations at her feet!
hers that truth whose fruit is freedom;
light her yoke, her burden sweet." [excerpt from 'the Church of God' by Aubrey Thomas Vere, 1814-1902]
Therefore, the word ‘Co-Existence’ is not a bad idea, but there is better idea…
CONVERT. Now, don’t get me wrong, “getting along” (or coexisting
as the bumper sticker generation calls it) is all well and good, not as an end
unto itself, but as the first of many steps on a much longer road that leads to
conversion to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
thank you,
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