True Christianity is shockingly unfamiliar to self-centered humanity living in a material world.
The vast man-made, barren landscape of a religion that labels itself Christianity is testimony to the fact that the fundamental truth at the heart of its sacred text is so radical, few are able to comprehend it, and fewer still are willing to accept it. The preferred alternative is to fashion Christian “faith” in the image of the many religions of this world that promote good intentions, empty rituals and emptier promises. It is an impulse that reduces the astounding events 2000 years ago on a Jerusalem hillside, and in an empty tomb, to the rituals associated with “Easter” and “Christmas”.
The crucifixion is a central fact of Christianity, but its horrifying implications are more than sinful humans can readily acknowledge—that is, when given the opportunity, we killed God incarnate to prove the gross depravity within us. Resurrection confirmed the immensity of our crime. Having placed Himself at our mercy and endured our tortures to the point that his human body expired, God’s inextinguishable deity broke the bands of death and forever signified our guilt.
Our response is to deny the Resurrection and cling to the belief that Jesus was just a wayward religious fanatic who deserved punishment because He claimed to be God in human form.
The ultimate objective is to eliminate God altogether, by “science” and rational thought. Such fantasy is warm consolation to those whose impulse is to pretend they are gods of earth and sky, bending lesser mortals and nature itself to do their will. They cannot under any circumstances admit the possibility that Jesus Christ may be alive and may be encountered by those who do not strive to disprove Him, or even strive to reach Him, but simply surrender and receive Him, on His terms!
It is this gift of God to the penitent beggar who has nothing to offer in return, but gratitude, that makes Biblical Christianity glorious to some and intolerable to many.
It is the one Truth that is both life affirming and life transforming, lifting beggars out of this present evil world to an alternative universe where nothing is familiar but the Love of God, instantly recognizable as if from the longings of a fond, half-remembered dream.
Yet, alas, most of us choose to continue living in a nightmare of our own making.