"...but with faith, all things are possible."
-Sir William Osler
I've been reading Piers Paul Read's book on the Templars. It's been going through a brief summery of the life of Jesus, noting it's importance in forming the Knights Templar. Piers is talking about how, factually speaking, plausible the life of Jesus really was. He quoted a biblical scholar of whom I've never heard named E. P. Sanders.
"We know that He started under John the Baptist, we know that He had disciples, that He expected the 'Kingdom' that he went from Galilee to Jerusalem, that He did something hostile against the Temple, that He was tried and crucified. Finally, we know that after His death his followers experienced what they described as the 'resurrection': the appearance of a living but transformed person who had actually died. They believed this, they lived it, and they died for it." -E. P. Sanders
That quote really hit me. To hear it put so plainly and simply. You could dismiss the whole thing as crazy, but that last line, "They believed this, they lived it, and they died for it." That line alone will make anyone stop and think a moment. What was it about this Man that these guys died for.
Though I know that the bible is not and will never be factually sound, it's nice to read something like this. But I believe that the smallest amount of faith is much stronger than any amount of knowledge. In the end, faith is the foundation of christianity.
But, here's a bonus quote I also read in the same book.
"He was exactly what the man with a delusion never is: He was a good judge. What he said was always unexpected; but it was always unexpectedly magnanimous and often unexpectedly moderate." -G. K. Chesterton
Yes it is very hard to believe that the disciples who walked and talked with Jesus, most of whom died horrible deaths, would die for what they know to be a lie. Throughout history many have given their lives for worthy causes but few have done so for what they know to be an outright lie.
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