He starred at me from across the table. I didn't quite expect what he was going to ask me. It was so public you see. That's why I think it must have been bugging him.
"Why do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?"
In the first place.... I never even talked to him about Jesus.. for obvious reasons.
( So I asked Jesus right there and then.. er Lord how shall I answer...)
I took a piece of A4 paper and started writing what I could remember...
"This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.."
John the Baptist. ( that is I was going to explain the context to him later)
"My Father and I are one"
"My Fathers house has many rooms..."
"Father why have you foresaken me..."
It was really difficult to explain... because soon I realized he saw it from a different perspective.
He said.."God cannot give birth..If he could He is not God..."
"Tell me what is the difference between Adam and Jesus?" he asked.
I told him Jesus was the second Adam...it was difficult to explain...
I asked him if he knew what was Salavation...he said he did... but I had my doubts.
I asked him if he knew who St Paul was...he said he did ...and said Paul was Jesus' friend..then I knew he didn't know Paul..
There was a lot he wanted to tell me and ask me..
But I told him.. we must get this done first ( our task )...give me your handphone I will txt you the exact sentence from the bible...
But he never did ..
He wrote on an A4 paper and gave it to me...with a look that said that it was more a question than a statement
In Malay he wrote:
"Tuhan
Tidak Bermula tidak berakhir
Tidak Beranak tidak diberanakan"
God
Does not begin does not end
Does not give birth is not born
So he could not see how the divine could be human
And I wrote
"In the beginning was the Word
And the Word was with God
and the Word was God
The Word came down from heaven
and dwellest among men
But men could not understand it
The word was the Light of the World
And darkness could not overcome it.'
I have not given it to him
But I will
2 years ago
John 3:1-21
ReplyDeleteA Pharisees named Nicodemus came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no-one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, no-one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
Nicodemus asked, "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born."
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no-one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, you should be born again."
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
"Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."
Believe that no-one can understand the spirit world unless he is filled by the Holy Spirit.
Thank you for this comment. You have made me see things more clearly.
ReplyDeleteI need to ponder more on the meaning of being born, being born again and transformation.
I am troubled by how the evil one uses human reasoning to distract man from a divine encounter.
Jallin, you are a blessing because you see it so clearly and can help us see how we need to be born again to experience Jesus.
Today the father of a friend of mine is standing on the threshold between earth and heaven. We believe he may die any moment. The family is so sad, I can feel their grief as I pray for them. However, that is the human sadness because they are going to be bereaved of the their beloved father. On the spiritual side, they have so much peace and assurance that he will soon be with Jesus. There is no fear, only peace. Jesus said "I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me with live even thought he dies, and he who lives and believes will never die."
ReplyDeleteThere can be such sadness, and yet such peace.... Sadness in the human emotions, but peace deep in their heart of faith and in their spirits.
We can all reason, bnt reasoning cannot take us one inch nearer the reality of heaven. It is when man faces death that man knows that he is frail...a nobody. He doesn't even know what lies beyond death.
But this uncle, my friend's father knows where he is going. Jesus had already prepared him weeks ago...before he became very ill this week.
When my mother-in-law was bedridden, and in the couple of years before she died, she used to ask me to pray for her so that God would take her home. And right then, I had this revelation from God and told her: "God is ever ready to take you, but are you ready to go to Him?" As a Catholic, she only had a bag of hand-me-down knowledge and traditions, she had no personal encounter with Jesus.
But God reached down to her. When I laid my hand upon her, I could feel the love of God flood her like a river. When I checked with her, she nodded her head, caught up in that overwhelming love of God. The love was so tangible. I myself felt bathed in it. This is an overwheling experience. This is the personal encounter that God gave her.
A few more times God filled her in this wonderful way whenever I laid my hand on her. She enjoyed it so much.
Soon, she only waited for me to come and lay my hand on her. Then I told her that God would fill her Himself, if she asked Him. She did not need to wait for me to come. She was in Penang and I was in KL.
But she did not want to exercise her faith and ask God to fill her. She had lots of doubts that God would hear her. Jesus said, "Ask and you will receive." But often, we do not ask because we do not believe. She would not believe that she would be heard.
But my mother-in-law had no choice. She had experienced God's love and she wanted more of it. And as I could not go to her, I beleive she started reaching out to God.
In fact for a long season, I just could not find time to go to see her. God had given her a hunger for His love so that she would began to pray and ask God to fill her.
Then she got lazy, and began to take God's love for granted. Even though with her mouth she said she wanted God to take her home to Him; yet, with her heart, she continued on in unbelief...even though God had touched her. You see, the Bible is right...It says we are sinners (Romans 3:23). The right thing that we know we ought to do, we do not do; but the wrong thing we don't want to do, we keep doing" (Romans 7:14-24).
I became very exasperated when I saw her lying on that bed, so helpless, on the edge of eternity, but dwelling on little unimportant household details around her, like whether or not the clothes were already dried or the plants watered.... In fact, she was keeping the consciousness of God away with these trifling preoccupations.
Then one day, when I was back in Penang visiting her, she had burnt marks all over her skin, and she had been feeling so hot that she wanted to throw off all the clothes she was wearing. The air-con was on, and it was not at all hot! Then I had the revelation, she was being given a taste of the hellfire she was going to, if she did not turn to Jesus.
So I told her what she was experiencing, and she immediately recognized that that was the truth. It was hell she was experiencing. Hell was waiting for her. She immediately turned to God, and then she began to pray in earnest, I believe. After this experience, she often lay very quietly on her bed, lost in the presence of Jesus. One day I asked her if this was what she was experiencing, and she nodded her head.
I had told her, Jesus is waiting for you. He will take you when you are ready. Abide in Him, Remain in Him" (John 15:4) and soon, when you are so consciously bound to Him, you will be with Him before you know it. He will take you when you are ready. He is ready and waiting for you to turn whole-heartedly to Him.
She stopped bothering her daughter who was looking after her, no matter how much pain she was in. And one morning, they found they could not wake her. She had a serene smile on her face. I know Jesus had taken her....
I have other stories of people who face death, and then they knew that they were face to race with reality. At such a time, we have no arguments... They are pointless....
These people staring death in the face know it: it is heaven or hell...
Intellectual reasoning doesn't help at all when you are on death's doorstep....
Such encounters have saved me from intellectual reasoning. I tell people, "Heaven is reall; Hell is also real. Where you go is not for you to decide. It is decided based on the decisions you make right now....
We cannot lie to God; He sees right through into us--into the very recesses of our hearts to know what is truly in our hearts. We can lie to man and reason to man and make our defences before man.
We cannot lie to God...
We have no defence before Him...
We stand naked before Him....
How do we know Jesus is the son of God?
ReplyDeleteyour answer to him was right when you told him about the word. Because the word is God and God is the truth and the truth will set you free.
You see, you cant give a non-believer answers like..
"well, you will never understand until you feel the holy spirit in you." -why?
-simple, because why would they feel something they dont believe in?
The truth is, what your friend is seeking is the truth. Is it true that Jesus is God? this is good, because this is the first step to finding who you are.(although you only find who you are when you are found by God-but that's a whole different story right there)
We need to ask him back a question, Does he believe that there IS A GOD?
if no, then.. how does he know that this is the truth? that there is no God? Did he do all the research to find out that there is no God? is there evidence that there is no God? just as he seeks for evidence that JEsus is God (neither do we have real evidence of this, except the bible-which obviously seems bias to a non-believer)
and if his answer is yes, he believes there is a God then ask him back again..
are you sure?
because to believe there is a God, you must find the truth in that. To find the truth in that, you must look back at your life in a retro-spective way. When you look at your past life and see your ups and downs, you will see God working in every moment.
When you see this, it will take you to the real God. For his question is not really why we believe that JEsus is God..
but.. Is there a God?
Because for him to believe that Jesus is not God, is not to believe there is a God at all.
Because only Jesus is the truth, the way and the light. Whoever comes to me, shall not perish but have eternal life.
and if you dont believe this, then you believe in NOTHING. For there is only one God.
Seek and you will find my friend. that is all i can say.
Thank you for your sharing. We are learning from each other about our God. I believe it is the holy spirit that speaks to you and through you to have the explanation. Jesus blesses you, brother.
ReplyDelete