Hello,
I wanted to bring to your attention a theological concept that has really been around for as long as the christian faith exists. It is the concept that the Cross saves us, not just simply our faith. Faith is often a shaky thing for us because our human nature is volatile and circumstances change and generally faith is tested when we face oppositions and problems like we have them in our difficult time.
That is why we must fasten salvation on something else than just faith. And this is where the Cross comes in, which I believe shows us what God has done to provide us with salvation. The Cross and Judgment are two different things and in fact what a human would encounter after death and also during his lifetime is and has to do with Jesus Christ's Cross.
Apostle Paul called this the preaching of the crucified Jesus. We do not simply take an ancient person and venerate his deeds and teachings. We take a CRUCIFIED ancient person, if you will. We take someone who first gave himself for the sake of us and who second rose from the dead for the sake of us. Jesus Christ is the epitome of unselfishness. And while we can take some of his words and some of his life as examples of a deep life, the real encounter with God is in the death of this Jesus Christ.
Now normally when we talk of death we feel disdain or fear. A dead person is either someone we don't talk about anymore, or we are afraid of dying ourselves. But here it is different. Jesus Christ's death means so much more than a normal death. Jesus Christ's death is a death for us, and it should really normally be thought of as the death that draws us into God.
Furthermore, the Cross is a thing of power and we would have to see it as something that speaks to us. What does it speak about? It speaks about the enormous and neverending love of God. It doesn't mean something like the other things we receive or do not receive from God, a blessing here, a blessing there. The Cross means, God loves you. He wants to be more than a human parent or partner for you. The Cross means, God stepped down from Heaven to die for you.
The Cross ends the human ambitions. The Cross ends judgments and the unmerciful facets of the Law. The Cross is for those who suffer from religion. The Cross is tied to the resurrection that means new life. Jesus suffered and was dead for 3 days. How much is that compared to the eternity that he enjoyed before he came to us and to the eternity he rules and lives for us after His crucifixion? This question is the reason why Jesus said that those who would come after him would do greater things than him.
So therefor, if we talk of salvation, we must talk about the Cross. It separates salvation from judgment and actually already completes our salvation. On the Cross, everything is already finished. Jesus died and rose to life. For us. Hallelujah!
Daniel
Good to see you again anti_nietzsche, Daniel !!
Enjoyed your post!! :dsunny:
Truly edifying post Daniel. Thank You.
Thanks for the comments, brothers and sisters!