Editor’s note: This is in response to the column “Bible inspires only more questions,” published in Wednesday’s Daily Lobo. In his column, Don Schrader questions various parts of the Christian narrative as presented in the Bible.
opinion@dailylobo.com
I am sure you believed you were a sincere Christian, but from what I read, you seem to be just doing what you were told to do and not questioning anything that was taught to you by your religion or teachers.
God does not want you to be a robot and just take what you’re taught and do what is expected of you.
He wants you to question it and look for proof, so that he can show you his power and wisdom. For one thing, Jesus was not hung up on religion and rituals. He was all about the relationship with God the father and the relationship we have with all our brothers and sisters here on Earth (Matthew 22:37-39).
How could you have studied theology and not know that the life of Jesus has been proven to be true? Many people have tried to disprove his existence but have failed. As for the Scriptures that are copied and translated over centuries, someone has already asked that question, and they are proven to be an accurate translation. Very few mistakes, if any, are found in the Scriptures that were written centuries ago.
Go and do the research for yourself if you don’t believe the people who have done the research and have written what they have found. Read “The Case for Christ” by Lee Strobel or “More Than a Carpenter” by Josh McDowell. They, too, were skeptics and nonbelievers.
Jesus came to Earth to die for our sins and give us an example of how we should live and die to please our creator (Romans 3:25).
God gave his one and only son to show the world how much he loves us, and is willing to give up what is most precious to him to show his love for us (John 3:16). How many of us are willing to die for the ones we love?
Yes, Jesus suffered and went through all the horrendous agony of the crucifixion to prove to us that he feels our pain, and he knows what it is to live in this world and suffer and be hated and killed by the ones he loves so much. What Jesus went through was already written in the Scriptures, and he just came to fulfill the Scriptures, to save us from ourselves (Isaiah 53:5).
You ask, “If Jesus’ crucifixion was not necessary for humanity’s sins to be forgiven and for people’s lives to change for the better, what good reason would Jesus have to go to Jerusalem, firmly convinced he would be crucified?” You have just answered your own question. It was necessary for humanity’s sins to be forgiven and for people’s lives to change for the better and to be obedient to God the father to be saved from hell. Jesus went to Jerusalem because that is where it was written in the Scriptures that he would die and establish his kingdom (Matthew 16:21). Jesus did not make enemies nor choose them to kill him, but he knew the evil and sin that is all humanity.
You ask if Judas could forgive Jesus for going to Jerusalem.
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Maybe, but why was Judas remorseful if he did not believe Jesus was the son of God?
The people who have suffered torture, prison and execution do it for the love they have for Jesus and God the father, and put God first before themselves. There is a heaven and a hell, and Jesus has come from heaven to tell us these things so that we may be saved and be with him in heaven after we leave this world. We all will have eternal lives. The question is: “Where do you want to be for eternity?”
Yes, Jesus and his 12 apostles were Jews, and I am sure that he knew the Nazis would use his crucifixion as a reason to kill many Jews. But it was not the Jews who crucified Jesus — it was all humanity because we are all sinners, and Jesus died for all of us (John 3:17-18).
You are right: any faith having is worth examining, and the more you know, the more you will believe because God is the truth.
Do your homework. May God bless you and give you wisdom to understand.
