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Ten Turning Points: Some Objections to the Resurrection

Ten Turning Points: Some Objections to the Resurrection

From the series, Ten Turning Points That Make All the Difference Did Jesus rise from the dead? No other question in history matters as much. If Jesus came back as victor over the grave, then nothing else could be the same. No moral teaching, no philosophy, no government, no event in nature, nothing could have an impact approaching that of death’s demise. If on the other hand he remained dead, then all is business as usual, at best. Skeptics of…

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Ten Turning Points: Jesus Rose From the Dead

Ten Turning Points: Jesus Rose From the Dead

From the series, Ten Turning Points That Make All the Difference It is the greatest turning point of them all. Nothing else could possibly compare. It turned days of desperate hopelessness into centuries of joyful celebration. It turned death upside down. Of this Christians are convinced: the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest and best thing that has ever happened. Are we right? I am sure that no one would dispute the resurrection’s central importance in human history—if it…

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Ten Turning Points: Again, Why the Cross?

Ten Turning Points: Again, Why the Cross?

From the series, Ten Turning Points That Make All the Difference When Jesus died on the cross he did it for joy and for love. We saw that last time in this series. That doesn’t tell us much, though, about what was actually helpful about his dying.. Earlier in this series (here and here) we looked at humanity’s fundamental problem, our separation from God due to disobedience. This is a spiritual separation, a lack of relationship between us and God,…

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Ten Turning Points: Why the Cross?

Ten Turning Points: Why the Cross?

From the series, Ten Turning Points That Make All the Difference Why did Jesus die on the cross? Last time in this series I explored Bruce L. Shelley’s observation, “Christianity is the only major religion to have as its central event the humiliation of its God.” Why would God—why would any God—endure such a thing? Let’s see what the Bible has to say about it. Hebrews 12:1,2 is a good place to start: Therefore, since we are surrounded by so…

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Ten Turning Points: The Humiliation of the Cross

Ten Turning Points: The Humiliation of the Cross

From the series, Ten Turning Points That Make All the Difference “Christianity is the only major religion to have as its central event the humiliation of its God.” That’s the opening sentence in Bruce L. Shelley’s Church History in Plain Language. It sounds more like the end of a history than the beginning. Yet the weekend of Jesus’ death and resurrection was the single most crucial* turning point of all turning points. It was the crux** of all history. Christianity teaches…

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Ten Turning Points: God In the Flesh

Ten Turning Points: God In the Flesh

From the series, Ten Turning Points That Make All the Difference God came to earth as a human. There is much mystery in that. Recently I looked at how it was possible for God and man to subsist together in one person. That question has an answer, but that answer could never tell the whole story. Today I will take an all-too-brief look at why he came. I explored this some time ago in a series where I said, He…

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Ten Turning Points: The Incarnation, Once For All

Ten Turning Points: The Incarnation, Once For All

From the series, Ten Turning Points That Make All the Difference We Christians need to be realistic about the way our religion looks to others. Our message is that a wandering teller of tales and miracle worker who lived 2,000 years ago makes all the difference to everyone throughout history. If you don’t sense a touch of unlikeliness attached to that, then you don’t understand your friends and neighbors well enough. They think it’s most improbable on the face of…

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Ten Turning Points: The Incarnation

Ten Turning Points: The Incarnation

From the series, Ten Turning Points That Make All the Difference I had surgery to repair a tendon in my foot last Thursday. For the past five days, to prevent post-operative swelling, I’ve been under doctor’s orders to keep my foot elevated all day long. I’ve been on a couch, recliner, or bed 23-plus hours a day since then. Today I’ll see the surgeon, and I expect he’ll ease those restrictions so that while I won’t be able to stand…

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Ten Turning Points: What’s So Special About Special Revelation?

Ten Turning Points: What’s So Special About Special Revelation?

From the series, Ten Turning Points That Make All the Difference What’s so special about God’s special revelation? There’s much to be said, but I want to close this week’s study with just two words: knowledge and relationship. Knowledge We can know. It’s impossible to overstate the importance of that. Through God’s special revelation, the Bible, we know where we came from, what we’re here for, what life is all about, what’s behind our basic problems, what it takes to…

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