The eNews Week of March 21, 2004
If you would like to contribute to the YAM eNews, send an email to tfbyam1@hotmail.com.
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IN THE eNEWS THIS WEEK
REGULAR HAPPENINGS
JESUS: Cultural Images
TUESDAY TIME CHANGE—now at SEVEN!
EVENT SUGGESTIONS
SUNDAY GATHERING— Jesus Offers Forgiveness
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REGULAR HAPPENINGS
WORSHIP @ 8:45 am—Main Worship Center
EAT, Last Sunday @ 11:45 am
Next EAT is March 28
Meet in the TFB patio
SUNDAY GATHERING @ 10 am on Sundays—TFB College Room
BIBLE STUDY @ 7:00-9:00 pm on Tuesdays— TFB College Room
Current Study: True Spirituality? Learning Jesus in the Gospel According to Mark
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JESUS: Cultural Images
Action Figure Jesus
Dress up Jesus
Sports Figurine Jesus (especially note the basketball Jesus, holding the basketball so the children cannot reach it!)
Porcelain Jesus
Glow in the Dark Jesus
And, of course, Buddy Jesus
This year Passion Jesus entered the scene. Obviously, this image is in a different category that the ones listed above, but issues still come up. And all of a sudden, Jesus is popular once again. Today, Pastor Charlie talked about two misperceptions of Jesus—Moral Teacher and Myth—that cannot stand against the evidence. At the Gathering, we talked about how the most offensive thing we can say is that Jesus is the only way to God.
How do we clearly speak this offensive truth in a world that loves Jesus—sometimes makes fun of Jesus—but mostly, misunderstands Jesus?
How do we speak this truth in a way that communicates the offense without being offensive?
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TUESDAY TIME CHANGE—now at SEVEN!
Tuesday Bible Study now starts at 7 pm (or thereabouts). Bring dinner if you wish—Laura Sp. does! —and come walk through The Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Mark.
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EVENT SUGGESTIONS
Wednesday Bingo
Maritime Museum
Horse racing
Bowling night (last went 1/30/04)
Food night
Summer at a lake
Camping at Catalina
Road Trip
Super bowl
Baseball
Hockey
Basketball
El Capitan
Yosemite
Mini-Golf
Have a suggestion? Send an email to tfbyam1@hotmail.com or share your idea at one of the gatherings: Sunday 10 am or Tuesday 8 pm
Would you like to get involved in planning an event? …are you ready?... Send an email to tfbyam1@hotmail.com or share your idea at one of the gatherings: Sunday 10 am or Tuesday 8 pm
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SUNDAY GATHERING— Jesus Offers Forgiveness
About Jesus, part 3
WHO JESUS IS – THE SON OF GOD
March 21, 2004
CLAIM #1 – JESUS WAS JUST A GOOD MORAL TEACHER.
“It was more than I could believe that Jesus was the only incarnate Son of God and that only he who believed in him would have everlasting life. If God could have sons, all of us were his sons. If Jesus was like God, or God Himself, then all men were like God and could be God Himself…. I could accept Jesus as a martyr, an embodiment of sacrifice, and a divine teacher, but not as the most perfect man ever born. His death on the cross was a great example to the world, but that there was anything like a mysterious or miraculous virtue in it, my heart could not accept” (Gandhi, The Message of Jesus Christ, p. 12).
“I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool; you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon, or you can fall at His feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about Him being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, pp. 55-56).
CLAIM #2 – JESUS IS A MYTH.
“Myth” - an invented story, a fictitious person
Jesus is a myth can mean that He never actually existed in history.
“The memory of any stretch of years eventually resolves to a list of names, and one of the useful ways of recalling the past two millenniums is by listing the people who acquired great power. Muhammad, Catherine the Great, Marx, Gandhi, Hitler, Roosevelt, Stalin and Mao come quickly to mind. There’s no question that each of those figures changed the lives of millions and evoked responses from worship through hatred. It would require much exotic calculation, however; to deny that the single most powerful figure—not merely in these two millenniums but in all human history—has been Jesus of Nazareth. Not only is the prevalent system of denoting the years based on an erroneous 6th century calculation of the date of his birth, but a serious argument can be made that no one else’s life has proved remotely as powerful and enduring as that of Jesus” (Man of the Millennium, Time Magazine, Dec. 6, 1999).
“I am a historian; I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.” (H.G. Wells)
Jesus is a myth can mean it is a myth created by His followers that He is the Son of God.
“As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene. Jesus is too colossal for the pen of phrasemongers, however artful…. No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.” (Albert Einstein, Saturday Evening Post, 26 October 1929).
CLAIM #3 – JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD
Matthew 26:62-67
John 8:57-59
John 10:30-33
Jesus is believable because of His sinless life.
Hebrews 4:15
1 Peter 2:22
Jesus is believable because of His miracles.
John 2:18-22
John 11:23-27 & 38-44
Jesus is believable because of His fulfilled prophesies.
If Jesus is God’s Son then…
God must exist and He can be known through Jesus.
Jesus’ life gives us a clear picture of what is the best way to live and how to find true meaning and fulfillment in life.
Jesus’ death gives us a clear path to experiencing God’s love and presence and to live with God forever.
Jesus is alive here and now.
WHO DO YOU SAY I AM?
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