Tag: studentchristian

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Conspiracy Theory or Not?

When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we ere asleep. If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. (Matthew 28:12-15)

I do love a good conspiracy theory. As I’m studying a postgraduate degree in criminal investigation, I’m very keen on having many hypothesis and theories when researching a case that has multiple conclusions, so that each can be eliminated to find the right answer. What about the events of 9/11 or the disappearance of Madeleine McCann? Does the Illuminati actually exist? The whole Flat Earth Theory? The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370? How about the one where Jesus’ body was stolen from the tomb?

The Bible itself contains the first mention of the Stolen Body myth. After the Resurrection, some of the soldiers who had been guarding the tomb reported to the chief priests what had happened. The chief priests bribed them to say the body had been stolen while they slept.

Hide-and-Seek

Some people today still imagine that the disciples played a game of hide-and-seek with Jesus’ body. But a load of facts make this conspiracy theory impossible to believe. The stone, for example, that sealed the tomb wasn’t the kind of stone you can skip across a pond. According to textual information and the calculations of two Georgia Tech engineering professors, it might have been a five foot high circular stone weighing around two tons. When the tomb was first prepared, a team of labourers likely would have set the stone in place, using a wedge to keep the stone from rolling down a trench that sloped down to the opening of the tomb. When Jesus was buried, the wedge was removed and gravity did the rest, sealing the tomb so it could only be reopened by a gang of noisy, grunting, strong men. That’s why the women, on the way to the tomb on Easter Sunday morning, wondered who could roll the stone away.

Mark 16:1-3 says,” When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

As well as this, the chief priests requested a detachment of soldiers from Pilate, the Roman governor, to guard the tomb. The Roman guard unit could have numbered as many as sixteen highly trained soldiers. Those who entertain the Stolen Body myth suppose that a scared little group of disciples confronted a guard of heavily armed, battle-trained soldiers. The disciples either overpowered the soldiers or snuck past them in their sleep to heave a two-ton stone up an incline without waking a single man. Then, so the theory goes, the disciples carted off Jesus’ body, hid it and – over the next several decades – endured torture, ridicule and martyrdom to spread what they knew to be a lie!

This is hilariously ridiculous! I was reading an article this week about the research of a Harvard Law professor called Simon Greenleaf. He lectured for several years on how to break down testimony and to determine if a witness was lying. He said, “It was… impossible that [the disciples] could have persisted in affirming the truths they narrated, had not Jesus actually risen from the dead and had they not known this fact as certainly as they knew any other fact.”

What Does This Means To Me?

As Easter Sunday is tomorrow where we remember Jesus’ resurrection, I find it incredible how one man can be raised from the dead. This cements itself in my mind that Jesus WAS and IS the Son of God, the reason for my existence and the purpose of my life. Like the first Christians who saw that open tomb with their very eyes, I can have complete confidence that my Christian faith is based on the solid, historical fact of the empty tomb and the risen Christ… and that is why I believe in the right answer!

Happy Easter!

dontfearonlybelieve

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Why I Would Never Choose Invisibility as my Superpower?

“One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer–at three in the afternoon. Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 

(Acts 3:1-3)

It may sound like a typical nerdy question when you ask someone, “If you could have any superpower you wanted, what would it be?” I’ve asked this question so many times to young adults as like an ice-breaker to get a conversation going. And the superpower that most of them have said is – INVISIBILITY. But why this superpower out of all them?

I had a careful think about this question this week after I watched the first Guardians of the Galaxy. And I came to a possible conclusion. No one can see you. You’re there but not there. You could be in the same room with someone, standing inches away from them and they would never realise it. If they wanted to, they could reach out and touch you – but why would they? They wouldn’t know you were there! You could do tons of random acts of kindness, but no one would see you and it would look like magic. But you could also abuse it… it would be very easy to rob a bank and be totally unnoticed.

In movies, invisibility is portrayed as this awesome superpower where the superhero can disappear to protect themselves from getting hurt, reappearing on the other side of the room completely unharmed. But imagine if that character was always invisible. How could they connect with anyone? How could they make friends? How could they live a happy life if no one could ever see them? The answer is they wouldn’t. The only reason this superpower is cool in films, is that it can be turned on and off whenever the superhero wants it to. It may be fun to not be seen every so often, but I assure you that a whole life of invisibility is no superpower at all.

To BE invisible in movies = POWER

To FEEL invisible in life = PAIN

What does the Bible say?

This blog post all stemmed from a Bible passage I had read last week, being Acts 3:1-3, which talked about an invisible beggar. Consider a few things about life for this man. He was lame; couldn’t walk or stand. What this really meant was he sat on the floor ever single day, begging for small change. All day. It also reminded me of a homeless person sat outside Sainsburys. Everyday tons of people walk past them and ignore them, not even offering them a smile, pretending that they don’t exist. A smile can do so much more than people realise. A person once taught me to never ignore a homeless person, they are still human beings. If you are asked for money and don’t have any, to acknowledge their presence, politely say no thanks and smile. In this passage, this guy was treated as invisible constantly.

I think many of us can relate to this beggar more than we think we do. We aren’t homeless or lame but we can feel invisible. Sometimes it can self-inflicted – we try to be invisible to cope with out own thoughts, feelings and emotions. But being invisible can leave us sad and upset. I know too well. I am quite a shy, introverted guy who likes to keep things to myself, avoiding confrontation. So staying invisible sometimes works for me. But being invisible all the time doesn’t. I have hid myself away in the past at the lowest points, thinking that it’s been the best for myself when really I had needed to be visible. A feeling of community when times have been tough.

How can I take off my cloak of invisibility?

What can I do? Why should I live as a visible person? Once we look up like the beggar did in Acts, we’ll be more sensitive to the people with their heads still down. We’ll get the opportunity to be like Peter and John and engage with the downcast. This is a whole life thing, whether you are in school or work, at the supermarket, or even walking down the street…And this is why I would never choose invisibility as my superpower!

Thanks

Don’t Fear, Only Believe

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Love is Patient, Love is Kind

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’

Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV)

Yesterday I was lying in bed, listening to my Spotify and the song, “Same Love” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis came on. And normally I just let the music play, usually I have a good dance or sing, but in this moment, I felt like I was being called to listen closely to the words. The song is about homosexuality, which I will talk about in a future blog post. But, as the song came to the end, “Love is Patient, Love is Kind” were the words that were sang as the music faded out. These words reminded me of what my God is; patient and kind. But is also reminded me of the thing I struggle to show to those around me. It reminded me of the second most important lesson in the Bible, the underlying theme in a large amount of Jesus’ parables, the thing I wished the world would show – LOVE.

LOVE. Different from the love that you feel in romantic relationships. It’s such a hard word and it’s sometimes really hard to show love to people you don’t think you should show it to. People who have hurt you, made you angry or upset, annoyed and frustrated you. But Jesus’ second most important lesson was to love your neighbour as yourself. I have had to face this dilemma multiple times when something hasn’t gone how I have planned it, or someone has hurt me whether it be through a breakup, an argument between mates or just by someone who has not thought about their words before they say them. And still loving them after this has happened is definitely a challenge, honestly.

When life gets hard, I retreat. I put walls up around my heart and I don’t want to let anyone in, especially if I know they’ll challenge me. Maybe it’s because I’m a tad introverted, or maybe it’s just because I’m afraid of anything unfamiliar or potentially messy, but I’m good at pushing away when I feel vulnerable. It can be easy to classify people (sometimes without even realising it) and therefore not love others truly as our neighbours. At these times, it can be easier to withdraw from community when times challenge us instead of building relationships with people who are different than us. If everyone had the same view as us, there would be no argument against it to challenge us, no open conversations.

“It’s not community until someone you don’t like shows up.”

I read this quote yesterday. This simple and powerful quote made me think hard. A lot of the time, it’s easy to want to extend love and mercy to the ones who seem needy and helpless, but it can be so much harder to extend that same love and mercy to the people you don’t see eye to eye with or don’t get on. You’ve got to think of it like this; if someone speaks up about their beliefs or opinions than look nothing like mine, I’m tempted to shut down or push back… but true community looks like pressing in and engaging them.

Sometimes “loving your neighbour” will mean loving those who have been the first to accuse, humiliate or abandon you. 1 John 4:12 puts it really clear one how to be the bigger person, to forgive and to carry on loving. It says, “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.” While loving other through heartache or anger, you will bridge a really scary (but conquerable) gap between pain and life.

If there is one thing I have learnt about His love is that it casts out fear. His love draws life. His love is life. God’s love is patient and kind. If He can extend that to me, then I can extend it to everyone else, most importantly those that have hurt me.

Thanks

Don’t Fear, Only Believe

 

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