Selah

   Sunday evening I had the blessing of seeing Selah in concert.  Their first album released in 1998 is one of my favorite albums.  I did not have a normal dinner, so I was in need of a little snack after the special concert.  I went to a back area of the lobby to eat two fig bars I brought and to drink some water.  Suddenly the members of Selah came and sat down at a nearby table with their backs towards me.  Then a line of people formed to have them sign CD’s and such.  Being the only person behind the group, I had a unique vantage point for the signing.
   The first person in line was a young lady and she approached the table.  Standing before the trio, she started fanning herself with her hand, and she had to catch her breath several times before speaking.  She emotionally explained: “I grew up with you all.”  She later explained she is a senior in high school, thus she was born right around the time Selah started in 1998, and she had listened to their music throughout her youth.  Todd asked her name, and then he shook her hand.  She explained how excited she was.  Then the young lady, remaining emotional yet becoming articulate, stated: “I was wondering if each one of you could take my Bible and highlight your favorite verse, and then write your name next to it?”  The table was silent for a moment.  The three of them have surely signed countless CDs and posters over the years, but this was a unique request.  Of course they obliged.  I thought her out of the norm request was beautiful, showing she had put thought into having them do something special and something so personal as to involve her cherished Bible.  As they were highlighting, I softly said myself, “God bless her.”
   She repeated again, “I grew up with you all.”  Then she talked with them about one more thing, being very selfless and articulate.  Finally they said she could take a picture with them.  Obviously she was excited about that.
   In thinking about her today, I was reminded of how influential a person can be in the life of a teenager.  When I was a teenager, I listened to much rock music, some of which contained sinful and raunchy lyrics.  I saw numerous rock concerts where drinking and drugs were prevalent.  Praise be to God even before I was a Christian I abhorred drinking too much and drugs, largely due to my parent’s teaching and the death of a friend at my high school.  Yet those groups subtly had an influence on me.  And I dare say often it was not an influence leading me to become a more loving person.
   We Christians have the opportunity to be a loving influence in the lives of students.  That includes you students who are followers of Jesus.  You have a huge opportunity to witness the love of Jesus to your peers.  The number of struggling or lost students is staggering.  Sometimes I hear students make statements in casual conversations with their friends which make me shutter and of which I respond saying a prayer renouncing evil under my breath.  So often I wish I had an opportunity to have lunch with these teenagers so I could tell them the Gospel.  What these young folks need is true love, which they can have being in the ultimate loving relationship with Jesus Christ.
   Jesus can enable us to be a light in the darkness.  Doing what is wrong will inevitably lead to getting hurt.  Doing what is good will inevitably lead to goodness.  Your influence on a teenager could factor into a huge decision he or she makes.  May we be willing to take a stand witnessing Jesus, wanting the best for all young people!
Hunter

How old was the virgin Mary when she became pregnant with Jesus?

   In following Jesus for 26 years, I have heard many Christmas sermons at a variety of churches.  Within numerous sermons, the various pastors stated that when Mary gave birth to Jesus she would have been a girl about age thirteen.  I even read a Bible scholar recently who stated with assurance the age of thirteen.  Yet Mary’s age is not mentioned in the Bible.  And deep in my heart, I was suspect.  My question soon became: How do pastors and scholars know this?
   At Colorado Christian University I gained insight into this question when doing research for a paper on a different topic.  In reading writings of scholars from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s who observed the social culture in the Middle East, I learned about marriage practices at that time.  One well published scholar in 1900 was specific about age: “Marriage takes place early – girls at thirteen or fourteen, young men at nineteen or twenty.  It is not considered respectable for any man over twenty-one to be unmarried.” (1)
   I also read the writing of another scholar who made extensive observations of middle eastern oriental culture.  Note that scholars in the early 1900’s viewed the Ancient Middle East and the current Middle East to be a part of the “Orient.”  In a comprehensive book Dr. Trumbull started out boldly saying that viewing the present cultural practices was just like viewing the ancient cultural practices of the Middle East.  He stated, “The Oriental social life of to-day is the Oriental social life of former days.” (2)
   Observations by these scholars are fascinating to me and I think there is much to learn from them.  However, Christians seemed to adopt the belief of scholar H. Clay Trumbull, assuming that if the Jewish people were doing something in the Middle East in 1901, that would mirror their practice 1900 years earlier.  This is a false presumption.  And those scholars would often give some insight into a cultural practice of folks in Syria or folks in India, and then assimilate it to all of the Orient.  But no one can assume that everyone in every region of the Middle East carried out the same practices either in 1900 or in the time of Christ.
   This is an important issue considering some think it was immoral for God to impregnate Mary with a baby at such a young age.  And even young teenagers listening to these Christmas Eve sermons have contemplated why God would have a girl their age designated for such a challenge.
   I am convicted Mary was older.  I have not read any such facts about marriage practices by Israelites written in the early centuries.  And one of seven recorded things Jesus said when nailed to the cross was a statement to the apostle John to take care of His mother, Mary.  She would have only been about 47 years old at the time of His crucifixion if she was pregnant with Jesus at such a young age.  Yes I know many people speculate on the average age of people living in the Middle East then and they make women who were 47 out to be over the hill.  Yet most Christians I know adhere to historical evidence that John lived to be quite old.  And different regions in the Middle East may have had different death rates.  And yes I heard a scholar say in a class once that if a woman became a widow at a certain age in the Ancient Near East, then her life would be in jeopardy because she would not have a man to provide for her in the paternal ancient Israel culture.  Maybe that was still the case to a degree in the time period of Roman rule.  I still advocate we cannot assume Mary was so young when pregnant.  The Bible does not say this, and we need to be more careful about what is preached from the pulpit about such a delicate issue in my opinion.
Hunter Irvine

(1) E.W.G. Masterman, “Social Customs in Palestine,” The Biblical World, Vol.15, No.4 (Apr., 1900): 270, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3137138
(accessed May 8, 2016). 

(2) H. Clay Trumbull, Studies in Oriental Social Life and Gleams from the East on the Sacred Page
(London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1895), 1.

Why was Jesus baptized?

At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:9-11 NIV).

   I use to daydream about teaching the New Testament Survey course at Colorado Christian University when I was a student there.  I loved that class.  Contemplating what textbook I would use, I never landed on a sure choice until now.  A book I am currently reading by Dr. Robert Stein is Christ-centered, academic, and reads smoothly.  I think the book has a shortcoming, yet overall I think it is a classic.
   The big question so poignantly raised by Dr. Stein is: Why did Jesus need to get baptized if He is without sin?  Dr. Stein stated repentance and baptism go hand in hand, and I agree, based on verses such as Mark 1:4 -  “And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (NIV).  Dr. Stein gave the explanation that the baptism of Jesus was unique, serving the purpose of kicking off His messianic mission.  I agree, yet I think there is even more to His baptism.
   Dr. Stein makes the observation that Mark uses the same term to describe the opening of heaven after the baptism of Jesus as he used to describe the ripping of the veil in the temple after the death of Jesus.  That fact became the connection for me in answering the question.  I think the reason Jesus demanded baptism was that as He was “fulfilling all righteousness” as is recorded by Matthew, he was repenting on behalf of people.  Now His baptism was not vicarious as His atonement on the cross was.  Rather it was a repenting of sins in conjunction with people.  He who had no sin was identifying with our sins.  It was an act to start His ministry on earth which would lead to His taking the sins of people upon Himself and becoming the sacrificial atonement on the cross.  He was not getting baptized for Himself.  He was getting baptized for us.
   Think about it: Jesus, who was without sin, got baptized, and then heaven was torn apart and God spoke in an audible manner.  Repentant people were blessed to hear the voice of God the Father, and to learn that Jesus was the Son of God.  A special interaction with God and people had begun.  About three years later, Jesus was the substitute for sins, dying on a cross.  After the Atonement was made, the curtain which separated the Most Holy Place, where the presence of God was signified over the Ark of the Covenant, and the Holy Place, was torn in two.  That torn veil symbolized that people now could be united with God.  That was the messianic mission from the beginning.
   I add that some people base their theology regarding water baptism based on the details of Jesus baptism.  Jesus commanded that believers be baptized (Matthew 28:19).  But Christ’s baptism, and Acts 2:38, are reasons a number of Christians think that in order to get baptized with the Holy Spirit a person first needs to be baptized by water.  Yet we should not take our baptism doctrine from this great event, because Jesus’ baptism was unique.  He who had no sin was confessing sins on behalf of humanity, and as Dr. Stein explains, it was the monumental occasion when the Anointed One was anointed with the Holy Spirit to carry out the messianic mission. (1)  In order for a person to be baptized by Jesus with the Holy Spirit, a person needs to believe in Jesus, the Anointed One, who took the consequences of sins and spiritually and physically died in our place.
Hunter Irvine

(1) Robert Stein, Jesus the Messiah: A Survey
of the Life of Christ (Downers Grove: InterVarsity 
Press, 1996), 97 and 100.

Baptism

“…baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” (Matthew 28:19 NIV).

   Today is my 26th spiritual birthday and I am grateful to God!  I did something great last year during this week – I got baptized in water as a believer in Jesus.  Quite unusual for a person who had been following Jesus for 25 years and who does vocational ministry work.  Yet I was totally blessed.

   My parents had me baptized as a wee infant.  They were not Christians at the time, but considered it a proper cultural practice.  Twenty-two years later, on April 15, 1990, I truly believed in Jesus, receiving Him.  Later that year I worshiped in a church near my home.  One Sunday the minister baptized two adult twin brothers, an act I had never seen, having only witnessed an infant baptism.

   Watching the caring minister baptize those two young men, I had an urge to be baptized.  But I was familiar with the Nicene Creed which was recited frequently in the Anglican church I attended in the months preceding my conversion.  That historic creed includes the statement, “We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.”  Thus I figured you were not supposed to get baptized again.  And only a few months later I returned to that church which had been a blessing for me before I turned to Jesus.  I ended up committing there for over six years, yet I never forgot the baptism urge I had as a new Christian.

   As I grew in the love and knowledge of Jesus in my early Christian years, I became convicted from the Bible that water baptism should be the personal choice of a person who believes in Jesus.  Yet I remained in the same Anglican church and accepted my infant baptism.  I still tried to be an influence for correct doctrine, which brought some strife in my church life.  It finally came to the point after I started serving as a youth pastor that when the minister performed infant baptisms, which was infrequent, I would leave the sanctuary of my church and pray in the foyer, not making a scene.  But several times I was vocal in expressing my conviction, once to a bishop I admired in that denomination.  He actually took my conviction better than many.  I realize now I brought hardship upon myself remaining so long in a community which did not better fit my doctrinal convictions.  I am thankful that when I was in churches of that denomination, I was loyal to my brothers and sisters, and I still love them though I have left.

   What I did not realize was infant baptism is a practice extremely rooted in Christian history because of it’s solidification by Bishop Augustine.  That man advocated all infants should be baptized in water because his Biblical interpretation was a person needs to be baptized in water in order to be saved from h-ll.  Thus in order not to leave out children, which was caring, he advocated infant baptism.  Questions then arose: How do we know if an infant is truly going to believe?  What about the infants who are not baptized because their parents are not Christians?  Augustine then injected his doctrine of predestination saying everyone’s salvation is totally in God’s hands since God predetermined before time who would be saved and who would be designated to h-ll, so we do not need to worry about the details, rather just try and baptize all the infants you can. (1)  The crazy thing is I was a Christian for many years before learning about all this.  I also learned from the same book that John Chrysostom was not in agreement with Augustine concerning the predestination doctrine.  Though Augustine’s doctrine was not the sole doctrine, his writing was the most influential down through all these centuries, and he is still influential today.

   Yet I am in utter agreement with many followers of Jesus throughout the centuries and today who interpret the Bible to teach that the atonement of Jesus was unlimited.  Jesus Christ died for everyone!  And He gives us the free will to decide as to whether we want to receive His gift of salvation.  And I am in agreement with many followers of Jesus who interpret the Bible to teach salvation by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  There is nothing more you need to do to be saved.  All believers should be baptized in water, but that is not what brings salvation.  For the person who believes in Jesus, he or she is then forgiven of his or her sins, and then that person is baptized with the Holy Spirit by Jesus (John 1:33)!  Baptism by the Holy Spirit should precede baptism done by a human, since water baptism is meant to be an outward sign of what has spiritually taken place in a person’s heart.

   To complete my personal story, one summer day I was invited by a friend to view a baptism carried out by his church at a nearby river.  I had never seen folks baptized in a river and it increased my longing to be baptized.  The final kicker was when I took “Introduction to Theology” at Colorado Christian University.  After writing an eight page paper on baptism, I enthusiastically committed to be “re-baptized.”

   After being turned down by two people who I asked to baptize me, because both thought they had no such authority since they were not vocational ministers,(which I do not agree with), the time finally came in a big way.   Four days after my 25th spiritual birthday, in a church which has numerous students worshiping on any given Sunday during the school year from Cornell University and Ithaca College, I was baptized in water.  All candidates at that church must give a testimony.  I was so emotional I had to read what I wrote rather than just saying it from memory.  I was so emotional, several times I had to restrain myself from crying.  It was a powerful.

   I requested to be baptized in a forward manner, since for years I had been nervous watching people immersed backwards, which is a long story.  Plus most of them hold their nose.  Going forward I did not need to hold my nose.  And in some denominations, such as the Brethren, forward baptizing is the standard practice.

   The bottom line is it was a great day.  I was on a cloud the entire week after being baptized.

   Jesus Christ died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  He was the substitutionary sacrifice for the wages of sins which is spiritual death.  If you believe in Jesus, you will have everlasting life with Him, the One who was resurrected from death for evermore.  Your salvation is not dependent on an act done by a human.  However, if you have not been baptized in water, you should do so.  It was a commandment of Jesus!  And Jesus baptized people in water Himself (John 3:22)!  If you are a believer in Jesus and you were baptized with water as an infant, it is my Biblical interpretation you can accept that infant baptism, though a number of ministers disagree, however I assure you a decision to be re-baptized will be a blessing you will treasure always!  And being re-baptized will be a big witness to others who need to know Jesus as their Savior, Lord, and best Friend.

Hunter

Only if you want to see my baptism:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4ubsCidqcU

(1) Christopher Hall, Learning Theology with the Church Fathers (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2002), 152-153.

Inspired by God - 2 Timothy 3:16

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness… (2 Timothy 3:16 NIV).

   Recently I tabulated all of the Christian books I have ever read since I began to follow Jesus over 25 years ago.  This does not include textbooks I read at CCU where only selective chapters were assigned.  The grand total of books is 103!  I am grateful to God.

   If I had to do it again, I would read a little less and spend time with people a little more.  Yet the vast majority of books I read were a blessing to me.  God used each one of those 103 books to teach me something.

   I make two points: first, my favorite book continues to be Basic Christianity by John Stott.  Though I have some doctrinal differences with Dr. Stott, he is my favorite author, and Basic Christianity gets to the foundation of the Gospel for me.

   Second, one of the 103 books I read was picked out of a sales bin in a Christian bookstore years ago.  I had not seen it before, and I have not seen the book in any store or library since.  The book was quite unmemorable except for one statement which has ever stuck with me.  The author said he treasures reading the works of certain Christian authors, and that he even thinks of those authors as friends.  However, he said his most important reading is always the Bible, the book which is inspired by God.

   Indeed the Bible is the book which God has given humanity which reveals information about God which we people could never have learned on our own accord.  The Bible is inspired by God, as the Holy Spirit truly worked in the hearts of the authors in a miraculous manner.  We often benefit when Christian brothers and sisters give some illumination for us.  And we need caring interpretation assistance from people sometimes.  Yet every person who follows Jesus has the Holy Spirit in his or her heart to help him or her understand the Scriptures.  As we reason and learn from these sacred writings, may we continue to rely daily on the Holy Spirit.

+  Thank You Holy Father for your gift of the Scripture!!!  It is through the Glorious name of You Lord Jesus I pray.  Amen.

Hunter

What must I do to be saved?

Acts 16:29-32   The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.  He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”  They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household.”  Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house (NIV).

   Paul proclaimed what Jesus taught, which is recorded in places such as John 11:25, which is that in order to be saved, a person must believe in Jesus.  Jesus saves.  Jesus is the One who died on a cross as the substitutionary atonement for the price of sins.  Jesus is the One who offers mercy and grace to all.  All you need to do is believe in Jesus.

   Tragically even today there is much contention between various Christians about this subject.  Even among Protestant Christians there are some who advocate water baptism as a necessary work for salvation.  Now in this passage, the family was quickly baptized, yet Paul did not say this act was necessary for salvation.  Water baptism is important; Jesus commanded it.  Yet water baptism is not a work which brings salvation.

   Now Acts 2:38 does seem to make the requirement for salvation to be repentance and water baptism.  Yet the first of two great Bible interpretation rules is to take a verse in the context of the passage, and in Peter’s great sermon, he is primarily addressing Jewish people.  “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem…” (Acts 2:14 NIV).  “Men of Israel, listen to this…” (Acts2:22 NIV).  “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this….” (Acts 2:36 NIV).  I think the emphasis here is not on the requirements for salvation rather on the special need of many Jewish people who had rejected the genuine Messiah to repent and to realize Jesus is the Messiah.  They needed to know that baptism was now for them as well, even though it was not a requirement under the Mosaic Law and was usually only an act done by Gentiles who were converting to Judaism.

   And if you do not agree with my exegesis here, know that Dwight Moody did not ignore Acts 2:38 in the book originally entitled Sovereign Grace (1), yet in that same book he makes it completely clear that “works” do not proceed salvation and that salvation is a free gift: “We work from the Cross, not to it.  We work because we are saved, not in order to be saved.  We work from salvation, not up to it.  Salvation is the gift of God.” (2)

   Lastly, to be thorough, I note some get into the issue of whether believing is a “work.”  Taking the Biblical context of the word “works,” believing in Jesus is not a “work” since it is receiving a gift, though it obviously is not an utterly passive activity.  There is still a personal decision to be made.

   Dwight Moody sure did not think believing in Jesus is a “work” by the Biblical definition: “The question is: Will you let Christ come in and save you?  It is not a question of whether He is able.  Who will open their hearts, and let the Savior come in?” (3)

   But some people argue the reason faith is not a work is because it is a gift of God, along with grace, since they incorporate both grace and faith in interpreting Ephesians 2:8.  They go on to conclude only the elect are given faith, the same elect who were predestined to be given grace.  Yet even people of other religions have faith which was not given by God.  The fact is faith alone is not the key.  The key for salvation is the object of the faith being Jesus.  Jesus saves!  And everyone is offered that salvation, and everyone has the capacity to accept or reject God.

   Also some people argue faith is a necessary “work” being needed to not just turn to Jesus but also to produce addition works which are also utilized to gain salvation.  Yet the proper interpretation of Ephesians 2:8 teaches that salvation is a gift, one a person can receive by doing no less or no more than believing in Jesus.

   Now be forewarned, believing will result in a radical transformation.  To believe is to receive, and to receive Jesus is to be changed forever.  However that change, as a person is indwelled by the Holy Spirit, will bring the goodness of God, starting with eternal life with Jesus, the One who made salvation possible.

   I love writing about Jesus.  Frankly, I treasure this blog.  Yet though I have been following Jesus for 25 years, and though I have done many things for Him, and though I have devoted my life to Bible study, and though I have read 103 Christian books, there was a time when I did not follow Jesus, when I did nothing for Him, when I did not know hardly anything about the Bible, and when I had not read a single Christian book.  Yet I started to learn some things about Jesus and about my own need for forgiveness when I started going to church in a historic brick building in Virginia called The Falls Church in the summer of 1989.  That church was filled with a bunch of caring Christians.  And then on April 15, 1990, when I was hiking on the Appalachian Trail on that Easter Sunday, after spending time thinking about Jesus as I hiked since it was Easter, I became convicted Jesus is the way to eternal life, and I did believe in Jesus.  Jesus, my Savior, Lord, and my best Friend has been with me ever since.

   The decision is yours.  The decision about whether you will be saved is not determined by your parents.  The decision about whether you will be saved was not predetermined by God, who offers grace to all, not just a select number of people (see 1 Peter 3:9).  The decision about whether you will be saved is not based on what you did or did not do this week.  The decision about whether you will be saved is your choice: you can believe in Jesus.  Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you" (Matthew 7:7 NIV).  What is the context of this verse?  The context is His offer of life with Him forever.

   See what resulted from the jailer believing in Jesus: “…he was filled with joy…” (Acts 16:34 NIV).  Even in this fallen world where there is daily tragedy and pain, there can be joy in the heart of the person who believes in Jesus, because for the person who has been saved, Jesus will always be with him or her forever.

Hunter Irvine

Scripture Love Blog

(1) Dwight L. Moody, God’s Abundant Grace

(1891; repr., Chicago: Moody Press, 1998), 51.

(2) Dwight L. Moody, God’s Abundant Grace

(1891; repr., Chicago: Moody Press, 1998), 20.

(3) Dwight L. Moody, God’s Abundant Grace

(1891; repr., Chicago: Moody Press, 1998), 52-53.

More than a carpenter

   Once in my youth, I was sitting in the waiting room of Fairfax Hospital in Virginia.  I do not remember who in my family was hurt and I do not remember exactly how old I was, but I remember seeing a blue “children’s” Bible with pictures on the table among other books and magazines.  I do not think I had ever opened a Bible.  I picked it up and started to browse through it.  There was a picture of Noah’s Ark which I started studying.  The rain had started to come down, and people outside of the giant wooden vessel were drowning.  I had a serious question: “Why would God drown people?”  I wondered if God was truly loving to do such a thing.  That was a question I harbored for many years, one that went unanswered.  I did not learn from Bible reading; I only read a little of the Old Testament in my youth, including a bit of reading of Genesis for a “literature” class assignment my senior year of high school.  I did not learn from anyone else; I was not around many Christians in my youth or when I was at Virginia Tech, and those who were friends rarely discussed the Bible or Christianity.

   Yet I did start reading the Bible after I gave my heart to Jesus in 1990 at the age of twenty-two.  Thus I soon learned the reason God flooded the earth: because people were committing much violence and sexual wrongdoing.  This is all explained in Genesis 6:1-13.  For example: “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.  God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways” (Genesis 6:11-12 NIV).

   God does not want anyone getting hurt.  Violence and wrongful sex always result in people getting hurt.  How could a loving God pour out wrath by flooding the earth and drowning people?  Because He was willing to cease the pain and despair that resulted from people getting hurt from wrongful violence and sexual sins.  People were hurting each other; such a horror goes against the will of God.

   One of the first five Christian books I read was a paperback I purchased at a thrift store entitled More Than A Carpenter.  The reason I bring up that special book in discussing the subject of God flooding the earth is because I had the privilege of hearing Josh McDowell give his testimony yesterday at a chapel service at Colorado Christian University.  The testimony of Josh McDowell involves violence and sexual abuse unfathomable for me.  As a child Josh lived a reality full of horror due to violence and sexual abuse.  In the midst of it all, his sister committed suicide and his one brother ran away.  He dealt with the tragedy by becoming a “fighter.”

   Tragedy was compounded until Josh believed in Jesus.  Then his story involves incredible redemption; Josh even told his dad, a man he at an earlier time wanted to kill, that he loved him.  Then Josh’s dad ended up believing in Jesus and being saved.  Josh’s story is a reminder Jesus offers forgiveness to everyone.  The Good News of Jesus Christ is there is redemption in Jesus.  Secondly, Jesus will sanctify His children.  There is change from the start and through-out the life in this world for the follower of Jesus.  And the result is goodness.

   The story of Noah’s Ark does not end with the destruction of mankind, rather eight people, and of course many animals, were physically saved.  Yet continuing history included continued wrong doings, thus people continued to hurt themselves and others.  Redemption remained a need for people and the core of that need of redemption was in the soul of every person.  People were not loving God.  People were not loving other people.  God calls for both.  To make true love possible for people, Jesus Christ came into the world, loving people, loving us to the extent of sacrificing Himself on a cross as the atonement for sins.

   Even those of us who have not committed such horrible sins like the people who hurt Josh McDowell still need forgiveness.  When I was in high school, peers considered me a square Eagle Scout, and I fit the description.  Yet even I in my heart was a sinner.  “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6 NIV).  Jesus Christ is who we people need; He is God.

   Jesus Christ died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  He was the atoning substitute for the consequences of sins.  If you believe in Jesus, you will be forgiven of your sins, and you will have everlasting life with Jesus in heaven forever, and you will be changed in this world, sanctified, to be a more loving person.

+ Thank You Jesus for loving us!!!!!

Hunter