The virtue of a cliché is brevity. Its vice is the lack of clarity.
A friend once commented:
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what you believe, but who you believe”
Let’s deconstruct this neat little statement…
It’s true that we don’t need to pass a theology exam before the angels would let us pass the pearly gates. But we probably do have to give an account for our sins.
All that matters would be whether we know the Person Jesus Christ as our Master, Lord and Savior who took the punishment for our sins.
Jesus is a person, not a set of propositions! So far, so good
But if you really think about it, we have already made a propositional statement when we said, “Jesus is a Person”!
And if you really think deeper about it, it’s obvious that the Jesus of Mormonism or Islam is different from the Jesus of the Gospels!
The difference lies in what we believe about this person i.e. “Is he merely a prophet? Did he claim to be God? Did He rise from the grave?”
So it does matter what we believe about this person Jesus.
And it's not as odd as it sounds. When I meet a new friend, our conversation involves a lot of fact-finding... ie what do you do? where do you live? what's your hobby? Basically we wanna know more about each other.
Of course, it can't stay there if a more 'intimate relationship' is to develop.
But knowing more about what her idea of a perfect date looks like is sure gonna help me to know that person better!
A friend once commented:
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what you believe, but who you believe”
Let’s deconstruct this neat little statement…
It’s true that we don’t need to pass a theology exam before the angels would let us pass the pearly gates. But we probably do have to give an account for our sins.
All that matters would be whether we know the Person Jesus Christ as our Master, Lord and Savior who took the punishment for our sins.
Jesus is a person, not a set of propositions! So far, so good
But if you really think about it, we have already made a propositional statement when we said, “Jesus is a Person”!
And if you really think deeper about it, it’s obvious that the Jesus of Mormonism or Islam is different from the Jesus of the Gospels!
The difference lies in what we believe about this person i.e. “Is he merely a prophet? Did he claim to be God? Did He rise from the grave?”
So it does matter what we believe about this person Jesus.
And it's not as odd as it sounds. When I meet a new friend, our conversation involves a lot of fact-finding... ie what do you do? where do you live? what's your hobby? Basically we wanna know more about each other.
Of course, it can't stay there if a more 'intimate relationship' is to develop.
But knowing more about what her idea of a perfect date looks like is sure gonna help me to know that person better!
Comments