The Bible Calls All Christians To Be Apologists

• Defining Apologetics:

          -Many Christians seem to be under the impression that the task of defending the gospel against doctrinal corruption requires that one obtains a fancy college degree, but the truth of the matter is that all who rightly profess the name of Jesus Christ can and should be actively engaging somehow in apologetics. But what does it mean to be an apologist? The literal definition of the word "apologetics" means "to give an answer". The phrase "to give an answer" can either mean to refute arguments formulated by critics or provide reasons for embracing a particular worldview. Providing answers to arguments leveled against the Christian faith requires that adherents attain knowledge of their own belief system and investigate errors in the logical structures of objections. We educate ourselves in the field of apologetics through the study of the Bible, which can also be accompanied by study aids that agree with scriptural principles. In short, a Christian apologist is a person who defends the faith against common criticisms and provides answers to questions involving theology.

• Why Apologetics Matters:

          -Christians need to be competently equipped with the knowledge of their religion through the processes of scriptural study so that they are able to articulate the reasons for accepting the Gospel of Salvation as it is being proclaimed. The core motive behind learning how to substantiate sound defenses of Christianity is to persuade other people to become like-minded, for it is with the heart that man believes unto salvation. A lost soul is too precious to lose to eternal condemnation in the flames of hell. Furthermore, we need to know how to conduct apologetics because we need to subscribe to a worldview, for that is the means by which we interpret everything surrounding us. And if professing Christians still want to insist that we do not need to be intellectually grounded in our faith for the purpose of defending it, then how can we claim to know that we are correct? Why should we even continue to believe what we profess to believe in? Thirdly, we need to contend for the faith because it is a commandment of God to love everybody else as we love ourselves. A refusal to tell other people about the truth denotes a lack care for them. It is thus an earmark of pride and selfishness. Quite simply, all Christians have been placed under the obligation of defending the faith because our Lord Jesus Christ has commissioned us all to serve as being His ambassadors through the preaching of the gospel to the world.

• Presenting The Text Of 2 Corinthians 10:3-5:

          -"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to diminish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

• Commentary On 2 Corinthians 10:3-5:

          -In defending his earthly ministry for the Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul contrasted between spiritual and man-made weaponry. He did so because fighting spiritual battles requires the occupation of spiritual warfare, which can only be given to us by God through His divine grace. We continually need His divine assistance because He has absolute power and dominion over every stronghold of rebellion. It is through the Holy Spirit that the church has the ability to conquer the spiritual barriers that were erected by the devil to hinder spiritual growth toward God, which is done by preaching the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is the "armor of God" (Ephesians 6:10-17). It is sharper than any "double-edged" sword (Hebrews 4:12), and thereby pierces through all error. We, like Paul, must labor to convert the lost by giving an answer for why we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ died on a cross at Calvary to redeem us from the curse of sin. We, unlike the world, must strive to fight with love, mercy, and peace.

• Presenting The Text Of 1 Peter 3:15-16:

          -"But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander." (1 Peter 3:15-16)

• Commentary On 1 Peter 3:15-16:

          -This passage from the Apostle Peter's first epistle is the clearest admonition found in the New Testament canon to defend the gospel. It explicitly instructs us to explain ourselves when challenged by outsiders, and to defend the faith in a state of good conduct. That way, nobody can justly lay accusations of cruelty or mistreatment against us. Instead, we shall maintain a guiltless conscience. Additionally, we could win people over to Christ by example of our holy conduct. If we keep an unblemished conscience, then people may be persuaded to become a member of the household of God because they will be able to see that Jesus Christ is indeed living through us by our good actions.  In short, 1 Peter 3:15-16 is a strong exhortation directed to all members of God's church to engage in apologetics, and to also remain holy as God is holy.

• Presenting The Text Of Jude 3-4:

          -"Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord." (Jude 3-4)

• Commentary On Jude 3-4:

          -From the quoted biblical text, we see that the inspired writer Jude's primary intention behind writing his letter to the church was to warn about false teachers usurping authority among the fellow brethren, namely people who perverted the doctrine of grace and rejected the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We are told not to believe the claims of these professing Christian teachers, for they are in reality godless men. Consequently, we are told to steadfastly remain on guard against these heretics who taught contradictory doctrine that was originally laid out by the apostles. We are to always maintain the purity of the gospel.

The True Definition Of A Liberal

Various Ways People Interpret The Bible

Proof That Roman Catholics Worship Mary

• Introduction:

          -For centuries, there has been much debate between Catholics and Protestants on the issue of offering religious devotion to saints through prayer petitions, ceremonies, and iconography. As a matter of fact, Rome has made a reputation for itself with its obsession with the spirits who have departed into the supernatural realm. While critics lay the charge of idolatry on adherents to the Church of Rome, proponents vigorously defend themselves by claiming that they are merely giving honor to whom honor is due. On the contrary, the apologetical arguments advanced by Roman Catholics on "venerating" saintly figures in Christianity fail for the simple reason that their own words and actions testify against them. In other words, their behaviors toward Mary, saints, and angels so closely resemble worship that it is hard to believe that anybody would even try denying accusations of worshiping God's creations. Following are a few samples from Roman Catholic literature concerning devotion to Mary and a short biblical analysis of the presented materials.

• Roman Catholics Do Ask Mary For The Forgiveness Of Their Sins In Their Prayer Petitions. Consider, For Example:

          -"Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful...but in thy mercy hear and answer me..." (Memorare)

          -"Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears! Turn, then, O most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us...." (Hail, Holy Queen Prayer)

• May 7, 1997 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist News  Service, 1701 Harns Rd., Oak Harbor, WA 98277): 

          -On May 7 Pope John Paul II dedicated his general audience to "the Virgin Mary" and urged all Christians to accept Mary as their mother. He noted the words spoken by Jesus on the cross to Mary and to John--"Woman, behold thy son!" and "Behold thy  mother!" (John 19:26,27), and he claimed that in this statement "IT IS POSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND THE AUTHENTIC  MEANING OF MARIAN WORSHIP in the ecclesial community ... which furthermore is based on the will of Christ" (Vatican Information Service, May 7, 1997)  

• Pope John Paul II Underlined That: 

          -the history of Christian piety teaches that MARY IS THE PATH THAT LEADS TO CHRIST, and that filial devotion to her does not at all diminish intimacy with Jesus, but rather, it increases it and leads it to very high levels of perfection." He concluded by asking all Christians "to make room (for Mary) in their daily lives, ACKNOWLEDGING HER PROVIDENTIAL ROLE IN THE PATH OF SALVATION" (Ibid.)

• Roman Catholic Doctrine Fails To Stand In Conformity To The Written Word Of God:

           -Despite the fact that advocates of Marian devotion emphatically deny that they worship Mary (and are usually sincere in their attempts to serve God), their own words and actions testify against them. They directly plea to Mary for the forgiveness of sins (along with ascribing completely unbiblical functions, titles, and traits) to her and thus place her in the same position as Jesus Christ. But the evidence does not point in favor of the Roman Catholic Church on this matter, for the Scriptures contradict the notion that Mary functions as a "co-mediator". Furthermore, sincerity does not guarantee accuracy. Only God has a role in the path of our eternal salvation: "I, even I, am the LORD; and BESIDE ME THERE IS NO SAVIOUR" (Isaiah 43:11). Elsewhere, the Scriptures declare, "Yet I am the LORD thy God...THERE IS NO SAVIOUR BESIDES ME" (Hosea 13:4). And again, "The GOD of my rock HE IS....MY SAVIOUR..." (2 Samuel 22:3). The New Testament affirms the same message regarding the exclusive role of the Lord in dispensing grace and allowing people to enter His kingdom. Consider the text of Acts 4:12, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is NONE OTHER NAME under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved". Again, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, BUT BY ME" (John 14:6). And again, "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus: who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time" (1 Timothy 2:5-6). "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for HE SHALL SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS" (Matthew 1:21). "...through the righteousness of God and OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST" (2 Peter 1:1). The constant theme of the Bible is that we can receive the gift of salvation ONLY through God. Therefore, Mary (and anybody else) cannot help us get to heaven. Roman Catholics could not be more wrong on this point in gospel teaching (a terrible misfortune).

• Why Is Mary (the mother of Jesus Christ) Crucified On A Cross!?:

In the photo above, Mary is being displayed on the cross in place of the Lord Jesus Christ! This incident took place at the Chapel of the Conception, which is located in the City of Quito, Ecuador. May God bless the knees of those who have refused to bow to Baal!

Praying To Departed Saints Is Unbiblical

• Introduction:

          -The Roman Catholic Church (and a few others) teach that we can pray to and receive help from certain saints (and even angels) in heaven. In other words, many professing Christians maintain that God has appointed an individual heavenly figure to offer assistance for pretty much every aspect of human life (one figure for each minuscule category).

• The Bible Teaches That All Christians Are Saints:

          -The Church of Rome maintains that "saints" are a select group of deceased faithful Catholics whom it recognizes as worthy of "saintly veneration" through the processes of beatification and canonization. In other words, only a very small group of special, faithful, dead Roman Catholics qualify to be considered as "saints" by the approval of the pope.
            -On the contrary, the Bible clearly teaches that all Christians are saints. This includes every follower of God; the living and the dead. In fact, the New Testament occupies the term "saint" or "saints" over sixty-seven times in reference to all believers. Consider, for instance, that every living Christian at the Church of Corinth was called a saint (1 Corinthians 1:2). Every living Christian in Rome was called to be a saint (Romans 1:7). The average Christian in the Church of Philippi was called a saint, along with all of the bishops and deacons (Philippians 1:1). The Apostle Paul did not write an epistle to dead saints at Ephesus (Ephesians 1:1). The same is equally true with the epistle to the Colossians (Colossians 1:1-2).

• A Practice That Is Not Consistent With The Biblical Pattern Of Prayer:

          -Throughout Scripture, there are literally dozens of references to prayer (i.e. Matthew 6:6-14; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 11:1-4; John 14:14; John 17; Psalm 25; 2 Samuel 7:18-29; 1 Kings 8; Philippians 4:6-7; Colossians 3:16-17; Acts 7:51-58; James 1:5-6; Romans 10:1; 15:30; etc.), and all were directed to Him alone. Furthermore, the theme of the Bible is trusting in God alone (i.e. Matthew 6:25-34; Jeremiah 33:3; Isaiah 48:17-18; Psalm 23; 50:15; 71:1; 91:15; Joshua 1:1-6; Ephesians 5:19-20; John 16:23; 1 Corinthians 10:31; etc.). We have no examples in the Bible of calling on entities other than God, with the exception being pagans. We never see God approving of the practice of praying to departed saints. Instead, we are told that God is a jealous God (Exodus 20:4-5; Deuteronomy 24:4; Nahum 1:2). He will therefore tolerate no idolatry. If we are going to be consistent with the principles of Scripture (which we need to be), then we are forced to conclude that all prayer and devotion belongs to God alone. The Scriptures declare, "Whom have I in heaven but You. And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (Psalm 73:25-26).

• The Saints In Heaven Cannot Hear Us:

          -It is impossible for finite beings with inherently limited abilities to simultaneously hear the requests of every person around the world in different languages. Only deity can perform such tasks (more information on this coming up later in this article).

          -Notice that in Scripture, all occasions involving two-way communication between/among beings from heaven (with the exception, or course, being God the Creator) and earth required the creations to be in the same realm (earth on earth communication), rather than being in two separate realms (heaven to earth contact is never found in Scripture for mere finite beings). Consider the examples of the Announcement of the Birth of Jesus Christ and the Transfiguration. This is perhaps the clearest implication that saints who are in heaven are incapable of hearing prayer requests, let alone intercede on our behalf!      

• Unnecessary Assistance:

          -We do not need any sort of spiritual or physical support from Mary or the saints in heaven because Jesus Christ always intercedes for our prayer requests and is therefore able capable of rescuing sinners from eternal condemnation (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25). Furthermore, the Holy Spirit gives us the strength that we need during our times of spiritual weakness and also prays on our behalf (Romans 8:26). We can approach God with "boldness" and "confidence" as a result of our trust and personal relationship with Christ (Ephesians 3:12; Hebrews 4:14-16). To ascribe such roles to beings other than the Lord is pure blasphemy.

• Why The Charge That Roman Catholics Are Guilty Of Necromancy Is Correct: 

          -The Church of Rome is notorious for its continuous engagement with the souls of people who have died. Many Roman Catholic Churches across the globe boldly display dressed up corpses in clear glass or plastic cases. In fact, they even go as far as to publicly display organs in the same manner. This has been done with pride by the leaders of Roman Catholicism. Annually, millions of Catholics go to see and offer continuous religious devotion to these corpses, which have been called "incorruptible saints". In other words, the followers of the pope bow down before these cadavers, kiss on them, pray to them, and give them many different forms of adoration. Additionally, there are Catholic churches that display several thousand different pairs of bones, and some places are even MADE OUT OF BONES! Such activity clearly resembles worship and is often found in the occult. However, God expressly commanded the Jewish culture to not have any sort of contact with the spirits who have departed into the supernatural realm (i.e. Deuteronomy 18:9-14; Leviticus 19:31; 1 Samuel 28:6-11; 1 Chronicles 10:9-14; Isaiah 19:1-4). Furthermore, the Levitical Law expressly disapproved of tampering with dead carcasses (Numbers 19:16). As a matter of fact, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself likened the Scribes and Pharisees unto "whitewashed tombs" (Matthew 23:27). All of this clearly shows us that God views the notion of tampering with the deceased in any way as being abominable, but Roman Catholicism continues to actively engage and promote meddling with the souls of the deceased. This is the underlying reason that we correctly lay the charge that Roman Catholics are guilty of partaking in necromancy. In short, there are no prayers for, to, or through the souls of the deceased. Period.

• Blasphemy Indeed:

          -Only God is omnipotent and omnipresent. Only He knows all of the thoughts and intentions of the human heart (1 Kings 8:37-39; 2 Chronicles 6:30). Only the Lord has unlimited powers. Therefore, praying to the saints in heaven to grant our prayer requests in pointless because they do not have the same attributes that God has. They are finite, whereas God is infinite.

          -How is depending on entities other than God for spiritual support not in some way suggesting that He is weak and powerless? How does such a practice not imply that God's work for us is not sufficient? How would such implications not be offensive to God? Why should we even pray to the saints, especially when we have access to One who can help us with all of our problems (instead of relying on many who can only help with the area of their own "specialty")? Why not make life easier and avoid going to hell after death? Why is it not idolatry to offer the same prayer, adoration, and honor to a bull, Bible, or a soldier, but it is not idolatry when such is offered to Mary and the saints?

• Answering The Common Arguments That Professing Christians Have Raised In Defense Of Praying To The Souls Of Departed Saints And Angels In Heaven:

         -"We don't pray to...":
            ^Many advocates of praying to the saints argue that they do not pray directly to the saints, but rather, only "ask" them to intercede (intervene on behalf of another) for prayers. In other words, Mary and the saints are only "asked" to pray for those who request their spiritual support.

                *A person would have to pray "TO" the saints if he or she asks them for something because they are not physically present. Furthermore, it would be very illogical to ask somebody in heaven for support when they are in turn going to ask God.

                *The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that Roman Catholics do indeed pray TO the saints in heaven (CCC # 2679). Consider this, "One prays to the Blessed Virgin, to the angels and saints in heaven, but only in the sense that they intercede before God for us" (New Catholic Encyclopedia [1967], volume II, page 673). Thus, the above defensive argumentation is poor because it misrepresents the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church.

            

            -"Prayer is not worship...It's just asking...":

              ^On the contrary, the biblical concept of prayer is always a form of worship. In Scripture, people always worshiped through prayer. And those petitions were always directed to God alone. We never see any followers of God praying to other entities for spiritual support (or for any other reason). Neither do we see Him approving of such activity.

              ^While it is true that asking is a component of prayer, the biblical concept of prayer cannot simply be watered down to "just asking somebody" because it also encompasses other factors such as praise, adoration, thanksgiving, and mediation (i.e. Psalm 25; Matthew 6:6-14; Luke 18:9-14).

             

            -"People are more lively in heaven than they are on earth...Angels rejoice over conversions from sin...":

              ^Just because a saint is very alive in the presence of God in the heavenly sanctuary does not mean that he or she is capable of answering or being a recipient of prayers. In other words, "being more alive" does not justify engaging in prayers to beings other than God.

              ^"Angels rejoicing over a conversion" cannot simply translate into evidence of "receiving a prayer request", for they most probably know when a soul is added to the Book of Life.
              ^Scriptural examples of angles coming down to earth to deliver messages to people or giving us assistance when needed cannot be used as proof of people praying to the saints because God sent them, which is completely different than humans directly petitioning them for support. What if saints and angels in heaven were indeed conscious of events on earth, could hear prayers, and even had the ability to pray for somebody on earth? These scenarios would still not grant biblical justification for people offering prayers petitions to entities other than God.

            -Does 2 Timothy 1:16-18 support praying to Mary and the saints?:

              ^It is assumed that Onesiphorus was dead when the Apostle Paul wrote this epistle.

                  *Such an interpretation is clearly read into the context. It is not logically necessary in order for the text to make sense.
                   *Even if he was dead at this time, the apostle simply asked God to show mercy to "the household of Onesiphorus", which would mean his family. After all, he was very beneficial to Paul during his ministry.
                   *The apostle was neither praying to Onesiphorus nor encouraging anybody to do so.                     

            -Does Revelation 5:8 and Revelation 8:3-4 support praying to the saints?:                                  ^It is argued from these texts that the saints in heaven offered prayers to God (they must therefore be aware of our prayers and are interceding for us).                                                              *This does not mean that people prayed to beings in heaven or that the saints were somehow capable of hearing our prayers. It simply means that God allowed them to "handle" the bowls of prayers. In fact, both texts describe the prayers as coming from saints who are alive on earth and were d These texts do not allow us to pray to saints. Neither do they say anything about prayers being directed to saints or angels in heaven. But if the fact that the saints in heaven got to carry some bowls of prayers proves that they were directed to them from people on earth to answer, then the bowls of wrath, which are mentioned in Revelation 16:1-12, must also be directed to the saints in heaven, since they also carried those. Appealing to the biblical texts of Revelation 5:8 and Revelation 8:3-4 is illogical.

            -Does Psalm 103:20-21 and Psalm 148:2 support praying to departed saints?:                                ^These Scripture passages are totally irrelevant to the debate on whether we should be praying to saints in heaven or not because they say nothing about petitioning saints or angels.

                 ^The Psalmists are simply telling all creations in all places to glorify God's name. They do not in any way exhort us to honor or pray to beings other than the Lord.

                 ^In Psalm 103:22, inanimate objects are told to praise God. In Psalm 148:3, the sun, moon, and the stars are also told to praise God. Should we pray to these things, as well? If not, then why?

Biblical Evidence For Substitutionary Atonement

• Defining Vicarious Atonement:

          -Vicarious Atonement, which is also known as substitutionary atonement, means that Jesus Christ died in our place for sins. In other words, God imputed the guilt of our sins to His Son Jesus Christ when He suffered on the cross. He made our salvation possible by bearing the punishment that we deserve. He suffered for sins in our place. The one sacrifice of Christ was a perfect, eternal sacrifice which satisfied God's wrath and righteousness. As a result, we must choose the free gift of salvation that God has offered to us by trusting in Him and accepting what he has done for us (Romans 3:27-28).

• The Righteousness Of Our Lord Jesus Christ Was Imputed To Us Through His Sacrificial Work On The Cross At Calvary:

          -"For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." (Romans 5:19)

• Jesus Christ Became Righteousness, Holiness, And Redemption On Our Behalf Through His Atonement Sacrifice:

          -"It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption." (1 Corinthians 1:30)

• Our Lord Jesus Christ Took The Curse Of Sin On Our Behalf:

          -"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." (Galatians 3:13)

• Our Righteousness Is Based On The Righteousness Of Christ:

          -"What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." (Philippians 3:8-9)

• Our Lord Jesus Christ Took Our Punishment On Our Behalf:

          -"And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy." (Hebrews 10:10-14)

• For Further Reading:

          -https://rationalchristiandiscernment.blogspot.com/2017/04/salvation-and-atonement.html

Presentation Of C.S. Lewis' Trilemma

• Introduction:

          -This traditional argument which was originally developed and popularized by University of Oxford literary scholar C.S. Lewis has been used by apologists to demonstrate that the Lord Jesus Christ is in actuality the Son of God. In short, this logical proof aims to expose the absurdity of simultaneously upholding the position that Christ was a good moral teacher, yet not divine. It presents the man Jesus Christ as being one of three possible alternatives: 1.) liar, 2.) lunatic, or 3.) Lord. This argument developed by C.S. Lewis eliminates two of the possible character descriptions of Christ in order to obtain the conclusion that He is Lord. It has been labeled a "trilemma" because it presents us with three options, with one we must accept.

• Formation Of C.S. Lewis' Trilemma:

          -"I am trying here to prevent anyone 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 his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. . . . Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God." (Lewis, Mere Christianity, 55-56)

• For Those Who Claim That The Gospel Accounts Were Legends, Consider The Following Excerpt From C.S. Lewis' Essay written in 1950 Titled "What Are We to Make of Jesus?":

         -"Now, as a literary historian, I am perfectly convinced that whatever else the Gospels are they are not legends. I have read a great deal of legend and I am quite clear that they are not the same sort of thing. They are not artistic enough to be legends. From an imaginative point of view they are clumsy, they don’t work up to things properly. Most of the life of Jesus is totally unknown to us, as is the life of anyone else who lived at that time, and no people building up a legend would allow that to be so. Apart from bits of the Platonic dialogues, there is no conversation that I know of in ancient literature like the Fourth Gospel. There is nothing, even in modern literature, until about a hundred years ago when the realistic novel came into existence."

God's Unfathomable Love For His Children

• We Are More Than Conquerors Through God Who Loves Us:

          -"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:37-39)

• Commentary On Romans 8:37-39:

          -This text of Scripture presents us with rather vivid, powerful imagery of the relationship between God and His people. It reveals to us that nothing in all creation can turn Him against us, if we stand for Him. The passage of Romans 8:37-39 contains the divine testimony of God's love overcoming the power of sin in this world through the expiatory work of His Son Jesus Christ. Nothing has the power of overthrowing God because His power is infinite. Furthermore, He is a God of love, mercy, and righteousness. He wants us to emulate His character. It is through His divine grace by which we Christians are enabled to surpass all worldly temptations that the devil strives to entrap us with. Only through the power of our Lord Jesus Christ can we triumphantly withstand all forms of evil. Without God, nothing is possible. But with God, anything is possible. So if God is for us, then what can stand against us?