Random Thoughts About Gospel

When we die, the earth gives up an irreplaceable individual, unique even if  a monozygotic twin. What makes us unique, even with the odds being we do have a doppelgänger, are the experiences we have stored as memories. No one in the world has the total memory bank of any other individual. Even if we attend the same event, we will tell different stories in different order to any given person. That thought came with I was thinking how many themes run through the Bible, especially the gospels in the New Testament.

Matthew and John, the gospel "bookends" were disciples. Mark was the nephew of Barnabas, Luke a physcian, neither considered among the 12 that called by Jesus and who accompanied Him in His three year ministry.

Each of the four wrote of those three years in such a way that we can see a "Harmony of the Gospels." From the story of Jesus' conception and birth to the final commission to go and teach others, we see God's hand in inspiring four men to write specific events from their own perspective and still include the message God wants us to know. 

Yet - every single moment of every single moment that the sun shines upon the earth, there are hundreds of people (as I am now) taking time out of their lives to tell someone else what Jesus means to them, and encouraging another person to pick up the Bible, prayerfully asking God to provide answers. I assure you He has in the past, is right now, and will in the future.

I'm not including much in the way of scripture today, but I will leave it to you to find out why I believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God. I also believe that Jesus had two specific reasons we know of for living - one was to teach men how best to reach God, the other was to die. It takes both the Old and the New Testament to give the full story. 

There are a couple verses Paul wrote that I ask that you keep in mind: 

I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:6-9 KJV)

If the Bible doesn't match what a person tells you, please study how the other person could be wrong before you start looking for why the Bible would be. Because the four gospels vary in the order of evenets, some omitting an event, or another giving from a different view  point, detractors often deem them incorrect, copies of each other, or incorrectly translated. Try your own experiment with friends or family covering only one event that lasts one afternoon. Ask them to write it out in their own words - without talking to each other while doing it. Oh, yes. That's always interesting, isn't it - even if just talking together over photos of a picnic!

Those four books do declare the life of Christ, which is good news - but so do the Acts of the apostles and the letters to the churches and people. 

Revelation is different. There is an explanation of what we may expect in the future. Just as in the book of Daniel in the Old Testament, we are not given the whole story, or the timing. It still counts as good news, for it promises more than we can comprehend for those who seek God. His promisse is that He can be found by those who seek Him and hear Him. We have to comprehend what is being offered.

I do hope to be an encouragement to someone wondering whether Christianity is for them. Everyone, anyone, whosoever, it means me and you. I believe it was available to Judas. All he had to do was believe Jesus. Perhaps he did believe that Jesus was going to die. Peter did when he denied Christ in the courtyard three times before the cock crowed. There is a huge difference between the two incidents. Learn more about them.

And I must stop rambling - but my mind keeps asking questions. One thing popped into my mind that I haven’t spent much time considering - how many people would would it take to recreate the Bible from memory? How much could you contribute from memory?