Faith |
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WHO IS JESUS?
At the heart of the faith of the Church of Scotland
is the love and following of our Lord God through his
son, Jesus Christ. But who is the real Jesus? On this
page you can find information about:
The Bible and Jesus
The resurrection of Jesus
Relevance today
Find out more
The facts
The Bible and Jesus
There are those who speak of Jesus the political revolutionary,
the religious guru, the mystic, the faith healer, the
hypnotist, an occultist, a magician.
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The Gospels, which are books in the
Bible, clearly teach that Jesus was no ordinary
man, but was in fact God in human form. |
The Gospel writers wanted their readers to understand
that coming to know this Jesus was the ultimate life changing
experience.
In the Bible, each of the four Gospels of Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John, and in fact the entire Bible, point
towards God interacting with us. They reveal a Jesus
who came to bring a new kind of life, an exciting dynamic
kind of life that brought with it intimacy and peace
with God through having our sins forgiven and receiving
a transformed heart and soul.
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The resurrection of Jesus
The death and resurrection of Jesus, when he rose to heaven
from the grave, sum up the most important moments in the
Gospels as it allows people to come to terms with their
own sin, God’s love for them and to seek his forgiveness,
trust in him and understand what it means to believe in
him and follow him.
It is not an easy step to take; to admit that you have
sinned, to realise that Jesus was crucified for your sin
and to seek his forgiveness is possibly one of the most
difficult steps you will ever take, but it is undoubtedly
the most important one which leads to a new and transformed
life. For those who do take this step of faith they find
and sense the power of God at work in their lives and
are never the same again.
| At the end of Luke’s Gospel
one of the most dramatic stories in the New Testament
is found. It tells of two of Jesus' first followers
who were devastated by his death: |
Jesus died on a cross
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As they walked home on Easter
Sunday afternoon Jesus walked along side them but
they did not recognise him. In the course of their conversation
Jesus explains who he was and introduced them to the
Old Testament stories which pointed towards the significance
of his own life. At the end of the story when they finally
realise who he is and recognise him, they say they sum
up their own experience by saying: "did not our
hearts burn within us, when he talked to us."
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Relevance today
Today, 21 centuries after his death, there is never a
single moment in which less than several million people
are reading what Jesus said and did and trying to apply
the significance of his words and actions to their lives.
Jesus said: "I have come to bring you life and life
to the full" and the Gospels teach that a relationship
with God is the most exciting kind of life that can ever
be experienced. To know the purposeful hand of God in
your life, to know His touch and forgiveness leads not
only to purpose and meaning in life but peace with God
and fulfillment in Him. It is for these reasons; a renewed,
forgiven heart and soul, purpose and meaning to life and
peace with God that make the story of Jesus relevant for
today.
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Find out more
Through reading the Bible and attending church services
you can discover that Jesus transforms the lives of individual
people from within - when they come to the point of trusting
him with their lives and recognising that they need his
transforming love and forgiveness for their sins and then
be willing to follow him the rest of their days. Click
here to find a Church of Scotland church near you.
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Facts
The following facts are known about Jesus' life:
Nobody knows the exact date of his birth, although
it is celebrated at Christmas each year, but the birth
of Jesus divides the whole of world history into the
years labelled B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (from the
Latin Anno Domini, meaning in the year of the Lord).
He never wrote a book, but more books have been written
about him than about anyone else in history. The nearest
thing we have to his biography, the part of the Bible
called the New Testament, has been translated in whole
or in part into about 2,000 languages. In a recent five
year period more book were written about him than were
published in the previous 50.
He never painted a picture or composed poetry or music,
yet no one’s life and teaching has been the subject
of a greater output of songs, plays, poetry, pictures,
films, videos and other art forms than his.
He never raised an army, but millions of people have
laid down their lives in his cause. According to the
World Encyclopaedia of Christianity, 330,000 of his
followers are martyred for their faith each year.
The crucifixion of Jesus
illustrated on a stained glass window
Except for one brief period during his childhood, his
travels were limited to an area about the size of Wales
in the United Kingdom, yet today his influence is literally
world-wide.
He never spoke to more than a few thousand people at
any one time, but today Christianity has 1,620,000,000
followers - over 30 per cent of the world's population
and is the largest religious grouping the world has
ever known.
He had no formal education, but thousands of universities,
colleges, seminaries, and schools have been founded
in his name.
In his own lifetime he was relatively unknown outside
of his own small country, but in the current edition
of Encyclopaedia Britannica the entry on 'Jesus' runs
to nearly 30,000 words.
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