“It Really Happened, Once!”
C.S. Lewis, the great Oxford professor, was at one time a hardened atheist. Interestingly, what began the process that ultimately revolutionized Lewis’ life in becoming a Christian was an idea that came from, an unlikely source, an even more hardened atheist than Lewis who remarked to him, “the historicity of the gospels were really surprisingly good!” This same atheist then referred to pagan mythology of a “dying god” who rose again, then mused, “It almost looks as if it really happened once.”
Did it really happen, once?
The popular talk show host LARRY KING was once asked whom he would choose to interview if he had one person to choose from throughout history. King answered that it would be Jesus and he would ask only one question: “Are you indeed VIRGIN BORN?” “The Answer to that Question,” said King, “would explain history to me”.
Why did King say this?
Because if Jesus was not virgin born, everything begins to break down! If Jesus was not supernaturally conceived in the womb of Mary then He was not God. And if He was not God then His death on the Cross really meant nothing at all. Even more, He was a fraud giving “False Hope” by claiming to be God in human form!
Some say that the Gospel’s were written by individuals inspired by imagination not historical realities. But if the Gospel’s are not true, if the Bible is a con, an attempt to CREATE a reality in the readers mind(inspired by an agenda and the imagination of man), the information used by the writer’s would have been counterproductive to their attempt to persuade a public that Jesus is the Son of God!
No one who would try to make up the story of the Lord Jesus, pawning it off as fact/credible, and write into the story shepherds being the first to hear of the news of Christ’s birth, why? Because shepherds were despised in this culture, regarded as thieves and not even allowed to stand trial as a witness. In addition, why would the leaders of the early Christian movement have made up the story of the crucifixion if it didn’t happen? As New York Times best selling author Timothy Keller concisely put it, “Any listener of the gospel in either Greek or Jewish culture would have automatically suspected that anyone who had been crucified was a criminal, whatever the speaker said to the contrary.” Keller continues, “Why would the Gospel’s depict the apostles – the eventual leaders of the early church – as petty and jealous, almost impossibly slow-witted, and in the end as cowards who either actively or passively failed their master? Why would anyone in the early church want to play up the terrible failures of their most prominent leader, Peter?”
The shepherds, the cross, the failings of the apostles… they are all mentioned in the Gospel narratives … BECAUSE they ARE a part of historical reality! Because the Gospel’s are ACCURATE historical accounts!
C.S. Lewis made an insightful observation that ancient fiction was nothing like modern fiction. In ancient times the details for epics and legends were sparse. He noted that the genre of fiction had developed only in the last 300 years! He said, “I have been reading poems, romances, vision literature, legends, and myths all my life. I know what they are like. I know none of them are like this. Of this (gospel) test there are only two possible views. Either this is reportage ….or else, some unknown (ancient) writer …without known predecessor or successor, suddenly anticipated the whole technique of modern novelistic, realistic narrative …”
So, MERRY CHRISTMAS!
And, enjoy reading the “Christmas Story” of the birth of the Savior, Christ the Lord. A story mixed with the natural and supernatural.
Because…
“It REALLY Happened, Once!”