By John Larkins
Last Sunday, Nov. 29, many Christian churches marked their church calendar as the first Sunday of Advent. This important event draws our minds to the very essence of Christianity – the coming of the promised savior.
Judaism, the Law of God given to Moses and developed by many others, including King David, had a finite end about the year 6 A.D. Our calendar makers intended it to be the year 1 A.D. In short, we mark our best knowledge for the birth of Christ. Jesus Christ is indeed the long-awaited savior of human souls. He came to convert the Jews, and us, to His new Way (John, 14; 6-31). God promised a way to salvation after the sin of Adam and Eve separated them (and us) from God’s intended eternal salvation, which follows death. This most holy event reminds us that Jesus Christ, the second person in the divine trinity, was born fully as a man. In order to be able to die to compensate for all human sins, this living sacrifice had to die. Not everyone seems able to grasp the idea that without Jesus’ death, there could be no forgiveness of man by God.
Furthermore, the necessity of being a human being required that He be born of a human woman.
God announced that Jesus’ father would be the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Holy Trinity. The Gospel of Luke tells this story in sufficient detail but without burdening the average human mind with trivia, in that most people get the point if they wish to do so. It has been the practice of this column to rely upon the New Testament in var-ious vintages of the King James Version of the Bible, but the average person here in Etowah County does not seem to have any access to this book or any training with it.
Do you think the teenagers (or their mothers and fa-thers) are able to connect the idea of the Bible with the celebration of Christmas? I have scanned the scene for the word “Christ” in store displays, newspaper ads and stories, as well as overheard conversations, and I seldom hear the word, which is an integral part of the word “Christmas,” even if that is all.
In this wasteland of religion, it seems a bit much to think that we are all going to have our souls saved even though we are not involved with Christ. Yet that salvation is what the whole idea is about. You may someday hear about the Three Wise Men, the so-called Maji. They were known as wise men from another place, who nonetheless knew enough about the birth of the Savior to track by star navigation the route to His birthplace and honor Him with gifts. And yet, here in modern America we have the very slightest understanding of the key to our eternal salvation.
Here is the $64,000 question: among those who actually know many facts about the Savior, I challenge you to answer this question: what is The Way that Jesus Christ, in accordance with the Bible, chose to save our souls?
It is not enough to say, “Jesus saves us,” though that is certainly true. In discussing his own salvation, Saint Paul says, “I run my race daily.”
What race? If Jesus saved Paul, how did Jesus save him? It will not be cheating if you use your Bible to answer the question. Your teachers probably told you that Peter was already saved, he just did not know it. Of course, as close as Paul was to Jesus, you would expect that Jesus would have shared such an important fact with him. When asked “What shall we do?” by the Jews, he was preaching to in responding to Peter’s telling them they had killed the Savior, what did Peter tell them? Acts 2, 14-41. Would Peter’s advice work in Gadsden today? What is The Way?
John Larkins’ formal education includes a BS certified for science teaching, an MBA from the University of Missouri and an MPA from Jacksonville State University in public administration and environmental management.For the past 15 years, John evangelized on the street, door-to-door, in tent revivals and in church situations. Contact him at johnlarkins@bellsouth.net.