Dear editor:
Did Jesus actually exist? Some today claim they can prove Jesus never existed. The nations in those days didn't disprove it. History bears it out that he did exist. If the Jews could have proved he didn't exist in those days, they would have. They couldn't even disprove his teachings and if he was a false prophet, they could have done that. They said that if he continues, we'll lose our place in this nation. They even checked all his genealogical records and admitted he was a descendant of Abraham and King David. King Herod and Pilate even testified of the fact that he lived.
I once worked with an atheist that said that Jesus lived and did more to change humanity than any other man; but he didn't believe he was the Son of God, that he was just another good man. If he was a liar and a deceiver, then he wasn't a good man. If he was a good man, then he told the truth. Well, God spoke from Heaven and said that this was His Son and many heard it. Over 500 testified to the fact that he was risen from the dead, and were willing to die for the cause and Jesus said, "More blessed is he that has not seen and still believes."
Jesus spoke in parables to the multitudes because they had rejected Him and they could not perceive spiritual truths. Those who had already rejected Jesus did not have divinely enlightened minds with which to perceive those truths and no amount of explanation would make them understand. Once they reject Jesus, they also reject the possibility to understand the parables Jesus told. Isaiah 55:8: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD." Isaiah 55:9: "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
If they couldn't disprove Jesus in those days and couldn't disprove the truth he told, how impossible is it to disprove it nearly 2,000 years later by men who are ignorant of spiritual truths and can know nothing except that of the natural world. The apostles nearly all died a martyr's death because they knew the truth. Who would be willing to die a martyr's death for a lie? Many were fed to the wild beasts in the coliseum because they wouldn't renounce their Christianity.
Many thousands of people who have had a deathbed experience testify there is a spiritual world and that life doesn't end at the grave and that heaven exists. And poor ignorant people try to explain that away and say they are delusional. "If ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy." "If ignorance is bliss, why do we seek knowledge." "If ignorance is bliss, you must be euphoric." "If ignorance is bliss, then this must be heaven."
Clyde Edds
Jessieville
Editorial on 10/03/2015