|
Gospel leaflet
From How
Christianity Works, by David Porter, © 2024
God designed and created the material that
automatically became the universe.
Hence God is constructive: a maker and a fixer. So he must love us.
But God will need to be both: a
person who inspires change in us, and a Judge.
For Heaven would not be
Heaven for many of us
if the rest of us went
there remaining as we are here.
|
|
Hence God had a Son, Jesus, by a woman.
And, when Jesus was grown up, he was drawn to those who’d done wrong &
knew it.
Jesus never people to
stop doing wrong.
Except for one man,
for whom doing wrong would have made him suffer further, John c5 v 1-14.
The account of the woman caught in adultery (John c8 v1-11) is not in the
earliest manuscripts, so I reckon it’s forged.
He only ever:
proved he was God
and accepted them.
They then:
spontaneously changed
Luke c19
v1-10 Luke c7 v36-50.
(Jesus did lecture the
‘religious’, but to no effect.)
|
|
Later, Jesus was executed, in our place (and,
later still, rose from the dead).
This wasn’t only God’s
enemies winning (or so they thought).
This was also God’s way
of putting all of us right with himself,
of
forgiving us all.
Only then was God able to give his Holy Spirit to
everyone (note: Holy).
God’s Holy Spirit is God’s Power, God’s
muscle, how he himself does things.
However, only those
who’ve accepted Jesus’ sayings
(forgive everyone, love
your enemies, love everyone, etc)
will also accept help to
do them, namely from God’s Spirit.
Only those who’ve
accepted the Son also accept the Spirit.
The Spirit makes no sense
to unbelievers. John c14 v16-17
|
|
Jesus was spat on, blindfolded, and repeatedly
punched,
flogged with a flagrum (multiple whip, with heavy
sharp bits),
had a crown of the Euphorbia milii plant (1 inch
thorns) shoved on his head
then crucified:
knees bent so thigh
muscles tire
so near-horizontal arms
take the weight and tend to dislocate & lengthen
so breathing becomes hard
and blood-oxygen decreases
so breathing tries to
increase and heart rate increases
so you only last a few
days.
Why did the Father, and especially the Son, want to go through all that?
Because that’s how much they wanted, & still want,
to have a loving relationship with you.
You are not lost. You are found.
|