Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | 1 Corinthians 1:18 ¶ For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Corinthians 1:18 ¶ For the message of the cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God's grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God. |
Bible Question: why is it difficult for the average christian to share his or faith with unbelievers. |
Bible Answer: As C.S Lewis puts it 'nothing annoys me more than seeing a group of people swapping ignorance' Since I first heard of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit I read the bible to see the truth. Alas I found nothing in 27 years of reading the bible again and again that persuaded me to believe. True christians say you must have faith and here is where I agree with Jesusman. Faith is a Christian concept that lay people cannot understand, It is 'Churchese' as discussed in Jesusmans posts and to describe faith to someone without it, verges on the supernatural. I have attended many churches in my life and heard many pastors, preachers and vicars describe God’s love and the joys of being part of the ‘family’, It was something I wanted to have, but I could not invest my life in a book without evidence. Any time I have tried to discuss God and belief with church members they use ‘churchese’. A man can’t live on bread alone. I decided to carry out my own research into historians of the time such as Josephus. It was here I found mention of Jesus and what he was doing, as seen from an outsider’s viewpoint. After numerous history books, written at that time, were digested, I came to accept that Jesus existed –as a person. Here I went back to the Bible. My next obstacle was the validity of the Bible, particularly the New Testament. Was it a historical account? Or a novel?. Again Historical records mention the treatment of some of the followers of Jesus and also other events detailed about rulers mentioned within the Bible. I will not go into my studies of the other ‘Gospels’ not included in the Bible, needless to say after a few years reading I accepted the validity of the Gospels to a certain extent. The resurrection was my next difficulty and Psychology of the human mind as well as history provided my acceptance in the truth of resurrection. At no time in History has anyone under torture, which results in death, stuck to any lie. If the disciples were lying about seeing the risen Jesus then the truth would have come out. My wife bought me a book by Lee Strobel for Christmas past and he has investigated this far better than my feeble efforts. At the age of 40 I accepted God into my life, not through faith alone but through common sense language, History, Archaeology and Science. Through these I developed faith. Jesusman was not lowering the importance in the Bible in any of his posts, he was saying that You have faith, Its easy for you to accept Gods word as truth or as 2 timothy ‘God breathed’, not everyone you will speak to will have your benefit. They are like the disciples failing to understand the parables of Jesus. He had to explain in a language they understood. Why is it difficult for people answering the post of Jesusman to accept that sometimes the word has to be translated for the common man. In a day when reading is not something the young do, the slang used by the young is not understood by the old, is it not acceptable to put the word of God into their language – like Jesus did. The Message is a Bible written in everyday language. Will we see the hypocrites who persecuted Jesusman burning this version in open air revivals due to it not being in King James english. Jesusman has gone the way of Jesus persecuted by the ‘true believers’ for preaching an alternate view. He was not saying we should change the meaning of the Word just the words themselves. Our language is so colourful with the number of words which can be used to describe the same thing without altering the meaning. Long live the Message. |