He Is Risen. He Is Risen Indeed

Yesterday, Ben Voth had a piece at the American Thinker entitled Jesus and Academia in which Voth pointed to a great profundity, the great problem with Leftist thought and theory is that it must contend with the teachings of Jesus Christ:

Jurgen Habermas is one of the most cited international academics and his pedigree among Frankfurt School scholars makes him an important example of what debaters call "reluctant testimony." As a secular academic and scholar, Habermas confirmed for his fellow critical theorists that nothing in current social justice theories can be derived apart from the teachings and influence of Jesus Christ: “Christianity has functioned for the normative self-understanding of modernity as more than a mere precursor or a catalyst. Egalitarian universalism, from which sprang the ideas of freedom and social solidarity, of an autonomous conduct of life and emancipation, of the individual morality of conscience, human rights, and democracy, is the direct heir to the Judaic ethic of justice and the Christian ethic of love. This legacy, substantially unchanged, has been the object of continual critical appropriation and reinterpretation. To this day, there is no alternative to it. And in the light of the current challenges of a postnational constellation, we continue to draw on the substance of this heritage.”

It is the life, teaching, and resurrection of Jesus that brings us to the persistent yet peculiar moment of Jesus versus the intellectuals in 2025.

I have pointed out that Leftists have been around since the beginning. God acts; the Left opposes. God said let there be light, and the light shone in the darkness. God creates; the left tears down. For those that know ancient history, before Christ, the whole world had been abandoned to the devil and his minions, and men did as they pleased, except for the Jews. The Jews were to be a nation of priests; God's way to salvage mankind. In the rest of the world, life was brutal, cheap, and short. In the rest of the world men worshiped these minions as if they were gods.  Creatures like Baal, Astarte (Isis) and Molock.  When someone got sick, it was generally assumed that some "god" or another wanted to get them, and people abandoned them. There were no thoughts and prayers, except in Israel.

Of course, God was not passive about the state of mankind.  He led His people out of bondage to Egypt with great power.  Then He molded the Israelites through all their trials and tribulations.  He announced His plan through Psalms and prophets starting 1000 years before Christ appeared.  Isaiah was perhaps the most specific, and yet the Jews somehow expected a warrior King.  So did the devil.  But God sneaked into history, lived a perfect life, and died as the perfect sacrifice for our sins to reconcile those who believe in Him to God.    

Which then brings us to Scott S. Powell's piece today entitled Easter: the Resurrection of Jesus Transformed the World Forever. Indeed it did, so much so that we swim in a world changed by Christ such that we cannot often see it. All of our laws, until recently, are based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. Hospitals for the average person came about because of Christianity. The sacrifice of children, including abortion was outlawed because of Christianity. Our whole culture would be entirely different had Christ never entered history.

Across cultures throughout human history, people have sought to flee oppression and escape persecution. A recurring theme in Western literature and in modern classics such as Superman and Disney originals, which revolve around the struggle between good and evil, is the need and critical role for a rescuer or savior.

Easter is the celebration of the finished work of the messiah Jesus Christ, the ultimate rescuer and savior for mankind, who sacrificed his life to provide forgiveness of sin -- enabling all who believe in Christ to have a direct relationship with God.

That no other religion makes the claim that it was founded by a messiah makes Jesus the most revolutionary figure of human history.

Still, some assume Christianity is like other religions that require followers to perform certain works and rituals acceptable to God. Not so with Jesus, for he implores us in Matthew 11:30 that, “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” When a learned Jewish Pharisee, whose life required living up to stressful “dos and don’ts” of the Mosaic law, asked Jesus which was the greatest commandment in the law, Jesus answered simply that if we love God and love our neighbor as ourselves, we will have fulfilled all the laws.

You can read Powell's article for yourself. My desire in writing this is not to save anyone. That is, in any case, not my job, but the Holy Spirit's. He alone draws people to Jesus. Rather, I think it is important for us all to understand history. It is divided in two, Before Christ and Anno Domini (year of our Lord.) So,t for me, I will praise God and say with the whole Church catholic, "He is risen. He is risen indeed."