Fools
Disclaimer: The following letter is an example of Reductio Ad Absurdum which is a type of argument that attempts to establish a claim by showing that the opposite scenario would lead to absurdity or contradiction.
What a laughing stock!
I'm referring to Jesus' disciples, of course.
Lean in and I'll share with you the greatest hoax of all time. It's such a successful lie that it is ongoing and has withstood thousands of years of testing, but still, very few have caught on to the truth.
It all started close to 2,000 years ago in approximately 33 A.D. So get this, up to this point in history a real man named Jesus had spent 3 years of his life building an unusual following of Israeli men and women by claiming to be their Messiah. This excited them so much because they were under Roman oppression and seeking a savior to topple the Roman government. Overall, this caught the interest of some uneducated, rugged fishermen (Peter, Andrew, James, John) as well as a trained assassin (Simon the Zealot). These men were so moved by Jesus' message that they even accepted a man who had committed treason against Israel into their core group of 12 (Matthew the tax collector).
Okay, so again, it's 33 A.D. and the place is Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel. These disciples had already witnessed Jesus perform some incredible miracles, both in public in front of large crowds, and in private on stormy seas. They had even witnessed a dead man named Lazarus come back to life. So needless to say, they were excited because their teacher, Jesus, was about to overthrow Rome and conquer all Gentile (non-Jewish) nations, confirming that God had chosen them above all people to rule the earth. Right?
Not exactly.
Jesus was betrayed by one of these 12, stood trial against the Jewish leaders and Roman government, brutally beaten, and then sentenced to a horrifying, slow death on a cross. The disciples were terrified to watch their Messiah fall without fighting back and demonstrating His awesome power. That being said, every single one of them split up, were scattered, and hid their allegiance to Jesus. They had spent 3 years sacrificing everything for this man and putting all their hope in Jesus' ability to lead Israel to victory. Only now, their hope was gone and they had no power, weapons, or army to stand against Rome. Their teacher and their miracle-worker was gone, dead. He was placed in a heavily guarded tomb, sealed by a large boulder.
But someone had a great idea. Instead of hiding and returning to their families and careers, and with all hope now lost for conquering Rome, why not steal Jesus' body and tell people He was alive? That would be the perfect way to get back at these murderers. What an epic prank! So within a matter of 72 hours, the disciples came together again and figured out exactly how they would do it:
Step 1 - They don't have any weapons or armor, so they would have to gather enough funds to pay off the Roman soldiers guarding the tomb.
Step 2 - They would need to move the boulder. Maybe the guards can help? Of course the guards would be committing treason against Rome, punishable by death. So again, we're talking a very large sum of money.
Step 3 - Take the body of Jesus, hide it in a place nobody can ever find it, and tell everyone He is alive. If possible, convince hundreds of other people to lie and claim they saw Jesus alive.
Step 4 - Keep the epic hoax going forever, even to the point of their own death, with 100% participation. Because, why not? This would be epic.
And that's exactly what they did. Minus Jesus' betrayer Judas who hanged himself for his betrayal, the rest of the disciples, including their families, all took the lie to their grave.
Unfortunately for the disciples, Rome, the Jews, Greece, and even other nations like Ethiopia and India didn't take too kindly to this hoax. They brutally tortured and murdered anyone found sharing this lie. And rather than admit it was a hoax, not one of the remaining 11 disciples recanted the lie as they were being burned alive, stabbed, poisoned, crucified, etc. John was the only survivor of these attempted executions, although he died alone in exile and wrote a book called Revelation as a way to keep the hoax going for himself. That's some serious commitment.
And look what their commitment to this hoax did - it started an entire movement for millennia to come where people now believe in a God who created them, loves them, and is willing to die as payment for their sins. Insanity. Why would God do that? Is He rescuing us from something? Why would He care so much about you and me that He would have His own Son die on a Cross?
I don't know about this crazy "Jesus loves you" message. Man, it's hard to believe. What a fool you would have to be.
Folly
The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. (Psalms 14:1)
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. (Proverbs 12:15)
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godliness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools. (Romans 1:18-22)
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Corinthians 1:21-25)
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