Easter message

Wow, I just spent about ten minutes posting a Helium version of this post, and check out the rating! It still has typos even! I took out the Mormon parts, but I still thought it got some good ideas out there. I will probably eventually post about Mormon stuff too as I scout for more topics.

http://www.helium.com/items/969684-risen-mathew-286with-these

I hadn't planned to put off doing an Easter post until after my St. Patty's and April Fool's posts, but Easter came so early this year! And even though I still haven't had a chance to think through exactly what I am going to say, I thought I would try to at least make a first pass at it.

For those of you who have read my hopefully humorous post on the History Channel, you will know that I kind of bear a chip on my shoulder about all of the so-called biblical archaologists they have on there, mainly for the purpose of debunking Christianity. They don't have a whole lot of archaologists debunking Druidism, and I sometimes wonder why because wouldn't a religion like that be equally false in the minds of free-thinking atheist academics?

But as it often happens, criticism made in ignorance ends up being anything but.

I will explain that one if I can. Many of these pseudoscholars often take pot shots at Christ and The Gospel from a vantage point of the nonbeliever. To quote John McCain as he said one of the few funny things I have ever heard about him, "I consider it a compliment" (of criticism by Hugo Chavez).

Notably one of the criticisms I heard on the recent documentaries I watched was that Christ obviously didn't know what he was doing because he picked such incompetents, frauds and traitors as his disciples. Like he would have benefitted from some type of middle-management training: '7 Habits for the Twelve.' (They may actually have that, now...)

But this type of comment reveals that those who would debunk our beliefs have no idea what Christianity is about. Traitors, charlatans and fools are EXACTLY who Christ would likely have picked to show that he actually believed in the power of his own message of redemption.

I feel that this reality is a message of hope for all of us. As often happens, another dispensation repeated this theme. Joseph Smith didn't exactly attract the cream of the crop. People were constantly going wayward and stabbing him in the back. But whatever the downside of this motley crew, many of them were willing to leave whatever creature comforts they had to follow the early profets to their peril.

There is one more crucial detail that even pundits admit they can't explain very well. All of the wavering, denying, and decieving very interestingly came to a screeching halt: about three days after the Crucifiction. It seems very much like these very flawed men encountered something that caused them to be able to put aside their weaknesses and hasten to their own agonizing martyrdoms after the example of their Lord.

This is the hallmark I think of what I am hoping to do with my life. At some point I hope that I can put aside my foolishness and wavering and become a disciple of Christ. I hope that I can also expose myself to the knowledge and experiences that would make me more and more willing to do it.

Happy Late Easter.