How could I resist?Today is “April Fool’s” day.Yet, here we are worshiping God.Many in the world would call us “foolish” for believing in God.Some would say, that believing in a deity who gave himself up for His people is foolish.

In fact, many skeptics of the Bible point to a number of world religions in which a deity dies and then comes back to life.Egypt had Osiris, for instance.Others point to the struggles of deities like the Hindu god, Vishnu – part man, part deity.Yet a significant difference exists between these so called deities and Jesus.

Generally speaking across the board, ancient deities suffered certain fates in their battles against other deities.They fought for control of the cosmos or some part of it.This is not the case for Christ.

Jesus Christ lived in glory as God (Philippians 2:6).Yet, he took on the form of humanity (Philippians 2:7) in order to die on the cross to free us from the sentence of death we incurred with our own sin – a punishment with God as judge rather than by some other deity (Romans 5:6 – 12) .To the world, the concept of an all-powerful deity carrying the punishment for His people is utter nonsense.
 
Paul describes it this way, “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” (1 Corinthians 1:18, NASU).Yes, to some I suppose Sundays are always a “fool’s” day.But for those saved from death and an eternity without God April 1, 2012, like every Sunday, is a day of thanksgiving and praise.

 


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