Jesus This is an introductory page for some lifechanging material about Jesus. A love for him has been the primary building block upon which I have built my life.
Getting to Know Jesus I developed a series of studies about the life of Christ for a person who is searching, or for a new Believer in Jesus. You may use these studies to grow in your understanding of Jesus or to help others get to know him. Bob
Several things have gone together to make Jesus and His life a central theme in my thinking and in my life. Below are some of the talks and books that were important to me early in my spiritual growth.
Ron Dunn It is interesting the little thoughts that stick in your mind. One thought I heard in a talk by Ron Dunn pointed me toward a love for studying the life of Jesus. He said that in theology people can go to seed in a variety of topics and become unbalanced theologically. But he said that if you go to seed on Jesus you will be balanced. Ron lived out a life that reflected Jesus well. The web site developed by his friends www.rondunn.com has a wealth of material by Ron. Ron Dunn passed away in 2001 but his life work remains on this website. Johnston Cheney I was confused. The gospels seemed to be contradictory related to Peter’s denials of Christ. In different gospels he denied Christ to different people. I knew enough of scripture to believe that I could trust it to be accurate, but this sure seemed like a contradiction. I remember praying and telling the Lord, “I choose to believe that there is an answer to what looks like an inconsistency in scripture. I will believe that this is true, but I would love to know the answer to this.” It was several years before I learned the answer. It was found in the Life of Christ in Stereo by Johnston Cheney. I discovered that there were 6 denials by Peter. Three before the cock crowed and three more before the cock crowed the third time. This solves the apparent inconsistency because we do not have to press all his denials into just three. This showed me to be slow to judge the scriptures, but to trust them even though all my questions are not yet answered. I have had enough of my questions answered to show me that the scriptures are a solid foundation on which to live my life. The Life of Christ in Stereo by Johnston Cheney is an amazing book. Johnson Cheney was sick for a number of years. He started as a hobby to put the gospels together into a single volume. This turned into an obsession when he solved several coordination issues between the gospels. Ultimately he virtually memorized the gospels in Greek and was able to put together a seamless unity of the four gospels. This is thrilling. It puts the four gospels together into one volume. It proves that there are no contradictions in the gospels. In this book you can walk through Jesus’ life and see how all the pieces fit together. It is a hard book to find, so I included all the info, so you could find yourself a copy. I did see it on Amazon.com after some searching in the used section. Jesus Christ The Greatest Life Ever Lived The Uniqueness of Jesus Bill Bright with Campus Crusade for Christ put together a book and a work book about the Uniqueness of Christ. He showed how Jesus was different from all other spiritual leaders in history. This study can be done online with Campus Crusade. Bill Bright’s material was valuable information in an intellectual sense. We must believe that the historicity of Jesus is accurate.
A poem that I heard a lot as a young man was very inspiring about the life of Christ. The uniqueness of how he lived and the impact of His life shows that He is more than just an ordinary person: One Solitary Life Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty, and then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office.
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