Really crazy question

[Anon]

Okay this is an honest thought that has plagued me for awhile and I know people will think what an unspiritual question it is, but...

Every time someone talks about Christ giving up His life for us...I mean yes He did so...he suffered many things, including the worst of all, being rejected by his Father...that we can't understand....however people liken it to us giving our lives. But I don't feel its the same. After all, Jesus rose again and is back in Heaven where He belongs, and His Father didn't reject Him forever. But when an earthly father gives up his life, he does so forever...He never gets another chance to be a father to his children again (especially a lost father).

I get so upset at the devil for giving me these thoughts but can someone give me some Scripture to use to overcome this? I read a devotional today that likened Christ's sacrifice to an organ donor...someone else gave their life that a person would live. Christ gave his life that we might live, yes, but Christ got His life back. The organ donor did not.

Why do I think this way?

[HappyChristian]

Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that we are human...and in our finite understanding of sin, we don't really truly comprehend the agony and grief that both Jesus and God the Father went through when Christ hung on the cross and took the sins of the world on Him.

Christ's giving of His life is different from an earthly father's in that He wasn't just dying to give us life...He was dying so that we could have forgiveness of our sins and eternal life. He did get His life back, but at what cost did He give? Again, it goes back to our finite minds, and not really being able to comprehend just how horrific it was for the perfect, sinless Son of God to assume the sins of the entire world.

Also, never forget that the old devil is still doing what he did in the garden...sowing seeds of doubt, discontent, disbelief, etc. in our minds.

(The organ donor was dying anyway, and his/her gift was only contigent on if there was death (in other words, the donor didn't specifically give an organ to a specific person - that person only got it 'cause of an unwanted death). Christ came here specifically to die because He knew that the shedding of His blood in His death, and His resurrection was the only way we would have life eternal. Also - the donor doesn't feel his organs being taken...Christ was very much alive on that cross.)

Maybe if you re-read the accounts of the crucifixion, Isaiah 53, Psalm 22. As you read them, ask God to really give you a sense of the agony Christ actually went through?

It's not a crazy question, Suzy. I think you'd be surprised at the number of people who have that kind of thought go through their minds!

[Anon]

Again, it goes back to our finite minds, and not really being able to comprehend just how horrific it was for the perfect, sinless Son of God to assume the sins of the entire world.

I agree, which is why I get irritated with myself when I think that way...

But then I am like "If you knew you were going to raise again in three days it wouldn't be so bad" but I think the torture was indeed beyond anything experienced in our lifetimes or comprehendable. Although other men did experience the same torture, I guess they did not have to experience the sin of the world on their shoulders.

[HappyChristian]

I agree, which is why I get irritated with myself when I think that way...

But then I am like "If you knew you were going to raise again in three days it wouldn't be so bad" but I think the torture was indeed beyond anything experienced in our lifetimes or comprehendable. Although other men did experience the same torture, I guess they did not have to experience the sin of the world on their shoulders.

And therein lies the difference. A holy God, the Creator of the world, came to this earth for the express purpose of giving His life, shedding His blood. And on the cross, He bore the sins of the entire world, from Adam's sin to the end of time...knowing that the majority would reject Him. Knowing that His Father had to turn His back on Him. I really think that if we think on this, read the scriptures that tell of it, and ask the Holy Spirit to show us, we will begin to get a niggling of the agony!

[Anon]

I guess we are so used to sin that we don't notice how bad it is.

Kind of like babies that are born having leukemia or some sort of cancer. Yeah they suffer, but really they do not suffer as much as an adult, because the baby does not know health, and does not know that it is abnormal to suffer.

I know my son who has the hives, he itches and he is uncomfortable. But on my email list of chronic urticaria suffererers, some even feel suicidal at times with the agony of the disease. But my son is just uncomfortable. Because he doesn't realize that everybody isn't itchy all the time.

[HappyChristian]

I guess we are so used to sin that we don't notice how bad it is.

True words, here!!!

[Jerry]

I believe the emphasis is on the love required for someone to give up their lives or risk their lives for another. An organ donor doesn't compare - jumping in harm's way to pull someone else out of harm would. Yes, Jesus knew He would rise again - and a believer knows he will be raised again at the rapture - but life as he knows it now will be gone, but their loved one will still be alive because of their willing sacrifice.

John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Romans 5:6-8 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

John 10:11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

John 10:15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

1 John 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

[Anon]

1 John 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

I guess that was my question though, if I give my life for a brother, I don't get my life back. But Christ got His back. *shrugs* obviously we've already come up with an answer but I'm just pointing out that's where my thought goes at times.

[Madeline]

Let's go through the idea. First, there is no sacrifice like Christ's sacrifice (you are right about that). He was innocent of any wrong doing (we can't make that claim). I don't think I'll ever be able to fully grasp what He was willing to do for us (I have a very poor view regarding humanity and am held within a stunning shock at God's willingness to enter time and space and take the evil He took willingly). Let's look at the idea that an earthly father gives up his life for his children and the idea here that he never again gets to be a father to his children again. It depends. If he is a Christian, he will see his children again and have interaction and happiness in that relationship again. So, in that sense, Christ has purchased for this father, an eternal place where he will be able to enjoy his children again forever. :2cents

Love,
Madeline

[Guest Guest]

I guess that was my question though, if I give my life for a brother, I don't get my life back.

"Mark 10:29-30 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life."

I think the problem is we somehow regard this life as "better" subconsciously. We get better than our current life back. :wink

[JerryNumbers]

A human many be dying and will give a organ to someone else so that they can have life.

But yet that want compare to our Jesus, who was perfectly sin free, who did not deserve to die nor suffer, who freely laid down His life to pay our sin debt so that we would not have to pay it, and that we could have life more abundant.

Even the dad you gives his life to save his son from dying, this dad was not sin free life Christ was.

There is no death that can be compared to Jesus dying on that old cross so that we could have eternal life.

It beats me why anyone would compare Jesus freely giving His life on the cross to a sinful person giving their life to help others.

Amen, Seth, you have that right, seems to me many of us think this life is as good as it gets, we who have Jesus as our Savior, the best is yet to come.

Yesterday I talked to an old friend in a convenience store who I had not seen in quite sometime, I asked him how it was going, he said. "Pretty good for old age, I know its not going to get any better."

I replied, "Ronnie, Oh yes it is, its going to get much better, we have so much to look forward to," by that time he was frowning at me just a bit, "Just think Ronnie, God saves the best for last, the best isn't behind us, it was not in our younger days, its in front of us, it comes to us only when we get to heaven."

When I 1st saw him he was frowning, when I walked out he was smiling.

[Jerry]

It beats me why anyone would compare Jesus freely giving His life on the cross to a sinful person giving their life to help others.

The Bible itself uses that illustration.