His Name is Jesus

by Rocky Fleming

Day 2: It is Personal

The wisest man in the world, at the time, said in Proverbs 2:6, “For the Lord grants wisdom; from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding.” 

Now I get that an atheist and even a non-believer would discount most things that come from the Bible. Therefore, this bit of information that I share is not for them, but rather for you. I also think of the same reason when I share the following interview with a noted Jewish writer that was done by the Christian Herald in 1944. The interviewee was Sholem Asch. As a result of his honest appraisal of Jesus, he received a lot of abuse by his Jewish colleagues at the time, which I can understand for it challenges either their misbelief or their lack of belief in Jesus. But his words speak to the convince-ability of a personal relationship with Jesus that Sholem had. It is also something an atheist or non-believer can’t argue with, even though they might try. Look what Asch said:

“For Jesus Christ, to me, is the outstanding personality of all time, all history, both as Son of God and as Son of Man. Everything He ever said or did has value for us today, and that is something you can say of no other man, alive or dead. No other teacher-Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Mohammedan-is still a teacher whose teaching is such a guidepost for the world we live in. Yes, it is true that Buddha influenced millions, but it is also true that only about-shall we say-five percent of Buddha’s teaching has basic value for the Twentieth Century. One or another of these teachers may have something basic for an Oriental, or an Arab, or an Occidental, depending upon where his teaching is best preserved; but every act and word of Jesus has value for all of us, wherever we are. He became the Light of the World. Why shouldn’t I, a Jew, be proud of that?

No other religious leader, either, has ever become so personal a part of people as The Nazarene. When you understand Jesus, you understand that he came to save you, to come into your personality. It isn’t just a case of a misty, uncertain relationship between a worshipper and an unseen God; that is abstract; Jesus is personal.” Sholem Asch

“Jesus is personal.” Those three words by Asch summarize the description of Christianity and set it apart from all other religions. Now understand that an atheist sees Christianity and all other religions the same, and our argument must begin there. They see the gods of all religions to be untrue, which includes the One and only true God by default. But that is because an atheist doesn’t know God, for to know Him, they must have an intimate knowledge of Him. This is where the intelligent atheist begins to move away from being smart, for how can they say they believe there is no God, if they haven’t explored getting to know whether He exists and to know if Christ is really Lord?

The first rule of thumb for seeking to be a smart man is to understand that you do not know everything. If you fail the test there, you can’t go forward with gaining more of that which you do not know or understand. Do you see where I’m going with this? It is to use an intelligent argument that simply challenges a person to get to know the facts before concluding something which a truly intelligent person must do. There are more facts about the truth of Jesus as Lord than you might realize, and you have no reason to fear that there will be anything factual that will contradict Jesus’ claim about Himself. He is real!

The next point I want to make is to help a non-believer separate in their thinking the distinct differences with Christianity from other religions. Christians have no need to be concerned about what a non-believer understands about the other religions, for they are false. They do not represent the One true God. They are a wrong example of the grace and mercy and sacrifice of God who gave His Son Jesus so that we can have a relationship with Him. An atheist or non-believer needs to know the truth of how they are loved by the only and real God who wants to give them a personal relationship with Him, just like Asch spoke of. When it comes down to it, those who know Jesus this way can never be separated from our faith in Him, for we live with Him each day. This makes our relationship with God very personal.