Christ

In December of 1829, James Porter and George Wilson robbed several postal shipments and terrorized various mail carriers in their rampage for loot. Unfortunately for them, they were soon caught, tried, and condemned to hang for their crimes. Porter was hanged on schedule; Wilson was given a presidential pardon.

But he was hanged for his crimes, nonetheless.

What’s up with the claims of household cleaners? One promises to remove 99.99% bacteria. Another one pledges to kill 99.99% of germs. When it comes to most things in life, most people believe that 99.99% is good enough.

But there’s one area of life that isn’t so forgiving. In this case, 99.99% isn’t anywhere near good enough.

Today’s Christian scholars spend large amounts of time trying to convince people that Jesus is divine. The Church uses sermon series, books, events, websites, and a host of other resources to focus on that important debate.

But as strange as it may sound to modern Christians, one of the church’s first major struggles was to convince the world that Jesus was actually human!

In his book The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey contemplates what would have happened if Jesus never rose from the grave: there would probably be a collection of His teachings, and maybe even a statue in downtown Jerusalem. But, Jesus did rise!

As Yancey says, Easter changes everything.

On a wet February morning in Madison, Georgia, 9-year-old Anaiah Rucker had her life changed forever.

And because of a split-second decision she made that morning, her 5-year-old sister’s life was also changed forever.

Today, Christians wear lavish, golden crosses around their necks, and decorate their homes with the same wooden icons. Almost every church in the world has this symbol displayed front and center for all to see.

But 2,000 years ago, the cross wasn’t something to display; rather, it was to be feared.

For the last 54 years, people from all over the world have traveled to Cutud, a township in the Philippines, to be crucified. In 2009 alone, an Australian and 29 Filipinos were crucified in different parts of the Philippines in a dark and twisted Black Friday ritual that imitates the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.