Day 63

I wonder what the religious leaders really thought... Like, did they really think that Jesus was who he said he was and were seriously threatened by it? What happened to them after Jesus died? Did they get to Heaven?

You know, if a man came down, performed miracles like Jesus did, gave great teachings, was able to quote the old testament backwards and forwards, and had been doing this since a teenager, I would have to be a follower of him. I mean, it would honestly be terrifying, but the Jews knew the scriptures. They knew that a Messiah was going to come.

It's just very overwhelming to think about--especially because of modern technology. I know that sounds strange, but when someone is sick, they go to the hospital and with the advanced medicine we have here in America, they are generally healed.

Well, I know this is completely scattered, but that's kind of how my thoughts were. I keep thinking: "If Jesus came down to earth, would I know it was him? Or would I scorn him and try to crucify him like the Jews, his own people?"

It's totally different though. Because we believe in Jesus as Christians--his resurrection is the foundation of our faith. So it's hard to imagine a life without him.

What about those who are in tribal communities in Africa and have never heard God's word? Where do they go?

It's interesting to see though, that whenever missionaries go into these communities, a lot of them have similar stories to our Bible stories, and they believe in a great and omnipotent God. They call him a different name, and some of them are still polytheistic.

I also think of Native Americans who may have been exposed to Jesus a little bit, but they have never really heard about him. They keep in their traditions on their reservations.

I feel like as Christians we are so geared for helping the whole world--going to Africa, preaching the gospel, trying to save these "primitives" and lead them to Jesus that we kind of forget our own backyard. What about the Native Americans?

What about people in the inner-cities? Going to Africa is fantastic, I mean, I'm going there this summer, not for mission work per se, but I'm still going there; what about here? In our country?

I haven't really thought in depth about that before, but it would be amazing to see how many people actually don't even know who Jesus is in America, the supposedly Christian nation.

One more thing: I was really creeped out in the passage from numbers about how to test for an unfaithful wife... It reminded me of the witch hunts in England and the Salem Witch trials. It was a lose lose situation for her!

Okay, that's all :)

God bless,
Lauren