A professor from the University of Florida has undertaken an extensive "scientific" study to demonstrate that Jesus walked on ice floats in the Sea of Galilee, not on water.  My question is, why go to all this effort?

In the university / educational setting, being a Christian is generally not the "in thing."  However, for the most part, except for the area of creation, the issue does not arise unless you are a student attempting to use space and university supplies to form a Christian club of some type. 

My point is that while Christianity is out on campus, there is not much interest in the Faith from those who do not believe.  It comes as a surprise to me to discover that a Florida University profesor has undertaken a study to demonstrate that ice floats could form in the Sea of Galilee, so that Jesus could appear to be walking on water.  If you are interested, the article may be found here.  In fact, this morning's CNN Headline News even had a brief story about this suggestion.

 What I marvel at is the continual, incesaent need for non-believers to demonstrate that Jesus is not God.  Have you ever thought about the efforts people will go to in order to disprove Jesus is God?  Virtually all false religiions, at one time or another, undertake demonstrations aimed at showing Jesus is not God.  The Muslim's Holy Book has several passages about Jesus designed to show He is a "good man," a "prophet" for His time. Many of the false religions follow this pattern. Recently, even the Eastern Religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, have published papers recognizing the existence of Jesus and placing Him in the "good prophet" box.

The New Testament generally follows a different path.  While the writers acknowledge the existence of false teachers, they tell us little about them.  The longest descriptions of false leaders are found in 2 Peter 2 and Jude. The two sections are almost identical.  But placed against the length of the New Testament epistles, two chapters represent very little effort at describing the false religions. Most of the effort goes into explaining how real and vitual Jesus actually is and why we need Him in our lives.

So, I have to ask myself why all cults and virtually all world religions feel compelled to spend time attacking Jesus and the Words of Scripture. The only conclusion I can draw from these attacks is that deep down inside their hearts, they know the truth -- that Jesus is God. Since they are figthing this truth, they are driven to disprove the Truth by attacking it.  Many of these false teachers are lead by Satan, but I suspect not all.

Paul writes in Romans and elsewhere about our conscience. This is that part of our being that helps us determine if we are following the foundations established by our hearts as right and wrong. Of course, Paul tells Timothy that people can burn their conscience so that it follows wrong teachings as "truth." The point is that the conscience is not the absolute guide the world would make us believe.

However, Paul also writes that everyone alive can see the existence of God. Our souls recognize His existence by looking to the heavens. This will not produce a salvation knowledge of God, but should drive us to want to know more about Him. I call this the "God spark." Everyone has this knowledge of God buried in their heart. When we allow it to "run free," we will seek God and ultimately come to salvation knowledge.

I think what happens is that the false teachers have their God spark roaming their souls. They know deep down inside that Jesus is God, but they are fighting that knowledge and undertake every effort possible to drown it out of existence. So, like this Florida professor, they undertake studies aimed at disproving God.

Aren't you glad that we live by faith and not by sight. We don't need to worry aobut how Jesus walked on water. We accept this fact by faith. The college professors may issue all of the proofs they can dream up showing that God is not real. None of them will overcome faith.

Maybe someday, those God sparks will overcome their disbelief and they, too, will discover the wonders of salvation. We can only pray for them. There is not much else to be done. In the meanwhile, do not be surprised as these "proofs" continue to arrive in the news. God wins!

Jim A.