[Music] the central message of Christianity is the death and resurrection of Jesus without it there is no Christianity but such a message has become a stumbling block for many a point of ridicule for others why exactly did God need to become human and die for our sins the response many give is because this is the standard in the Torah of Moses only blood can atone for sins but didn't God establish this rule surely he could come up with a better way to atone for sins that did not require his own death [Music] this is a separate question as to whether Christianity is true or not some finding an aspect of Christianity odd is not evidence Christianity is false but for many this has become a way to ridicule Christianity a God who sacrifices himself to himself to save us from the rules he established but this problem is not new it is an issue that goes back to the early days of the church Paul even felt the need to address this in his first letter to the Corinthians the gospel is a stumbling block to the Jews and a Folly to gentiles some cannot understand it and others ridicule it early graffiti even depicts pagans mocking the Christians for worshiping a crucified man but let us ask a simple question if the central message of Christianity is so absurd why did it not quickly die out why is it continued to grow and has become the world's largest and most influential religion historians have noted for years Christianity is fully saturated our culture and was crucial for so much moral and scientific progress if the idea is absurd and was mocked in the beginning it should never have become what it is and it should merely have been a footnote in some ancient historians book that documented obscure cults but the reality is different Christianity has created the world we live in today and is more converts than any other religion in history so why have so many people given their lives to Christ a God who creates rules where blood sacrifices necessary to atone for sins which he himself pays in truth the problem the critic has is not with Christianity itself but with Humanity one cannot look at history and deny that Christianity has been successful and a primary reason is because it Taps into something within our very nature it awakens something deep within us that transcends our reason and Taps into a much deeper reality I'm not saying the gospel is not rational I believe it is but it also goes beyond that and it must because humans are not purely rational creatures we often act on emotion her in irrational ways that puzzle even ourselves in many ways our psychology is irrational and can be quite absurd in how it operates so the cure for Humanity must be something that matches it and that is what the gospel is it is an answer for an absurd species it is a story of how God saved Humanity through love we cannot deny that humans love stories we live for them we often relax at the end of the day with a good book or get absorbed in a good show and after we have finished the good story We crave more and seek out other good shows or books to enjoy stories have inspired humans for Millennia many from the ancient world have survived to the present and people still discuss their meaning and significance it would be hard to deny that we are a story-seeking species telling and hearing stories is a deep part of our psychology in fact I doubt that humans could exist without stories wherever humans exist they will tell stories and in turn stories will inspire and drive Humanity forward [Music] but stories also motivate us to be better people the modern stories of superheroes have inspired many to dress up in costumes and visit sick children bedridden in hospitals and hopes to motivate them to keep fighting you can beat this disease because you are strong like Batman or Spider-Man often we read of a protagonist in a story and desire to be more like them truly I can be like Frodo who made it all the way to Mount Doom despite all the pain and suffering if he can take the ring that far surely I can overcome whatever struggle I am facing if Luke Skywalker can conquer the dark side and refuse to kill his father I too can overcome the evil I am facing but most of all humans are captivated by love stories we cannot deny we thoroughly enjoy a beautiful story of two people falling in love and living happily ever after many of the most popular films of all times either revolve around romance or had an element of that in the story people joke about how all Hallmark romance movies are the same and there is truth in that but still every year millions of women and men tune in to watch the same generic Couple live happily ever after love stories touches deeply because loving another and being loved in return is something we all desire we may like action films but not all humans desire to save the world by fighting off a villain in hand-to-hand combat but all humans desire to be loved and find that special someone that completes us so we cannot help but enjoy a good love story and desire to hear more and more of them often when we meet a couple deeply in love we ask how they met and fell in love and why wouldn't we enjoy hearing their love story we think it is tragic when a couple splits that was once deeply in love there is something about love that moves Us in ways we cannot explain and because we enjoy stories a love story is especially inspiring but love isn't necessarily rational often falling in love is the least pragmatic thing we could do for ourselves a young man will fall in love and spend all his time and money impressing that special woman instead of trying to advance his career to a purely rational artificial intelligence love may come across as strange a human devotes time energy and resources into impressing another human in hopes of gaining their affection we're in a more rational entity spend time and resources on making itself more self-sufficient opening yourself up to another person makes you vulnerable and dependent on them love makes us devote resources and energy away from self-advancing goals and personal necessities why would that young man spend thousands of dollars on a shiny ring to ask that girl to marry her when he should be using it as a down payment on a house after all it is just a stupid ring right why did that girl drop out of college to start a family with that boy she loves shouldn't she finish her schooling just in case it doesn't work out why did that old couple spend their lives with each other when all they did was fight wouldn't they have been happier alone or each finding someone else when we are outside of the Love Story We often scoff at it or Proclaim we cannot understand it look at that young couple constantly wasting their time with each other they should take a break and focus on finishing their schooling perhaps stayed around and make sure they really are a good match but for the couple these words fall on deaf ears Hall's sense of what might be pragmatic or rational is powerless when one is drunk with love within their hearts all that makes sense is they need each other and will fight to The Bitter End to keep their love alive a stumbling block or a Folly to those on the outside but to the lovers it is life itself in all that now matters the old saying is love makes us do crazy things because we recognize love doesn't come from rationality but something deeper something that goes beyond rationality that we cannot explain when you love you act in ways you never thought you would and yet it is when you feel the most alive some Skeptics might say this is simply our evolutionary nature to desire to reproduce that is all love really is but are we as humans not able to transcend our nature in ways that other species cannot humans have been called Niche Constructors par excellence surely we should be able to understand what is really going on in our nature and transcend it after all we have transcended other animal instincts in many ways and created nations of laws that for the most part we can keep and maintain a sense of order Within why not work to transcend beyond the desire for love itself if all it is is chemicals in the brain that make us do crazy things C.S Lewis might have said if that is true then you are confusing what love is in what love is made of our nature is a reflection of who and what we are some aspects we cannot transcend nor should we desire to in an attempt to transcend the desire for love and become purely rational creatures we would lose our very Humanity Being Human means not being purely rational but being in part emotional and Desiring that which cannot be explained by rationality a purely rational entity cannot feel the wind between their fingers on a car ride through the country her feel Serenity in watching the sunset her fine pure enjoyment in simply watching two animals play the worst thing we could do is try to escape our Humanity into a transhumanistic dystopia we would lose all that we most love about ourselves love may not be rational but we cannot live without it there is something deep within us that desires love and not just any old feeling to help pass the time but true love for someone who love us unconditionally every aspect of us fully flaws and all even though we may constantly tell ourselves we are not worthy of such a love but to our amazement we can only find this love and the story of the Gospel the story of how God loves us so much he died on a cross to save us from our sins and give us the greatest love that could ever exist the gospel is a love story and we are at the center of it we should expect that those who do not love Christ to scoff at it her mock it is a stumbling block or a Folly to them but that is because they are not in love they have not realized what God has done for them nor have they felt his love but for us who are being saved who have experienced God's love on the cross it Taps into something deep within us the desire for a great love that completes Us in ways we did not think was possible the Skeptics ask why God needed to create a world where the only way to atone for sins is death and then God himself would pay that ultimate price but they are looking for an answer that does not involve love something like a syllogism or an equation they're not thinking of it in terms of how lovers act but how computers Act God loves you and that can only spill over into great acts of affection ways to express one's love Beyond mere words and this can only culminate in the cross itself where he gave his life for you to rescue you from a life of sin shame and guilt and to transform you into a child of God that is drenched in glory if God is the very essence of love then he loves us more than we could ever imagine and if Humanity has fallen and lost to the point that we have become his very enemies how is God supposed to show his love for us in a way that would get us to turn from our Wicked Ways if he desires to save those who hate him you and me how could he possibly shock us into the reality of his love the only way is he would have to go to the bitter extreme of pain and suffering we would have to see explicitly what our sin does to him and how far he is willing to go and how much he is willing to take just so we know that he loves us Humanity lost in its sin cannot be awakened by mere words only shocking acts of Love That Shake us at our very core that show us the gravity of our sin in the depth of his love that can only be found at the cross the day the creator of the universe allowed himself to be humiliated tormented and die to save you a tone for you and awaken you why wouldn't we expect him to create a world where he demonstrates This Love in the most extreme way possible if God is love we should expect his love for us to manifest and enact worthy to demonstrate that infinite love he has for us all lovers cannot help but desire to show their love and the Creator they love the greater the ways one wishes to demonstrate that love and there is no greater love than what we find at the cross you looking in on Christianity from the outside wonder why this religion has grown as it has and why it still resonates with people but that is because you have chosen to stand outside of the love story you've not accepted the love that God has extended to you which has brought us to our very knees and shaken something deep within us we allow that to awaken us the only thing we can offer in return is to love him back with all that we are God did not need to show us great love for us but he chose to save us and how could his love not manifest in actions that are meant to draw us to him those who reject his Love Will Mock and scoff but that is because they have placed themselves outside of the love story but for us who are being saved we can see the power in the wisdom of God in this act a problem for those who reject Christ is they will still desire love and naturally will seek to replace the love of Christ with the love of some other person but out of the Crooked Timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made has Emmanuel Kant said you may seek through the whole universe but you will never find anything more fulfilling than the love of Christ you may brush it off or claim that love is unnecessary for your short life but you cannot ignore something so embedded in your very nature you may scoff at the gospel mock it call it absurd but you are absurd and an absurd species will require an absurd solution a race created to love and to be loved requires a love that can truly save us from the incompleteness in our souls and the solution is found in the last place we would rationally think to look the man who died upon the tree The God Who gave his life as a ransom for all this is a call from the creator of the universe you have been chosen to be saved by the one who loves you more than you could imagine he did not send down a self-help book a mere set of commands he came himself and gave himself to you Christianity is not a religion where you obtain Heaven through your own efforts this is a call to enter the greatest love story the universe has ever known you are called to be United to the only God who can and will love you for all eternity and When You Reach Out And Touch the cross all doubt and fear will be abolished from your sight when you enter into the Love Story what you call the absurdity of Christianity will be the only thing that makes sense