Hi there,
So this is not meant as a criticism of the faith; I am not saying the world actually hallucinated Christ. The real benefit of this question, is when it comes to our own faith: how deep is it? do we know the difference between suffering in Heaven and suffering on Earth?
For example, I know of one who lost his sanity and started to attack people at random, even though he was a believer. When he came to his senses, even though God forgave him, the Holy Spirit tested him, asking "would you attack yourself?". The answer was "yes", so even though he was forgiven, he injured himself, to show openly that he was not trying to judge specific people. This was part of his recovery. So was Jesus in this world?
If Jesus had simply been hallucinated, His Words would still ring true, but there would be grief - because His Word would not be mixed with the suffering of Earth, which those Words were meant to save. The Words had to be tested. As Jesus said "everyone will be tested with fire, every sacrifice will have salt added" (from memory). The power of this is important, because we should not assume our faith will be tested in Heaven, and Heaven only.
Rather than suffering simply in Heaven, what we have to appreciate is that God wanted to create something with which He could have a relationship, and not only that but a relationship that could be tested. If you love something, you have to be prepared to let it go. I guess the point of this, is that we should be asking for a stronger relationship and strength to endure the test. If we can do that, we have genuine faith!
I hope this has been of some encouragement.
God bless.
So this is not meant as a criticism of the faith; I am not saying the world actually hallucinated Christ. The real benefit of this question, is when it comes to our own faith: how deep is it? do we know the difference between suffering in Heaven and suffering on Earth?
For example, I know of one who lost his sanity and started to attack people at random, even though he was a believer. When he came to his senses, even though God forgave him, the Holy Spirit tested him, asking "would you attack yourself?". The answer was "yes", so even though he was forgiven, he injured himself, to show openly that he was not trying to judge specific people. This was part of his recovery. So was Jesus in this world?
If Jesus had simply been hallucinated, His Words would still ring true, but there would be grief - because His Word would not be mixed with the suffering of Earth, which those Words were meant to save. The Words had to be tested. As Jesus said "everyone will be tested with fire, every sacrifice will have salt added" (from memory). The power of this is important, because we should not assume our faith will be tested in Heaven, and Heaven only.
Rather than suffering simply in Heaven, what we have to appreciate is that God wanted to create something with which He could have a relationship, and not only that but a relationship that could be tested. If you love something, you have to be prepared to let it go. I guess the point of this, is that we should be asking for a stronger relationship and strength to endure the test. If we can do that, we have genuine faith!
I hope this has been of some encouragement.
God bless.
