Something to Think About : The Most Significant Event In History

In forming one’s worldview David Nobel in “Thinking Like a Christian” suggests ten basic areas to be considered. They are: 1) theology 2) philosophy 3) biology 4) psychology 5) ethics 6) sociology 7) law 😎politics 9) economics and 10) history. The composite of what one comes to believe is true in each of these areas (based on evidence, sound reasoning and faith) defines his/her worldview. Of course, each of these areas may be subdivided and someone may want to add what they believe to be another distinct area of consideration.

Take area no. 10—what do you believe to be the most significant event in all of human “history”? An “abiblical” (no attention to the Bible) worldview could reference the emergence of Homo sapiens, World War I or II, the invention of atomic power, penicillin or polio vaccine, the internal combustion engine, electricity, walking on the moon, etc. A Biblical worldview could reference all these things plus the creation of man in the image of God, the Fall of mankind into sin, the global Flood and Noah’s Ark, the birth and life of Jesus Christ culminating in His crucifixion and the inspired writing of the Bible. But the one historical event without which all the other events of human history lose any ultimate meaning is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I like to refer to it as the “hinge pin” of history. A hinge pin may be defined as “a rod designed to be inserted into the appendages of two interlocking metal leaves holding them together in such a manner that one can pivot relative to the other; used on a door allowing it to open and close.” [1] All of human history up to the Resurrection interlocks with all of human history since the Resurrection and is held together with the hinge pin of this truth: Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Savior from sin and its consequence of death as proven by His rising from His death brought about by Roman crucifixion at the demand of the Jerusalem Jews at that time.

Pull that event out of human history and we must ask ourselves what holds the human narrative together? A narrative is: “a story that connects and explains a carefully selected set of supposedly true events, experiences, or the like, intended to support a particular viewpoint or thesis.” [2] What historical event other than the truth of the Resurrection shall we choose as mankind’s historical hinge pin? What other event provides the final and total abolishment of mankind’s sin leading up to the crucifixion and Resurrection and its consequence of physical and spiritual death? What event since opens the door to being born anew as a new creation living free from sin’s death sentence in anticipation of a New Heavens and Earth?

The Apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit eloquently pictures life without the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:17-19 17 …if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

To say that the Resurrection did not happen is equivalent to denying the integrity of Jesus Christ and the Bible itself. Not only is the theological hinge pin that deals with spiritual hope gone but the reasoning behind all the other areas of a worldview is skewed beyond usefulness. Who defines “God” in theology or what’s real in philosophy? Who beyond doubt explains the origin of life in “biology or defines “psyche” in psychology? What’s the templet for right and wrong in “ethics”? Who decides what the best “societal” arrangement is? Whose opinion makes a “law” and who enforces it? Whose “politics” runs the government in whose interest? Who cares? Why should anyone be “economically” wealthier then someone else? Who levels the field? What will be written in a log of human “history” 100 years after belief in the existence of God, the resurrection of Christ, the Person and work of the Holy Spirit and the inspiration of the Bible are not only denied but outlawed? Ask the millions of men, women and children who have died in the absence of “HE IS RISEN!”

54 …when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:54-58 NAS)

HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN—INDEED!

It’s Something To Think About

-David W. Grubbs

[1] Adapted from amazon.com > Pin-Hinges [2] dictionary.com s.v.