Now I’m not a BIG reader but there’s one newspaper that I can’t put down whenever I get the chance to read it – the Weekly World News.
It has the most unbelievable stories! Listen to how they describe themselves…
“The Weekly World News takes journalism to the edge – and beyond! Each issue covers stories that other newspapers are afraid to touch”.
Let me share with you one of the stories that was published in December 2004.
“SCIENTIST CREATES DIAMONDS FROM DOG POOP!”
Dr. Florence Gurnley, founder of Caninegems, Inc., says her machine can convert a few pounds of pooch poop into a diamond of perfect colour and clarity.
“Diamond crystals are formed from carbon atoms,” she explains, “and dog droppings are packed with carbon. So we can create a 2-carat diamond suitable for an engagement ring that might cost $8,000 in a jewellery store — for as little as $50,” Dr. Gurnley brags.
Brilliant and entertaining, but a total fantasy! The subjects of the stories in this paper are so out of the ordinary and so strange that they’re simply unbelievable!
Well when people look at the Bible and what it says about Jesus I reckon that they can often treat it just like a report from the Weekly World News. Have a look at this headline…
“MIRACLE MAN BRINGS THE DEAD BACK TO LIFE!” (John 11)
John writes that Jesus had gone to visit friends, but on his arrival he found that his mate Lazarus had died and been in a tomb for four days!
Despite the doubting friends and family, Jesus calls “Lazarus come out!”.
As the dead man came out of the tomb, Jesus said to those around him “Take off his grave clothes and let him go!”. Jesus brings a dead man back to life!
It sounds like a story that the so called reporters at the Weekly World News made up on a bad week doesn’t it? It sounds unbelievable doesn’t it?
Jesus was also quoted saying some unbelievable things! For example: “I am the Resurrection and the Life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though he dies”.(John 11v25)
Now at first it all sounds simply unbelievable doesn’t it? And that’s probably what our mates will think about the message of the Bible.
But this story is not something to just dismiss like the stories in the Weekly World News because the stakes are too high (life or death) and the evidence is too clear (records,of eyewitness accounts etc).
If you’re a Christian be encouraged… we don’t believe in made up stories, we believe in truth.
Listen to what John (the bloke who recorded this event and many others) says this towards the end of his book.
“Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name”. (John 20v30-31)