Discovering that God is Love While in a Nazi Concentration Camp – Viktor Frankl “Man’s Search for Meaning”

Deutsch: Viktor Frankl (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Vitor Frankl was a psychologist who was trained in Vienna.  and was imprisoned in Auschwitz, and other Nazi Germany death camps, as well as his wife and family.

Even though the Nazi prison camp meant facing death, and surrounded by constant threat and hatred, Victor Frankl found the meaning of life there.

From  “Man’s Search for Meaning”- Experiences in a Concentration Camp”

“A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth — that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way — an honorable way — in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment. For the first time in my life I was able to understand the meaning of the words,

“The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory.”

Viktor Frankl

1 John 4:10

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)

Atheists – Jesus Is Your Friend

If you have ever been lost you already know how unpleasant and confusing it feels.

But it is possible to be lost and not even know it, or feel it.

And we can also think we know where we are, but find out much later we have been lost for a long time and are far off course.

Some of us, (perhaps many of us), are where we are because we had to retreat to a safe place, far from an element that caused us pain and suffering.

Christians are men, only they are saved by Grace yet are too often a poor reflection of who and what God is.
The Bible says God is love.

“He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” 1 John 4:8

Much of that message often gets lost, and depends on if clergy have had their own hearts awakened to the love of God.

It has been said that rules without relationship breeds resentment.

Those who  teach a Christ-less Christianity are called blind guides in the Bible.They are to blame for many who are,”lost.” or deny Christ.

WE hear, “I was a Christian but…”.

Jesus Christ is the way to the Father. Jesus is the way to genuine relationship with our Loving God.

If that has not been clearly portrayed to you, then you have not seen the true Christ.

No matter where you are, atheist, skeptic, or believer, or if you’re not sure if you even care, please consider the following.

Atheist– if you consider this your current location you may feel pretty safe and do not even want to talk about it.
Denial is not a location. Denial is more like the middle of nowhere. So why are you there?

Anger often accompanies this location. Much of that anger is the result of the kind of people who actually crucified Christ.
People who had a haughty imitation of true Christianity made the religion of the Bible appear repulsive and cruel.

It’s no wonder so many make this their chosen destination.

Self righteous people are not ready to share God’s love with others when they don’t even have it present in their own lives.

Have you been hurt or let down by these kind of people?
Jesus was crucified by them.
He is your friend.

 “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”

Hebrews 9:28,29

An Unutterable Sigh In The Depths of The Soul

A Reason For Living – An Audio Sermon By Dr. Tim Keller – Redeemer Presbyterian Church- Manhattan, NY- Keller Answers The Big Question- “What Is The Reason,Meaning, And Purpose For Life?”

What is the reason for living?

All the big thinkers, atheist , agnostic, and believer, have written about the reason for our existence and the meaning of life.

In this sermon, Keller does what many big thinkers refuse to do, and that is to honestly and logically examine the premise, or basis on which to answer the big question.

If God does exist and we can know Him, then we have hope in this life because we know this is not the end, the best is yet to come.

This view also gives hope to all who suffer in this life because they too can say they have a ,”future hope”.

Keller exposes that the typical atheist view is built on the premise that if God does not exist then the individual experiences ,

“Freedom”, but that view is not enough reason for living.

The problem is that ,”freedom”, as the sole reward in life ,robs us of any hope for a future beyond this life,

and results in a lack reason, purpose and meaning, and results in a loss of hope.

But the answer to life’s big question is that God does exist, we do have a future hope, and we have a reason  for living.

His name is Jesus.

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How I Post Sermons

I typically listen to a sermon 6 or more times before I recommend, comment and post them ?

This is especially true of Keller’s sermons.

I do this in part because I’m following Keller’s own example of how he studies the great early American revivalist, Jonathan Edwards.

Keller has mentioned that he reads, and re-reads Edward’s books and sermons over and over again.

Re- reading Edwards, Keller says, allows the benefit of learning how Edwards thought, and gives the benefit of applying that kind of thought to all of life,

as if to anticipate how Edwards would have answered any question himself.

Since I can’t listen to Edwards audio sermons,( since none exist), but Keller studies Edwards,

then I figure Keller’s audio sermons are the practicle choice for the student of deep theological issues.

This Sermon – In Summery

Keller answers the big question by dwelling on the basis for question, for most of sermon.

At one point in the sermon Keller receives applause for one of his comments, to which he replies,”that has never happened to me before, no wait,

I should say , that has never happened to me in a white church before.”

Another great sermon by Keller.

Free online. Click on the link below.

http://sermons2.redeemer.com/sermons/reason-living

Enjoy.

Streams In The Desert

“Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the Desert.” (Isaiah 43:18,19)

Nothing is too hard for God.
God makes things happen in places where we think those things could never happen.
He makes a way in places that we can’t navigate.
He brings life to barren places and empty hearts.
He makes rivers of living water in barren places.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
(2 Corinthians 5:17)

“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38)

May you have a Happy New Year, and a Happy New Life in Christ.

The Gospel Story – So Unlike Man Made Stories it Must Be True

Nobody would make up a story about the leader of their religion like the story of Jesus Christ in the Bible.

“Embarrassing testimony is powerful evidence for historical accuracy.” Frank Turek

The four Gospels all record events that some historians call, “The Criterion of Embarrassment“.

The list has caused quite a lot of debate, and the kind of commentary that includes a lot of anger in the absence of coherent reasoning on the part of naysayers.

The list of embarrassing stories is long and I have only recorded a few of them here for examples.

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Jesus Christ was accused repeatedly by His contemporaries of being born illegitimately.

His parents were not from nobility or influential.

He was born in a stable.

His arrival was announced by a chorus of Angels, not to nobility, but to humble shepherds watching their flocks by night.

His brothers did not believe in Him.

The religious leadership of His day hated Him.

He didn’t flaunt His miraculous powers for influence on a grand scale.

He did not free Israel from its Roman oppression as they wanted.

He didn’t even own a sword himself and forbid His followers from using them to defend Him.

He did not choose men of nobility to be His 12 Disciples. Instead He chose fisherman and tax collectors.

Many of the disciples did things that Jesus corrected them for doing, lack of faith, hunger for power, being judgmental and so on.

Most of the disciples betrayed Him when He was captured, and Peter denied he knew Him three times.

He showed tender mercy,kindness and respect to women during a time and culture that was very oppressive to women, and over one thousand years before the rest of the world would do so.

He made His Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt instead of a valiant steed.

He took the role of a servant and washed His disciples feet.

He allowed Himself to be captured by His enemies.

He did not speak in defense of Himself before the Jewish and Roman rulers.

He suffered public torture and shameful humiliation, but did not speak out in resistance to it.

He allowed Himself to be crucified on a Roman Cross.

While on the cross, He cried out,
“My God ,My God, why have you forsaken Me?”

He did not save Himself from undue punishment, instead, He died for those who rejected Him.

He was laid in a borrowed tomb,( but He rose again on the third day !)

All of these events and much more, stand in stark contrast to the things that commonly and historically appeal to the heart of mankind.

If the story of Jesus Christ was manufactured by men,

they would omit these events and try to cover them up in an effort to fabricate a leader devoid of embarrassments.

 ^“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

who, being in the form of God,

did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation,

taking the form of a bondservant,

and coming in the likeness of men.

 And being found in appearance as a man,

He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death,

even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8)

Why not believe in Jesus Christ and follow Him.

He alone is worthy.

God Was Manifested in the Flesh

” And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit,Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.”1Timothy 3:161

 The above verse from the Bible states that Jesus is God revealed to mankind in Bodily Form.

Just to think the God of all that is , was, and shall be personally came down to Earth as Jesus, to be one of us and to make a way for us back into fellowship with Himself.

This amazing love and humility is also beyond comprehension.
Great is the mystery.

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