Jesus vs the philosophers

Origen’s response to Celsus’ recommendation of Christians to abandon Christ for the philosophers (the philosophers did not seem to connect well with the common man even to this day which Origen sees as a major flaw for the philosopher in comparison to Jesus who seems to connect with all sorts of classes of men and women and even those in slavery):

Who, then, are those wise men and philosophers from whom Celsus would have us to learn so many divine truths, and for whom we are to give up Moses the servant of God, the prophets of the Creator of the world, who have spoken so many things by a truly divine inspiration, and even Him who has given light and taught the way of piety to the whole human race, so that no one can reproach Him if he remains without a share in the knowledge of His mysteries? Such, indeed, was the abounding love which He had for men, that He gave to the more learned a theology capable of raising the soul far above all earthly things; while with no less consideration He comes down to the weaker capacities of ignorant men, of simple women, of slaves, and, in short, of all those who from Jesus alone could have received that help for the better regulation of their lives which is supplied by his instructions in regard to the Divine Being, adapted to their wants and capacities.

Origen. 1885. “Origen against Celsus.” In Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Part Fourth; Minucius Felix; Commodian; Origen, Parts First and Second, edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, translated by Frederick Crombie, 4:627. The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.” – Colossians 2:8

Jesus is trustworthy and loves us sinners both small and great, rich and poor, slave or free, male or female, American or Mexican etc etc etc

He is worthy of your trust! He has earned it at the cross! Earned it down thru the ages! Earned it across continents, islands, cultures, languages, countries etc etc etc! He has earned the right to be called our light! There is nothing in comparison and He has preserved His gospel to this day so you can trust Him and what He did for you at that cross!

God bless you…

Did you know that the Biblical writings from the BC (BCE) predicted a coming “Servant/Messiah” who would bring God’s word to the nations world over? Did you know that Jesus claimed to be that Messiah and claimed that His message would go to the nations world over? Did you know that Jesus predicted both good and bad players in His multicultural/cross border kingdom? Did you know Jesus said His kingdom is not of this world? And yet the gates of hell would not prevail against it.

The rest is history….

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