*Director: Rafik Rasmy*
We Christians were born and taught our faith by our parents, just as you were born and learned your faith from your Muslim parents. However, as we grew older, we searched with all our minds and did not comprehend or understand. But as we aged, we experienced a purely personal relationship and interactions with God through personal experiences, and thus faith came—not from us at all, but as a gift and grace from God. There are matters that transcend all minds and our understanding.
Firstly, faith in Christ, the incarnate Word of God, never comes from intellectual proofs, although they help greatly in understanding. Faith itself is a gift from God. When Christ sent his disciples to perform miracles in His name, as mentioned in the Gospels, He called His twelve disciples and gave them authority. He told them: "Heal the sick, cleanse those who have leprosy, raise the dead, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you."
After they performed all those miracles, just as He had done before, He humbled Himself and let His disciples do the same in His name. Then His disciples came to Him, and He asked them: "Who do people say I am?" They replied that the answers varied between John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the prophets. Then He asked them: "But what about you? Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!" Jesus praised him, saying that his answer was a divine revelation.
When Peter gave this testimony, Jesus told him that flesh and blood did not reveal this to him, but God Himself did. Paul, the Apostle of Christ, said in 1 Corinthians 12:3: "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit." Even after His crucifixion and death, His disciples did not believe that He was "Lord" despite all the miracles they saw Him perform and even allowed them to perform in His name. They saw Him crucified and dead, and He remained in the tomb for three days. They lost their faith.
But strong faith began after He raised Himself from the dead and stayed with them for forty days in His body, teaching them about the Kingdom of God. Then He ascended to heaven before their eyes in His body. Then the Holy Spirit descended upon them, and they all, as He commanded, went out to preach what they had seen, heard, and witnessed throughout the earth. All of them, without exception, were offered wealth, positions, and prestige. But just as Jesus was tempted by the crowds who tried to make Him king several times, He refused. All His disciples, without exception, were severely tortured and did not retreat even a bit until they were martyred, sacrificing their lives, which is the most precious thing a person has, because He promised them the eternal kingdom, and they believed Him with all evidence.
They had complete faith, and it was not just the twelve disciples but also seventy apostles of Christ. All of them were killed for their testimony of what they saw and witnessed in the truth of Jesus. Except for (John the Beloved who remained exiled on the island of Patmos due to his faith and preaching until he died from the torture). Everyone preferred death as their teacher Jesus Christ died to convey the message faithfully. They were completely confident in their resurrection after death, just as Jesus Himself rose from the dead and showed them undeniable proof. He stayed with them for forty days, teaching them about the Kingdom of God, and then they saw Him ascend to heaven in His body, promising them the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal life. Otherwise, they would not have despised their earthly lives and offered them as a price for the inheritance of the eternal kingdom in the afterlife.
There are things that cannot be understood by the mind alone. There are millions of scientific facts that we cannot comprehend with our minds but accepted because science says so, like the earth rotating on its axis at a speed of 1600 km/h and at the same time orbiting the sun at a speed of 110,000 km/h, while the earth and the sun together move towards the unknown at a speed of 300 km/s. Can this be comprehended by the human mind? If the universe contains an uncountable number of facts beyond human comprehension, how much more the Creator of this universe? Likewise, the truth of Christ, the incarnate Word of God in human form, cannot be comprehended by the mind alone. If Jesus had not told us about Himself many times, as His deeds, words, and unparalleled morals in all evil were of the highest refinement and elevation.
But how can we believe? We did not see what His disciples and apostles saw. Faith in what Jesus said requires a deep request from your heart for God to reveal the truth to you, nothing but the truth, in your heart first, then your mind, and you will know it through a very personal experience with Him. Then you will believe it. Otherwise, your mind alone will never believe it until you experience it yourself. For example, using your mobile phone now with the internet, if someone had told you a hundred years ago about using the mobile and the internet as you do now, you would have found it impossible to believe, no matter how much they swore to you, because it would not have entered the mind of a person a hundred years ago that this could happen. But now, after you have used the mobile and the internet and experienced them, you believed and accepted despite the impossibility of understanding all its details.
Despite knowing all this, some provoke us with questions, and some, of course, try to answer logically and intellectually. As stated in the Bible (1 Peter 3:15): "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have, but do this with gentleness and respect." Christianity is not just a religion like all other religions. Christ did not come to establish a religion or set rules or doctrines for people to follow to avoid hell. No. Christianity is primarily about union with the person of Jesus Christ in a purely personal relationship, "Union with the person of Jesus Christ," and experiencing His presence and work in your life. This relationship will not come unless you ask Him with all your heart persistently. Then, the feeling and sense of this relationship with Him will come, and you will feel that it is a real truth through very personal experiences with the "person of Jesus Christ" and having a relationship with Him in your life, so you hear and see Him when you ask and request from Him and talk to Him in your heart. Otherwise, it is not Christianity. No matter how much a person claims to be a Christian, he is not. Because Christ asked from humans, saying "Follow me." That is all He wants from you, and then He will do everything. He will qualify you and heal you psychologically, morally, spiritually, and physically. Try, you might gain a lot but you will lose nothing.
**Rafik Rasmy**
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