Today, I am reading and commenting on John 8-9.

I have loved the story of the man born blind which John recounts here.  When the Pharisees questioned the man the second time about how he was healed, they began by saying that the man needed to keep in mind as he told them how he was healed that they knew that Jesus was a sinner.  The man born blind gave a great summation of faith.  Which I will paraphrase thus, “I am not a learned man, so I can’t debate with you about whether He is a sinner.  All I know is that I was blind and now I see.”  When we look at our lives, we need to keep it simple.  When people try to make things complicated, keep it simple.  Rather than worrying about what we do not know, let us focus on what we do know.  When someone claims that Christianity is flawed because of “X”, and you do not know how to answer.  Take your time, focus on what you do know about Christ, and say, “I do not know about that.  Let me look into it and get back to you.”  Then, pray for God’s guidance, study Scripture, speak to those who have studied Scripture, and pray some more.  And do all of this humbly.  The man born blind was humble.  He admitted that he did not know whether Jesus was a sinner, but pointed out that if Jesus was not from God, He couldn’t do the things He had done.

In his wrap up of the story, John tells us that Jesus said that He had come into the world so that the blind may see and those that see become blind.  Some of the Pharisees who were present asked if that meant that they were blind.  To which Jesus replied, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”  The man born blind humbly admitted that he did not know and that Jesus had given him his sight.  The Pharisees arrogantly claimed that they knew, and Jesus declared that that made them blind.  It reminds me of a Christian apologist I occasionally watch videos of.  On several occasions people have asked them if such and such a person is in heaven, of is going to heaven.  He always answers that he does not know, God is the one who makes that decision and he, the apologist, does not know what that person thinks and believes (or thought and believed) in their heart. that they might be truly repentant for any terrible deeds which they committed.  He neither says that he thinks they are saved nor that they are not.  The apologist humbly admits that he only knows that he himself has declared that Jesus is Lord and repented of his sins, and thus God has forgiven him.  We are not responsible for what other people decide to do with Christ, we are just responsible for turning to Him ourselves and telling others about Him.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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