God sent Jesus as a ...

For those who are homeschooling who have faith in Christ, I offer the following that came my way recently in a theological Bible study.

If God had perceived that our greatest need was economic,

he would have sent an economist.

If he had perceived that our greatest need was for entertainment,

he would have sent us a comedian or an artist.

If God had perceived that our greatest need was political stability,

he would have sent us a politician. If he had perceived that our greatest need was health, he would have sent us a doctor.

But he perceived that our greatest need involved our sin, our alienation from him, our profound rebellion, our death; and

he sent us a savior.

A quote taken (words same, format different) from D. A. Carson (1946.12.21-) Carson is a well-known evangelical biblical scholar, a Distinguished Emeritus Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School where he was hired as a young graduate to teach it for a year and ended up teaching it for a lifetime. He is also president and co-founder of the Gospel Coalition. He has written or edited more than sixty books and was president of the Evangelical Theological Society in 2022. He received his Master of Divinity from Heritage College & Seminary in 1970, and his Doctorate of Philosophy in New Testament from the University of Cambridge in 1975

As a bit of humor, it seems necessary to add:

  • If he had perceived our greatest need was furniture, he would have sent a carpenter.

Now, some people would take that seriously - but it is a strawman argument if it isn't a joke. It does not take away from the truth and reality of the words of Carson, nor does it take away from the reason that God sent his son Jesus to the earth out of his profound love for us and out of his knowledge of what we truly need.

And just in case you don't know what I mean by a strawman argument, A straw man argument, or straw man fallacy, is a type of logical fallacy that occurs when someone purposely distorts or misrepresents their opponent’s position to make it appear easier to defeat. The person using the strawman pretends to attack their opponent’s stance, while in reality they are actually attacking a distorted version of that stance, which their opponent doesn’t necessarily, and likely doesn't, and in the case above definitely would not support. This technique is often used in political debates, journalism, and debates on any controversial topics, in this case, I was just using it for humor, but the matter at hand is so vitally important, that I needed to follow through with explanatory comment. I hope you still enjoy the joke, while thinking about the seriousness and infinite value to you of the truth.