[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Ftoo-good-to-be-true":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Ftoo-good-to-be-true-surround":76},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":15,"columnName":59,"date":60,"description":21,"extension":61,"image":62,"meta":63,"minRead":64,"navigation":65,"path":66,"postType":67,"publication":68,"publicationUrl":62,"seo":69,"stem":70,"topics":71,"__hash__":75},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Ftoo-good-to-be-true.md","Too Good to Be True",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9,10,11,12,13,14],"1 Thessalonians","Luke","Philippians","1 Timothy","Revelation","Acts",{"type":16,"value":17,"toc":55},"minimark",[18,22,25,28,31,34,37,40,43,46,49,52],[19,20,21],"p",{},"A letter arrives in your mailbox with exciting news: You may have won a million-dollar sweepstakes! A telemarketer phones during your dinner hour with some more good news: You are qualified to win an all-expenses paid trip to Hawaii. A street vendor selling jewelry from a folding table offers you a watch for $35. \"It's a genuine Rolex,\" he assures you. An advertisement pops up on your computer monitor while you're on-line, offering you a fabulous deal. All you have to do is submit your credit card information.",[19,23,24],{},"Who believes these dubious sales-pitches? Circus tycoon P. T. Barnum observed, \"There's a sucker born every minute.\"",[19,26,27],{},"Most of us, though, have our guard up. We have learned to read the fine print and to ask, \"What's the 'catch'?\" We've heard the old proverbs, \"There's no such thing as a free lunch,\" and \"If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.\" Even the Bible tells us to have a healthy level of skepticism. \"Test everything,\" Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:21.",[19,29,30],{},"Hard to Believe",[19,32,33],{},"According to Luke chapter 24, after Jesus rose from the dead he appeared to a small group of women who went and told the apostles they had seen the Lord. The apostles, however, didn't react with instant faith and say, \"Yes, of course. That's exactly what we expected!\" At first \"they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense\" (v. 11). Even though Jesus had told his disciples plainly that he would be killed and then would rise again, they were filled with fear and confusion after he was crucified and buried. Grieving, bewildered, and afraid, they huddled behind locked doors. The initial reports of Jesus' resurrection seemed too good to be true.",[19,35,36],{},"Even when Jesus appeared and spoke directly to them, at first they thought they were seeing a ghost. Jesus reassured them: \"Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have\" (v. 39). But even then \"they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement\" (v. 41).",[19,38,39],{},"They \"did not believe it because of joy.\" To see Jesus alive again was exactly what they wanted to see, but it was such an incredible miracle it was almost beyond their ability to grasp. Their cautious first reaction is understandable. It would have been profoundly disillusioning if they had believed in the resurrection and then later discovered it was false. It's tempting to choose the security of doubt over the risk of further disappointment.",[19,41,42],{},"Amazing Promises",[19,44,45],{},"Some of the Bible's promises almost sound too good to be true. \"I can do everything through him who gives me strength\" (Philippians 4:13). \"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst\" (1 Timothy 1:15). \"There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain\" (Revelation 21:4). Do we dare to believe these amazing promises?",[19,47,48],{},"Jesus asked his doubting disciples, \"Do you have anything here to eat?\" They handed him some broiled fish, \"and he took it and ate it in their presence\" (Luke 24:41-43). Why did Luke bother to tell us what was on Jesus' dinner menu? Because he wanted to show that Jesus' resurrected body was real. As far as I know, ghosts do not eat fish; and if the resurrection were simply a religious myth, Jesus wouldn't have eaten anything at all.",[19,50,51],{},"The fact that Jesus' disciples were initially skeptical about the resurrection makes their testimony even more credible. They doubted at first, but over a period of 40 days Jesus provided so many convincing proofs that no reasonable observer could doubt he was truly alive (Acts 1:3). Those who witnessed the risen Christ could not help proclaiming what they had seen and heard. The authentic miracle of the resurrection transformed Jesus' disciples from doubt and despair to unquenchable hope—and it still can do the same for us today.",[19,53,54],{},"Because the gospel is good. And better yet . . . it is true.",{"title":56,"searchDepth":57,"depth":57,"links":58},"",2,[],"First Look","2004-04-11","md",null,{},4,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Ftoo-good-to-be-true","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":21},"articles\u002Ftoo-good-to-be-true",[72,73,74],"Biblical Theology","Holy Week and Resurrection","Spiritual Formation","0v_52xqTlWATS473aJUywIG82a46-pJdNk_YkmycQIo",[77,82],{"title":78,"path":79,"stem":80,"description":81,"children":-1},"Too Close for Comfort","\u002Farticles\u002Ftoo-close-for-comfort","articles\u002Ftoo-close-for-comfort","\"Jesus, keep me near the cross.\" It's easy to sing or say those words. But if we had been there when Jesus died, would we really have wanted to be near the cross? What was it really like that day? What would we have seen and heard?",{"title":83,"path":84,"stem":85,"description":86,"children":-1},"Too Tired to Serve?","\u002Farticles\u002Ftoo-tired-to-serve","articles\u002Ftoo-tired-to-serve","“He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach . . .” (Mark 3:14)."]