Sunday, November 3, 2013

Sightings Of Jesus Throughout History

By Alyce Powell


For many people, one of the most difficult things in Christianity is managing to believe in a god that they cannot see. Some want concrete visual evidence before they can have faith. Throughout the religion's history, there have been people who reported sightings of Jesus and managed to strengthen their belief or even to convert to Christianity because of these visions.

The first instances of people seeing Christ are generally regarded as being true and they form a major part of what the Christian faith is based on. These events took place in the days and weeks after Christ was crucified. When some of His closest friends visited His tomb a few days after the burial, they found that it was empty and soon He started appearing to His disciples and others. The idea that He was resurrected is very important in Christianity. However, in those early days there were also some skeptics, such as the disciple who afterwards became known as Doubting Thomas.

In the early days of Christianity, several people who had been worshiping other gods had visions of Christ and then converted to Christianity. They include Saul of Tarsus, who was notorious at the time for persecuting the followers of Jesus. After the Son of God appeared to him, he converted and became known as the Apostle Paul, who eventually died for his beliefs.

There are theologians who believe that even long before He became human, Christ had been appearing to people. Some, for example, think that the angel that wrestled with Jacob was in fact Christ. Another possible example is that of the fourth person seen in the burning furnace that was supposed to kill the Prophet Daniel's three friends in Babylon.

Some of the people who saw Christ later became saints in the Catholic Church because of their visions. The Church also displays one of the most famous objects imprinted with what is believed to be an image of Christ. The Shroud of Turin has markings that look like a man who may have died on a cross and many people believe that this is the shroud that was wrapped around the body of Jesus.

These days there are many supposed sightings of Christ. His image is often found in everyday objects. In fact, everything from grilled cheese sandwiches to X-rays have borne images that could be interpreted as looking like Jesus.

With the advent of cellphones that have a video function, it's become easier to record events on the spot. Some of these events are supposed appearances of Christ. You can have a look online to see whether you believe these visions are real.

Many people, whether they're religious or not, don't believe that sightings of Jesus are really authentic. They say that if you really want to see Christ's image in a burn mark on a tortilla, you will, just like you would see a bunny if that was what you wanted to see. For the believers, though, these images have had great power to help them have stronger faith and some even say that they became Christians because of these visions.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment