WEBVTT

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Here is a man who was born in an obscure village,

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the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another

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village. He worked in a carpenter's shop until

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he was 30. He never wrote a book. He never held

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an office. He never owned a home. He never had

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a family. He never went to college. He never

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put his feet inside a big city. He never traveled

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200 miles from the place where he was born. He

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never did one of the things that usually accompanies

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greatness. He had no credentials but himself.

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while still a young man the tide of private opinion

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turned against him his friends ran away one of

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them denied him he was turned over to his enemies

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he went through the mockery of a trial he was

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nailed to a cross between two thieves gambled

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for the only piece of property that he had on

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earth while he was dying, and that was his coat.

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When he was dead, he was taken down and laid

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in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

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Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone, and

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today He is the centerpiece of the human race.

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I am far within the mark when I say that all

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the armies that ever marched and all the navies

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that were ever built and all the parliaments

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that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned

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put together have not affected the life of man

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upon this earth, as has that one solitary life,

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the life of Jesus Christ. And the Word was made

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flesh and dwelt among us. The hardest proposition

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the infidel crowd has ever gotten up against

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is to account for the person of Jesus Christ.

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Isaiah said, His name shall be called Wonderful.

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And there's no better name to describe him. He...

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is the world's one great wonder. No one else

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ever approached him. No one else is comparable

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to him. He's in a class all by himself. He has

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no second. No man ever uttered such wonderful

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teaching. It was so simple. The common people

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heard him gladly, and yet so profound that no

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philosopher has ever sounded their depths. He

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never wrote a sermon. He never published a book.

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He founded no college to perpetuate his doctrines,

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but handed them down to a few poor humble fishermen

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and yet his teaching has endured for two thousand

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years it has been translated into every language

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under the sky it has so transformed human life

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that whole nations have been lifted out of darkness

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degradation by its power. Think of it. Think

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of it. The teachings of Jesus Christ has endured

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for 2 ,000 years, has so transformed lives. Human

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life, their whole nations have been lifted out

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of darkness by its power. And before this humble

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Galilean peasant, the scholarship of the world

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uncovers its head today. Bows its head and says,

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never man speak as. This man spake. No man ever

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lived such a wonderful life. And he backed up

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what he said by the way he lived. He was there

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with the goods. He never had to ask God to forgive

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his sins because his character was perfect. His

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enemies watched him like a hawk. And the very

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worst... thing that they could say about him

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was that he did good on the Sabbath and that

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he let a sinful woman come near enough to him

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to touch the hem of his garment. That was the

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very worst thing that his enemies could say about

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him. And then, There never was a character so

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wonderful as his. He was born, of course, in

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a given race and in a given age. He had to be.

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But he utterly transcended his age and his race

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and became the ideal of every age. The ideal

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of every race. Come now, Mr. Infidel. Come now,

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unbeliever. Come, Mr. Skeptic. How are you going

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to account for Jesus Christ? If he was only man,

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then by every law of evolution and progress,

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this 20th century ought to produce a better one.

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Intellectually and morally, this is so. Somebody

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says, give us a man's race, his surroundings,

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and the man himself is accounted for. This is

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largely so. Socrates is of Greece, belonged to

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his age. Luther is of Germany, and the circumstances

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of his day had much to do with his heroic life.

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And so, to a large extent, we can account for

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them all. Napoleon, Buddha, Confucius, Cromwell.

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But this is not altogether so. One day the tourist...

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came to the birthplace of robert burns and as

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he looked out over the charm of the highland

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scenery and saw the quaint and quiet beauty of

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it all he exclaimed audibly ah no wonder burns

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was a poet but the guide at his side said sir

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There have been many, many children born here

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since Robert Burns was born, but none of them

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was a poet. No more can you account for Jesus

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Christ by his environment or the times in which

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he lived. Other children were born. reared under

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the Syrian skies and among the Judean hills.

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Other young men had the same surroundings. Other

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young men grew up among the same influences,

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the same institutions, the same religious ideals,

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the same personalities, the same conflict of

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opinions, and all the rest of it. How... then

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does it come that Jesus alone among them all

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became the wonderful man that we see him to be.

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The God -man of the universe who walked like

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a giant among the pygmies of the earth. A truth

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for this man, Mr. Infidel. Mr. Unbeliever, account

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for this man. Come on. What have you got to say?

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He is the one great mystery of the universe,

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and the only clue to his origin you will ever

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find, you'll have to find in the gospel where

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it says, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,

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and the power of the Highest shall overshadow

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thee, and therefore that holy thing which shall

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be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

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Jesus Christ himself said, what if ye shall see

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the son of man ascend up where he was before

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that shows his claim to pre -existence and shows

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us where he was before he came to this earth

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he sat one day looking up father Glorify me with

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the glory I had with thee before the world was.

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In these mattress, all -powerful, all -significant

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words, Jesus shows his claim to preexistence

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even before he came. to this earth even before

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the world was spoken into existence. And now

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comes the text in John. And the word was made

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flesh and dwelt among us. Of course, there's

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always been a set of critics who've had their

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knife out for this duck. of the virgin birth.

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I am well aware of this. So are you. And this

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has been going on for generations. In Christ's

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own day, they said, why, this is the carpenter's

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son. We know him. We're some of his neighbors.

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They couldn't... possibly be anything unusual

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about him? We know his mother. He's just the

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son of a carpenter. And that criticism of his

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divine origin has never let up. Never. In 1892

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over in Germany, it broke out anew, and we've

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had a pretty warm fight on our hands. Ever since,

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a preacher over there started it. He wouldn't

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use the Apostles' Creed in baptism because it

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said that Jesus was conceived of the Holy Ghost

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and born of the Virgin Mary. They gave him his

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walking papers, deposed him from the ministry.

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And there's many a man who stands behind the

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sacred desk today. Who denies the deity and divinity

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of Jesus Christ as the very son of the living

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God. Let me ask you, sir. How are you going to

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account? for several things that are so reasonable.

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The first thing you say is that nothing is said

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about it by Mark or John or Paul. But that simply

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begs the question. Because they said nothing

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about it is no sign that they didn't know about

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it or didn't believe it. They had other purposes

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in writing. Mark began with his public ministry,

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passed in silence over the first 30 years of

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his life. Don't you suppose he knew he had a

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birth of some kind that he never said a word

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about it? John knew it because he had Matthew's

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and Luke's Gospels with him. And when he wrote,

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he wrote. with a definite purpose knowing that

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the one of whom he wrote knowing the miracles

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that had been performed were performed by one

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that was not merely man but as much God as though

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he were not man Luke was with Paul and of course

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told all about it. But it's not to be expected

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that Paul would mention it. The whole theme of

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his ministry was the moral significance of Christ

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as based upon his public ministry, his life,

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his death, his resurrection. Well, all you can

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say is the thing was impossible. What was impossible?

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Such a birth itself. Not with God, my friend.

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Let God step in on the scene and impossibility

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must go away. Back and sit down. With God, nothing

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is impossible. Because you can't understand it.

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is no sign it is not true. There are lots of

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things you can't understand, and yet you must

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acknowledge that you believe them or acknowledge

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that you're a fool. You say it's unthinkable.

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What is unthinkable? The alleged result of such

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a birth. What do you mean? You say, The union

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of a divine and human nature in one person. It's

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incredible. It can't be. Well, now, let's see.

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Because that's exactly what the incarnation is.

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The union of two natures in one person. A combination

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of the divine and human in Jesus Christ. One

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person. Well, if you do a bit of real hard thinking,

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it may not be as unthinkable as you think it

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is. But if it's unthinkable to the best human

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thinker that operates, that's still no sign that

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it's untrue. Can you understand the mechanical

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union of oxygen and nitrogen that makes air?

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Or of hydrogen and oxygen that makes water? Or

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the union of body and soul that makes yourself?

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You are a person. And if you can't understand...

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This simpler union don't growl about divinity

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and humanity uniting into one person. It's no

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more incompatible than the union of matter and

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spirit that makes one person out of... Acknowledge

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God and you have the answer. And the Word was

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made flesh and dwelt among us. And today, that

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life has greater influence than any life that

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has ever lived.