Thread by @BrentBeshore

Familiarity often leads to dullness or deepening gratitude.

Seen it. Get it. Know 'em. Move along.

Or, marveling in newly discovered nuance that lights past experience, provokes anticipation, and elicits awe.

Consider Christmas.

Same tired story. Santa and a manger. Food, drink, family. Gifts, gifts, gifts.

Or, God’s rescue mission. Jesus, God himself, born into poverty and anonymity. An uneducated carpenter who taught briefly and was brutally killed. Then something happened that changed everything.

That something transformed Jesus's family and friends from distraught, scared skeptics into believers willing to lay down their lives, often in horrific fashion, professing his divinity.

I’ll let the Durants, widely regarded as the 20th century’s best historians, explain:

Perhaps in a world of storytellers who invent fanciful tales and tell them to each other, there’s one true story?

Its claims are so well known, strange, and unlikely that it commands inquiry. It requires investigation and exploration, and ultimately either faith or dismissal.

If you read about world-changers, or titans of industry, or historical figures, why not start with a detailed look at the man who divided time (B.C./A.D.) and forever changed the course of human history?

Even if you’re sure it’s nonsense, wouldn’t you want to know how he did it?

Still not convinced? Don't take my word for it...

"I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history." — H.G. Wells

“I marvel that whereas the ambitious dreams of myself and of Alexander and of Caesar should have vanished into thin air, a Judean peasant – Jesus – should be able to stretch his hands across the centuries and control the destinies of men and nations.” -Napolean Bonaparte

And more from Napoleon Bonaparte:

If you want to dive in, I’d start with the eye witness accounts — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Then read…

Jesus: A Biography by Paul Johnson
Case for Christ by @LeeStrobel
Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey
Jesus the King by @TimKeller

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!