The Cross of Christ

I am just finishing up the book The Cross of Christ by John R.W. Stott (Christology). I have thoroughly enjoyed this Christian classic and highly recommend it to anyone wanting to get a deeper understanding of Christ and His Cross.

I wanted to post the following quote from this book:

"I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the One Nietzche ridiculed as "God on the cross". In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of the Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time after a while I have had to turn away.

And in imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in Godforsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our sufferings become more manageable in the light of His. There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross that symbolizes divine suffering. The Cross of Christ...is God's only self-justification in such a world as ours."

Blessings,
Emmanuel