This year, I met a new friend. Much younger than me who sponsors my technical seminars I do in a Meet Up group. We discovered we got the same skepticism with what we hear from the MSM. He is very concern with the loss of freedom people in the world are experiencing.
His ancestry came from East EU background, I detected it through his name. He said, his family came from Russia and they came from a Jewish background. We got to talk about Christianity and how I know about his faith, though he said he is none conformant and follows their ways out of tradition.
In the discussion, I said to him, well you see Christianity, many people do not see is a WORD based religion. He was shock when I said that. He said "hmmmm, that is interesting, with us (Judaism), it is always action based" - I said, I know. I said, we do not deny the need for action, but we do affirm the supremacy first of WORDS.
For example, for how does one become a Christian? We have words, we use our message to tell and that message is the message of Christ, how he answered the Law on our behalf and that faith in his person and work obtains for us, forgiveness of sins.
This is not something you can arrive at through your imaginings and rational reflection. It has to be delivered to you, from another side, outside you. Where as I returned to theism after being an atheist in college through looking at the sky, I would have not known the meaning of Jesus' coming until I heard it preached to me, the meaning of that coming of Christ.
Whenever I read Luther, I come out convinced, he absolutely believed in the transforming power of the Word, of Scripture.
John 6
63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
Psalm 19: 7
The law of the Lord is perfect, [a]converting the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
2 Cor 4
13 And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak,
