Presented with Colours

Birds flying high

You know how I feel

Sun in the sky

You know how I feel

Breeze driftin' on by

You know how I feel

It's a new dawn

It's a new day

It's a new life

For me

And I'm feeling good

I'm feeling good

“BOLD CLAIMS”

We live in a society that feeds and is fulfilled by consumerism. We are confronted by the bold claims of marketing strategies. These “BOLD CLAIM’s”, whether successful or not, somehow become ‘hard-wired’ into our very consciousness.


Gillette  - “The Best a Man Can Get “, Carlsberg – “Probably the best beer in the world”, Mastercard – “There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s MasterCard”, Lotto – “Don’t live a little, live a lotto.”, Orange – “The future’s bright. The future’s Orange”, Hamlet – “Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet“, Peugeot  “The ride of your life”, British Airways  “The world's favourite airline”, Castlemaine XXXX  “Australians wouldn't give a XXXX for anything else”, Pepsi. - “Lipsmackin' thirstquenchin' acetastin' motivatin' goodbuzzin' cooltalkin' highwalkin' fastlivin' evergivin' coolfizzin Pepsi”

These marketing strategies have even sought to provide spiritual experiences.


Religion Clothing Paris – has the figure of a skeleton on it’s knees praying., Disarono – offers “Eternal Life”, BMW – “The Soul of Performance”, Jesus  Jeans– Is a high quality clothing brand – Offering “Freedom Inside” with the strap line “Follow Me”, Toyota Cars – Offers the feeling of being “Born Again” when you drive their cars.

Where ever we look we are confronted by “Bold Claims and “Big Promises” They are part of life, and we respond to them, or buy into the promise of the “BOLD CLAIM” Somehow we become ‘hard-wired’ into our very consciousness. To these “BOLD CLAIMW” We give ourselves wholeheartedly we trust in them  and we at worse all too often give ourselves to the promises of a better way of life and at best sell out to the idea that somehow they will fulfil our spiritual desires through them.

The gospels tell a story of “BOLD CLAIMS” as well. We find in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John the accounts of the last week of Jesus’ life (Known in the Christian Church as Holy Week) We find “BOLD CLAIMS” 

1.       “BOLD CLAIMS” of the crowd scenes in Jerusalem.

2.       “BOLD CLAIMS” of the religious leaders

3.       “BOLD CLAIMS” of the Roman authorities

4.       “BOLD CLAIMS” of the disciples

5.       “BOLD CLAIMS” of Jesus.

We turn to one of those “Bold Claims” of Holy Week in John 14:6 we find Jesus speaking with his closest friends and he makes a “BOLD CLAIM”  (Read John 14:6) Is it far fetched, Is it just a “BOLD CLAIM” with no substance, Is it a lie? Is this the biggest “CON TRICK” in History? What do you think?

I agree with C.S Lewis who writes in his book Mere Christianity   

“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse .... You can shut him up for fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.

Have you made a choice about JESUS and his “BOLD CLAIMS”?