Today the topic of our discussion was the three types of learning, namely: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. The first learns by seeing, the second by hearing, and the third by doing or experiencing. In order to better comprehend the styles which we are not (I am auditory), we have been asked to present the Gospel to someone of each learning style. So here goes, with the three presentations in the order above.
VISUAL:
The first picture here shows what happened when Adam first sinned. Even though God created Adam with His own hands, and gave him everything, Adam chose to disobey God and go his own way. Then he hid from God when God came looking for him. We are now separated from God so distantly that we cannot reach Him. Try reaching out to touch the sun or the stars. Now try jumping. How well is that working for you? It is impossible to reach God by our own efforts.
The second picture shows what God offers us through Jesus Christ, His Son. Jesus came to earth as a little baby, and when He grew up and lived a perfect life, without doing anything wrong, He suffered and died on the cross for our sins. Then He rose from the dead! How awesome is that! Can you rise from the dead? Certainly not by your own power. But God raised Jesus from the dead. And through Jesus, and only Jesus, God is reaching out His hand to you, to save you by Jesus’ blood.
AUDITORY:
In the beginning, God spoke all of creation into being. By His word it was formed and set in order. And God created us, mankind, in His own image, to be like Him and to have fellowship with Him. But our first ancestors chose their own way instead of God’s. This is sin. We have inherited this nature from our forefathers, both that we tend to sin, and that we do. But God is holy, perfectly right and true. He cannot tolerate anything dirty or wicked in His presence. Since we have acted contrary to His nature, we deserve to be punished forever, separated from the joy of His love.
Yet, when the time was right, that Eternal Word by which all of heaven and earth were created, became flesh. He dwelt among us: Jesus Christ. Two thousand years ago, in Israel, Jesus was born. Born! Think of it, the Eternal Word, born in human flesh! And He lived among us. He grew up and became a teacher, and He went about preaching, healing, and ministering to people in Israel. But, being enraged by jealousy, the religious leaders of the day plotted to kill Him, and had Him executed at the hands of the Roman authorities. He died for our sins, a very painful death, but even more so, God the Father was pleased to crush Him, as it says in Isaiah, because Jesus took on all of our sins. The Father left Jesus there to bear the full weight of our sin and rebellion and dirt. He laid all of it on Jesus. Then Jesus died, and was buried, but on the third day, He rose from the dead! The grave could not contain Him, but He took our sins to Hell and left them there, never to be remembered again by God. Because He died and rose again, we may live with Him, if we repent and believe in the wonderful promises He offers: eternal life through His Son, Jesus.
KINESTHENIC:
In the beginning, when God created everything, He did so by His Word. But when He created mankind in His own image, He got His hands dirty. The Bible says that He formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed life into Him. God walked with the first people, Adam and Eve, in the garden which He made for them. It was perfect. But then Adam and Eve decided to sin, or to choose their own way rather than God’s. Now, because God is holy, He cannot dwell with our sin. So now the Bible tells us that He is in heaven and we are on earth. How can we get to Him? Trying on our own is like building a ladder to reach the stars.
But when Adam and Eve sinned, they hid from God. Here, you hide under your napkin or something, and I’ll show you what it was like. They were hiding, trying to avoid God and stay away from Him, but He went after them, and said, “Where are you?” It says that right in the Bible. So here I am looking for you and you don’t want to be around me. That’s how we treat God. It isn’t that we want to be with God and He is stealthily avoiding us. We are stealthily avoiding Him, but we still need saving. Let’s say I punched you in the face, then hand cuffed you and put your feet in a fire, while you were awake. You have to watch your feet burn, then as they burn, we move more into the fire. This isn’t what God wants for you. He isn’t trying to punish you, but your deeds demand it. You’ve done bad things in your life, haven’t you? At least a few? One is enough to separate you from God, but it’s your fault.
So now, what are we left with? God doesn’t want us to die and get burned forever, but that’s what we’ve chosen for ourselves by our actions. So here we are, stuck. God wants to be with us, and perhaps you now even think you want to be with Him. Sounds better than eternal fire, right? But that’s not the point. Being with God or not, that is the question. Do you really want God? Or just to avoid Hell? Yet God has given a Way.
See, since we have no better means than a ladder by which we can climb to the heavens, we need someone to save us. Picture a man drowning out in the middle of the ocean. He has nothing to save himself with, even if he wants to be saved. But Jesus, God’s only-begotten Son, came to earth to rescue us. It’s like someone coming by in a boat just in the nick of time, to pull that drowning man out of the ocean. Jesus died a cruelly painful death to pay for our sins. Can you imagine crucifixion? Stand up and hold out your arms like this, now hold them higher, like you’re hanging from your wrists. Now take a deep breath. Hard, isn’t it? So what they did was hang Him there for six hours while He suffocated. Yuk! And He did that willingly, for us! Then He was buried, and rose from the dead! Can you imagine it! He rose from the dead! Because of who He is, and what He did, we can be saved from our dreadful condition. Jesus said that He, “came to seek and save that which was lost.” He wants to save you. Will you repent and believe Him?
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