Chapter 2. 1
Case for Christianity
How did it all begin? - Deism – Dualism
Right and Wrong – The Torah – Qur’an
Is there something greater than us?
First
Word
Why
do we have a desire to know “How
it all began”? What’s within us that
causes us to ponder “Life”;
especially our own life? Are we to
believe that this is all there is? Everything living operates on “Instinct” except man who was given a
mind to reason, think and plan. Isn’t
it rational to accept that we might REASON that there is “Something Greater” out there other than
ourselves? Does God expect us to blindly
accept without REASON there is
something greater? Can we be held
accountable if we are not to REASON?
If God exist, then there
will be EVIDENCE and SIGNS. “Come let us reason together”. Isaiah
1:18
LOGICAL PROBABILITY Weigh the Evidence
Christianity is
either EVERYTHING or NOTHING; it’s the highest certainty or the greatest
delusion. All we can do is weigh the
evidence and choose the most probable explanation.
Josh McDowell
Right and
Wrong
We
know NOT to do wrong, but we do
wrong anyway;[1]
then defend our actions with excuses. People universally and naturally
understand courtesy and decent behavior. Why is that?
The Law of Human Nature thinks UNFAIR behavior is
just plain wrong. Why is that? Where does this Standard of Right and Wrong and decent behavior come from? There must be some sort of an agreement of
what right and wrong is that is beyond ordinary facts
The Bible says the laws are written on our hearts;
accusing us or excusing us.[2]
Ponder that!
Is it all
meaningless?
King Solomon, who I
believe wrote Ecclesiastes, did it all and into excess, he had power, money,
servants, food and wives. He built
chariots, ships, buildings, gardens and orchards and at the very end said
“without God it was all meaningless”. The man who had the greatest wisdom in the
world said the whole duty of man was to “fear God and keep His commandments”. If we reverence God and seek His face, He
will open our heart and GIVE us a desire to take careful notice of Him
and to respond.[3]
NOTE: This DESIRE is a form of convicting FAITH which is EVIDENCE that God wants us to know that we can know Him.
Is this all
there is?
If man evolved from a
lower type of life, what’s the next big step in evolution and why has there
been no “evoluting” in the past 6,000 years?
Are we Cosmic Orphans? Our bodies may be good for about eighty to a
hundred years and then we return to room temperature. What happens after that? Does my Spirit or my Soul (my mind) remain with my
dead body or does it move on to someplace else?
Could the decisions I make during my lifetime have some kind of Eternal
Consequence? The Question
that begs to be answered; IS THIS
Everything that happens is caused by something GREATER than itself. Something must have been
the first Unmovable Cause, that itself had no cause. Is there an UNMOVED
MOVER that
made me and everything else? Did this
“Creator” of everything just
God has set
eternity in our hearts and we hunger for its meaning;[4] WHY IS THAT?
All we can do is Weigh the Evidence and choose the MOST LIKELY EXPLANATION.
Unmoved
Mover
If there is only one “UNMOVED MOVER”, then I am led to only three
monotheistic religions those that follow only
Islam;
Abraham and Hagar a bondswoman had a son named Ishmael which gave us Islam.[5]
Judaism;
Abraham’s first child with his wife Sarah was named Isaac which gave us Judaism.[6]
I must REASON that ONLY
Christianity
arose out of Judaism with its roots in the person of Jesus of Nazareth whose
claim was that He was the Son of God; the great I
AM; the Unmoved Mover.
I must REASON that IF this is so, THERE MUST BE EVIDENCE. There
must be “trusted writings” of
antiquity that offer proof that would move me from Judaism to Christianity. God explains the concept of the “UNMOVED MOVER” to Moses when
He said; “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: this shall thou say unto the children of
Israel, I AM has sent me unto
you” [7]
C.S.
Lewis
writes; “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite
importance.
The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”
Good and
Evil
Religion
can be quite simple if you have no facts to bother you. C.S. Lewis
Everyone
comes into a discussion with their own BS; a Belief System
that colors what they see and hear. It’s
the way you view the world and there are certainly a lot of Word Views.
Atheist; A
meaning “No” and Theos meaning
“God”; believes There is no god therefore miracles are not possible, there is
no supernatural and we all live in a closed system.
Agnostic; A meaning “No” and gnosis meaning “Knowledge”; they are NOT SURE if there is a
God, they have no knowledge one way or the other.
Relativism; There are no absolute
truths, only truths that are relevant to each individual. Therefore if Truth is
relative, then no one is ever wrong.
Pantheism believes God created the Universe and He IS the universe and everything is part
of God. Pantheism believes that God is beyond “Good and Evil”. The wiser you are the less you call something
good or evil. The side that is called
evil is dependent on which side you are on. Cancer kills people; Doctors kill cancer; both
are killers. God created them both.
Dualism is the belief
that there are two EQUAL and independent
powerful forces in the world; one that is GOOD and one that is EVIL and the world is the stage on which their
battle is fought endlessly. Obviously we
can REASON that
Christianity believes the
world was created good and then it went wrong. Did God create Evil as well as Good? God created man with
When God gave
man FREE WILL, He MADE IT POSSIBLE for EVIL to exist. SELAH; ponder that.
An
Angel is more powerful than a man and his Free Will can do the MOST GOOD as well as the WORST EVIL. That’s what we have with Lucifer; the earth
had been given to him by God. He was
created with “FREE
WILL”
and REASONED he could do
what he wanted; and he did.
Lucifer REASONED with the notorious “Five” I
WILLS:
"I will ascend to heaven; I will raise
my throne above the stars of God; I will sit
enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred
mountain. I will ascend
above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself
like the Most High”.[8]
World View
As a child, for five
minutes I would study my Sunday School
lesson in the back seat of our car as we drove to Church. I wanted to “Check off” that I had
Attended Sunday School, was On Time, Brought my Bible, Studied my Lesson and
Brought my Offering. I checked them all
off. That’s what’s going on
today; as Christians we are just “checking off”
our religion. Our standard of living is
so good in the United States that it makes the need to search for God a pretty
low priority. It’s not that we reject God, He just seem
irrelevant in our everyday busy schedule of life. Our world view has evolved into
“indifference”. (Which is rejection of God)
Every Word study I begin, I write colored with my BS my Belief System,
my world view. I have some
“presuppositions” if not prejudices. I
am wrapped in my own traditions of what I have always heard and if I am not
totally open to the reading of God’s Word, “I usually find what I WANT to
find”. In other words, don’t confuse me with any
facts; my mind is already made up.
DENOMINATIONS: There are many denominations today, some
of which are convinced that they alone are “THE KEEPERS
OF THE SACRED TRUTH”. They also have BS, a
Belief System.
The Catholic
Church points to the Virgin Mary as the mediator between God and
man, reducing Jesus to infant status.
They pray to images of Saints and have prayers for the dead. The priest can forgive sins by virtue of power
given him by Jesus Christ. The Pope is
not only the representative of Jesus Christ, but IS Jesus Christ himself, hidden in a
veil of flesh.
Christian Science: Founded by Mary Baker Eddy, claims
man and the universe is spiritual, not physical. They practice healing with belief in the “Awaking of Moral Thought”.
Jehovah Witness
point to a panel of men known as the “Watchtower
Society” who write and re-write their changing doctrine as “new
light” is made available to them. They have their own bible. THEY ALONE have a place in heaven for a special group of 144,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses; they will
have immortal
life and spirit bodies. All other JW members will just get everlasting life with resurrected
bodies that still need to eat and drink.
Mormon Church: founded
by their prophet Joseph Smith and his book of Mormon that “corrects” the errors in the Bible. They practice baptism for the dead. Salvation is achieved by obedience to the
Mormon laws and ordinances through works. They will become gods. The Mormons claim that THEY ALONE are the 144,000
who inherit eternal life and the remainder of their denomination will just live
in Paradise. (The Bible: the 144,000
will be Jews)
Seventh Day Adventist: was founded by their prophet Ellen G.
White. Her writings are
considered “a continuing and authoritative source of
truth”. They believe that
THEY ALONE are the end time remnant as announced by “the three angels” of Revelation
14:6-12; SDA
is distinguished by their strict observance of the Saturday Sabbath.
Unification Church was founded in Korea in 1954 by
their prophet Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who
claims that HE
ALONE is the
savior of the world and embodies the second coming of Christ. They believe in a “Universal God” with a
literal kingdom on earth. The embrace a
holistic concern for the person, society and nature and a belief system with no
boundaries or limits.
WORLD
VIEW: all the spokes in a wheel lead to the same
Hub; all Paths lead to the same god. We
should be tolerant of other individual’s beliefs, lifestyles and perception of
truth. There are no absolute truths,
just what is relevant to you. Truth is
subjective; you do not have to share in others truth, but you should tolerate
them. It doesn’t matter what you believe
as long as you are sincere. We should take the best parts from all religions
and homogenize them all into our worship.
LET’S
REASON;
if all paths lead to god, then one can REASON that some paths
are truer than others; then one can further REASON that there just
might be a path that has the HIGHEST
PROBABILITY
of being the truest
path. It’s that Truest Path that I pursue.
“Most people would claim to possess only
an infinitely small fraction of all the knowledge in the universe; the odds are
extremely high of God existing outside of one’s knowledge”. Josh
McDowell
The TORAH Judaism 4000 years old
The Torah refers to
the Pentateuch;
the first five books of the Law of Moses or the Mosaic code. It’s not just laws, but “a way of life”
derived from the total dedication to the covenant relationship between God and
Israel. The Law covers principals of
behavior, equity, justice as well as rules for dealing with cults.
Wikipedia: Torah. The Torah
is comprised of the following five books; Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
The first eleven chapters of Genesis
provide accounts of the creation (or ordering) of the world and the
history of God's earliest relationship with humanity.
The remaining thirty-nine chapters of Genesis provide an account of God's covenant
with the Biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (also called Israel) and Jacob's children; the "Children
of Israel”, especially Joseph. It
tells of how God commanded Abraham to leave his family and home in the city
of Ur, eventually to settle in the land of Canaan, and how the
Children of Israel later moved to Egypt.
The remaining four books of the Torah tell the story of Moses, who
lived hundreds of years after the patriarchs. He led the Children of Israel from slavery
in Ancient Egypt to the renewal of their covenant with God
at Mount Sinai and their wanderings in the desert until a new
generation was ready to enter the land of Canaan. The Torah ends with the death of Moses.
Side Note: To help those that did not understand much
Hebrew they had paraphrased
The Septuagint (meaning seventy)
is the Hebrew Pentateuch that was translated into Greek by SIX Elders from each
of the TWELVE tribes of
Israel for a period of seventy-two days.
The Bible Christianity 2000 years old
The Bible is an anvil
that has worn out many hammers that have sought to chip away at it. Jesus
said Heaven and Earth will pass away, but His Word; the Bible will never pass away.
The PROTESTANT Bible is a collection
of 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament for a total of 66 books. Most books that have been written have never
been translated into another language and those that have, were translated into
just two or three languages. The Bible
has been translated into more than 2,200 languages reaching 90% of the world’s
population with billions having been sold.
WHY
IS THAT?
The Old Testament includes
the five books of the Torah as well as the books of the “Former Prophets” Joshua, Judges,
Samuel and Kings, which contain narratives that begin
immediately after the death of Moses with the divine appointment of Joshua as
his successor, who then leads the people of Israel into the Promised Land. It
also includes the “Latter Prophets” which are divided into two
groups, the "Major Prophets”, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel and the twelve Minor Prophets. (minor meaning their
writings was shorter.) There are three Poetry Books,
Psalms,
Proverbs and Job and a few more historical and
informational books. We now know that
the “science of writing” was in existence 2,000 years before Moses from the
time of Noah. That’s how Moses could
write about how God created the earth. There
are more than 25,000 manuscripts of supporting
EVIDENCE just for the
New Testament alone. No archaeological discovery has ever
controverted a single understood Biblical statement or proved the Bible in
error. Each successive archeological “find”
enforces the Bible. WHY IS THAT?
The DEAD
The 5% were slips of the pen
and spelling variations that did not change the meaning of the text. Understand
that all these scrolls were
SO WHAT’S THE POINT? Well, for
one thing the
Bible didn’t just fall out of the
sky with all 66 books intact; it wasn’t found on golden plates buried in
somebody’s pasture. No
The writers had to
meet at least one of the following qualifications;
1)
Was the writer a prophet of God?
2)
Was the writer confirmed by acts of God?
3)
Was the writer accepted by the people of God?
4)
Does the writer write with the power of God? Motivating, inspiring and energizing.
5)
Did the writer contradict truths about God? If in doubt, throw it out.
The
Bible contains historical information passed down and accumulated
for over 4,000 years under “the inspiration of God” with over 40 writers on
three continents; Asia, Africa and Europe,
written in three different languages; Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek;
many of the writers never even met each other, but each carried the same theme
of an expected Messiah from the beginning of their writings to the end, laying
out the foundation,
preparation, expectation and
finally the manifestation
of the Messiah. And it
The Bible is
NOT
Myth nor Fable, the places are all historical and the people that were
documented all lived during that time. Jesus
of Nazareth is a Historical Person, not
a myth nor a symbol; He lived, died, was resurrected and appeared to over 500
eyewitnesses all at the same time. People both saw and touched Him and
witnessed His translation into heaven, and it is they who wrote our New
Testament. Did you get that; Eyewitnesses wrote
the NT
which was given to us some 2,000 years ago.[9]
If I were writing the Bible, I certainly would not “uncover and lay
bare” the sins of the people, let alone my own sins, or the sins of the
patriarchs, or King David’s adultery, or faults of the Apostles, or the
Disorder in the Church; but it does.[10] The Bible has The Good, The Bad and
The Ugly. WHY IS THAT?
President Theodore Roosevelt
said; “A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college
education”.
Mark Twain said that what
bothered him the most about the Bible was not the parts he didn’t understand,
but the parts he did understand.
Theology
is the SCIENCE of GOD: the uniqueness
of the Bible with its ability to stand up to its critics does not prove it was
inspired by God, but it should challenge any REASONING person to CONSIDER IT’S CLAIMS and qualifications.
“You can judge the size of stone thrown into a pond by the
ripples that it makes.
If we judge Christ by the ripples He has made in the world, He
is without peer.”
Michael A. Gorman
Inerrant
Inerrant is a big word
meaning the
Bible is without error. This
statement of course applies to the “original manuscripts” that all the other
The Bible is “Partial” and
does not contain everything there is to know; there are some things that are
for God only to know; however the Bible is a COMPLETE
REVELATION of
what man needs to know in order to know God and to inherit eternal life. It is impossible for God to lie; God’s words
are flawless, they are truth and eternal.[11]
God wrote with His own finger
the Ten Commandments and told Moses what was to be in “The book of the Law”; the TORAH.[12] He spoke or commanded Moses 235+ times. Moses spent 40 years in Egypt; raised in
higher education and then spent 40 years in Midian which is enough time to
write the book of Genesis even without a scribe to help him, which most likely
he did employ later on.[13] Over the centuries, God has worked through a
mysterious process of producing divinely and authoritative, errorless writings
through men with various styles and in different settings.[14] Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.[15] Not the smallest punctuation will pass away
from the Bible scriptures until the end of time.[16]
In these last days God has spoken to us
directly through His Son Jesus the Christ.[17]
What
is the most LOGICAL PROBABILITY that God
can speak through men without error? Josh McDowell
Left Behind
There are books that
were LEFT OUT of the “Canonized” (Divinely Inspired) Bible.
These are books that contain historical and geographical inaccuracies,
or they foster false doctrines, practices or principals not found elsewhere in
scripture. Fence
Post Theology comes into
effect when a writing plants a fence post that does not line up with the other
fence posts already planted by the Bible.
The Apocrypha; First Esdras, Second Esdras, Tobit, Judity, Addition to
Ester, Wisdom of Solomon, Baruch, Story of Susanna, Song of three Children,
Story of Bel and the Dragon, Prayer of Manasseh, First Maccabees and Second
Maccabees.
The Forgotten books of Eden;
20 more books including the book of Adam
and Eve and a book for each of the twelve
tribes of Israel.
Lost Books of the Bible: 26
books including books about the antics of Jesus’ childhood
LISTEN TO THIS: 1st Infancy
16:2-3; “And as often as Joseph had anything in his
work, to make longer or shorter, or wider, or narrower, the Lord Jesus would
stretch His hand towards it, and presently it became as Joseph would have it”. 1st Infancy 15:6; He had also made (of clay) the figures of birds and sparrows, which
when he commanded to fly, did fly, and when he commanded to stand still, did
stand still. Scripture indicates that Jesus NEVER PERFORMED MIRACLES TO HELP HIMSELF or His Disciples
when a resource was readily available. Scripture is clear that His FIRST miracle was turning water into wine.
The water was available and the wine was to help His mother. Josephus
the Jewish Historian (30-100
AD)
never quoted the Apocrypha; neither did Jesus.
During the time of Jesus,
many writings surfaced about Him, His disciples and events of the day. Some of these writing surfaced with the names
of some of His Disciples attached to them to give them credibility, but they
were not written by them. You can easily
REASON why some of these books were “Left Behind”.
Old
& New Testament Linked
Scriptures
teach about a sect known as “The Way”. Jesus
said He was “THE WAY”, THE TRUTH and THE LIFE, and no man
comes to the Father except through Him.
Jesus said the Torah scriptures taught about Him.[18]
The New Testament looks back and LINKS itself to the Old Testament.
Old Testament EVENT
Genesis 1 Universe
Created John
1:3, Col 1:16
Genesis 1-2 Adam and Eve Created 1
Timothy 2:13-14
Genesis 1-2 Adam and Eve Married 1
Timothy 2:13
Genesis 3 Eve
Tempted 1
Timothy 2:14
Genesis 3 Adam
in disobedience Rom
5:12, 1 Cor 15:22
Genesis 4 Sacrifices
of Cain & Able Hebrews
11:4
Genesis 4 Cain
kills Abel 1
John 3:12
Genesis 4 Seth
is born Luke
3:38
Genesis 5 Enoch
translated Hebrews
11:5
Genesis 6 Pre-flood
marriages Luke
17:27
Genesis 7 Noah’s
Ark - Flood Matthew
24:39
Genesis 8-9 Noah’s family SAVED 2
Peter 2:5
Genesis 10 Shem’s
family tree Luke
3:35-36
Genesis 12-13 Abrahams birth Luke
3:34
Genesis 12-13 Abraham called by God Hebrews
11:8
Genesis 14 Melchizedek
given tithe by Abraham Hebrews 7:1-3
Genesis 15 Abraham
declared righteous Romans 4:3
Genesis 16 Ishmael
born of a slave woman Galatians
4:21-24
Genesis 17 Promise
given to Isaac Hebrews 11:18
Genesis 18-19 Lot and Sodom & Gomorrah Luke 17:29
Genesis 21 Isaac’s
Birth Acts
7:9-10
Genesis 22 Isaac’s
offering Hebrews
11:17
Exodus 3:6 The
burning bush of Moses Luke
20:32
Exodus 14:22 Crossing the Red Sea 1 Corinthians 10:1-2
Exodus 16:4 Manna & water provision 1 Corinthians 10:3-5
Numbers 21:9 Lifting up of the serpent John 3:14
Josh
1 Kings 17:1 Elijah’s miracles James
Jonah 2 Jonah and the giant fish Matthew 12:40
Daniel 3 The
three Hebrew boys Hebrews
11:34
Daniel 6 Daniel
in the Lion’s den Hebrews
11:33
The NT
often refers back to the OT scriptures tying them both together as
Moses wrote about Jesus in the Book of the Law, the Torah; the Pentateuch
John 5:46-47 – The
Torah wrote about Jesus Christ
46 If you believed MOSES, you would
believe me,
for HE WROTE ABOUT
ME.
47 But since you do not believe what he wrote,
how are you going to believe what I say?" NIV
Jesus of
Nazareth
As a teenager, I would
walk past Sue Epps’s house singing “The Indian Love Call”. I
thought if I loved her hard enough, she would love me back; but it didn’t work.
Just because I believe strongly in
something does not make it happen or even true.
It’s not how much faith I have, but rather WHO is the object of
my faith.
Scriptures document that Jesus went around healing people and performed
signs and wonders. Scripture further
reports that the Church leaders considered His actions blasphemy and had Him
crucified. Three days later He BODILY rose from the dead. For forty days after His resurrection, He was
seen BODILY by over 500
people at one time; as well as appearing to his Disciples. The Disciples preached His BODILY resurrection at
the threat of death and they all DIED and never
recanted.[20]
What GROUP OF
MEN who
knew something was a lie would DIE for that lie? No one has ever produced a body to refute
their claim that He was resurrected from the dead. The origin of Christianity hinges on the
belief that GOD raised Jesus from the DEAD. He either rose from the dead or He didn’t. What is the most LOGICAL
PROBABILITY?
At first Jesus was considered just a great
moral teacher, maybe even a prophet, but He went on to claim that He was the Son of God and could forgive sin. The man was either a lunatic or something
worse; UNLESS He is who He says He is.
Although I have never seen George Washington in
person, nor was I alive when he was in office, I believe he was the first
President of the United States. I
believe it because I TRUST the information
that was given to me.
A witness must be deemed “TRUSTWORTHY”.
It’s only right that I should REASON that Jesus is
either the Son of God or He is not. The
door is open for only these Two Options.
The Book reports that an Angel
recognized that Jesus was the Son of God as well as the Demons plus His
disciples witnessed His translation from earth into Heaven.
The empty tomb
is my “TRUSTWORTHY WITNESS”; Death is defeated.
Thousands of people line up every year to see an EMPTY TOMB. WHY IS THAT?
Logical probability is the sole
ground on which any man can make a deductive decision. Was Jesus of Nazareth the Son of God? What is the MOST
LOGICAL PROBABILITY?
Experience
Have you ever EXPERIENCED being raised
from the dead and brought back to life? NO
Do you KNOW of anyone who
has been raised from the dead and brought back to life? NO
Have you ever HEARD of someone in
your lifetime being raised from the dead to life? NO
Then with your LIMITED
EXPERIENCE with
resurrections you cannot truly judge reality or LIMIT GOD with surety
that it cannot happen.
A Muslim’s EXPERIENCE says that God
cannot beget a son, therefore they MUST reject ANY BOOK such as the Bible that
teaches that Jesus
is the “Son of God”.
IS
YOUR EXPERIENCE “THE” YARDSTICK OF TRUTH? NO
There is a Story
On a cold snowy and freezing
night, a few stray horses made their way to a small cabin, pawing at
the front door. The old man left the
warmth of his home and went out and opened his barn doors and put on a light
for the horses; but they were afraid and ran from him and wouldn’t go near the
barn. He made a path on the ground with
some hay and corn marking THE WAY to the barn, but
they didn’t understand what he was doing and still wouldn’t go in. The old man reasoned that if he could just
become a horse like them, they would trust him and follow him out of the storm
and into the barn and be saved. Jesus left
his home to become like us, to show us “THE
WAY”
to be saved.
Son
Of God
Jesus claimed the He was the
He was not executed for what His accusers said, but for BLASPHEMY when He said UNDER OATH that He was the
“Son of God”,
the Messiah and furthermore He said He will sit at the right hand of Yahweh. He made Himself EQUAL with God.[22] Blasphemy by law was punishable by DEATH; stoning by the whole community.[23]
It was his IDENTITY not his ACTIONS that was on trial. Knowing that the penalty would be death, He
never retracted or changed what He said. WHY IS THAT?
Virgin
Birth
In the very first book of the
Bible we see PROPHECY from God Himself that there would be
conflict between the seed of the Serpent and the seed of the woman; the
Messiah.[24] NOTE: Women do not have seed, only the man. This reference is to the supernatural; because
of a visit from an Angel in a dream; Mary’s espoused husband Joseph had full
knowledge of what was to take place and had no sexual relations with Mary until
after the birth of Jesus.[25] NOTE: In OT times when you became engaged you were
considered married although the marriage covenant had not been finalized which
usually took about a year. The prophets foretold that through a MIRACLE, a Virgin would SUPERNATURALLY give birth to a
son and He would be called Immanuel which means “GOD
WITH US”. Think about that; God living among us. WHY IS THAT?
Sinless
SINLESS: Without an
earthly father, the Holy Spirit breathed life into Mary. Jesus was born without sin, and was tempted
in every way that is common to man, but remained sinless so he could take our
sin that we might become righteous in Him. If He was not sinless, then He could not be
the redeemer of mankind. Temptation is NEUTRAL either by being
tempted or by not being tempted; the resistance
to temptation is Virtue and the yielding
to temptation is the Sin.
The Islamic Qur’an refers explicitly to Jesus’ Virgin
conception saying; “The Lord breathed on her His Spirit”… “Jesus would be
without fault”, Sinless.[26] In the Qur’an,
Jesus is regarded as the Son of the Virgin Mary who was begotten by the
creative Word of God.” WHY IS THAT?
Supernatural
Anti-Supernaturalism
is the belief that God does not intervene in the natural order of the universe.
The belief that we are in a closed system or continuum where every event has
its cause within the system. A miracle
would be a violation of the Laws of Nature.
If the supernatural could be removed from the Bible, it would become just
another moral teaching book. Jesus would
not have been raised from the dead and the Christian Faith would be dead and
man would have NO HOPE.
Islam;
the Qur’an
references that Jesus did MIRACLES; that he healed
the blind, cured lepers and raised the dead. Jesus is referred to as “the greatest above all in this world and in the
world to come.”
WHY
IS THAT? What is the MOST
LOGICAL REASON?
Jesus went about doing “good” because He was full of
compassion, love and mercy for men. His
miracles were to benefit man and glorify God. He brought the GOOD
NEWS of
the Gospel and the supernatural miracles validated Him as the “Son of God”.
The
Miracles were all done in public not in secret; open to scrutiny from all
skeptics. Jesus had cured many sick with diseases and
cast out evil spirits. He healed those
with Leprosy and others with withered limbs, the lame, the blind, the deaf and
speechless, He multiplied food, stilled storms and walked on water.[27]
John
the Baptist sent word to Jesus
and asked Him, if He was the Messiah or was there still another one to come.
Jesus sent word back to John that the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk,
leprosy cured and the dead are raised to life.[28] (What more proof do you want John?) The Chief Priests and
the Pharisees
called a meeting of the Sanhedrin to get rid of Jesus because the
people were coming to believe in Him as the Messiah. They wanted to kill Him because He had healed
the sick on the Sabbath. WHY IS THAT?
Prophecy- Witness
of Fulfillment
Jesus went into the Synagogue
and READ THE
SCRIPTURE
of Isaiah
the Prophet. He told them that TODAY this prophecy has
been fulfilled, then He closed the book and sat down.
Prophecy; The Book says;
He would be called a Nazarene. He would
teach in parables. He would NOT be recognized
as the Messiah. He would suffer and not
a bone in His body would be broken.[29]
And it all happened as prophesied; WHY IS THAT?
OT
PROPHECY JESUS
NT FULLFILLMENT
1. Zechariah
2.
Isaiah 53:7 Be
silent before accusers Matthew
27:12
3.
Isaiah 53:5 Be
scourged and wounded Matthew
27:26
4.
Isaiah 50:6 Be
smitten and spat upon Matthew
26:67
5.
Psalms
6.
Isaiah 53:12 Put
to death with criminals Matthews
27:38
7.
Psalms
8.
Psalms 69:21 Would
suffer thirst John
9.
Psalms 69:21 Gave
gall and vinegar to drink Matthew
27:34
10. Psalms 22:1 Utter forsaken cry to God Matthew 27:46
11. Psalms 34:20 No bones would be broken John 19:33
12. Zechariah
13. Isaiah 53:9 Buried
in a rich man’s tomb Matthew
27:57-60
14. Psalms
15. Psalms 68:18 Ascend into heaven Acts 1:9
16. Psalms 110:1 Sit at the right hand of God Hebrews 1:3
No unconditional Bible prophecy has gone unfilled.
Hundreds of predictions, some given
hundreds of years in advance have been fulfilled.
The
probability
of fulfilling all these prophecies would be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.
The Qur’an as well as the book of Mormon does not contain predictive prophecy.
Fulfilled prophecy is a LOGICAL PROBABILITY of Devine
Authority.
Trustworthy
Witnesses
The testimony of undisputed historic writing,
4,000 years old passed down within the Torah.
The testimony of prophecy fulfilled, not just some… But
The testimony of His Virgin Birth; Mary, a virgin, conceived Jesus through the Holy
Spirit.
The testimony of the Empty Tomb; Confucius, Buddha &
Mohammed tombs are
The testimony of the Disciples who gave their life for the Gospel and never recanted.
The testimony of generations considering the facts and passing their Faith down to us
The testimony of doctrine; we can do nothing to earn our
salvation; it is a gift from God.
The testimony of my spirit; this world is not my
home; I feel there is something greater.
More
Witnesses of the Jesus the Messiah
God has provided a number of ways for man
to find Him if he would just look.
The Date;
The Great Divide: Did you notice
the dividing line of our dates? BC “Before Christ” and AD After His Death or Anno
Domini translated as “In the year of
the Lord” is designations used in the Gregorian calendars. This is the traditionally reckoned Dividing Line year at the conception or birth of Jesus of
Nazareth. WHY
IS THAT?
Bible
Code; do you like prophecy? Get the
Book “The
Bible Code” by Michael Drosnin and see with the help of a computer
program, the predictions that have already come true that are “imbedded” in the
scriptures. WHY
IS THAT?
Math; do you like math; God has imbedded in
the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation “numbers” that carry a message. Get the book “Theomatics” by Jerry Lucas &
Del Washburn. This book with the aid of
a computer program deals with the breaking down every sentence in the Bible to
the numerical value since they used letters for their numbers. When you add up the numbers in a sentence
there appears a base number which the total can be divided by.
Example 276 come up as; Tree of life, Water of Life, Live
again, New Creation, New Born, to be saved, Incorruptible.
Another example 153;
Plan of Salvation, Fishers of Men, Fishes (the saved), The Net (plan of
salvation), I am the Way, Way, Truth, Life, The Narrow Gate, Door of the
Sheep. WHY
IS THAT?
The
Zodiac is found in almost every
culture utilizing the same names. - What I am about to say is not a Christian
invention or twist; but was from the beginning the message of the Gospel in the
stars. These stars have been
recorded from one end of the earth to the other by all ages and nations.
None of their forms from their first inventions have varied in being
passed down to us, nor at any point has their names been changed, added to or
removed. We get our understanding of
what the stars represent or symbolize by their NAMES; WE DID NOT NAME THEM, they were
already named. They present the Gospel message. Science is at a
total loss, with no information on the invention of the Zodiac. WHY IS THAT?
The Great
Pyramid; Josephus (37 A.D. to 100 A.D) the Jewish
Historian was a high
priest in Israel as well as the governor of the province of Galilee. The Romans gave him all the writings of the
Prophets and Scribes that were found in the Temple for him to write the Antiquities of the Jews a twenty-volume
historiographical work of the history of Israel. Josephus was born about the time Jesus was
crucified. He said Jesus was “The Christ”
and rose from the dead. Josephus; a
Pharisee was NOT a follower of “The Way”. Josephus believed that the Great Pyramid was The Bible in Stone
disguised as a tomb. The earth
passed away during the flood, but God’s word in stone remained in the Great
Pyramid.
Josephus writes “Seth and his immediate descendants were the inventors
of a peculiar sort of wisdom which is concerned with the heavenly bodies and
their order. And that their wisdom might
not be lost before it was sufficiently known, upon Adam’s prediction that the
world was to be destroyed, they made two pillars, the one of brick, and the
other of stone. They inscribed their
discoveries on them both, that in case the Pillar of brick should be destroyed
by the flood, the Pillar of stone might remain and exhibit these discoveries to
mankind.[30] This Pillar remains in the land of Egypt to
this day”. WHY IS THAT?
Handel’s
Messiah is the story of the life of
Jesus Christ and is said to have been inspired by God. It has been performed for 271 years and
is
the story of The
Son of God set to music beginning
with the prediction of His Birth to the resurrection of the dead at judgment. WHY IS THAT?
Buffet
Religion
Religion
offers different ways of communing with god and there are parts of the plan we
are attracted to, so we pick and choose what
we like and leave the rest on the Buffet.
We point our SIN finger at
someone who smokes and drinks, rationalizing our being FAT from gluttony doesn’t count as at the most it’s
only a GRAY sin. Man
is not just a fallen imperfect creature; he is a rebel.
It is POSSIBLE to have a RELIGION without God;
religion that
has no
Just going through the motions.
The reason the
Christian Church exists today
is to draw men
to Christ and make them like Him;
to put men’s
heart, their mind and temperaments
“UNDER
It is NOT POSSIBLE to explain the
rise of the Christian Church
or the writing
of the Gospels and the stream of tradition
that lies behind
them without accepting
the fact that the Founder of
Christianity
ACTUALLY
EXISTED. Marshall,
IBHJ, 24
50 Shades
of Gray
The Gnostics (those with special knowledge) believed that sin did not exist[32]
or sin really didn’t matter; but for the Christian, the first step toward God
is admitting that you are a sinner.[33] Scripture teaches that the penalty for sin is
not time spent in hard labor breaking up rocks; but DEATH, in darkness,
out of the presence of God FOREVER.
Get this; we have
Whether you have served God for only one day or 100 years, everyone will
receive the same reward of eternal life with God. IT’S NOT
We have been
given the righteousness of God. Life is
choice driven. TAKE
OWNERSHIP
Muslim
About
a year ago in my Bible Study group, Majid
my Muslim friend gave his testimony about how he came to embrace the Christian
Faith and he made this STUNNING statement that
took me back; “YOU
WHY WAS THAT?
The Five
Pillars of Islam are
five basic acts considered mandatory by believers and are the
foundation of Muslim life. They are summarized in the famous Hadith.
They make up Muslim life, prayer, concern for the needy, self-purification and
the pilgrimage. They are:
1)
Shahadah: declaring there
is no god except God, and Muhammad is God's Messenger
2)
Salat: ritual prayer
five times a day
3)
Sawm: fasting and
self-control during the blessed month of Ramadan
4)
Zakat: giving 2.5% of
one’s savings to the poor and needy
5)
Hajj: pilgrimage
to Mecca at least once in a lifetime if he/she is able to do so.
MUSLIMS worship the God
of Ishmael,
the son of Abraham and Hagar; a slave woman.
CHRISTIANS worship the God of Isaac the son of Abraham and
Sarah his wife. Both claim the Covenant
Promise of God. Majid thought; “BOTH CAN’T BE
Majid bought a Bible and studied in SECRET to see what Christianity was all about. What Majid found was far different than that
of the Qur’an
and he went back and forth trying to grasp the simplicity of Christianity and
its teaching to love your enemies. At
some point Majid came to believe that the Bible held the MOST
TRUTH and
knowing the full cost of leaving Islam, he gave his heart to Jesus Christ. For the Muslim to convert to Christianity was
considered blasphemy and he was worse than an INFINDEL and the penalty
was DEATH.
Majid made a PUBLIC
PROFESSION of
his faith and took a Christian wife. His
family disowned him and he received death threats. What he had to give up becoming a Christian
made me sit back in my chair STUNNED; I gave up nothing; obviously for Majid, this
was a BIG DEAL. Think
about the family you were born into; if your family believes in a god, you
would believe in the same god that they did. For myself, I don’t have a testimony of
redemption. I was born into a Christian
family and knew I wanted Christ at the age of Nine and a half even though I
didn’t fully understand the Virgin Birth of Jesus; His death and resurrection
or even how His dying on the cross could take away my sins; BUT I believed it
did. I would be 35 before I
put it all together. I was born DEAD IN MY SINS and God put the Holy Spirit in me and
opened up my heart TO DESIRE
HIM.
It was GOD that PUT THE DESIRE in Majid’s
heart; and he accepted knowing the cost could be his very own life. What an INCREDABLE DESIRE for God; it
cost Majid everything.
We only have two commandments; the FIRST and greatest
commandment is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind and the SECOND is like it:
`Love your neighbor as yourself.'[36]
The
Koran teaches
to KILL the infidel and all unbelievers of Allah.
Hadith
Sura 9:5 – When the
sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever
ye find them, seize them; lie in wait for them.
The
Bible teaches to LOVE God and love your enemies.
Luke 6:27 – Love
your enemies
27 "But I tell you who hear me: LOVE your enemies,
DO GOOD to those who
hate you, NIV
Most
Logical Probability
Why
not embrace and follow Baha’i, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam,
Jainism, Maitreya, Shinto, Sikhism, Yin and Yang, Zoroastrianism or even
“Heaven’s Gate” for that matter? All
religions contain at least some hint of TRUTH. Some
truths are nearer right than others. All other religions in one form or another
teach that IF
a man with his OWN
strength, works hard enough or gets reincarnated enough times; God will
accept him.
CHRISTIANITY ALONE claims that the
founder is the
CHRISTIANITY ALONE claims that the
founder died and was RAISED FROM
THE DEAD.
CHRISTIANITY ALONE teaches that
fallen man CAN DO
NOTHING to
earn God’s grace.
CHRISTIANITY ALONE teaches we are SAVED by FAITH in Jesus; it’s a
gift from God
We are not forgiven of our SINS progressively
or in stages; Christ died for
You will not seek out a doctor until you understand that you are desperately
sick. What you believe does not
change TRUTH. The MOST
PROGRESSIVE
Christianity is a FAITH, not a SCIENCE; it’s a way of life, not a Religion. It’s not your FAITH that counts;
it’s WHO your faith is in. Faith is TRUSTING that God will do what He says He will do. Jesus
lived, died and was resurrected; conquered death and now sits at the right hand
of God the Father. God has literally involved Himself in Human History.
Jesus is “THE WAY”, the TRUTH and the life and no one comes to the
Father except through Him. Jesus Christ IS the
Son of God. We will
The
bedrock of Christianity is the Virgin Birth of Christ, His Bodily
Resurrection and His Bodily ascension into Heaven and the expectation of His
Return; no other faith has this. You can
doubt the resurrection of Jesus, but you cannot deny it unless you can prove it. God does not expect us to believe without REASON.
What is the MOST
REASONABLE, RATIONAL
and LOGICAL PROBABILITY? If you disbelieve in the face of strong evidence,
then you are just closed minded. Chose you this day who you will serve As
for me and my family; we will follow Christianity; we will serve the Son of God; the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
YAHWEH; JEHOVAH, The living God.
A Man called Jesus
Here is a man who was
born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was
thirty, and then for three years, He was an itinerant (traveling) preacher. He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put his foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the
place where He was born. He never did
even one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself.
While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against
Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two
thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for
the only piece of property He had on earth; His coat. When He was dead, He was taken down and laid
in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen long centuries have
come and gone, and today He is the centerpiece of the human race and the leader
of the column of progress. I am far
within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the
navies that ever were built, all the parliament that ever sat and all the kings
that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this
earth as powerfully as has this one solitary life.[38] – Author Unknown - Anonymous
“Now I do not know what lies
in the heart of man in general, but I do know what lies in the heart of one man
in particular; myself, and the one thing I know for sure about myself, is that
if left to my own devices, I am an exceedingly wicked man and without hope, if
not for some divine intervention.” Michael
A. Gorman
CHRISTIANITY
IS A
You
will not know at what time I will come.[39]
I will come like
an (unexpected) thief. The heavens will
disappear with a roar;
the elements will
be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.[40]
The Spirit and
the bride say, "COME!" And let him who hears say, "COME!"
Whoever is
thirsty, let him COME; and whoever wishes, let him take the
“COME, all
you who are thirsty, COME to the waters;
and you who have
NO money,
COME buy and eat! COME buy wine and milk
without money
and without cost.[42]
"I am the
bread of life. He who COMES to me will never go hungry,
and he who
believes in me will never be thirsty.[43]
I
am convinced that the Holy Spirit has planted a seed in your spirit,
and along with others I have been privileged to water it,
and
it is God that will reap the harvest.
COME
HOME
IT’S
SUPPER TIME
APOLOGETICS IS “THE HINGE” THAT THE GOSPEL SWINGS” ON
THE CASE FOR CHRISTIANITY
Always
be ready to give a defense
to
anyone who asks you for the reason
of
the hope that is in you.[44]
I
would like to thank Michael and David Gorman for supplying the
references
and concepts of Apologetics: The Defense of the Gospel.
[1] Romans 7:15 – I don’t
understand why I do things
[2] Romans 2:15 – Laws are
written in our hearts – accusing or excusing
[3] Ecclesiastes 12:6-8 –
Remember God before you die -- Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 – Duty is to fear God and
keep His commandments -- Acts 16:14 – God opened her heart to respond
[4] Psalms 90:10 – The length
of our days; Eighty year’s and more -- Deuteronomy 5:16 – Treat your mama good
and get more than 80 -- Acts 16:14 – The Holy Spirit opens the heart. -- John
6:44 – Irresistible Grace -- Psalms 119:11 – God’s Word is hidden in our
hearts.
[5] Genesis 16:15-16 -
Ishmael is born to Hagar (Bonds Woman)
and Abraham (Free Will Action) -- Genesis 16:12 – Ishmael will be a wild donkey
and live in hostility
[6] Genesis 21:2-3 – Isaac is
born to Sarah (Free Woman) and
Abraham – (Predestined Action) -- Genesis 17:19 – The Covenant was with Isaac
and not Ishmael.
[7] Exodus 3:14 - I AM THAT I
AM
[8] Isaiah 14:13-14 – Satan reasoned Evil with the five “I Wills” -- Exodus
28:14-15 – You were GOOD till YOU used your FREE WILL to do EVIL
[9] 2 Peter 1:16 – These are
Not devised fables – We were eyewitnesses -- 1 John 1:1-3 – We saw with our
eyes; handled with our hands -- 1 Corinthians 15:6-8 – He appeared after His resurrection to 500 at
once -- Acts 2:22 – Other Men of Israel were also witnesses
[10] Hebrews 4:13 – Everything
is uncovered and laid bare
[11] Hebrews 6:18 – It is
impossible for God to lie -- Titus 1:2 – God does not lie -- John 17:17 – God’s
word it TRUTH
[12] Isaiah 55:8 – God’s
thoughts and ways are higher than ours. -- 2 Timothy 3:16 - All Scripture is
God-breathed -- Exodus 32:16– God Himself wrote on the tablets -- Deuteronomy
9:10 – Written by the finger of God
[13] Leviticus 1:1 – God
called to Moses and spoke to him -- Numbers 1:1 - God spoke directly to Moses
-- Deuteronomy 31:24-26 – Moses wrote down what God told him -- Judges 8:14 – Yes, they could READ and WRITE
[14] Psalms 119:160 – His
righteous Laws are eternal -- Proverbs 30:5 – Every word of God is flawless --
[15] Hebrews 1:1 – God spoke
through the prophets in various ways -- 2 Peter 1:21 - Men spoke from God
through the Holy Spirit
[16] Ephesians 2:20 – Church
foundation is the Prophets and Apostles. -- Matthew 5:18 – Not a jot or a
tittle will pass away of the Word
[17] Hebrews 1:2 – In these
last days he has spoken through His Son
[18] John 5:46-47 – Jesus said
the Torah taught about Him -- John 14:6 – I am THE WAY, the truth and
the life --
Acts 24:14 – I worship the God of “THE WAY”
[19] 2 Peter 1:20-21 – The
Holy Spirit inspired the scriptures
[20] Luke 1:35 – The Angels
said He was the Son of God -- Mark 3:11 – The Demon affirmed Jesus as the Son
of God -- Luke 22:70 – Jesus said He was the Son of God -- John 19:7 – The Jews
heard Jesus say He was the Son of God -- 1 Corinthians 15:6-8 – Jesus Appeared
to 500 at one time and to His half-brother and also to Paul -- Acts 1:9-11 –
Disciples watched as Jesus translated into Heaven
[21] 1 John 5:11-12 – He who
has the Son has ETERNAL LIFE -- Mark 2:9-11 – Jesus had the authority to
forgive SINS
[22] Mark 14:61-62 – Under
oath Jesus said He was the Son of God -- John 10:30-33 – Jesus said; I and the
Father are
[23] John 5:17-18- Jesus made
Himself EQUAL with God -- Leviticus
24:16 – Death to anyone who BLASPHEMES the name of God -- John 19:7- We have a law; JESUS MUST DIE
[24] Genesis 3:15- God will
put enmity between Satan and Jesus
[25] Matthew 1:18-23 – How the
supernatural Birth came about -- Isaiah 7:14 – God will give a sign – God with
Us
[26] Hebrews 4:15 – Jesus was
tempted as we are, but remained sinless -- 1 Peter 2:22 – He committed no sin -- 2 Corinthians 5:21 – God
made Jesus to be sin for us -- 1 John 3:5 – He came to take away our sins
[27] Matthew 8:2-3 –
Supernatural – Leprosy Healed -- Matthew 12:9-13
– Supernatural – A Withered Hand Restored --
Mark 7:32-35 – -- Supernatural – The Deaf Hear and
Speak -- John 9:24-25 – Supernatural – The Blind
See -- Matthew 9:5-8 – Supernatural – The Lame
healed and walk -- John 11:43-48 – Supernatural –Lazarus Raised from the Dead -- Matthew 14:25-27 – Supernatural – Jesus and Peter walked on water -- Mark 6:41-44 –
Supernatural – Multiplied fish & bread to feed 5000
-- Luke 8:23-24 – Supernatural - Stilling the
Wind and Waters
[28] Luke 7:20-22 – The SUPERNATURAL – diseased,
sick, blind, deaf and lame healed; evil spirits cast out
[29] Matthew 2:23 – Prophecy –
He will be called a Nazarene -- Matthew
13:35 – Prophecy – He would teach in parables --
Acts 3:18 – Prophecy – Christ would suffer --
John 19:36-37 – Prophecy - Not
[30] Isaiah 19:19-21 – There
will be a pillar in Egypt; a witness unto the Lord
[31] Romans 5:8 – While we
were STILL in Sin, He died for us.
-- Ephesians 2:8-9 – Salvation is not works; it is the Gift from God -- Matthew
7:22-23 – Make-Believer; I never knew you
[32] 1 John 1:8-10 – We are
[33] Hebrews 7:27 – Jesus paid the price ONCE and for
[34] Romans 6:23 – The penalty
for Sin is DEATH
[35] Luke 23:42-43 – It’s NOT
[36] Matthew 22:37-40 – Only
TWO Commandments
[37] John 14:6 – Jesus is the
way, the TRUTH and the life. --
Ephesians 2:8-9 – Salvation is Not by Works – It is a
[38] John 10:10 – Jesus came to
give abundant life -- John 7:37 – Let any man that is thirsty for God come and
drink in His Word -- Ephesians 2:8 – By grace you are saved through faith, it
is a gift of God. -- John 15:18-19 – You
do not belong to this world, you are chosen out of the world
[39] Revelation 3:3 NIV
[40] 2 Peter 3:10 NIV
[41] Revelation 22:17 NIV
[42] Isaiah 55:1 NIV
[43] John 6:35 NIV
[44] 1 Peter 3:15 NKJV
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