Did the resurrection really happen?

This brings us to the most important point of Christianity-Jesus’ death and resurrection. If it can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that He did live a sinless life, rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven, then you can’t disprove Christianity.

If the resurrection didn’t happen…Christianity is FALSE

The Bible consistently says that salvation is only achieved through faith in Jesus…if He were still dead, this would be a moot point.  How could you have salvation through someone who was dead?

Yet all the New Testament books agree that Jesus’ died and rose from the dead and appeared to a number of people before ascending into Heaven.

This is significant because…

The books were distributed in a time when many others were still living who had witnessed these events; if their accounts weren’t true than it would have easily been disputed by those living at the time.

While many at that time didn’t believe that Jesus had risen, no one ever disputed their claims that Jesus’ body wasn’t in the grave. When you read the ancient texts that are not part of the Bible, there is a lot of speculation on why Jesus’ body was missing but no one claims the body was still in the grave.

Why the Body of Jesus couldn’t have been there…

Since the grave where Jesus was buried would have been widely known at that time, this could have easily been disproved if the body still there.

Therefore we know that Jesus was not still in the grave and His body was never found; however, this still doesn’t proof He rose from the dead. Did He really rise again or is there another explanation?

Did the disciples move the body?

This is one of the most popular alternatives to the resurrection offered up by skeptics, but there are a couple major reasons this is highly unlikely.

(1) Their mindset

The man they had believed to be the Son of God and their Savior who was going to redeem Israel had just died on a cross. They had given up everything to follow this man and now He was dead. They were likely feeling very hopeless at this point.

(2) Too risky

Also, since they were followers of Jesus they would have been in some serious danger themselves for following Him. In fact one of the times that Jesus appeared to them in the New Testament after He rose from the dead, they were gathered in a locked room for fear of being arrested.

(3) What purpose would they have in moving the body?

What would they stand to gain by spreading a lie that Jesus had risen when He had not? It wouldn’t be fame since they couldn’t take credit for spreading a lie.

If they did then everybody would know it was a lie and it would have died right then and there. They wouldn’t have any other logical reason for doing so.

Why they wouldn’t have succeeded

When you consider this fact plus the state of mind they were likely in, it makes it highly unlikely they would have even attempted to move the body. Even if they had tried, they almost certainly wouldn’t have succeeded because of…

The Roman guards

The best Roman guards were guarding the tomb until the 3^rd day, because the Romans were aware of the rumor that He would rise from the dead at this time. Therefore to move the body the disciples would have had to overpower the top guards of the Roman army.

This would have been no small feat-especially since the guards knew that to fail on this mission meant death. Who would have more motivation in this fight-the guards whose lives were on the line or the disciples who were simply trying to spread a lie?

Disregarding that, let’s assume the disciples for some unknown reason did attempt to move the body and were somehow able to overcome the guards, move the enormous stone in front of the tomb (which would have weighed a minimum of 2000 pounds by most accounts), and move the body to an area that nobody has ever been able to find it to this day.

Now you have to look at how they lived their lives after this. After Jesus (allegedly) ascended into Heaven, they all obeyed His command of going into all the world and making disciples of all men.

Not only the disciples, but all the writers of the New Testament except John died very painful and arduous deaths as a direct result of their faith, and John was exiled to a remote island where he remained until his death.

Why would be willing to suffer so much for a LIE?

Even if they were willing to go to such great lengths to promote a lie, why would they have been willing to be continually persecuted and eventually martyred for something they had made up? Nobody would be willing to suffer the things they did for the rest of their life for something they had just made up.

The resurrection is a true historical event

When you look at all these facts it just doesn’t make sense that the disciples or anyone else would have moved the body and it’s much more likely that the miraculous did happen-He rose from the dead. Based on the compilation of evidence just presented, it’s very hard to deny that Jesus is the Only Begotten Son of God as the Bible claims.

The VERDICT

To sum up we’ve established that the Bible is accurate…Jesus is the only begotten Son of God…and He is the only way to salvation. This by default makes any contradictory religion and philosophy false. There is only 1 way to Heaven and that is through Jesus.

What about reincarnation?

Do you really have multiple chances to get it right? Some Christians say you do…but the Bible says very clearly that this isn’t the case.

Why you only get 1 life

In Hebrews 9:27 it says, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” This is a pretty open and shut case and even without this there is passage there no proof whatsoever that reincarnation is true.

Can you remember any of your past lives? Neither can I. The point of your past lives is supposedly to help you get further on the path to enlightenment but if you can’t even remember them then they aren’t doing you much good.

Does the existence of a conscious mean God exists?

Yes it does. Even if we were to throw out all the previous arguments about the Bible’s accuracy, think about this: why do we all inherently know right from wrong if there is no such thing as eastern philosophy claims?

I’m not talking about things we were taught from our parents-I’m referring to the conscious each one of us has that tells us when something we are doing is wrong.

Let’s face it, we’ve all had that nagging voice in our heads when we are about to do something we know we shouldn’t; why would we have this if right and wrong didn’t exist? Yet everyone knows that murder is wrong without even having to be taught that.

There’s no way we would know this unless without an internal conscious, and there’s no reason we should have a conscious if right and wrong didn’t exist in the first place. The only reason we would have a conscious would be by Divine providence to give us direction. Can you think of another explanation?

If you are still in doubt…

Think about this-do you ever question whether the revolutionary war happened? Do you question whether the Ice Age happened? Do you question whether Julius Caesar existed or not? Were you around to witness any of these events?

Of course not

And yet you probably have never questioned their accuracy at all. Why then is it so hard to accept the Bible as fact, particularly in light of the overwhelming evidence they did occur?

Final argument…

What do you have to lose by rejecting “secular philosophies?”

In almost every instance you either get another opportunity to get it right (reincarnation) or you simply cease to exist when you die (atheism). In other words, it really doesn’t matter too much how you live your life.

What do you have to lose by rejecting Christianity?

You go to hell with no 2^nd chances. You stand to lose MUCH MORE by not believing in Christianity than almost anything else. Do you really have enough faith to risk an eternity in hell?

What do the facts say?

If we look at the rest of the Bible, the main people talked about in Genesis 1-11 (Adam, Cain, Able, Noah) are mentioned as being true historical figures throughout the entire Bible in many different passages.

Did Jesus talk about Genesis?

Yes He did…He mentions the creation of Adam and Eve as true events (Matthew 19:3-6 and Mark 10:2-9. He also refers to Noah and the Flood as literal historical events (Matthew 24:37-39 and Luke 17:26-27).

Style of writing

Finally, the style of writing doesn’t differ at all in the first 11 chapters from the rest of Genesis, and when you consider all this it’s pretty apparent we are supposed to take the creation and flood stories literally.

So what it comes down to is that you have to examine the evidence of whether evolution or creation is true. This is a whole other topic in and of itself so I’m not even going to attempt to tackle this subject, but you can if you want.

One book I would strongly recommend reading on the topic is Evidence that Demands a verdict by Josh McDowell.

Biblical accuracy

What about the accuracy of the Bible as far as describing historical events and locations? After all, if the Bible gets its’ facts wrong about events, dates and locations, how can you rely on it for questions about theology?

The Bible and archeology

Believe it or not every archeological discovery has just confirmed the accuracy of both the Old and New Testaments. No one in particular proves the Bible is true; you have to look at the evidence as a whole.

Divinely inspired or not?

Now we will look at one of the main things that make the Bible unique from any other book ever written-the fact that it was supposedly directly inspired by God Himself.

Fulfilled prophecies

One of the major pieces of evidence for the Bible’s Divine Inspiration is the existence of fulfilled prophecies. There are more than 1,000 prophecies in the Bible and currently 668 of them have already been fulfilled.

Not random chance…

If there were just 10 or 15 prophecies that were fulfilled then you might be able to say they were just lucky guesses by the prophets. However 668 prophecies are well out of the realm of pure chance.

Prophecies about Jesus

Over 300 prophecies were fulfilled by Christ alone during His first coming and it would be impossible for any 1 Person to achieve this by pure chance.

Did He purposely fulfill them?

You could say this for some of them, since He obviously was well versed in the ancient prophecies and therefore could have acted accordingly.

However many of the events were out of the realm of His control such as where He was born and to what family. Also, He predicted His death and resurrection on the 3^rd day (Mark 8:31-33, 9:31-32, 14:27-31).

Obviously predicting your own resurrection from the dead would be impossible in and of itself, but He not only did this but also the date He would rise again (the 3^rd day).

This proves beyond the shadow that He is the One promised throughout the Old Testament Who would redeem Israel and the rest of the world. There’s no way to explain these fulfilled prophecies except by Divine revelation.

Some of the prophecies have yet to happen but many of these deal with Christ’s second coming which hasn’t occurred yet. Obviously I can’t go into every fulfilled prophecy in the Bible and there is no 1 that proves the Bible is true-again you have to look at the evidence as a whole.

Is the existence of Israel important?

One prophecy in particular that stands out in unlikelihood and importance is the recent return of Israel to their homeland after being in exile for 900 years.

The Israelites were God’s chosen people in order to bear witness to the rest of the world that He is the One True God. Throughout the Old Testament their history is one of continued disobedience to God, getting punished, repenting and God having mercy on them.

Finally it concludes with God dispersing them throughout the nations because of their continued lack of obedience. However, in Deuteronomy 30:1-5 and Nehemiah 1:8-9 He promises that they will retain their national identity and be returned to their homeland and this is exactly what happened in 1948.

Why Israel’s history is so remarkable…

Forget about the fact that they were brought back to the land they had possessed almost 2000 years ago-that they were able to maintain their national identity despite being dispersed throughout all the nations is highly unlikely in and of itself.

Every other country that has been scattered throughout the world the way Israel has completely lost their self identity within a few hundred years because they just got absorbed into the new culture. Yet Israel has managed to maintain theirs for almost 2000 years which would be impossible apart from Divine providence.

Miracles

Here we come to one of the most hotly contested topics in the whole Bible—miracles. Time and again we see events happen that would have impossible physical explanations throughout the Old and New Testaments.

Examples…

God parting the Red Sea…manna from heaven…the sun standing still…feeding the 5,000…people raised from the dead…walking on water…and many more.

We know the Bible is accurate because of the manuscript and archeology evidence, and therefore we can confidently say these events really did take place. Therefore, the only explanation for these miracles is Divine intervention.

The amazing way the Bible was put together…

Finally, the last piece of evidence for the Bible’s validity is the way it was put together. It is composed of 66 different books written by at least 40 men during the course of 2000 years.

Imagine telling 40 different people of different walks of life, occupations and time periods to write a chapter of a book without telling them what the rest of the book would be about.

Would the book make sense?

Of course not–it would be impossible. Yet the general message is the same in all of them; God’s creation of man, man’s sin, and God’s redemption of them through Jesus.

They all complement each other perfectly and don’t contradict each other at all despite what many claim. Again, the probability of this happening without Divine intervention is downright impossible.

Click here for part 5

Were the originals accurate?

We now know that we have an accurate and unchanged version of the original version of both the Old and New Testaments. This begs the obvious question-how can we be sure the original version was true? After all one person could have made up a lie and then 38,000 others could have just copied them-right?

Early authorship is KEY…

Well, if they were just written by people with no firsthand knowledge of the events they are writing about there would be a high probability that it’s not accurate.

Dates of the original NT documents

The fact is, according to practically all scholars the New Testament was completed before the end of the 1^st century, or no more than 70 years after Jesus’ death. All except for Revelation were  completed between 35 and 67 AD, and Revelation was likely completed around 95 AD.

Because of this we know that any error made about Jesus’ or any other event written about would have been pointed out by eye witnesses of the events and the documents would have never been accepted as truth.

Every one of them was written either by someone who knew Jesus personally or knew His disciples, who obviously would have been able to give them an accurate account of His life.

Evidence for early authorship

Moreover, the majority of the New Testament was probably transcribed prior to Jerusalem being besieged in 70 AD and also very likely before the fire in Rome that occurred in 64 AD.

The reason this can be assumed is that none of the books say anything about these events or even mention the severe persecutions Christians experienced under Nero who was emperor at the time. Since these were such huge historical events one would think they would receive at least a mention.

Why the deaths of James and Paul are significant…

James was killed for his faith in 62 AD, Paul was in 64, and Peter in 65. These men accounted for a huge percentage of the New Testament, and Paul in particular. Obviously we know the books they wrote were before these dates.

Also, since all were very prominent figures in the early church this certainly would have been huge news in the church; however, there is nothing mentioned in any of the books they didn’t write about their deaths.

This is one of the biggest testaments to the Bible’s accuracy, because it would have been impossible for the writers to make the events they wrote about when so many people at the time had firsthand knowledge of them.

This shows beyond a reasonable doubt that we have the original unchanged version of the Bible and that it is an accurate account of history. If you don’t believe me about these facts than look them up yourself.

Dates of the original OT documents

The Old Testament is primarily an account of Israel and their history and most of it was recorded soon after the events happened. Since there is no 1 central event in the Old Testament (like Jesus’ life and death in the NT), we would have to go through each book individually and compare how long after the events they describe they were written.

I’m not going to do this because this post is already getting ridiculously long. However, most were written very soon after the events of Israel’s history and many of them were transcribed by people who witnessed them firsthand.

What about the books of prophecy and wisdom?

Since these books aren’t accounts of historical events the date they were written isn’t relevant. As long as there is enough manuscript evidence for these books (which there is) then they are true.

Most of the books were written by people who witnessed the events they wrote about. It is true that Genesis was written thousands of years after the events actually happened, such as the creation of the world and Abraham through Joseph.

Genesis 1-11 are the foundation

In particular the first 11 chapters of Genesis (creation, the flood, the tower of Babel) are often refuted by modern day evolutions’, and this is one of the most widely debated sections in all of scripture.

If the first 11 chapters are true than it’s highly likely the rest of scripture is accurate, but if they are merely myths as many claim than the whole Bible would have no foundation.

The whole truth of the Bible depends on Genesis 1-11….

The reason is that the Bible is an account of God’s creation of humanity, man’s constant rebellion, and God redeeming them ultimately through Jesus. However, original sin never happened as in the case of Adam and Eve, what would man have to be redeemed from?

Sin wouldn’t exist…

The reason God has to redeem man is the fact that they sinned in the beginning, but if evolution is the explanation of the history of the world than original sin never occurred and Jesus would have never have had to die on the cross to save us.  If you take away the creation it’s unclear when sin originally began.

Also Paul’s argument in Romans 5 is incorrect if the creation story is fictional. Paul states in Romans that Adam originally brought sin into the world, and many were made sinners, and by Jesus’ blood many became righteous. He also states that in Adam everyone will die whereas in Christ everyone will live.

Therefore we know that the whole truth of the Bible depends on Genesis 1-11 being accurate and not merely a myth as many claim.

Click here for part 4

Is the Bible accurate?

First we have to prove that we have an unchanged rendition of the original text and then proof that that text is accurate. If both conditions are met then we know the Bible is a reliable source.

So how do we know we have an unaltered version of the original Bible? After all, the first copies were completed some 2000 years ago.

Manuscript evidence

One of the main evidences for this is the number of manuscripts that are still in existence. A manuscript is a document that was hand written, which is obviously how all ancient documents were produced during Biblical times.

Since we don’t have the original copies of any ancient text including the Bible, we have to rely on manuscripts; the more there are and the closer to the date of the original that they were copied the better.

Why manuscripts are CRITICAL

There is always a chance that if just one hand written copy exists that it would contain errors from the original; however, what are the chances that thousands of manuscript copies would contain errors from the first one?

Think about if somebody were recounting to you a sporting event. Would you be more likely to believe the account if just that person were to describe it or if thousands were to do so in identical fashion?

How many manuscripts are there today?

We currently have 38,000 original manuscripts of the Bible still in existence (14,000 for the Old Testament and 24,000 for the New Testament). To give you a comparison the 2^nd place book which is the Iliad has 643 original manuscripts.

In other words no other ancient document comes close to having the attestation that the Bible does. Based on manuscript evidence if you deny the truth of the Bible than you would easily have to throw out every other ancient document ever written…including the koran…the teachings of Buddha… and everything else.

Dates of the NT manuscripts

The other issue is when the manuscripts were completed. Even though there are many manuscripts of both the Old and New Testament, if they were all compiled thousands of years after the originals then there is still a large chance of error because the original could have been altered or lost in that time.

The 24,000 New Testament manuscripts that we have today all were written 350 years or less of the originals; many of them were compiled just 40-60 years after and one of them supposedly coexisted with the original.

What about other ancient documents?

To give you a comparison most other manuscripts of ancient documents were compiled thousands of years after the originals were completed. This means that we almost assuredly have the unchanged original version of the New Testament.

What about the Old Testament?

There are 14,000 manuscripts in existence of the Old Testaments, again far exceeding any other ancient document in existence. We can be sure of their accuracy because they were copied by Jewish scholars who took painstaking care to make sure they made no mistakes when copying them.

In fact, 95% of the manuscripts we have agree with each other word for word and the 5% that do not are obvious spelling mistakes which have no impact on the message at all.

Date of OT manuscripts

How early were they transcribed? Before the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest OT manuscripts dated to 900 AD. However, the Dead Sea Scrolls which contain every Old Testament book except Esther were transcribed between 150 BC and the 1^st AD.

This gives us manuscripts roughly 1000 years older than the other manuscripts we owned. The remarkable aspect of that is that when you look at both the Dead Sea Scrolls and the manuscripts dated around 900 AD, there is almost no difference between the 2.

What does this mean?

This demonstrates that if the Old Testament was able to be passed down with virtually 100% accuracy over the course of 1000 years, the 250 year difference between the originals and the Dead Sea scrolls was not nearly enough to change them at all because they were meticulously copied by Jewish scholars.

Again, if you don’t believe the Old Testaments’ accuracy than you likewise would have to throw out every other ancient document ever written. In other words like the New Testament it can be demonstrated completely that the Old and New Testament are completely true to the originals.

Click here for part 3

What is the right religion for me? Many have asked this same question throughout history. Before I divulge the answer, however, I need to give you a quick warning…

This is one of the longest blog posts you will ever read

Why?

Because it’s written about the most important topic in the world: the meaning of life…the universe…and everything. Your eternity is at stake–so I STRONGLY encourage you grab your favorite beverage, kick of your shoes and read to the end.

Your life could depend on it

To make it easier on the eyes I’ve broken this up into 5 different sections. If you are reading this post then I’m guessing you are searching for answers.

In this post I will explain why Jesus is the ONLY Way to Salvation…thus making every other religion or philosophy false. Hopefully you will read this with an open mind.

First things first…does absolute truth exist?

Yes it does. You can’t just believe in whatever makes you happy as many seem to think nowadays.

Examples of absolute truth…

If I jump out of a plane…regardless of whether or not I believe in gravity…I’m going to hit the ground. This is because my beliefs don’t change the existence of gravity-it’s there whether I believe in it or not because it is an absolute truth.

Whether I believe that the earth revolves around the sun or the sun around the earth, the fact remains that the earth revolves around the sun. In both scenarios it doesn’t matter what I believed because it doesn’t change reality.

Whether I believe in Bigfoot or not, either it exists or it doesn’t (for the record I believe they do). My beliefs don’t change the facts.

The point is that regardless of which philosophy makes you happy, it doesn’t change the facts. Therefore this notion going around that Christianity can be right for me if it “makes me happy” and not for someone else is hogwash because either it’s true or it’s false.

So the question “what is the right religion for me” is false…because there is only 1 right religion. There has to be. This leads us to the next question…

What is the 1 true religion?

After carefully examining the major world philosophies I firmly believe it’s Christianity. I will now lay out a brief but compelling argument for this fact.

So what do Christians believe about salvation?

It’s very simple-if you believe and confess that Jesus is the Son of God you are going to Heaven for eternity and if you don’t then you are going to Hell.

Why is Christianity different from EVERY other religion?

Because it’s the only religion where salvation (whatever that might be for that belief system) is not based on works or personal merit but a Person-Jesus.

Every other religion requires you to earn your “salvation”. This obviously doesn’t prove that Christianity is true…merely that it is “unique”. So why do Christians believe in Jesus? The Bible.

So if the Bible is true…

Than Christianity has to be true–if it’s not then Christianity is false. Many are under the mistaken impression that the Bible is a book of faith and not facts, and there is no evidence to support its’ claims, but as you are about to find out this isn’t the case.

What does the bible teach?

First let’s dispel the notion of the Bible just being a book with good moral teachings as many claim; if this is the case than it would be no different than any other book of philosophy ever written. The message of the Bible is clear-repent and you will be saved or do not repent and go to Hell.

The primary message of it is not how to live and do’s and don’ts, (although it does contain a lot of practical real world advice). The main idea is about God’s Creation of the world, man’s sin and God ultimately redeeming man through His Son Jesus.

Works are not enough…

It really doesn’t matter if you keep every Biblical commandment to the letter because if you don’t accept that Jesus is Lord you still aren’t going to be saved. Jesus said this Himself by stating “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; nobody comes to the Father but through Me.

In another passage it says “for by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves”. The Bible makes itself very clear that it is not merely a book of good moral teachings but an outline of how to be saved.

So what is the “right religion” for me? Click here to keep reading and learn the answer.