See this page in: Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish “The Christian faith has not been tried and found wanting. It has rather been found difficult and left untried.” —Chesterton I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending.The story of Jesus is either the greatest event in history or the cruelest hoax. If it is a hoax, then the whole of the Christian message crumbles together with the hopes of those multitudes of lives built on his name. The apostle Paul said: “And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up; if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.” -1 Corinthians 15:14-19 (NKJV) But if the story is true, then this world has been hit with extraordinary news of earth-shaking consequences. Have you taken the trouble to decide which it is? In a matter this weighty, it is in your interest to explore the truth or falsity of Christs claims. Amazingly however, many people who dont believe have never bothered to explore the evidence in support of Jesus,[1] but to the contrary, often run away from it. At the same time, many Christians themselves are not sure, at bottom, whether the claims of their faith are solid. Is the Christian claim a hoax? Is it just wishful thinking? Or is it actually true? The following pages will demonstrate that the story of Jesus, and of his Resurrection [2] in particular, rests on solid historical grounds. So wherever you may be in terms of belief, unbelief, doubt, or indecision, I invite you to take a new look at this evidence.[3] Sorting Through the Confusion Artists impression of Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane Disagreement abounds today regarding the identity of Jesus of Nazareth. If you were to randomly ask people in a survey who they think he is, you would get a variety of responses. Some might say he is a great prophet who stands equal to Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, and others. Some give him credit for being a profound moral teacher. Still others might say he was a loving, but weak person who happened to get killed for a noble, but lost, cause. Who do you think Jesus is? Are the above opinions accurate to any degree? Or are some relevant details missing? Our age rightly demands open-mindedness and intellectual honesty in any investigation. So also regarding Jesus, it is essential to have all the facts before deciding for, or against, him. Jesus Christ claimed to be God, the Creator of the cosmos, the one and only way by which we can enter into Heaven. These are high claims! Our relativistic age is confusing the whole issue about Jesus by imagining his relevance to be merely a matter of individual taste, like ones choice of hats! But the issue is really of an altogether different kind. Either this claim of the New Testament is true or it isnt. If it is falsehood, then let us go on to something else. But if the claim is true, shall we not come to terms with him and believe in him as he commands? The answer to that question rests not on what we may happen to prefer, but on whether Jesus of Nazareth stacks up as the one he claims to be. Helping you understand that he indeed is The Eternal Son of God (John 8:58) is what this answer is all about. Millions of Christians are quite certain that your eternal destiny and mine is at stake over what we have done with Jesus Christ (1 John 5:11-12).
Posted on: Thu, 19 Jun 2014 17:05:08 +0000