The earliest explanation was that while the soldiers guarding his tomb slept, the disciples stole the body of Jesus (Matthew 28:11-15). But how would sleeping guards know the identity of the thieves? How could the disciples convince 500 people that the corpse they stole was alive? And why would these disciples then die for what they knew to be a lie? A second approach claims that the women stole the body. But how would they overpower the guards? How would they make a corpse look alive? Why would they suffer and die for such a fabrication? A third explanation is that the authorities stole the body. Then, when the misguided disciples found an empty tomb, they announced a risen Lord. But why would the authorities steal the body they had stationed guards to watch? And when the Christians began preaching the resurrection, wouldnt they quickly produce the corpse? A fourth approach is the wrong tomb theory--the grief-stricken women and apostles went to the wrong tomb, found it empty, and began announcing that Jesus had risen from the grave. But the women saw where he was buried (Matthew 27:61); Joseph of Arimathea would have corrected the error (Matthew 27:57-61); and the authorities would have gone to the correct tomb and produced the corpse. A fifth explanation is the swoon theory. According to this view, Jesus did not actually die on the cross. He or his followers bribed the medical examiner to pronounce him dead, then he revived in the tomb and appeared to be resurrected. But how did he survive burial clothes which would have suffocated him? How did he shove aside the stone and overpower the guards? How did he appear through walls (John 20:19, 26) and ascend to heaven (Acts 1:9)? There is only one reasonable explanation for the empty tomb, the changed lives of the disciples, and the overnight explosion of the Christian movement upon the world stage: Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He is therefore the person he claimed to be: our Lord and God. He was justified in making the most stupendous claim in human history, one no one else has made in all of recorded history: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me (Matthew 28:18). The resurrection shows us that Jesus is God and Lord. Is the Bible really true? The Bible claims that all Scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16), meaning that its words are the divine revelation of God. But nearly all religions possess books which make such claims. Is there objective evidence that the Bible is really true? Historians ask three questions in studying any ancient book. First: do we possess an accurate copy of the text? The original manuscripts do not exist for any book written before the fourth century of the Christian era. We do not have the original writings of Plato, Aristotle, Tacitus, or any other ancient writer. Books in their era were written on materials which did not survive the passage of time. But we have copies, some in fragments and others in complete book form. Textual critics are scholars who study these copies, seeking to produce a manuscript as close to the original as possible. Those who work on the texts of the Old and New Testaments believe that the Bible we possess today is virtually identical to the original manuscripts. The only questions which remain affect matters of spelling, punctuation, and isolated verses. None relates to faith practices or essential doctrines. Second: do archaeological discoveries confirm the book in question? Archaeologists have made hundreds of discoveries verifying the biblical record. For instance, the Pool of Bethesda mentioned in John 5:2 was once dismissed by skeptics as non-historical, before archaeologists found it. Ive seen the ruins myself. We now possess a stone inscription documenting the life and work of Pontius Pilate, the Roman official who sentenced Jesus to be crucified. We have the coffin of Caiaphas, the High Priest who condemned him to die. We have an inscription which describes the work of Gallio, a Roman official living in Corinth (Acts 18:12-17). Such discoveries all confirm the trustworthiness of the Bible. Third: if the book makes predictions, have they been fulfilled? The Old Testament contains more than 50 promises regarding the Messiah to come; Jesus fulfilled every one of them. The Bible clearly keeps its promises. Objective evidence says that you can trust the Bible. But the best way to know if it is true is to test its claims personally. You know a car repair manual can be trusted if it works in repairing your car. A cookbook is proven by the meals its produces. When you meet Jesus personally, you will discover that he is who the Bible says he is. And that the Bible really is the trustworthy word of God. Arent all religions the same? We can believe that Jesus existed, that he is divine, and that the Bible is trustworthy. But what makes Jesus the only way to God, as he claimed (John 14:6)? Dont all religions lead up the same mountain to the same God? Why do we need to trust in Jesus to go to heaven? Some people say that objective truth does not exist, so the claim Jesus is Lord is merely personal and subjective. But if I say, There is no such thing as absolute truth, havent I made an absolute statement? We believe that the Holocaust and 9-11 were objectively wrong. Objective truth is an intellectual and practical necessity in life. Other people say that all religions teach the same truth. But Buddha taught that there is no personal god (despite the fact that some of his followers now worship him). Hindus believe in thousands of individual deities but no Lord of the universe. Muslims believe that Allah (the Arabic word for God) is the one supreme ruler of the universe and that the Trinity is blasphemy. Jews believe that God revealed himself through the Laws and Prophets of their Scriptures, that Jesus was not the Messiah, and that the New Testament is not the word of God. And Christians say that Jesus is the only way to the Father. If any one of these religions is right, the others must be wrong. None believes that other religions are equally correct or divinely inspired. The holy writings which the various world religions trust do not describe different paths up the same mountain, but very different mountains. No other faith rests on historical evidence as compelling as that which exists for Christianity. No other religious leader was raised from the dead; no other ancient religious book possesses the kind of manuscript, archaeological, and prophetic evidence which the Bible can claim. If Jesus is alive, then he is Lord and God. And we can trust him to be our Lord and our God. Why do you need Jesus in your life? We know Jesus existed, the Bible is trustworthy, and Jesus claim to be God is backed up by evidence and reason. Now, why do you need him personally? What will he do for you that no one else can? The Bible diagnoses our problem: All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). If youre the exception, the one person who has never lied or cheated or had an immoral thought, Id like to meet you and learn how you did it. The rest of us know that weve made mistakes and sinned. So what? The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). God cannot let my sins into his perfect heaven, or it wouldnt be heaven any longer. My sins must be punished, my debt paid. This is why Jesus came: to die in our place, taking our punishment on himself (see Isaiah 53:5, 12). No one else in all of human history has done this, or could do it. Every other person has sinned, so that they owed their own debt to God. Only Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life (Hebrews 4:15), so he had no debt to pay. He could die for us, taking our place and purchasing our salvation. He then rose from the dead to prove his divinity, and to show us that we would live after death with him in paradise (John 14:1-6). You need Jesus in your life so that your sins can be forgiven and you can spend eternity in heaven. He is the only one who can give you this gift. But every gift, even one which comes from God, must be opened. How can you meet Jesus personally? If you believe that Jesus is the risen Lord and his word is true, you are ready to meet him personally. You can now open the gift of salvation he died to give you. These are the biblical facts which make it possible for you to have a personal relationship with God: 1.God loves you. He created you and wants to have a personal relationship with you now on earth and eternally in heaven (John 3:16; Ephesians 2:4-5). 2.Sin has separated you from God. The Bible defines sin as choosing our will over Gods. We have each made this mistake (Romans 3:23). Our sins have now separated us from our holy God, and he cannot allow us into his perfect heaven. Instead, we are each destined for an eternity separated from God in hell (Revelation 19:19-21). 3.You cannot repair your broken relationship with God. Many people think we can be good or religious enough to earn Gods forgiveness and go to heaven when we die. But the Bible teaches that the only payment for sin is death (Romans 6:23; Ezekiel 18:20). Someone must die for the sins we have committed. 4.Jesus died to pay the debt owed by your sins. Since Jesus was sinless and owed no debt to God, his death could pay for our sins. He took our place on the cross and suffered the penalty we deserved. His death now makes it possible for a righteous God to forgive our sins and offer us salvation (Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24). 5.You must receive the gift he died to give. Now you must choose to trust in what Jesus has done for you rather than trusting in your own efforts to restore your relationship with God. In faith, rely completely on Jesus to make you right with God. Confess your sins and mistakes to God, and choose to live by his word and will. Decide that you will make Jesus the Lord and Master of your life. -DF-
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 12:48:53 +0000
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