If you were stranded on a desert
island and could have only one book, what
would it be? When you really need good, sound advice where do you turn? I
turn to a book...the Bible. Many people have many different ideas about
God, religion, and spirituality. As a Christian, I believe that God is
very real, as real as anything else in the world. I obtain my knowledge
and beliefs about God and His son Jesus from the Bible. The Bible is my
authority for living and its contents have changed my life. I believe so
strongly in the Bible, that I have a desire to share my belief with as many
people as possible. Since the Bible contains the beliefs and doctrines of
my faith, I have decided that there is a need to discuss the validity of
the Bible and prove that it is more than just any other book. As you are
either searching for your own answers, or talking with someone who is, it
is my hope that this paper will help whoever reads it to discover for
themselves the ultimate Truth, the Bible, and through the Bible, the
answers to their questions.
The Bible is 1 book but it is made up of 66 different books. The writers
of these books held the pens but God wrote through them! What I am saying
is that God is the Author behind the Bible. That is a pretty bold
statement to make but I have some fairly convincing reasons to back it up
with. A rejection of this truth is not so much of an "I can't believe it"
but rather an "I won't believe it". If you don't want to believe the
truth, nothing will convince you no matter how plain the truth is. If you
come to the Bible with an open mind and become convinced that it really is
the Word of God, would you be willing to follow the Author? If the Answer
is "No", then don't bother reading any further because if you come
unwilling to accept, with a closed heart in the first place, you cannot
expect to find Truth. So, I ask you to come with an open heart.
Christianity and the Bible don't have to be taken on "blind" faith. You
don't need to throw your mind out the window. There is factual evidence to
prove its validity as you will see. Christianity and the Bible are not
something you shove down somebody's throat or force on someone. You've got
your life to live and I've got mine. All I can do is tell you what I've
learned, that I have found the only Truth. After that, it's your decision.
Now, there is one almighty God and He is the creator of everything we see
and know, the whole universe. He created you and me. If you don't believe
this truth, take a look around. The complexity of the human body is enough
for me to see that I am a created being, not some product of evolution or
some other unfactual theory. God has revealed Himself through the world
around us. But the question is: "What is God the creator doing now?" In
other words, does God care about His creation? To answer this we need to
know something about why He created us in the first place. God created us
because He wanted to be in a relationship with us--to be in a close,
intimate, loving relationship with the ones He created. God took time and
carefully made each one of us in our mother's wombs. He formed each one of
us with love and care, enjoying the thought of us sharing our lives with
Him. So if God wants to be in a relationship with us, the question is,
"How do we have a relationship with a God who is unseen?" Where can we find
the answers? Is everything acceptable to God as long as we just believe
it, or is there an absolute, specific way to be in relationship with God
and go to heaven? Truth is not relative! But many people think that my
views, your views, and everyone else's views are all right and correct.
That there is not just one right way or belief - just different ways of
expressing the same truth. That there is not one absolute truth. But I
think if you think about it you will see that this is not the case, there
are absolutes in this world. As you go into a room, you have no fear that
gravity will suddenly stop and you will fly up and smash your head on the
ceiling. You know and trust the absolute truth of gravity. All religions
are obviously not the same and they can't all be right, as nice as that
would be. Charles Manson is a man who did horrible things and he based his
killing on his "religion" and spiritual beliefs - was he right in what he
did? Is he going to heaven along with the rest of us? Most would say no,
but why? He based what he did on what he thought was right and on his
"religion". There has to be moral guidelines and a basis for right and
wrong - it can't be open to individual choice. So who determines those
guidelines and where is the cut off between good and bad? Where can we
find the absolute truth about God? Are we just left here to grope around
guessing about God and how to get to heaven to be with Him forever? NO
WAY! He gave us the Bible! I know that there are other "religious" books
around in various other world religions, so how do we know that the Bible
is the absolute truth that God wrote for us and not the Koran or the Book
of Mormon? This is what I want to address.
Some people believe that the Bible is just a group of stories and myths,
like fairy tales. But the Bible is actually an accurate historical
document. It is definitely not a myth. How do we know this? Because the
writers of the New Testament wrote either as eyewitnesses of the events
they described, or they recorded the events from an eyewitness:
"We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His
majesty." 2 Peter 1:16
"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen
with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we
proclaim concerning the word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it
and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with
the Father and has appeared to us." 1 John 1:1,2
Also see John 1:14 & Luke 1:1-3. There is one big difference between a
story that is mythical and a story that involves reality. In a myth, the
story is not applied to a real, flesh & blood person in a real place but
rather to "made up" characters and places. When it comes to Christianity,
the events are attached to real flesh & blood people who lived and dwelt in
real places on this earth. Many New Testament writers knew Jesus
personally. You can go to any library and find many books that tell of the
life of Jesus Christ and his life on this earth. He is real. A basic
definition of history is a knowledge of the past based on testimonies. Let
me ask you something. "Do you believe Abe Lincoln lived & was president of
the U.S.?" No one I have ever met has personally seen or observed Lincoln.
The only way we know that he lived and did the things he did is by the
testimony of people who witnessed and documented him and his life. This is
exactly what the Bible is. The main difference is that God is the Author
of the Bible. It was written by God through the hands of men. The
accounts of Jesus' life began to circulate while those who knew Him were
still alive. These people could easily confirm or deny the accuracy of the
Biblical accounts. What is interesting to see is how people like Paul
would appeal to common knowledge concerning Jesus. He would not only say,
"We saw this" or "We heard that", but he would say, even to the most severe
critics, "You also know about these things...You saw them too."
"Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus, the Nazarene, a man attested
to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed
through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know..." (Acts 2:22).
Also see Acts 26:24-28.
There are three main reasons why I believe the Bible was written and put
together by God.
Every time the Bible mentions anything about history, it is accurate and
truthful. That, of course, would have to be the case if indeed an
all-knowing, perfect God wrote it. The Bible is not primarily a book of
history but rather it is His-story, the story of Jesus; you know, the one
our whole system of dating is formed around. But the Bible does contain a
great deal of history just because it was written over a period of 1500
years. One major criticism was that Moses could not have written the first
five books of the Bible because during the time Moses was supposed to have
lived men did not even know how to write, they wrote in pictures and
symbols. An archaeological find totally disproves this though. The Elba
tablets were discovered in northern Syria by two professors from the
University of Rome, Dr. Matthiae and Dr. Petinato. Since 1974, 17,000
tablets have been unearthed from the era of the Elba Kingdom. These
tablets show that a thousand years before Moses was even born, laws,
customs and events were recorded in writing, not symbols or pictures, in
the same area of the world in which Moses lived. And then there is the
book of Daniel and people say that it is filled with historical errors.
Daniel records about the last king of Babylon, Belshazzar and historians
scoffed and said that there was no king of Babylon named Belshazzar, much
less the last king of Babylon. The last king of Babylon was a man named
Nabonidus. But right after WWII, they began to re-excavate old Babylon and
found some pieces of literature and artifacts that had some historical
documents on them. And guess what the researchers found? There was a
co-regency between Belshazzar and his father Nabonidus. History was right,
Nabonidus was the last king of Babylon. The Bible is right, Belshazzar was
the last king. They were co-kings. Other material was found that said
Nabonidus would spend months away hunting and he would leave the reign to
his son Belshazzar. In Daniel chapter 5, Belshazzar said that if Daniel
could interpret a dream that he had then he would make Daniel the third
ruler in the kingdom. Why the third ruler? Because there were already
two!
Historians use two main tests to check the historical reliability and
accuracy of a writing. The first is the number of hand written copies
available. Before the invention of the printing press, copies had to be
made by hand. The reliability of the writing is increased when there is a
large number of these hand written copies available. The second test is
the interval of time between the original copy and the first hand written
one. A shorter time span means a more accurate writing. By far, the Bible
has more hand written copies and a shorter time span than ANY other writing
in history. We have over 24,000 copies of the New Testament and the time
span was a short 25 years. After the Bible, the next closest writing using
this test is the Iliad by Homer and it has 643 copies with a time span of
500 years between the original and the first copy. No one doubts the
reliability and accuracy of the Iliad, so there can be no way anyone can
doubt the reliability and the accuracy of the Bible. But still people make
excuses because they just don't want to believe. They attempt to say that
errors could occur when making all those copies of the Bible over all the
years. Some have even compared this to a children's game we all used to
play. Remember that game where someone would whisper something to the
person next to them and the message would be whispered around in a circle.
Often times the last person gets a message that has been distorted in some
way from the original. They say this is the same thing that happened to
the Bible as it was copied time after time through the ages. But let me
ask you this. If I gave you this paper and told you that it was written by
God Himself and you believed me with all your heart, do you think you could
copy it correctly? Do you think you would take time and make absolutely
certain that you made no mistakes in copying a document of that importance?
Sure and it would not be that difficult. And also, that childhood game is
in no way an accurate comparison to how the Bible was passed down to us.
First of all, the message was not whispered, it was shouted and proclaimed
everywhere with boldness even in the face of the most extreme persecution,
all but one of Jesus' 11 original disciples died for their faith in Him.
The idea of passing a simple story along distorts what truly happened. The
sharing of the Gospel accounts can be compared to a handful of people in an
auditorium being given the same message to spread to everyone else in the
auditorium. Each person had the freedom to verify with the others what the
true, original message was. Under these circumstances, one would expect
that those who wanted to get the message right certainly could. In 1947 a
discovery was made along the northwest corner of the Dead Sea. Scrolls
were found that gave us manuscript copies of Old Testament books that dated
1,000 years older than any previous copies we had. Now that this time gap
of a thousand years was closed, the world was waiting to see if the text
had been transmitted accurately. The answer was a resounding YES. The
Dead Sea scrolls demonstrated unequivocally the fact that the Jews were
faithful in their transcription of biblical manuscripts. With the
exception of minute copying errors here and there, the Dead Sea manuscripts
were virtually identical when compared to the next oldest manuscripts we
had. So you see, it is really not that hard to copy something when you
know the incredible value it has to all mankind.
The second reason I believe the Bible was authored by God is because of its
scientific accuracy. Some people say God couldn't have written the Bible
because it is full of scientific errors. But every time the Bible talks
about science it is accurate. True science and Scripture will always agree
if God is the Author. Throughout the centuries man has discovered more and
more about the complex world we live in. Many of the things we know today
were not always known by man, we had to discover them. As we learn more
and technology expands we find out new things about science. So you have
to be very careful using something that is constantly changing and being
discovered to judge something else like the Bible. It is amazing to see
some of the "scientific facts" believed by men in the past. For example,
what is the world sitting on? We know today that the world is suspended in
space but men of science have not always known that. As technology
advanced we discovered this truth. Egyptian scientists for centuries
taught that the world sat upon five pillars. The Greek scientists made fun
of them and said the world sat upon the back of a giant named Atlas.
Eastern scientists said the world sat upon an elephant and any time there
are tremors it is because the elephant is moving. We're not talking about
idiots here, we're talking about the most intellectual men of science
during that time. But the Word of God has not come out with "new
findings". The book of Job is one of the oldest writings known to man and
in chapter 26 verse 7 it says, "He spreads out the northern skies over
empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing." People said that was
impossible, what about poor old Atlas? But before any scientist, God
stated the truth. We take for granted that the world is round, a sphere,
but men of science didn't always believe this. It was the scientists that
went to Columbus and told him to be careful sailing around everywhere that
he might fall off the edge of the earth. "Do you not know? Have you not
heard? ...Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits
enthroned above the circle of the earth..." Isaiah 40:21-22. The word
"circle" is the word "sphere" in Hebrew. Men of science have not always
known that there are too many stars to count. The year was 150 B.C. and
Hippartus, the most renowned astronomer on the plant, rubbed his eyes and
laid down his pencil, he had counted the stars and there were 1022. This
remained an indisputable scientific fact for over 260 years until a man
named Ptolemy came around. He updated the facts and said there were 1056
stars and this remained a fact until a man named Galileo came around and
invented a crude instrument called a telescope. Far beyond what the naked
eye can see there are millions of them. Scientists now say that there are
more suns than there are grains of sand on all of planet earth. And there
is scientist Apartus - 1001, 1002, 1003... Hundreds and hundreds of years
ago in Jeremiah 33:22 God said that the stars can not be counted, they are
countless. It was not until the past two centuries that scientists knew
that blood circulated in the body. Before William Harvey discovered this
in the 17th century, scientists thought that blood just existed in the
body. That is why when you got sick doctors said your blood was bad or you
had too much of it. George Washington, the father of our nation, died
because of the "medical science" of his day. He was sick and the doctors
said he had too much blood so they bled him. When he didn't get better, he
went back and they bled him again. The third time he went back, they bled
him to death. In the very first book of the Bible, Moses wrote the life of
all flesh is in the blood, that's what lifeblood means (Genesis 9:4). So
how in the world did Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Moses know these four
truths so long before the rest of the world? Because these holy men of God
wrote as God inspired them. God wrote through them as they held the pens.
Finally, there is a very interesting verse that was used just a century ago
to prove the Bible had scientific errors in it. 2 Peter 3:10 says, "The
heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by
fire..." People said, "How could there be a fire big enough to burn the
whole world. Silly fisherman!" Again, it took a while for science to catch
up to what God had spoken through Peter. But an atomic reaction could
indeed actually melt the basic building blocks of matter itself, nuclear
fission. Verse 12 says, "That day will bring about the destruction of the
heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat." In the Greek, the
word for destroy or destruction literally means to untie. That is just
what happens to the atom in a nuclear reaction, it comes untied. Wow,
that's an atomic physics statement from a fisherman!! But it is not so
hard to believe when you realize that an all-knowing Creator was the Author
behind it.
The Bible is unique! It is different from all other books and has no
equal. It is unique in its circulation. It has been read by more people
and published in more languages than any other book in history. About 30
years ago, the British and Foreign Bible Society was publishing 1 copy of
the Bible every 3 seconds, that's 1,369 copies every hour and 32,876 every
day. It is unique in its survival. Being written on perishable material
and having to be copied and recopied for hundreds of years before the
invention of the printing press did not diminish the style, correctness, or
existence of the Bible. Compared with other ancient writings, it has more
manuscript evidence than any ten pieces of classical literature combined!
The New Testament is in better textual shape than the 37 plays of
Shakespeare that were written in the 17th century AFTER the invention of
the printing press! In every one of Shakespeare's plays there are gaps in
the printed text where we have no idea what was originally said. The Bible
has withstood vicious attacks as no other book has. It is unique in its
survival through persecution. Many have tried to burn it, ban it, and
outlaw it from the days of the Romans to present day. In the mid-1700's
Voltaire, one of the most influential writers of his day, held a copy of
the Bible in his hand and stated that within 100 years from his time,
Christianity would be swept away from existence. What is hilarious is that
merely 50 years after his death, the Geneva Bible Society used his house
and printing press to print and distribute stacks of Bibles! The Bible is
unique in its many prophecies. If there is one thing the Bible dares to
do, that no other book in the world does, it's to accurately predict the
future. God can arrange the situations and circumstances of history to
bring about any event He wants. Buddhists, Confucianists, and Muslims have
their own sacred writings, but in them the element of prophecy is obviously
absent. The destruction of Tyre, the invasion of Jerusalem, the fall of
Babylon and Rome-each were accurately predicted in the Bible and fulfilled
to the smallest detail. Jesus had various credentials to support His
claims to being Messiah, God's son. One credential often overlooked, one
of the most profound, is the fulfillment of prophecy in His life. In the
Old Testament there are 60 major prophecies about the coming messiah and
270 ramifications of those that were all fulfilled in one person, Jesus
Christ. These prophecies were all made at least 400 years before Jesus
came and were meant to show us who the Messiah/Savior is so we would know.
Many of these prophecies were things that Jesus would not have been able to
control like Isaiah 7:14 and Micah 5:2, being born of a virgin in a small
town called Bethlehem. Read through the book of Matthew and see how many
times it says, "to fulfill". Anyone can claim to be the Messiah but only
Jesus Christ appealed to fulfilled prophecy to substantiate His claims, and
only His credentials back up those claims. Some say that you can find some
of these prophecies fulfilled in other people. Yes, you could possibly
find one or two prophecies fulfilled in other men, but not all 60 major
prophecies and 270 ramifications. Peter W. Stoner talks about the
scientific probability of these Prophecies about the Messiah being
fulfilled in any man. In the foreword of a book Stoner wrote, H. Harold
Artzler from the American Scientific Affiliation writes:
The manuscript for Science Speaks has been carefully reviewed by a
committee of the American Scientific Affiliation members and by the
Executive Council of the same group and has found, in general, to be
dependable and accurate in regard to the scientific material presented.
The mathematical analysis included is based upon principles of probability
which are thoroughly sound, and Professor Stoner has applied these
principles in a proper and convincing way.
The following probabilities are taken from Stoner's book to show that
coincidence is ruled out by the science of probability. Stoner says that
by using the modern science of probability in reference to just 8 of the
prophecies, "we find that the chance that any man might have lived down to
the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is 1 in 10^17." That
would be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. In order to help us comprehend this
staggering probability, Stoner illustrates it by supposing that we take
10^17 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover
all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and
stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and
tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one
silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he
have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets
would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come
true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they
wrote them in their own wisdom.
Now these prophecies were either given by inspiration of God or the
prophets just wrote them as they thought they should be. In such a case
the prophets had just one chance in 10^17 of having them come true in any
man, but they all came true in Christ.
This means that the fulfillment of these eight prophecies alone proves that
God inspired the writing of those prophecies to a definiteness which lacks
only one chance in 10^17 of being absolute.
What about one man fulfilling 48 of the prophecies. Well, as you can
guess, the probability goes up considerably. The odds of 48 prophecies
being fulfilled by one man are one in 10^157. That's a 1 followed by 157
zeros!! This time we need an object smaller than a silver dollar, a lot
smaller. We need to use electrons for our example. Electrons are so small
that if you lined them up, it would take 2.5 quadrillion of them to equal
one inch! If you tried to put this many electrons into a big pile, it
would be 10,000,000,000 times larger than the universe as we know it.
Scientists calculate the universe to be 6,000,000,000 light-years across.
A light-year is the distance that light will travel in one year and light
moves at the speed of 186,000 miles per second. Are you getting the
picture? Now, take just one electron and color it red. Stir it into the
pile real good and get the same blindfolded man from Texas and send him in
to pick out the red one on the first try. Impossible? These would be the
same odds that one man would live and die according to only 48 of the
prophecies about the Messiah, if it were only an accident. But remember,
Jesus fulfilled not just eight or even 48 of the prophecies but all 60
major prophecies and 270 ramifications. There can be no mistaking who
Jesus Christ of Nazareth is - He is the Messiah, both Lord and God!
As I said earlier, the Bible is actually 66 books put together to form 1
book. It was written by about 40 different people from all walks of life
including kings, peasants, philosophers, fisherman, and poets:
Moses, a political leader, trained in the universities of Egypt
Peter, a fisherman
Amos, a herdsman
Joshua, a military general
Daniel, a prime minister
Luke, a doctor
Matthew, a tax collector
The Bible was written in different places on 3 different continents; Asia,
Africa, and Europe. It was written in places like a dungeon, in a palace,
in the wilderness, while traveling, and in the wild activity of a military
campaign. It was written in 3 different languages; Greek, Hebrew, and
Aramaic.
And it was written over a period of 1500 years. Finally, the subject
matter of the Bible covers many controversial topics, yet the men who held
the pens wrote with harmony and continuity from Genesis to Revelation.
Through all this vast diversity there is an amazing unity in the Bible. It
reads like one book, not 66. I challenge you to pick just 10 authors all
from one walk of life, one generation, one place, one time, one continent,
one language and just one controversial subject. Would they agree on the
chosen subject? Probably not. Could you write the Bible? Say you were
going to write a book, and this was how you had to write it: For a start,
find 40 writers, each totally different from each other. Get some who are
highly educated, even doctors-then get some farmers. Go dig a guy off a
ranch somewhere and say, "I'd like you to help me write a book." Then find
some fishermen. Go down to the wharf and find a couple of guys from San
Francisco and say, "Hey, listen, help me write a book." And they say,
"Sure, fine...we will help you." And then you get all of them to write on
the following things:
Religion, poetry, ethics, science, philosophy, the creation of the universe
and where it is going and ask them to throw in a few things about where
they think it will all end. Next, you need to collect all that
information, and then... by the way, you have to separate these people so
they can't communicate by phone or telegraph... only possibly word of
mouth, passed down over the years. Ah yes, years...you collect all this
stuff over about one and a half thousand years, and compile the whole thing
in one book. What would you have? You would have the most motley JUNK
you've ever seen in your life, with people totally contradicting each
other!! I suggest you take a biology textbook from 60 years ago, and
compare it with one today. You know you would find differences, and that
is just in 60 years!! But that's NOT what you have when you read the
Bible. The more you read, the more you see the incredible unity of it and
you find that there are not 40 people who wrote it, but One Person - GOD!
To help you visualize how incredible this unity really is let's use an
analogy.
Suppose the U.S. was going to build another monument in Washington. Every
state had to send a different stone. Some would send granite, some would
send limestone, some would send marble, etc. Each state went to their own
quarry and carved out a rock. Some stones would be square, others oblong,
some big, and some small. They would crate that stone and send it to
Washington. And when they put the stones together to form the monument
none were left over and no more were needed, they had exactly what they
needed. They all fit together PERFECTLY as one monument. Would you call
that a coincidence? Hardly! You would say, "There must have been a master
architect who planned the whole thing!" And with the Bible you would be
exactly right-God is the Master Author who architected the whole thing.
This amazing unity is the third reason I believe God wrote the Bible. The
odds otherwise are like that monument coming together on it's own - totally
impossible.
To conclude, the Bible is mainly the story of God's plan to save man and be
in a relationship with us. This can only happen through Jesus Christ. Man
is not perfect. The Bible calls this sin and none of us has to look very
far to see our state. We have all been a part of it and all sinned. I
know that I have! God is perfect and holy, as pure as pure can be. You
just can't mix our sin with God's perfection, it is not possible. Our sin
has separated us from God just like oil and water can't be joined. The
wages of our sin is death and hell, that's what we deserve for our sins and
that's bad news. Either we have to pay those wages ourselves or find
someone else who can pay them and is willing to do so, but who would
possibly be that nice. But God so loves us and desires so much to have
that relationship that He sent Jesus to die on the cross. He died in our
place and His death paid the wages of sin for everyone who wants to receive
Him. God has bought every one of us a free way out, and He did it out of
love. It breaks His heart that people are in hell because it doesn't have
to be that way!
In the Bible, Jesus said three things worth considering:
1) He claimed to be the only way to the Father, the only bridge for
us to cross to get to God and begin the most awesome relationship we could
ever imagine. "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through me."
2) He said the first step to having this relationship was being
born again. This is a spiritual rebirth. Above, I said the wages of sin
is death. This is a spiritual death, our spirits are dead because of the
sin we have all been involved with. When we give our lives to Jesus, the
Holy Spirit of God comes into our dead spirits, breathes life into us, and
cleanses us from our sin. This is being born again. "I tell you the
truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
3) He claimed to be God! "Again the Jews picked up stones to stone
him, but Jesus said to them, 'I have shown you many great miracles from the
Father. For which of these do you stone me?' 'We are not stoning you for
any of these,' replied the Jews, 'but for blasphemy, because you, a mere
man, claim to be God.'"
With these claims it is not possible to label Jesus as just a great moral
teacher. That is not an option. C.S. Lewis, who was a professor at
Cambridge University and at one time a non-believer writes:
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that
people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral
teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we
must not say. A man who was merely a man [and not God] and said the sort
of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either
be a lunatic - on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or
else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either
this man was, and is, the son of God: or else a madman or something worse.
The claims Jesus made must either be true or false, so it is something that
should be given serious consideration. If the claims were false, then
there are only two alternatives. He either knew they were false or He
didn't know they were false. If Jesus knew His claims were false, then He
was lying and deliberately deceiving His followers. This would make Him a
huge hypocrite because He told everyone to be honest, whatever the cost,
while He Himself taught and lived a colossal lie. He would also have been
unspeakably evil because He told people to trust Him for their eternal
destiny. Lastly, He would have been the dumbest man to ever live because
he willingly let himself die a gory, brutal death for an outright lie. He
would have nothing to gain by doing this. Someone who lived as Jesus
lived, taught as Jesus taught, and died as Jesus died could not have been a
liar. Historian Philip Schaff says:
How, in the name of logic, common sense, and experience, could an
imposter-that is a deceitful, selfish, depraved man-have invented, and
consistently maintained from the beginning to end, the purest and noblest
character known in history with the most perfect air of truth and reality?
How could He have conceived and successfully carried out a plan of
unparalleled beneficence, moral magnitude, and sublimity, and sacrificed
His own life for it, in the face of the strongest prejudices of His people
and age?
If Jesus wasn't a liar, then He could have really believed that His claims
were true, but been mistaken. This would mean that he was very confused
and a real lunatic. He would be deluded and self-deceived and probably
should be locked up so He wouldn't hurt Himself. Was Jesus such a person?
We don't observe the abnormalities and imbalance that usually go along with
being deranged. His poise and composure would be nothing more than amazing
if He were insane. In light of all the things we know about Jesus, it's
hard to imagine that He was mentally disturbed. Here is a man who spoke
some of the most profound sayings ever recorded. His life and teachings
have liberated many people from mental problems. Would that be true coming
from a lunatic? William Lecky, one of Great Britain's most noted
historians and a dedicated opponent of organized Christianity, said,
"...The simple record of these three short years of active life [Jesus's
ministry] has done more to regenerate and soften mankind than all the
disquisitions of philosophers and all the exhortations of moralists." Clark
H. Pinnock asks, "Was He deluded about His greatness, a paranoid, an
unintentional deceiver, a schizophrenic? Again, the skill and depth of His
teachings support the case only for His total mental soundness. If only we
were as sane as He!"
The last option is that the claims Jesus made are all true. That He is the
Lord God, the only and absolute way. Who you decide Jesus Christ to be
must not be an idle intellectual exercise. He is either a liar, a lunatic,
or Lord and God. You must make a choice. Being a great moral teacher is
NOT a valid option.
"But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that by believing they may have life in his name." (John
20:31)
"For God so loved you that he gave his one and only Son, that if you
believe in him, you shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did
not send his Son into the world to condemn you, but to save you through
him." (John 3:16-17)
When you think about it, it makes sense that Jesus is the only way - He is
the only one who died on the cross to pay the wages of our sins. No one
else has done that or ever will because never again will there be a need
for it. It has been done. It is finished. And for all those who
acknowledge Jesus as the Savior and Lord of their life and surrender
themselves to Him, eternal life will be given. The evidence is clearly in
favor of Jesus as Lord. Some people, however, reject this clear evidence
because of moral implications or misconceptions of what it means to be a
Christian. They don't want to face up to the responsibility or
implications of calling Him Lord. But I have, and I can assure you that my
life has been changed. I wouldn't trade my relationship with Jesus for
anything. The Bible says there will come a day when every knee will bow
and every tongue will confess that Jesus is the Lord. Every demon and
human in hell and the devil himself will confess this because it is true.
I pray that you too will realize this truth and act on it by choice now
rather than out of necessity later!
The Bible is not just a book - it is God who has spoken in history, and
that is why He says that His word is "living and active and sharper than
any two-edged sword" (Hebrews 4:12). Only the 66 books of the Scriptures
bear this divine seal. No other work of man in any language even faintly
resembles the intricate structure and design of the Bible. The greatest
proof of the Bible is the difference its message can make in your life. I
am proof of it myself. Without the Bible I would not have known about the
awesome relationship I can have with Jesus and that has changed my entire
life. If you have not done so - will you ask God the Holy Spirit to reveal
the truth to your heart? But pray honestly, "God, I am not sure that the
Bible is your Word or not. As I read, please show Yourself to me and let
me know." If you want to talk, find someone you are certain is a Christian
or contact me at:
Steve Hill
2703 Peeler Rd
Atlanta, GA 30360
404-452-0929
NOTE: The information that you have just read has been taken from various
authors and speakers that I have studied. I have acted as the editor in
compiling this material together in one paper.