"The Resurrection is not merely important to the historic Christian faith — without it there would be no Christianity" Hank Hannegraff
After a stellar Easter Sunday service at Ankeny Free Church, I wanted to take some time to share some things that our pastor stirred in my heart during his message. Central to the Christian faith is the resurrection. The glory of God, the wonder of His earthly story and the power of salvation hinge on Christ's defeat of death.
Salvation lies in faith in Christ alone (John 3:16, Eph. 2:8-9). But what if you sat through church all your life listening to this Gospel but still harbored some doubt? You are not alone. I spent years sitting in church wondering if the entire account of Christ is true. I came to a faith in Christ not through a desperate search for purpose or meaning but a logical pursuit of truth. Nothing I learned in church was ever relevant until I had confidence in God's word.
I wanted to encourage those of you who may harbor doubt in your mind by talking about a couple of objections to Christianity that I had before I made a commitment to Christ.
Christians are hypocrites and I don't want anything to do with them.
Newsflash, you are right. Christians are bad people. They do stupid and sinful things. The difference between Christians and the rest of the world isn't perfection but an acknowledgement of fact that they are bad and in need of a savior. Christ himself said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:17) The resurrection happened for all to be reconciled with God.
Here is the thing. We have all probably had a negative experience with a Christian at some point in our lives. Or maybe it is the actions of pastors or priests that we can't get over. The fact of the matter is that whenever people do wrong, regardless of their position or title or faith, it is a sin and not what God wants. If you are really searching for the truth, don't look at God through the lens of actions of his followers (or claim to follow). The world is full of posers who will derail your quest for truth. Seek God, not people, and you will find the truth a lot easier.
Popular culture is also typically bent on exposing scandals or hypocrisy within Christianity. For whatever reason, things like the sex abuse scandals, non-profit CEO pay or even the Crusades seem to be entertaining in the minds of the masses and on display in the news or even the History Channel. The vast majority of great contributions Christianity has given the world goes largely unnoticed or unrealized. Health care, poverty alleviation, morality, eradicating slavery and caring for orphans are all social justice issues championed by Christianity. There are a number of Christians in the world today doing great things. It was a love of God that persuaded an 18 year old homecoming queen from Nashville to move to Uganda and essentially adopt a small village (read Kisses from Katie). Missionaries Shane and Erin Latham shared their story of an affair in their marriage and the redemption that followed on Youtube to encourage other struggling couples. Christ's love compelled people like James Barnett and Matt Follman to become homeless and live with the poor while serving them. One can think of many more examples of Christians selling out completely for Christ to help other people.
Despite what you might hear or see on TV, real Christians are out there radically serving God and others. It may not be popular to give Christians their props, but when you see examples like these it is tough to ignore. Authenticity exists.
The Bible was just a book written by men and there are errors in it.
It is true that the Bible was written by men. This has never been an objection. Christians believe the Bible was the inspired word of God however. This means that each of the authors of the Bible wrote under the inspiration of God in a manner that each of their words was exactly what God wanted to communicate. It doesn't have to be a blind leap of faith to assume that God inspired the BIble. There is an overwhelming amount of evidence to show that this is really God's word.
The Bible is actually a collection of books and letters, 66 of them, written by 40 different authors over a period of 1600 years. The authors varied in background from Kings (David) to fishermen (Peter), doctors (Luke) to tax collectors (Matthew), shepherds (Amos) to generals (Joshua). It was written in three different languages (Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek) on three different continents (Europe, Asia, Africa) during wartime, peacetime, famine and feasts. The strange thing about the BIble is the fact that though many different circumstances existed, the Bible has one congruent message which is non-contradictory and flows perfectly in a storyline. The New Testament Gospel writers were eyewitnesses of Christ's life. They wrote about the extraordinary events that they saw from their different perspectives with amazing harmony. Logically speaking, it would be impossible to forge 4 separate accounts of Christ's life, death and resurrection that are that similar. If it were a lie, it most certainly would have been exposed at the time. It would also be stupid to do so as speaking or writing about Christ at the time was almost always a death sentence. As ancient literature, the Bible is in a field of its own. Through painstakingly stringent guidelines, copies of manuscripts were preserved by scribes. Check out how it compares to other ancient books or writers.
Outside the Bible, Josephus and Tacitus, both non-Christian historians, wrote about the life of Christ in their writings. These are two men with no vested interest in Christianity as a religion that mentioned Jesus as a historical person whose teachings created an uproar with the establishment of society.
There is a lot of other evidence to prove that the Bible is accurate. The choice to believe or not is the biggest decision you will make in your life. Real faith in God has the power to completely wreck your life in the best way.
Believing in God is uncomfortable. You may not like all the people in your church. You may lose friends over it. There are a thousand earthly reasons to deny God. Denying God doesn't mean He doesn't exist. Denying the resurrection doesn't change history. Is your interest perked? Your decision (or indecision) matters! Eternity awaits.
Seek out the truth. Search for the answers yourself. There are several good books or websites to answer the difficult questions you may have.
For more information see:
www.rzim.org
www.reasonablefaith.org
www.normgeisler.com
www.godspeaks.com
www.gotquestions.org
Check out this link: Good video once you get past the bow tie!
Resurrection: Fact or Fiction?
Written by Mickey
Great insight, Mickey. I needed to hear this...thanks for posting!
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