By Larry Rosenbaum
Often, when we share our testimony with an unbeliever, that person will respond, “It’s fine for you to believe in Jesus, as long as it makes you happy.” At other times, people say, “I’m glad that Jesus gives you peace. I get my peace from yoga [or something else].” How do we get beyond subjective opinions and feelings?
As Christians, we need to be assured that Christianity is objectively true, and that there is an abundance of convincing evidence to support Biblical claims. “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables…but were eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2 Peter 1:16). Peter, of course, walked with Jesus for three years. He knew Him very well. He saw Him die. He witnessed the resurrection, as did at least 500 other people (1 Corin. 15:6).
Many people think all proof must come from a scientific laboratory. However, historical and legal evidence comes mainly from the testimony of eyewitnesses. Every day, hundreds of people are put in jail based solely on the testimony of witnesses. Many people are put to death without any forensic evidence. Our legal system allows people to be convicted of murder based only on the testimony of one witness. Obviously, we do not believe every witness. But our legal system allows us to evaluate the truthfulness of a witness and use that testimony to determine whether someone is innocent or guilty.
Dr. Simon Greenleaf, Harvard University Professor of Law, was one of the greatest authorities on legal evidence who ever lived. After extensive study, he concluded that, according to the laws of legal evidence used in courts of law, there is more evidence for the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ than for just about any other event in history. John Singleton Copley, one of the greatest legal minds in British history, wrote “I know pretty well what evidence is; and I tell you, such evidence as that for the resurrection has never broken down yet.”
Dr. Frank Morrison, a lawyer who had been brought up in a rationalistic environment, had come to the opinion that the resurrection was nothing but a fairy-tale. He felt that he owed it to himself and others to write a book that would present the truth about Jesus and dispel the mythical story of the resurrection. Upon studying the facts, however, he came to a different conclusion. The sheer weight of the evidence compelled him to conclude that Jesus actually did rise from the dead.
Cambridge University Professor C.S.Lewis, who was an atheist until he was 32, wrote, “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic…or else he would be the Devil of Hell.”
Also, there is the evidence of Biblical prophecy. The Bible is the only book that predicts the future with perfect accuracy. The Old Testament, which was completed 400 years before Christ, contains over 300 references to the Messiah, all of which were fulfilled in Jesus. Many of them were extremely precise. For example, he would be betrayed by a friend (Psalm 41:9) and sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zech. 11:12) and that the money would be thrown down in the house of the Lord and the money used to buy a potter’s field (Zech. 11:13). Mathematician Peter Stoner took eight of the prophesies and computed that the probability of them being fulfilled by chance at 10 to the 17th power. Even more amazing, Daniel 9 predicts the exact day that Jesus would proclaim Himself Messiah—over 500 years in advance!
The book of Daniel is filled with amazing prophecies. Daniel 11, written about 530 BC, describes in great detail the wars of the Ptolemies and Seleucidae which took place from 480 to 170 BC. There are many other fulfilled Biblical prophecies, such as the one concerning the fate of Tyre in Ezekiel 26.
No amount of proof will convince a person who is determined to reject Christ. But there are many non-Christians who want to know the truth about God, but have obstacles that make it difficult for them to put their faith in Jesus. Many people have been told that science has disproved Christianity, or that the Bible is full of contradictions, or that faith is irrational and that no intelligent person would be a Christian. Many people think that Christianity is nothing more than a crutch for people too weak to accept the truth that God does not exist.
The Bible tells us to “sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man who asks you the reason for the hope that is within you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15). The Greek word for “answer” is apologia, from which we get the term “apologetics.” Unlike most of the apostles, Paul was highly educated. In Acts 17:28, he quoted from a Greek poet in speaking to educated pagans in Athens. In Acts 18:4, he reasoned in the synagogue in Corinth, seeking to persuade both Jews and Greeks. In Acts 19:8, he entered the synagogue in Ephesus, “reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.”
In 1912, the scholar J. Gresham Machen told a group of young men at Princeton Seminary,
“It would be a great mistake to suppose that all men are equally well-prepared to receive the gospel. It is true that the decisive thing is the regenerative power in connection with certain prior conditions for the reception of the Gospel. . . . I do not mean that the removal of intellectual objections will make a man a Christian. No conversion was ever wrought by argument. A change of heart is also necessary . . . but because the intellectual labor is insufficient, it does not follow that it is unnecessary. God may, it is true, overcome all intellectual obstacles by an immediate exercise of His regenerative power. Sometimes He does. But He does so very seldom. Usually He exerts His power in connection with certain conditions of the human mind. Usually He does not bring into the kingdom, entirely without preparation, those whose mind and fancy are completely contaminated by ideas which make the acceptance of the Gospel logically impossible.”
Some people have genuine intellectual objections that prevent them from seriously considering the gospel message. We should “study to show ourselves approved unto God…rightly dividing the world of truth” (1 Tim. 2:15). We should be prepared to give people intelligent answers to their questions and reasons for believing in Jesus Christ and the Bible. It may take a while to learn how to give good answers to people’s questions. But we need to start somewhere. Don’t wait until you can answer every possible question before you start witnessing. It is OK to tell someone, “I don’t know the answer to that question, but I’ll look it up and get back to you.”
Here are some good books and websites on the subject of apologetics:
Mere Christianity by C.S.Lewis
Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell
The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel.
All are available at most Christian bookstores or for a discount at C.B.D. (1-800-247-4784).
Here are some websites with a vast amount of information on apologetics:
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/
http://www.leaderu.com/menus/apologetics.html
http://home.earthlink.net/~gbl111/page2.htm
