A CARPENTER PLUS
A C A R P E N T E R P L U S
The Christian faith is an intelligent faith, using evidence of reliable written documents and credible oral testimony, especially eye-witness accounts of Jesus.
There is a difference between scientific proof, and legal-historical proof which shows that something is fact beyond a reasonable doubt, a verdict reached on the basis of the weight of the evidence.
Archaeological discoveries confirmed the accuracy of the New Testament manuscripts, the John Ryland 130 AD, Chester Beatty Papyri 155 AD, and Bodmer Papyri 200 AD, bridged the gap between the time of Christ and existing manuscripts from a later date.
Millar Burrows of Yale says - ”The language of the papyri discoveries gives us confidence in the accurate transmission of the New Testament text.” William Albright, the world’s foremost Biblical archaeologist, says ”The New Testament was written between 50 and 75 AD.” Sir William Ramsay, great archaeologist,said ”Dr Luke is a historian of the first rank.”
Historians Eusebius, Papias of Hierapolis and Irenaeus of Lyons 180 AD a student of Polycarp of Smyrna confirm the accuracy of the writings of the New Testament books, especially those of John. Roman historians have long taken Acts for granted. F F Bruce states ”Archaeology has also confirmed the accuracy of the New Testament record.”
Prof Thomas Arnold of Rugby who wrote The History of Rome and was appointed to the Chair of Modern History at Oxford said ”I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort, to the full under-standing of an inquirer, than the sign God has given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead.”
English scholar Westcott said ”There is no historic incident better supported than the resurrection of Christ.”
Dr Simon Greenleaf of Harvard Law School concluded that ”The resurrection of Christ was one of the best supported events in history according to the laws of legal evidence administered in courts of justice.”
Mr Ladd states ”God raised Jesus in bodily form. A believer in Jesus Christ today can have complete confidence that his or her faith is based not on myth or legend, but on the historical fact of the risen Christ and the empty tomb. This assures one also of resurrection from the grave.”
”No intelligent jury in the world could fail to bring in a verdict that the resurrection of Jesus story is true.”
The history of Thucidides, 460-400 BC, comes from eight manuscripts dated about 900 AD, almost 1300 years after he wrote. The history of Herodotus is also based on scarce manuscripts written much later.
Aristotle wrote his poetics in 343 BC, yet the earliest copy of a total of five that we have is dated 1100 AD, a 1400 year gap. Caesar wrote his history of the Gallic Wars around 54 BC which we base on 10 manuscript copies dated 1000 years after his death.
On the other hand, today we have 20,000 copies of New Testament manuscripts written during the same generation. There are only 643 Iliad manuscripts, a very distant second place finish.
Sir Frederic Kenyon, at one time director of the British Museum, states ”The authenticity and integrity of the New Testament books are conclusively established.”
Lawrence McGinley of St Peter’s College ”Among eye witnesses were bitter enemies of the new Christian religious movement. Any false statements would have been fiercely challenged.”
New Testament scholar Robert Grant of the University of Chicago says eye-witness testimonies were not disregarded, indicating that the gospels are reliable witnesses to the life, death & resurrection of Jesus.
Historian Will Durant, who spent his life analysing records of antiquity, says ”The fishermen and disciples of Christ who outlined the life, character and teachings of Christ have provided the most fascinating and influential features in the history of modern man.”
At first ardent doubters, Gilbert West and Lord Lyttleton found the conversion and apostleship of St Paul a powerful proof that Christianity contains divine revelation. Paul’s 25 years of preaching they attributed to Paul’s seeing the risen Christ.
There exists no document from the ancient world witnessed by so excellent a set of textual and historical testimonies, and offering so superb an array of historical data.
If a person discards the Bible as unreliable then he or she must also discard almost all the literature of antiquity!
In the Old Testament are 60 messianic prophecies with 270 aspects fulfilled in one person, Jesus Christ, made at least 400 years before He was to appear on the scene.
A prophecy in 1012 BC predicted this man’s hands and feet would be pierced (crucifixion), that his own people the Jews would reject him, while some Gentiles would believe in him.
Another prophecy said the Messiah would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver that would be cast on the floor of the temple and used to buy a potter’s field. Another picked for his birth not Rome or Paris or London but the town of Bethlehem of 1000 people.
The mathematical odds of all these prophecies being fulfilled is just
1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000!
Who would die for a lie? The dramatic transformations of Jesus’ apostles is solid testimony for the validity of His claims. After all, history is defined as ”knowledge of the past based upon testimony.”
11 followers died martyr’s deaths, were crucified, stoned because of their belief in Jesus' resurrection as the Son of God. If the resurrection didn’t take place, these disciples would not have gone to a horrible death claiming such faith and hope. These men had to be witnesses of His resurrected life. The resurrection turned these heart-broken common followers of a crucified rabbi into courageous witnesses and martyrs of the early church.
This little band of defeated cowards hid in an upper room one day, and a few days later transformed into a force that no type of persecution could silence.
Foisting a fabrication upon the world made no sense. Tertullian ”No man is willing to die unless he knows he has the truth.”
The stone rolled down into position to cover the entrance of the tomb Jesus was buried in weighed two tons. Shifts of soldiers were assigned to guard this sealed tomb to make sure Jesus did not emerge after 3 days as He claimed would happen. Despite this precaution, his enemies had to admit that he came back to life from guarded tomb.
No other religious leader has come back from the dead. Not Buddha, not Mohammed, not Confucius. Only Jesus has an empty tomb. You cannot name another.
Jesus is not just one of a small group of master teachers. He is the ONLY one who ever came back from death. He has the power to bring other honest open people back from the dead.
Christianity works - it changes lives, attitudes and actions.
C O N C L U S I O N
The eastern religions - Buddhaism,Mohammedism, Confuciusism, all are like jellyfish. They absorb Christianity by saying Jesus was a terrific teacher, but just NOT the Son of God. Secular humanism, communism, Life-Spring, Judaism, pantheism- they say any way-of-life is fine, do your thing, you have plenty more lifetimes to make up for your blunders.
The religions of the Far East push the appealing idea that you will not be JUDGED harshly on what you do in this lifetime. They say that you will have many more lifetimes, reincarnating as different people, so you can face a variety of challenges and steadily improve.
This they say allows you to approach perfection over the many billions of years we still have to go. They say you have had past lives. How you handled those life's issues added or subtracted from your Karma, your ever-improving soul's balance sheet.
They say there is no need for forgiveness, because you will get many more lives and chances to undo errors, and correct improper reactions and poor decisions.
In their ball-game, there is no moment in time of JUDGMENT. Buddhism and other Eastern religions put self-realization first, with self-improvement the basis for living.
The Christian God, not fitting into these eastern religious equations, is left out. The individual rules supreme, ever improving, taking his or her sweet time approaching nirvana or perfection without ever dealing with a JUDGMENT.
