How do we know Christianity is True?

Material taken from Explore the Journey By: Dr. Rick Thompson

(Used by Permission)

Key Belief: Truth is Knowable!

Many ask today if truth is knowable. All of us form our own version of reality based on our history, our context and who or what we are influenced by. For this reason we must determine ultimate reality from a source that is much larger that our specific perspective. This is what makes our belief in God so important.

All worldviews must pass these two tests:

They must be Intellectually Credible and Existentially Satisfying.

The problem is that we live in a time when people care more about the existentially satisfying part rather than the credible part. People tend to say, “If your religion works for your, then what is the big deal?” Almost anything we do could make us feel satisfied. Playing sports, cooking, watching television, etc, just to name a few, could all be satisfying. We could call this a placebo effect. People feel satisfied at least for a while, but the real issue has not been solved.

Key Belief: Christianity is not only satisfying, it is also ultimate truth.

Jesus said in John14:6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”

People object to this. They say that in this new age we live in, it is narrow and old fashioned to believe that there is only one way to heaven. That truth is relative to the one who perceives it or there is no such thing as absolute truth. You would have to respond “ Are you sure about that?” Because you would have to agree that even this is in itself a definitive narrow view. Is someone saying I can hold this view and none other? The he is guilty of the very narrowness he ascribes to me. We cannot get away from the fact that truth is always narrow. By definition, truth is narrow because it cannot conflict with itself.

Example: Someone may say it is narrow of me to state “my truck will only run on gasoline.” The statement is narrow because my truck won’t run on anything but gasoline. Truth is always narrow.

So how do we know Christianity is true?

Historian Hudson Smith says there are only two people in history of whom people asked not only “who are you”, but also “what are you?” Those two people were Buddha and Jesus. In both cases, the disciples wanted to worship their teacher. But Buddha said, “Don’t worship me… don’t look to me, look at my dharma (or teachings). Jesus on the other hand, unequivocally accepted worship. When people bowed to worship him, Jesus calmly received it.

Jesus is among the most influential people in the world. Many would agree he was the MOST influential. Yet he claimed to be God and allowed people to worship him as God. There are many crazy people who have claimed to be God. None of them were as influential as Jesus. Jesus made this and other incredible claims and people believed! If the most influential person in history claimed to be God, no thoughtful person can walk away from the claim without further study.

Jesus said: “I and the Father are One.”

“I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except

through me.”

“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father…”

The magnitude of the claim demands that we explore the veracity of it.

Five Significant Historical Facts about Jesus:

1. 2000 years ago, Jesus claimed to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth.

2. Large numbers of people believed in Jesus all at once in first century Palestine after witnessing His miracles. The saw him walk on water, heal the sick, and raise the dead.

3. He convinced people who were closest to Him that He was God. The last people on the face of the earth that would believe that a person could be God was the first century Jew. In the east and the west, polytheism ( the belief in more than one god) was not unusual. In Jewish culture, it was virtually impossible. Jews were taught to never worship something that man created. Keep in mind that they were the last people to believe that God was God. Jesus own brothers did not believe until they had seen him risen from the dead.

4. After he died, hundreds of people confessed and attested that they saw him raised from the dead. Besides the apostles, Paul says 500 people saw Jesus after the resurrection.

5. Thousands believed in Him and gave their lives for Him. The result of seeing the risen Christ was that thousands went spreading the faith and giving their lives for their belief. They were so transformed that they spread the word all over the Roman world.

You might buy into a hoax for a while, but you would never give your life for one.

Acts 1:3 says: “After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.”

More to Come……….