I don't believe the Bible.
Jesus.Freak
Modern secular thought has thrown so much doubt on the reliability of
the Bible that many people have been brainwashed into considering it
contradictory and anti-scientific, People captured by this viewpoint
need to know the facts.
INITIAL CHALLENGE
"I am Interested that you should say that because it shows you have
been thinking about these things. Before a person rejects the Bible he
should know what its central message is. What would you say that is?"
Wait for him to answer; you can continue "I would like to show you how
strong is the evidence for its central character, Jesus Christ. People
accept all the other characters of ancient history on much less
evidence. But they try to debunk the story of Jesus because they don't
want it to be true."
THE BIBLICAL BASIS
There are four important points to be made:
1. The New Testament writers got their facts straight
They were very careful to be accurate and check giving evidence when
possible.
Luke-did thorough research, Luke 1: 1-3, visiting people who saw and
lived with Jesus
John-emphasized that his gospel is an eyewitness account. John 19: 35.
Paul-gave the names of the witnesses of the resurrection so that people
can check up for themselves, 1 Cor. 15: 4-7.
A leading modern historian, Sir William Ramsey, for sometime was
doubtful about Luke's accuracy. But archaeology and careful research
convinced him.
Historical fiction is a modern Invention and was completely unknown in
the ancient world. Anyway who could have invented Jesus? As has been
said "It would take a Jesus to invent a Jesus." (Strauss).
2. The disciples did not exaggerate about Jesus
It is sometimes said that the followers of Jesus turned him, a great
and admired teacher, into a
supernatural Son of God, as happens in folk lore. But notice that they
were Jews whose whole
way of thought and upbringing was dead against that. If they had been
Greeks it would have
been easy to deify Jesus because the Greeks often promoted human beings
like Hercules into
their pantheon of gods. But the disciples were brought up in the
strictest monotheism. For
thousands of years Jews had died rather than bow to anyone but God.
Paul was a Pharisee of
the Pharisees. It can only have been the overwhelming evidence of Jesus
Himself that forced
them to acknowledge Him as God.
3. The record has been preserved accurately
Books were handwritten in those days on parchment or reed paper
(papyrus) which were copied
again and again. "The evidence for the text of the books of the New
Testament is .better than for
any other ancient book. This is true both In the number of surviving
manuscripts and in the
nearness of the date of some of these manuscripts to the date when the
book was originally
written." (RSV Introduction).
4. There is good support outside the Bible
-Josephus, a Jew and friend of the emperor, recorded the important
facts about the life of Jesus
when he wrote his "History of the Jews" in 90 A.D.
-Thallus, a non-Christian, writing in 52 A.D. mentioned that the
darkness over all the earth at the
Time of the crucifixion was seen in Rome and that people tried to
explain it.
"These are facts of history. They make an unshakeable foundation for
the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is only one
more question to be answered, "What will you do with Jesus?" There is
only one answer: "We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Saviour
and Lord by personal invitation."
We would love to have you join us in our group
We R Jesus Freaks we love to talk about life and what is to come..
Thanks Brother Ted
http://groups.google.com/group/We-R-Jesus-Freaks