CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES (Part 1)

By: Cougan Collins

lgchurchofchrist@cableone.net

For almost 2000 years, countless people have tried to destroy Christianity. Some claim that Jesus never existed and that the New Testament writings are nothing more than mythology. Others claim He did exist but that He was just a man born out of wedlock who started a new a radical movement.

Those who make such claims are determined to destroy the credibility and historicity of Jesus. It is true that if a person could prove that Jesus did not live, die, or was raised from the dead, then Christianity would fall (1 Cor. 15:12-19). All of Christianity hangs on Jesus’ existence and His works, which makes Christianity unique to other religions and philosophies.

While many have tried to disprove the existence of God, all have failed and some have even been converted because they realized that the internal and external evidence of God’s existence is overwhelming. Not only does the Bible provide us with ample evidence about Jesus, history (as proven through archeology) provides ample evidence of Jesus’ existence. In fact, archeology has consistently confirmed the accuracy of the events that took place in the Bible and no valid contradictions have been found.

The question becomes, how do we prove that Jesus existed? How do we prove the reliability of the New Testament Scriptures? I will be answering these questions in these series of articles on Christian evidences. We will explore the internal and external evidence that proves Christianity. We do not have to blindly believe in Christianity because we have overwhelming evidence that it is true, and we need to realize God’s Word and history goes hand and hand. We should never be afraid of proving our faith and the existence of God through logic and history because it will increase our faith. Please note what the protestant scholar named Edward J. Young said:

When, however, we come to examine the question what we are to believe we discover that the doctrines which scripture commands are rooted and grounded upon that which was done in history. The Christian faith, as it is revealed in the Bible, in not a mass of abstractions divorced from history. It is not eternal truths and ideals, but rather the account of something that God did for us upon this earth in history. Hence it becomes very important to us to know whether what the Bible has to say about these historical matter is correct or not.

According to the Bible, our salvation depends upon the death of Jesus Christ at Calvary and upon his subsequent resurrection from the dead. Now it is quite important to know certain details about the tomb in which He was laid. Was that tomb empty upon third day? Was there an actual historical resurrection or not? Questions such as these intrude themselves into our consideration and will not be pushed aside. Is the Bible, therefore, correct in what it has to say of these historical details or not? If the historical framework in which the great redemptive acts of God took place is a framework which is not to be trusted, how do we know that we have a true and correct account of those redemptive acts themselves?

All this man is saying is that we cannot separate history from our faith and that Christianity can be proven from history. Be sure to read next week’s article as we will begin to look at the external evidence for Jesus’ existence from history. Feel free to join us for worship at the Lone Grove Church of Christ.