Hey ya’ll! I recently had a really great conversation with a New Age believing friend of mine. He shared his thoughts on our existence, how we came to be and what happens when we die. While I found his ideas to be very interesting, I did note that his theories left me with more questions than answers. This left me dissatisfied because, as we know, I need answers!!!!!
This prompted me to post this article. You see, as a Christian I know full well why I believe in the finished work of the cross from beginning to end. I know my destiny and have security in my eternal future in Christ. Eternity is a whole lot longer than the 80+ years we get on earth (if we’re lucky) so it’s important that we know without a shadow of doubt what we believe and why we believe it.
God left a record of His works behind for us on this earth. We’ll touch on three of the most well researched and easily accessible resources for us: Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ, The Ron Wyatt Archaeological Museum, and Ray Comfort’s Scientific Facts in the Bible. These guys have already done the research, so let’s take a minute and learn from their years of truth seeking. All red letters are links to their respective resources. Enjoy!
Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ
The link above is a dramatized version of Lee’s story, more like what we would watch in a movie theater. For those of us who prefer documentaries (yes, I’m included in that small minority of us humans) here is the documentary version containing the same basic info, if not a bit more.
To summarize the story, Lee was a newspaper journalist whose wife converted to Christianity. As an atheist he was less than pleased with her decision and decided to research Christianity as a whole by interviewing professors and scholars in the field, as well as medical doctors and psychologists!
In his time he discovered the error of the swoon theory with undeniable medical evidence of Jesus’ death, as well as the theory that those who Christ after his crucifixion were hallucinating. There were more than 500 witnesses to this, with large groups all claiming to have seen him at the same time. Hallucinations don’t happen in masses, and therefore what they saw was real and not imagined. He discovered that after the resurrection Christ’s followers were beaten, jailed, and tortured for their beliefs.
Who would accept the torture of being skinned alive or crucified themselves, having their families torn apart and murdered, for the sake of a lie? Someone would’ve broken and told the truth, and yet all but one of the disciples died by means of gruesome deaths for following Jesus. Poor Peter even had to watch his wife be beaten and crucified before he received his death by crucifixion. No one would stand up against that if they could just confess and go back to their regular lives!
After his two year journey he came to the conclusion that it would take more faith to continue to be atheist than it would to believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ! There was simply too much evidence in favor of the Biblical accounts for him to ignore! He came to the conclusion that Jesus is in fact the Son of God and Savior of those who believe.
The Ron Wyatt Archaeological Museum
Ron Wyatt dedicated his life to Biblical archaeology. There are tons of videos on his YouTube channel documenting his explorations. In his time he discovered the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, along with the brimstone that destroyed them. It turns out to be some pure concentrated sulfur, unlike any sulfur found in any other place on earth. He discovered the chariot wheels of the Egyptians in the bottom of the Dead Sea, and even Noah’s Ark on top of a mountain in Turkey. Why isn’t this stuff on the news??!!! I don’t know, but I’m thankful it’s on YouTube!
Lastly, there’s Ray Comfort’s book with 100 reasons to believe the Bible has supernatural origins. I don’t currently own this book. I gave it to a friend who has yet to return it, so I’m just going to order another one. However, there are some facts that stand out in my mind from when I read this book sometime around three years ago.
First, the Bible says the earth is round and hangs on nothing. It’s debated that these facts were discovered somewhere around 19th century BC, but it was written in the Biblical texts long before that!
Also, it is written in the Bible that “the life of flesh is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11)”. Yet we find that George Washington died because of the practice of blood letting. In an attempt to heal him from sickness, his doctors killed him. As a common practice at that time it was seen as a complication of his sickness. That era did not know life is in our blood. If he had received a blood transfusion maybe he would have lived, but they thought the sickness was in the blood and thought that releasing it would cure him.
You see, even the greatest minds of man have limited knowledge. Even when we do our best we can be prone to error. We have to know indisputably, for our own sakes, that our beliefs are true and correct. I love seeing the stories of the Bible come alive through these historical and scientific means. I can see that what I believe is true because it has proven accuracy. And there’s enough content to keep me busy for hours, days, and even weeks. I strongly encourage you to follow the links and explore what’s been shared. The book is a short read. I think most people could finish it in an hour or two. Please leave comments and thoughts below. I’d love to chat with you!