The wise investigate the facts
“I don’t believe in Jesus.”
If faith in Jesus determines one’s eternal destiny, as I believe it does, the above declaration of non-faith is a dangerous one. So if someone I care about expresses it, I would ask her a few questions.
Do you deny that Jesus existed?
This would be a daring and foolish claim because the evidence of his life and ministry is so strong that no reputable scholar questions it. Many of them deny that Jesus is the Son of God and rose from the dead, but they know that their bona fides would be suspect if they claim he never lived.
Are you denying that Jesus was more than just a man?
At the very least, his reputation as a miracle worker is undeniable, being reported not only by the four reliable documents we know as the Gospels but by other ancient, non-Christian sources as well. And his miracles were done in the context of his claims to be ushering in the kingdom of God. This was no ordinary man.
How do you explain the well-attested, post-crucifixion facts?
Most New Testament scholars, Christian and non-, accept as factual that Jesus’ tomb was found empty on the Sunday after his burial, that multiple people and groups reported seeing him alive after his death, and that his disciples sincerely believed he had been resurrected. Multiple theories have been proposed to try and account for all these facts, but they all fail to be adequate. Only the resurrection hypothesis succeeds.
How do you account for the rapid spread of Christianity and the willingness of Jesus’ disciples to die for their faith if he was just a charlatan and his body stayed in the tomb?People may be willing to die for what they believe to be true, but not for what they know to be false. The rise of the church, the disciples’ martyrdom, and the bold claims of the New Testament writers also cry out for an explanation.
If a person who rejects Christ considers herself wise yet refuses to honestly wrestle with and come to a conclusion about who Jesus is or was based on knowable facts about him and not on how some of his followers act, her unbelief is not well-grounded. And is, in fact, unwise.
Thanks Caroline. Along the lines of your excellent post, when I was a seeker I read Josh McDowell’s book “Evidence That Demands a Verdict” and it was a tipping point for me. I understand it’s been updated since then, and there are certainly other resources available like it. It’s well-worth looking into the facts about Jesus and what the Bible says about him!
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Everyone needs to know this stuff, right? I got McDowell’s book myself many years ago and was surprised and intrigued by what I found there. I have the updated version also that his son Sean contributed to. It’s a great resource. But my go-to guy is, and will always be, William Lane Craig and his Reasonable Faith ministry. 🙂
Thanks for reading and commenting, David.
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Nonsense, Caroline. Those questions are not even child’s play to a non-believer. Your posts are getting more puerile by the minute. Your mind is completely shut.
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“This would be a daring and foolish claim because the evidence of his life and ministry is so strong that no reputable scholar questions it.”
Bart Ehrman would. He and a lot of New Testament scholars believe there was a messianic, apocalyptic teacher named Jesus, but they don’t accept the supernatural claims in the Gospels. This is because preachers and teachers like Jesus were probably a mundane occurrence, but feeding 5,000 with a handful of loaves and fishes or turned water into wine is a massive claim that must meet a heavy burden of proof. Believing a guy named Jesus went around preaching about the end times is reasonable, and denying Jesus’ existence as the Savior of the world is also reasonable given the lack of evidence.
“His reputation as a miracle worker is undeniable, being reported not only by the four reliable documents we know as the Gospels but by other ancient, non-Christian sources as well.”
The Gospels are not reliable. They’re copies of copies of translations of copies, anonymously written, based on the same source material (whose origins are also mysterious), not originals, and not written immediately after Christ’s death. They contradict each other in small and major ways alike, which further undermines their credibility.
And if you’re about to quote Josephus’ words on Jesus, you shouldn’t. The scholarly consensus is that they’re not his words at all.
“Most New Testament scholars, Christian and non-, accept as factual that Jesus’ tomb was found empty on the Sunday after his burial, that multiple people and groups reported seeing him alive after his death, and that his disciples sincerely believed he had been resurrected.”
Empty tombs, widespread reports, and sincere belief could better be explained by a conspiracy, a legend, or mass hallucination—all of which happen regularly.
“Multiple theories have been proposed to try and account for all these facts, but they all fail to be adequate. Only the resurrection hypothesis succeeds.”
You need to prove that, or at least cite your sources.
“People may be willing to die for what they believe to be true, but not for what they know to be false.”
Unless it was for a greater good, like giving hope to people in an oppressive regime.
“The rise of the church, the disciples’ martyrdom, and the bold claims of the New Testament writers also cry out for an explanation.”
We don’t even know how or if they were martyred. As for the rest, you might want to read “The Triumph of Christianity” by Bart Ehrman. It explains how Christianity went from obscure faith to viral video.
“If a person who rejects Christ considers herself wise yet refuses to honestly wrestle with and come to a conclusion about who Jesus is or was based on knowable facts about him and not on how some of his followers act, her unbelief is not well-grounded. And is, in fact, unwise.”
I’m not a her; I’m a him. But that’s beside the point. 🙂
I agree that we shouldn’t accept or reject Christ on the basis of Christians. Each person and each claim stands on their own merits. But you are coming dangerously close to either generalizing Christians that way or acting as if that’s the big reason they reject Christ. We atheists reject Christ because the lack of evidence is too big to overcome and the apologetics are woefully lacking.
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