The Continuing War on Police
Mood:
irritated
Topic: Biblical Worldview
By Cliff Kincaid
On April 24, as I was waiting in the San Francisco Hall of Justice to cover a murder case involving members of the Black Liberation Army (BLA), a small group of BLA supporters was beginning to gather. Convicted lawyer Lynne Stewart greeted Ward Churchill, after the lanky and long-haired former Professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder strolled down the hallway. "Congratulations," she said, embracing him and referring to a jury verdict that he was wrongly fired. "Will you be reinstated?" Churchill answered, "It remains to be seen."
Stewart was convicted of aiding a terrorist group while representing Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, himself convicted of several terrorism charges relating to attacks planned on the United States and now serving time in the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, North Carolina. Stewart's guilty verdict is on appeal.
Churchill, who taught "ethnic studies," got into trouble after he wrote an essay describing 9/11 victims as Nazis. University administrators had charged him with shoddy research and plagiarism.
It looks like Churchill will either get his job back, or the university, which mishandled the case, will have to pay him not to show up for class after a judge forces his reinstatement.
Interestingly, a letter asking for his reinstatement is signed by "William Ayers, University of Illinois at Chicago," who is better known as Bill Ayers of the Communist terrorist group known as the Weather Underground.
National Police Week
But why are these people coming out in support of accused cop-killers? It's a question worth answering, considering that May 10-16 is National Police Week and that Attorney General Eric Holder, who was involved in the Clinton pardons of members of two major terrorist groups, is speaking at the National Law Enforcement Memorial on Wednesday night. Holder will lead the lighting of candles and read the names of law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty.
The Holder pardons involved members of the Weather Underground and Puerto Rican FALN, groups which killed police officers and many others.
Stewart and Churchill were at the San Francisco hearing to show solidarity with Herman Bell and Anthony Bottom, members of the Black Liberation Army accused of killing San Francisco Police Sergeant John Young in 1971. One flashed a clenched fist to Stewart, Churchill and the others in the audience seated behind the defense table.
Already in prison for their role in the murder of two New York City police officers, Bell and Bottom are two members of the "San Francisco 8" alleged to be involved in numerous terrorist attacks on police and police facilities in the San Francisco area in the early 1970s.
Some of the evidence in the case is expected to come from Ruben Scott, a former BLA member with inside information about the group. The preliminary hearing in the case begins on June 8.
The BLA worked with the Weather Underground organization, and Ayers himself is under scrutiny for his alleged role in a 1970 bombing murder of San Francisco Police Sergeant Brian V. McDonnell at the Park Police Station near Golden Gate Park. Former FBI informant Larry Grathwohl, who has testified under oath that Ayers told him that Bernardine Dohrn had planted that bomb, met with San Francisco Police homicide investigator Joe Engler on April 24 about the case.
But before charges can be brought in the Park Police Station bombing case, some observers think that significant progress has to be made in the "San Francisco 8" case. And that will be a formidable challenge, considering that supporters of the terrorists such as Churchill, Stewart and others have mobilized on a national basis, have held protests outside the courtroom, and have even launched a website for the accused that is sponsored by a so-called "Committee for the Defense of Human Rights."
Disinformation Campaign
Hence, the plan is to portray the victims-the police-as the criminals.
Interestingly, the charges in the BLA case have been brought by the office of California Attorney General Jerry Brown, a liberal Democrat who has had major disagreements with the California Democratic Party and is considering another run for governor.
BLA lawyers in the courtroom numbered at least seven and they included Stuart Hanlon, who has won an award from the National Lawyers Guild. This group is so far left that it was officially described as a communist front organization during the Cold War and continues to be the U.S. affiliate of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, the old Soviet front. Its next international conference is scheduled for Hanoi. One of the IADL's current causes is to use the United Nations to investigate and punish Israel for alleged war crimes.
Hanlon has gone on far-left shows like Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! radio/TV program to claim that evidence in the case has been obtained through torture. Goodman's show is funded by Bill Moyers and his Schumann Center for Media and Democracy and other "progressive" foundations.
The San Francisco Labor Council, which is the local body of the AFL-CIO, has been enlisted in the campaign to sabotage a guilty verdict and issued a resolution calling for all of the charges against the BLA to be dropped. Labor Council executive director Tim Paulson has attended and spoken at anti-Iraq War demonstrations staged by the Act Now to Stop War and Racism (ANSWER) group, a front of the communist Workers World Party, and was the Labor Caucus Chair of the California Democratic Party at its recent state convention.
"The resolution offered by the SF Labor Council stretches truth and glamorizes Sergeant Young's slayers not as fugitive conspirators, but as heroes of the local oppressed," commented an outraged Gary Delagnes, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association. "In actuality, they are thugs, murderers, and thieves; self-glorified members of the Black Liberation Army, a fringe organization whose sole purpose was to spread hateful and racist ideology through violence, urban terrorism, and death."
It is clear that the far-left campaign, which specifically urges Brown to drop the charges, is designed to poison the jury pool, so that one or more members of the jury will consider the BLA to be a civil rights organization that was subjected to unwarranted investigations and government misconduct.
Going After Ayers and Dohrn
But if law enforcement authorities can convict the BLA in the Young case, can they also get Ayers and Dohrn-and perhaps other members of the Weather Underground or the BLA-in the Park Police Station bombing case?
Interestingly, a key individual involved in the murder of Sgt. Young was Marilyn Buck, active in both the Weather Underground and the BLA. Buck, serving time at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California, for her convictions in other terrorist acts, cased the Ingleside police station before the BLA attacked it.
All of these individuals, in turn, are linked to another cop-killing.
One of Buck's terrorist convictions involved the 1979 escape from prison in New Jersey of Assata Shakur, convicted of killing New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster. Shakur fled to Cuba and received political asylum from the Castro government and continues to live in Cuba. The attack on Foerster also took the life in a gun battle of Shakur's terrorist associate, Zayd Shakur.
Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn named one of their children after Zayd Shakur. He goes under the name of "Zayd Dohrn" and is a playwright.
Cuba Hosts Cop-Killer
As President Obama moves toward normalization of relations with Castro's Cuba, the communist regime's protection of the terrorist could become a major problem.
Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, who was born in the United States to parents who emigrated from Cuba, gave a major speech on March 2 on the Senate floor warning against recognizing and working with the Castro regime. "Some suggest that there be cooperation with Cuba on narcotics trafficking," he said. "Well, let them hand over the 200 fugitives from the United States that the FBI knows are in Cuba, including Joanne Chesimard, the convicted killer of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster. Let her come back to the United States and face justice. There are 200 of them."
New Jersey State Senator Sean T. Kean agrees, and has written an April 17 letter to Obama demanding that Chesimard be returned to the U.S.
"I am sure you would agree that this murderer of a dedicated law enforcement officer should be made to face the consequences for her cowardly actions that took the life of this brave man," Kean declared. "Further, by aiding and abetting this cold-blooded killer, Cuba has insulted our State Police and all members of the law enforcement community. As such, for the United States to enter into normal relations with Cuba without requiring Chesimard's extradition sends the message to the world that we are not committed to pursuing just ice for a police officer who was savagely gunned down in the line of duty."
The FBI is currently offering a $1 million reward for information directly leading to her apprehension.
What, if anything, will Holder and Obama have to say about this? Will the media even bother to ask them during National Police Week?
Cliff Kincaid is the Editor of Accuracy in Media, and can be contacted at cliff.kincaid@aim.org.
Distributed by www.ChristianWorldviewNetwork.com
Why Humanism is a Lie and Christinity is Truth
Topic: Biblical Worldview
WHY HUMANISM IS A LIE AND
CHRISTIANITY IS TRUTH
BRANNON S. HOWSE
If Christianity is true, then humanism is false; but if Christianity is false then humanism is true. Two opposing religious worldviews can both be wrong, but they cannot both be true. So which one is true, and which one is false? All one has to do is prove one true, and the opposing worldview will obviously be false. Thus, in this chapter I will provide just a small portion of the evidence that proves Christianity is true and humanism is a lie.
Two nationally known authors and speakers, who speak regularly for Worldview Weekend seminars, have set out to disprove Christianity and found it to be true.
Dr. Frank Harber spent several years trying to prove Christianity false. He also studied nine of the world's major religions, trying to find out which one, if any were truth. At the end of his intellectual investigation, Dr. Harber concluded that Christianity is truth. Today Dr. Harber holds a PhD from Southwestern Theological Seminary, which he earned faster than anyone in the institution's history. Today, Dr. Harber is one of America's premier defenders of the Christian faith as an author, conference speaker, pastor of a church of more than 4,000, and the host of a daily radio broadcast heard on more than 550 stations.
Josh McDowell who has spoken for Worldview Weekends and is likely the most well-known former skeptic turned defender of Christianity. As a student at Kellogg College in Michigan, Josh was challenged by some Christian students to intellectually examine the claims of Christ. Josh set out to prove Christianity false and found Christ's claims to be God was supported historically, archeologically, and prophetically. Josh McDowell's books have sold millions of copies, and he has spoken in person to millions in churches and college campuses throughout America and the world.
I know humanism is false because I know Christianity is true. The reason I know Christianity is true is because the essential doctrines of Christianity can be confirmed. Let's look at just a few of the essential doctrines of the Christian faith and the evidence for their validity.
For thousands of years atheists have been striving to prove Christianity is false and the best way to do that is to prove the Bible is not a trustworthy document. Despite hundreds of years of examination, investigation and attack, the Bible has been proven an absolutely truthful document that is of supernatural nature.
In the nineteenth century, the Institute of Paris issued 82 errors, which it believed could discredit Christianity. Since that time, all 82 difficulties have been cleared away with new discoveries.
1 Even
Time Magazine has published articles revealing the continuing discoveries that prove the Bible true. In their December 18, 1995 issue entitled "Are the Bible's Stories True?" Michael D. Lemonick writes about two tiny silver scrolls found in a Jerusalem tomb:
| They were dated around 600 B.C. shortly before the destruction of Solomon's Temple and the Israelites' exile in Babylon. When scientists carefully unrolled the scrolls at the Israel Museum, they found a benediction from the Book of Numbers etched into their surface. The discovery made it clear that parts of the Old Testament were being copied long before some skeptics had believed they were even written.2 |
The Bible is an amazing document, in that it was written over many years by many men from many walks of life, by men that were in various countries and educated at various levels. Despite all these differences, in the men and their background, the Bible is a consistent document from beginning to end. Why is this? Because the men wrote the Bible as they were led by God. The unique and undeniable fact about the Bible is that it is of supernatural nature, and, while it should be as it was written by a supernatural God that supernaturally used men to give it to the world.
F.F. Bruce concludes:
The Bible, at first sight, appears to be a collection of literature ? mainly Jewish. If we inquire into the circumstances under which the various biblical documents were written, we find that they were written at intervals over a space of nearly 1400 years.
The writers wrote in various lands, from Italy in the west to Mesopotamia and possibly Persia in the east. The writers themselves were a heterogeneous number of people, not only separated from each other by hundreds of years and hundreds of miles, but belonging to the most diverse walks of life.
In their ranks we have kings, herdsmen, soldiers, legislators, fishermen, statesmen, courtiers, priests and prophets, a tent making rabbi, and a Gentile physician, not to speak of others of whom we know nothing apart from the writings they have left us.
The writings themselves belong to a great variety of literary types. They include history, law (civil, criminal, ethical, ritual, sanitary), religious poetry, didactic treatise, lyric poetry, parable and allegory, biography, personal correspondence, personal memoirs and diaries, in addition to the distinctively biblical types of prophecy and apocalyptic.
For all that, the Bible is not simply an anthology; there is a unity that binds the whole together. An anthology is compiled by an anthologist, but no anthologist compiled the Bible.3 |
The fulfillment of prophecy is evidence of the supernatural nature of God's Word. Later, we will look at specific prophecies concerning the birth, life, and death of Jesus Christ that were given hundreds of years before his birth that came true with pin-point accuracy. The Bible predicted the following things thousands of years ago:
Evolution Accepted Instead of Creation: II Peter 3:5-6.
Technological Explosion that includes a tremendous increase in knowledge, velocity of transportation and world-wide communications: Daniel 12:4, Matthew 24:30, Nahum 2:3-4, Amos 8:11-13 and Revelation 11:9 |
There has certainly been an incredible increase in knowledge. In the last 50 years there has been more scientific progress than in the last 5,000 years. Ninety percent of all scientists who ever lived are alive today.
Think of the incredible advances in transportation. Before 1830 man traveled by horse. From 1830 to 1890, we had the introduction of steam engines, trains and ships. From 1890 to today, we have seen the creation of automobiles, planes, jets, and spacecrafts that took us to the moon. We have landed unmanned spacecrafts on the planet of Mars.
The Bible foretold of worldwide communications in Revelation 11:9 and thanks to satellites, telephones, and the Internet we have real-time worldwide communications.
The nation of Israel has clearly proven the supernatural nature of God's Word. The Bible foretold that Israel would once again be a nation and in 1948 and that came to pass just as it was predicted in Ezekiel 36 and 37.
In Ezekiel 45:12 we are told the form of money in this re-established Israel would be the Shekel and that has come to pass. The Bible tells us in Ezekiel 37:16-17 that the Jewish people would return from the four corners of the earth to their homeland.
In Zephaniah 3:9, the Bible foretells us that the official language of the re-established Israel will be the Hebrew language. Today, the daily newspapers in Israel are printed in Hebrew.
In Ezekiel 36:26-35 and Isaiah 27:6 the Bible foretells us that the desert of Israel will be as a garden. Today in Israel they produce four to six times what an average farmer in America could produce. Israel exports fruit and flowers to other countries in incredible numbers producing all this in a desert.
In Ezekiel 37:10 the Bible tells us that Israel would become a great army. A study of Israel and its armed forces, air force and intelligence agency reveals an incredible force with which to be reckoned.
As small children we have all played the telephone game where you sit in a circle and tell your neighbor a secret, which your neighbor whispers to their neighbor, which they whisper to their neighbor and so on, until you make it back to first person. When the secret has made it around the circle, the one who originated the secret tells the group the original secret and what the final secret was they were told. The original secret and the last secret are rarely ever the same. In some cases the secret has been changed by deleting a few words that dilute the meaning or words have been subsisted that completely change the context and meaning of the original message.
The skeptics and critics of the Bible claim that duplication of the Bible from generation to generation has caused it to be victim of the "telephone game," and, therefore, the Bible cannot be trusted. The archeological discover of tablets and scrolls have proven the Bible to be the number one, validated piece of antiquities of all time.
Do you doubt the authenticity of the works of Caesar, Aristotle, or Plato? Yet the writings by these men are not as validated by the existing number of antique copies as is the New Testament. In addition, the time span from the original manuscript to oldest existing manuscripts of Caesar, Aristotle, or Plato span from 1,000 to 1,400 years. The time span from the original writing of the New Testament to oldest existing partial manuscripts or fragments of the New Testament is around 50 years. The oldest existing; complete manuscript of the New Testament is dated to be a copy that was made only 225 years from the time the New Testament was originally written.
There are more manuscripts to back up the New Testament than any other work of antiquity. The New Testament is supported by 24,286, plus hundreds in other languages.
4 The next work of antiquity that comes in second place to the New Testament based on the number of manuscripts is Homer's
Iliad with only 643 manuscripts. We only have 10 manuscripts to back up the work of Caesar's
Gallic Wars and only three manuscripts to back up Plato.
Josh McDowell says:
| If you destroyed all the Bibles and biblical manuscripts, one could reconstruct all but eleven verses of the entire New Testament from quotations found in other materials written within 150 to 200 years after the time of Jesus Christ.5 |
The evidence for the authenticity and veracity of the Bible fills thousands of books that are easily obtained by those that truly want the proof that leads to the undeniable verdict that the Bible is the Word of God and is like no other book ever written.
A.T. Robertson suggested that the real concern of textual criticism is of a "thousandth part of the entire text."
6 This would make the reconstructed text of the New Testament 99.9 percent free from substantial or consequential error. Hence, as B.B. Warfield observed, "The great mass of the New Testament in other words, has been transmitted to us with no, or next to no variations."
To determine a documents' authenticity, accuracy and level of antiquity, experts apply three different tests. When these tests are applied to the Bible, it overwhelmingly validates its trustworthiness. The tests applied are bibliographical, internal, and external. Let's take a close look at these tests and whether or not the Bible soundly passes each test.
Bibliographical Test: Since we do not have the original documents (autographs), how reliable and accurate are the copies we have in regard to the number of manuscripts (MSS), and what is the time interval between the original and the copy/copies in existence?
8 A manuscript is a handwritten literary composition in contrast to a printed copy. An original manuscript is the first one produced, usually referred to an autograph.
There are no known autographs of the New Testament; in fact, none are needed because of the abundance of manuscript copies.
9 The sum total of Greek manuscripts alone now is 5,686 and counting. There are over 10,000 New Testament manuscripts in Latin, 4,100 in Slavic, 2,500 + in Armenian, 2,000 in Ethiopic, etc. That's 24,286, manuscripts plus hundreds in other languages.
10 We will look at predicted prophecy and how it reveals the supernatural nature of the Bible. To try and explain away the supernatural nature of the Bible, critics have said that the Bible was written after the predicted events occurred. Such criticism does not stand up to scrutiny.
One fact is located in the John Rylands Library in Manchester, England, and is known as the John Rylands Fragment. This papyrus contains five verses from the Gospel of John (18:31-33, 37-38). It was found in Egypt and is dated between A.D. 117 and 138. The great philologist (a person who studies written texts to establish their authenticity) Adolf Deissmann argued that it may have been even earlier.
11 This discovery destroyed the idea that the New Testament was written down during the second century in order to provide time for myths to grow around the truth.
12 Frequent Worldview Weekend speaker and one of the most prolific defenders of the Bible Dr. Norm Geisler, who is President of Southern Evangelical Seminary and the author of more than 50 books, has written:
| An honest comparison of three observations: (1) the number of manuscripts, (2) the time span between the original and the earliest copy and (3) the accuracy of the new Testament, all bear witness that the New Testament is the most historically accurate and reliable document from all of antiquity. If one cannot trust the New Testament at this point, then one must reject all of ancient history, which rests on much weaker evidence. So definite is the evidence for the New Testament that no less a scholar than the late Sir Frederic Kenyon could write,13 "The interval then between the dates of original composition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed. Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established."14 |
The Bible overwhelmingly passes the Bibliographical Test.
Internal Test: What is in the text? Is the text internally consistent?
15 The internal test is about looking for contradictions within the document. While skeptics and critics like to point to some 800 "contradictions" in the Bible, a studied look at every "contradiction" proves not to be a contradiction at all.
For instance, in one of the gospels, it says that after betraying Jesus, the disciple Judas hung himself. In another gospel, it says that Judas fell off a cliff and his bowels broke open and his guts spilled into the field. Are these two contradictory statements?
No, they are not. It is possible for both to be true. If you go to Jerusalem, the traditional site of Judas hanging is a cliff with a field below it. After Judas hung himself, perhaps his body rotted and fell apart and landed in the field below the cliff on which he hung himself. Or, perhaps someone came along and cut him down, and he flew from the cliff into the field. Or, perhaps the rope or limb eventually broke causing his body to fall from the cliff into the field. The two gospel accounts are not contradictory.
The books of Matthew and Mark note that when the woman went to the tomb of Jesus on resurrection morning, there was an angel at the tomb. In the books of Luke and John it says there were two angles at the tomb. Are these contradictory statements? No!It is very likely that the one woman spoke of the one angel she saw while the other woman spoke of the two angels she saw. It is also likely that one gospel writer was only focusing on the one angel that spoke and the other gospel writer added to the facts of the morning by mentioning the fact that at least one of the women saw two angels.
Actor Kirk Cameron has spoken for several Worldview Weekend events. If two newspaper reporters show up to cover a Worldview Weekend and take notes for writing an article about the conference, they could have two accounts that each mention different aspects or facts of the weekend ? and not contradict each other.
For example if one reporter writes that Kirk Cameron was on the stage speaking and goes on to give a summary of Kirk's remarks, but does not mention that I was sitting in a chair off to the side of the stage, is that a false report?
If the other reporter writes that Kirk Cameron was on the stage speaking, and Brannon Howse was sitting in a chair that was on the stage and to the left of Kirk, does that reporter's story contradict the first reporter's story? Are these two articles by two different reporters contradictory? No, they are not. One reporter simply chose to give more detail than the other reporter, but this does not make either report false or contradictory of the other report.
If one reporter said Kirk Cameron was speaking, and he was the only one on the stage, and the other reporter's story said Kirk Cameron was speaking and Brannon Howse was sitting in a chair on the stage off to Kirk's left, then you would have two contradictory statements and articles.
The gospel records that there was an angel at the tomb on resurrection morning, but it does not say "there was only one angel at the tomb." Thus the gospel accounts that mention one angel at the tomb and the gospel accounts that mention two angels at the tomb do not contradict each other.
Remember these are just two examples of more than eight hundred such "contradictions" the skeptics and critics point out to discredit the Bible. Each of the approximately eight hundred "contradictions" can be clearly seen as not being contradictions through a person understanding the proper way to interpret and study the scriptures.
Dr. Gleason Archer is an expert on the Bible and biblical criticism. He explained the details of his qualifications and resume:
| As an undergraduate at Harvard, I was fascinated by apologetics and biblical evidences; so I labored to obtain knowledge of the languages and cultures that have any bearing on biblical scholarship. As a classics major in college, I received training in Latin and Greek … also in French and German. At seminary I majored in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic; and in post-graduate years I became involved in Syriac and Akkadian, to the extent of teaching elective courses in each of these subjects. Earlier, during my final two years of high school, I had acquired a special interest in Middle Kingdom Egyptian studies, which was furthered as I later taught courses in this field. At the Oriental Institute in Chicago, I specialized in Eighteenth Dynasty historical records and also studied Coptic and Sumerian. Combined with this work in ancient languages was a full course of training at law school, after which I was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1939. This gave me a thorough grounding in the field of legal evidences.16 |
Dr. Archer is more than qualified to speak about Bible difficulties and the accuracy of the Scriptures. Archer gives a powerful testimony in the forward to his
Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties about the internal consistency of the Bible:
| As I have dealt with one apparent discrepancy after another and have studied the alleged contradictions between the biblical record and the evidence of linguistics, archaeology, or science, my confidence in the trustworthiness of Scripture has been repeatedly verified and strengthened by the discovery that almost every problem in Scripture that has ever been discovered by man, from ancient times until now, has been dealt with in a completely satisfactory manner by the biblical text itself-or else by objective archaeological information. The deductions that may be validly drawn from ancient Egyptian, Sumerian, or Akkadian documents all harmonize with the biblical records; and no properly trained evangelical scholar has anything to fear from the hostile arguments and challenges of humanistic rationalists or detractors of any and every persuasion.17 |
The Bible overwhelmingly passes the internal test.
External Test: What is outside the text? What pieces of literature or other data are extant (in existence), apart from the one being studied, that confirm the accuracy of the inner testimony of the document? (In other words, is there literature apart from the document that supports what's in it?)
18 Numerous external sources verify the validity of the Bible, such as non-Christian historians and archeology. Josh McDowell in his book The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict writes that Jewish historian Josephus "makes many statements that verify, either generally or in specific detail, the historical nature of both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible."
19 Josephus documented the incredible predictions by Daniel of the empires that would come and go. Daniel predicted years in advance the destruction of Babylon by the Medes and the Persians and the establishment of the Mede Persian Empire.
Daniel predicted the rise of the Kingdom of Greece and the fact that Alexander the Great would die and the Kingdom of Greece would be divided by four generals. Daniel's prophecies reveal the supernatural nature of God's word and a non-Christian historian, Josephus, documents that Daniel made these predictions years in advance of their being fulfilled. Josh McDowell writes:
Josephus also documents the existence of James the brother of Jesus, John the Baptist. Josephus gives a short description of Jesus. Josephus is just one of several non-Christian historians who lived during biblical times that provide documentation in their writings as to the validity and accuracy of the Bible.
The external evidence for the life of Jesus Christ is so great that even without the four Gospels and only using non-Christian sources, we can confirm the Gospel accounts. These non-Christian sources, according to Dr. Norm Geisler, "come largely from Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Samaritan sources of the first century."
In brief they inform us that: 1). Jesus was from Nazareth, 2). He lived a wise and virtuous life, 3). He was crucified in Palestine under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius Caesar at Passover time, being considered the Jewish King; 4) he was believed by his disciples to have been raised from the dead three days later; 5) his enemies acknowledged that he performed unusual feats they called 'sorcery'; 6) his small band of disciples multiplied rapidly, spreading even as far as Rome; 7) his disciples denied polytheism, lived moral lives, and worshipped Christ as Divine. This picture confirms the view of Christ presented in the New Testament Gospels.20 |
Not one archeological discovery has ever proven anything about the Bible to be false. To the contrary, continued archeological discoveries continue to confirm the accuracy of the Bible as archeologists unearth cities mentioned in the Bible, with the names of leaders and rulers etched in stone and other artifacts. As one archeologist once said, "Archeologists used to dig to disprove the Bible; now archeologists read the Bible to find out where to dig."
Millar Burrows of Yale confirms that archeologists continue to discover what the Bible says they should, where they should:
| The Bible is supported by archaeological evidence again and again. On the whole, there can be no question that the results of excavation have increased the respect of scholars for the Bible as a collection of historical documents. The confirmation is both general and specific. The fact that the record can be so often explained or illustrated by archaeological data shows that it fits into the framework of history as only a genuine product of ancient life could do. In addition to this general authentication, however, we find the record verified repeatedly at specific points. Names of places and persons turn up at the right places and in the right periods.21 |
It is clear that the critics and skeptics cannot admit the fact that archeological discoveries don't disprove the Bible. Sir Frederic Kenyon wrote:
| It is therefore legitimate to say that, in respect of that part of the Old Testament against which the disintegrating criticism of the last half of the nineteenth century was chiefly directed, the evidence of archaeology has been to re-establish its value by rendering it more intelligible through a fuller knowledge of its background and setting. Archaeology has not yet said its last word; but, the results already achieved confirm what faith would suggest, that the Bible can do nothing but gain from an increase of knowledge.22 |
The excavation of Gezer in 1969 ran across a massive layer of ash that covered most of the mound. Sifting through the ash yielded pieces of Hebrew, Egyptian, and Philistine artifacts. Apparently, all three cultures had been there at the same time. This puzzled researchers greatly until they realized that the Bible told them exactly what they had found. "Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire. He killed its Canaanite inhabitants and then gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon's wife." (I Kings 9:16)
23 There have been over 25,000 archeological discoveries that have a connection to the Old Testament, and not one contradicts the Bible. Archaeologist William F. Albright has declared:
| The excessive skepticism shown toward the Bible by important historical schools of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, certain phases of which still appear periodically, has been progressively discredited. Discovery after discovery has established the accuracy of innumerable details, and has brought increased recognition to the value of the Bible as a source of history.24 |
For those who say that the book of Luke is inaccurate, Professor F.F. Bruce says," Where Luke has been suspected of inaccuracy, and accuracy has been vindicated by some inscription evidence, it may be legitimate to say that archaeology has confirmed the New Testament record."
25 Yale archaeologist Millar Burrows reports:
| On the whole, archaeological work has unquestionably strengthened confidence in the reliability of the Scriptural record. More than one archaeologist has found his respect for the Bible increased the experience of excavation in Palestine.26 |
Sir William Ramsey originally believed the book of Acts, written by Luke could not be trusted as being accurate. However, after thirty years of study, he changed his mind and declared, "Luke is a historian of the first rank; not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy . . . this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians."
27 Archaeological discoveries bear witness to the places described in the New Testament. Some of these discoveries include:
The Pavement of John 19:13
The Pool of Bethesda
Jacob's well
The pool of Siloam
The ancient cities of Bethlehem, Nazareth, Cana, Capernaum, and Chorazin
The residence of Pilate in Jerusalem.28 |
The Bible passes the external test.
Every time you write a check, you are acknowledging that Jesus Christ walked on earth. Every time you take a test and write your name and the date at the top of the page, you are acknowledging that Jesus Christ walked on earth. It is a historical fact that Jesus Christ lived. Hundreds of documents and books outside of the Bible document the life of Jesus, and many document his miracles and his resurrection. No credible historian can doubt the evidence that Jesus Christ lived and walked on earth. But what evidence is there that Jesus Christ was God come to earth in the form of human man? The deity of Jesus Christ is crucial to proving Christianity is truth because ? unless Jesus was God, He is a dead Savior; and a dead Savior surely cannot save others if He cannot save himself.
Only if Jesus Christ is God could He have performed miracles, predicted the future through prophecies with 100 percent accuracy, defeated death, and guaranteed forgiveness of sins and eternal life to those who repent and follow Him. So how do we know that Jesus was God?
Someone who claims to be God could surely prove he was God right? Jesus Christ gave more than enough signs to prove he was God-come-to-earth-in-the-form-of-man. Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man at the same time, and his deity can be clearly seen when we study the facts.
The supernatural things that Jesus Christ did revealed that He was and is a supernatural being. After all, only God could predict the location of his birth, the details of His life, betrayal, death, burial and resurrection.
Dr. Tim LaHaye, whom has spoken for the Worldview Weekend writes:
Scholars agree there are at least 109 distinct prophecies that the Messiah had to fulfill. For all of them to be fulfilled by one individual requires a man so unusual and a life so unique that all pretenders are eliminated when compared to that man. Quite possibly a scheme could have been hatched to make Jesus' life seem prophetic by creating these "prophecies" after He had passed from the scene. Modern scholars have established that such a scheme is simply not possible.
The very latest the Old Testament could have been written was two to three hundred years before Jesus' birth. That is when the Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures) was written. Most scholars of antiquities admit that the Hebrew original must have existed at least 50 to 150 years before the Septuagint was produced. That means that all 109 prophecies of Jesus' life and death had to be written at least 250 to 400 years prior to His birth. Consequently, these prophecies are more than adequate witnesses to His unique person and identity.29 |
LaHaye goes on to write:
| Consider the mathematics involved in the fulfillment of these prophecies. The probability that just 20 of these 109 prophecies could be fulfilled in one man by chance is less than one in one quadrillion, one hundred and twenty-five trillion. Most people cannot even imagine such a number. If they did, it would look something like this: 1 in 1,125,000,000,000,000.30 |
Dr. Geisler writes, "even the most liberal critic of the Old Testament admits to the completion of the prophetic books by some four hundred years before Christ and the book of Daniel by about 165 B.C."
31 In his book, Unshakable Foundations, Dr. Geisler lists a small sampling of some of the prophecies fulfilled in Jesus Christ:
- The Christ (Messiah) will be born of a woman (Genesis 3:15).
- He will be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14).
- He will be of the seed of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; 22:18).
- He will be of the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10; Luke 3:23, 33).
- He will be of the House of David (2 Samuel 7;12; Matthew 1:1).
- His birthplace will be Bethlehem (Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:1).
- He will be anointed by the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:2; Matthew 3:16-17).
- He will be heralded by a messenger of God (Isaiah 40:3; Matthew 3:1-2).
- He will perform miracles (Isaiah 35:5-6; Matthew 9:35).
- He will cleanse the temple (Malachi 3:1; Matthew 21:12).
- He will be rejected by His own people (Psalm 118:22; I Peter 2:7).
- He will die some 483 years after 444 B.C. (Daniel 9:24).
- He will die a humiliating death (Psalm 22; Isaiah 53; Matthew 27), involving:
- Rejection by Israel (Isaiah 53:3; John 1:10-11; 7:5, 48).
- Silence before His accusers (Isaiah 53:7; Matthew 27:12-19).
- Humiliation-being mocked (Psalm 22:16; John 20:25).
- Piercing of His hands and feet (Psalm 22:16; John 20:25).
- Being crucified with thieves (Isaiah 53:12; Luke 23:33).
- Praying for His persecutors (Isaiah 53:12; Luke 23:34).
- Piercing of His side (Zechariah 12:10; John 19:34).
- Burial in a rich man's tomb (Isaiah 53:9; Matthew 27:57-60).
- Casting lots for His garments (Psalm 22:18; John 19:23-24).
- He will rise from the dead (Psalm 16:10; Mark 16:6; Acts 2:31).
- He will ascend into heaven (Psalm 68:18; Acts 1:9).
- He will sit at the right hand of God (Psalm 110:1; Hebrews 1:3).32
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For those who think the psychics have made predictions that have come true with incredible accuracy, they simple do not know the facts:
| One test of a prophet was whether they ever uttered predictions that did not come to pass (Deuteronomy 18:22). Those whose prophecies failed were stoned (18:20); a practice that no doubt gave pause to any who were not absolutely sure their messages were from God. Amid hundreds of prophecies, biblical prophets are not known to have made a single error. A study of psychics in 1975 and observed until 1981 showed that of the seventy-two predictions, only six were fulfilled in any way. Two of these were vague and two others were hardly surprising -- the U.S. and Russia would remain leading powers and there would be no world wars. The people's Almanac (1976) did a study of predictions of 25 top psychics. The results: of the total 72, sixty-six (92 percent) were totally wrong (Kole 69). An accuracy rate around 8 percent could easily be explained by chance and general knowledge of circumstances. In 1993 the psychics missed every major unexpected news story, including Michael Jordan's retirement, the Midwest flooding, and the Israel-PLO peace treaty. Among their false prophecies were that the Queen of England would become a nun, and Kathie Lee Gifford would replace Jay Leno as host of "The Tonight Show."33 |
The biggest evidence for the truth claims of Jesus Christ and Christianity is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Matthew 12 the Pharisees were asking Jesus to give them a sign that all He said was true. In verses 39 and 40 of Matthew chapter 12, Jesus replies by saying:
| ….no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.34 |
Jesus Christ foretold His own death, which anyone could do if he was willing to arrange his own death, but Jesus also foretold His own resurrection; and then he actually rose from the dead, making Him the only person who has ever done that.
Skeptics and critics have tried to explain away the resurrection of Jesus Christ by saying the women and disciples went to the wrong tomb. Think about this for a minute. How could it be the wrong tomb if the women and the disciples found the burial clothes lying in the tomb?
Dr. Tim LaHaye writes:
| The grave clothes of Jesus were still there and in perfect order, lying undisturbed as if enclosing a mummy -- yet no body was inside! Everything was still intact. He Himself was gone, but somehow He had left behind His grave clothes. John knew instantly that the only thing that could cause such a miracle was the transformation of Jesus' dead body into a new, resurrected body that was no longer subject to time and space.35 |
Did the Roman soldiers and Roman authorities also forget where the tomb was? The tomb was sealed with a Roman Seal that had been broken. This provides another clue along with the remaining burial clothes that it was the correct tomb. If the women and the disciples were at the wrong tomb and claiming the resurrection of Jesus, the Jewish authorities and Romans would have stopped the spread of such a story by simply pointing the women and the disciples to the correct tomb which still contained the dead body of Jesus Christ.
The borrowed tomb that was borrowed for the body of Jesus had been provided by a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea. The Bible says the tomb was brand new. Do you think that Joseph, after spending the money to have someone carve out a small cavern in stone that would hold a body, would just forget the location of his new tomb?
Worldview and apologetic expert Dr. Tim LaHaye writes of the absurd excuse that the women and disciples were at the wrong tomb:
| It would have been impossible to challenge people to worship a "resurrected" Savior if His body were still in the tomb! His disciples might have managed the deception for a time if they had moved to a city several hundred miles away from where the events in question took place. But that is not what they did. Immediately they began preaching right there in Jerusalem that He rose from the dead. And they used the empty tomb as "exhibit A," their first piece of evidence.36 |
Skeptics and critics have claimed that the disciples stole the body to give the appearance that Jesus had risen from the dead.
How could the disciples have moved a stone away from the tomb without waking up the guards; assuming they were sleeping? Disturbing a tomb would get you the death penalty, and the punishment for a guard falling asleep at his post would also mean death. Don't you think the fear of the death penalty would have kept at least one of the guards awake if not all of them? Do you think the disciples would risk being killed for raiding the tomb just to pull off the hoax of a fake resurrected Jesus?
Remember, the disciples were a band of depressed and defeated men who had just witnessed Jesus' very public crucifixion. They did not really believe Jesus would rise from the dead. Defeated, demoralized, scared, and depressed men would not be interested in risking being killed themselves for a dead Jesus.
To move the stone would have required more than eleven men. Remember Judas had betrayed Jesus and hung himself leaving only eleven disciples. What other men would have been willing to assist the eleven in rolling away the stone for a hoax at the risk of death?
Josh McDowell made an interesting discover in his research: "In the Mark 16:4 portion of the Bezae manuscript in the Cambridge Library in England, a parenthetical statement was found that adds, "And when He was laid there, he (Joseph) put against the tomb a stone which 20 men could not roll away."
37 The Bible makes it clear that the stone was moved by an angel from heaven and not the disciples nor the women.
In addition, the enemies of Jesus never acknowledged that the body of Jesus was missing. In fact, the enemies of Jesus sought to hatch a plan to explain what the overwhelming evidence, which they saw first hand, revealed: The fact that Jesus had risen from the dead.
Matthew 28:11-15 reads:
| Some of the guards came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. When they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, "Tell them, 'His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.' And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will appease him and make you secure." So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. |
If the authorities really believed that the disciples had stolen the body of Jesus, they would have had them killed, which was the punishment for disturbing a grave. If the body of Jesus was still in the tomb and the disciples were lying about the resurrection of Jesus, the authorities would have put the body of Jesus on display and put an end to the resurrection story. In addition, if the authorities had taken the body of Jesus to a new and secret location they would have produced it.
If the body of Jesus was stolen, why were the grave clothes still in the tomb and in the orderly expected condition one would expect of someone that physically left the graves clothes supernaturally and without unwrapping themselves?
The swoon theory is the belief that Jesus did not die from being crucified; he simply passed out and was taken down from the cross unconscious and the cool air in the tomb revived him.
This is one of the most stupid theories. Anyone that knows anything about Roman crucifixion is aware that the Romans that preformed the crucifixion where very good at their job. In addition, the guards in some cases would break the legs of any victims that would not die in a timely manner so they could not use their legs to push themselves up so they could breath; thus the victim would finally die from suffocation. When the guards came to Jesus to break his legs, he was already dead. To verify his death a guard pierced the side of Jesus and blood and water spilled forth.
Numerous medical experts agree that the description of Jesus' crucifixion clearly point to that unmistakable medical evidence that Jesus was dead when taken down from the cross.
The following is from
The Journal of the American Medical Association by W. D. Edwards; W. J. Gabel; F. E. Hosmer:
Jesus of Nazareth underwent Jewish and Roman trials, was flogged and was sentenced to death by crucifixion. The scourging produced deep stripe like lacerations and appreciable blood loss and it probably set the stage for hypovolemic shock as evidenced by the fact that Jesus was too weakened to carry the crossbar (patibulum) to Golgotha. At the site of crucifixion his wrists were nailed to the patibulum; and after the patibulum was lifted onto the upright post (stipes) his feet were nailed to the stipes.
The major pathophysiologic effect of crucifixion was an interference with normal respirations. Accordingly death resulted primarily from hypovolemic shock and exhaustion asphyxia. Jesus' death was ensured by the thrust of a soldier's spear into his side. Modern medical interpretation of the historical evidence indicates that Jesus was dead when taken down from the cross. (JAMA 1986; 255:1455-1463)
The article in the Journal of American Medical Association continues:
Clearly, the weight of historical and medical evidence indicates that Jesus was dead before the wound to his side was inflicted and supports the traditional view that the spear, thrust between his right ribs, probably perforated not only the right lung but also the pericardium and heart and thereby ensured his death. Accordingly, interpretations based on the assumption that Jesus did not die on the cross appear to be at odds with modern medical knowledge. (JAMA 1986; 255:1455-1463)
The article in the Journal of American Medical Association
In addition to the evidence by the Journal of American Medical Association, do you really believe that if Jesus did not die and was revived by the cool air in the tomb was able to roll away a stone from the tomb's opening that took more than twenty healthy men to put into place?
If individuals moved the stone and Jesus walked out, do you really believe that the disciples would have been so energized by this half-dead savior? Would such a weak and near-death Jesus have caused the disciples to snap out of their fear and depression and run about declaring the strong and mighty Savior? |
Even nineteenth-century skeptic, David Strauss wrote:
| It is impossible that one who had just come forth from the grave half dead, who crept about weak and ill, who stood in need of medical treatment, of bandaging, strengthening, and tender care, and who at last succumbed to suffering, could ever have given to the disciples that impression that He was a conqueror over death and the grave -- that He was the Prince of Life -- which lay at the bottom of their future ministry. Such a resuscitation could only have weakened the impression which He had made upon them in life and in death -- or at the most could have given it an elegiac voice-but could by no possibility have changed their sorrow into enthusiasm, or elevated their reverence into worship.38 |
The hallucination theory is the belief that everyone that reportedly saw Jesus was hallucinating. There were over 500 eyewitnesses that saw Jesus and yet the skeptic and critics would have us believe that all 500 plus had the same hallucination and many of them at the exact same time?
All the medical evidence suggests that hallucinations are individual experiences and not duplicated from one person to another but are in fact original to the person and their own life experiences.
Jesus appeared to the disciples many times over the course of forty days, and He ate meals with them. When Jesus ascended into heaven right before His disciples, none of them continued to speak of seeing Jesus. The skeptic and critic would have us believe that the hallucinations of the disciples were identical and started and stopped at the same time?
Perhaps the greatest evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the over 500 eyewitnesses that saw Jesus Christ.
Jesus not only appeared to his followers, but He appeared to one of the greatest enemies of Christianity: Saul.
Saul was a Jewish leader who killed or had killed untold numbers of Christians. Saul was present holding the coat of Stephen while he was stoned to death. Yet, when Jesus Christ, following his resurrection, appeared to Saul on the Damascus road, Saul was transformed and became one of the greatest defenders and preachers of Christianity.
In Acts 26:4-5, 9-23 Saul, who upon his conversion became known as Paul, gives his own testimony:
So then, all Jews know my manner of life from my youth up, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem; since they have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of our religion.
So then, I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them.
And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities. While so engaged as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me.
And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' And I said, 'Who are You, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 'But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.'
So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance. For this reason some Jews seized me in the temple and tried to put me to death. So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place; that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.39 |
It is a matter of recorded history that Saul was a leader of his day that persecuted Christians. It is also a matter of recorded history that Saul had a radical change in his life and became known as Paul and was a foundational leader of the early church. What would change such a man from hating, persecuting and killing Christians to becoming a Christian and defender of Christianity, unless it was as Paul said it was an encounter with the risen Lord?!
It was Paul himself in I Corinthians 15:6 who told any skeptics or critics to go and ask the eyewitness who had seen the risen Lord.
Those who saw the risen Lord had their lives changed and were more than willing to die rather than to say they did not see Jesus Christ alive after his crucifixion. Those who died for their faith only had to say, "He is dead," and they could have lived.
Former skeptic and critic Frank Harber correctly points out that people are not willing to die for a known lie:
| Many people have died for a cause they believed was true even though it was false; however, no one ever eagerly dies for a cause knowing it to be false. Christianity could have never endured had these first Christians not believed in the Resurrection. The tenacity of these early eyewitness in the face of death testifies to the truth that the Resurrection must have occurred.40 |
Yet, with the exception of John, every one of the disciples died a martyr's death. Tradition says that Peter was crucified upside down at his own request, for he thought himself "unworthy" to be crucified in the same way his Lord had been. Paul the apostle, the one "born out of due time," after several long imprisonments, died a martyr's death in Rome. Thomas, who had been a 'doubter' until he saw the resurrected Christ, carried his Lord's Great commission all the way to India, where he ministered for many years and was finally martyred.
41 Would these men die for a known lie or a hoax they orchestrated by stealing the body of Jesus Christ and then reporting Him as being risen from the dead? The disciples would not die martyred deaths for a lie. The disciples and eyewitnesses spoke the truth and refused to change their story in the face of persecution, torture and death. As author Tim LaHaye has said, "They signed their testimony in blood."
There are many reasons why Christianity is truth and humanism is a lie. We have only looked at just a few of many reasons why Christianity is truth, such as the supernatural nature of the Bible as seen through predictive prophecy, the evidence for the accuracy of the Bible and its being preserved from generation to generation, the evidence of the deity of Jesus Christ, and the evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave.
The evidence for an all-knowing, all-powerful and Holy God and Creator is found in what He has placed in the heart and conscious, of every human being since the beginning of time. This inborn fact is universally known, and it is the moral law or Ten Commandments.
According to Romans, the moral law or Ten Commandments is written on our hearts and conscious. Thus, when an individual lies, cheats, steals or commits adultery, there is the feeling of guilt or conviction.
In Genesis, we are told that man is created in the image of God. Believers and followers of Jesus Christ as well as those who have rejected Jesus Christ are created in the image of God. I believe what is meant by "created in the image of God" is that man has been created with the moral law on his heart and conscience, which is a reflection of the character and nature of God.
It is because God has created every man with the moral law written on his heart and conscience that there is a universal consent that here is a God. Everything that is consistent with the character and nature of God is truth, and everything that is contrary to the nature and character of God is untruth. The moral law is a reflection of God's character and nature.
We don't murder our fellowman because murder goes against the character and nature of God. We are not to lie, steal or break any of the other Ten Commandments because it goes against the character and nature of God. Ignoring the built in moral compass; the moral law is ignoring God. Romans 1:21 says, "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened."
Romans 2:15 says, "Who shows the work of the law written in their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them." This verse tells us that men can either accept the guilty feeling of the law, accusing them of their transgression when they sin, or men can simply excuse the guilty feeling and learn to ignore it. If man ignores the guilty feeling or suppresses the truth long enough or often enough, his conscious will be seared (I Timothy 4:2). Geisler and Bocchino say:
| [T]he root cause of the character disorders (moral corruption) mentioned above is directly associated with a person's refusal to acknowledge and act upon what is morally right and reject what is morally wrong. It becomes harder and harder for the individual to get help with his character disorder because of the increased moral depravity. This increase is associated with greater levels of insensitivity in that person's conscience. For example, during the progressive moral deterioration in the life of the person who uses pornography, his sequence of feeling-to-thought-to-deed proceeds with less and less intervention of the inhibitory mechanism of conscience and guilt.42 |
This is the net effect of having ones conscience seared. Man can ignore God and even deny God; but because God has made himself known to man by creating man in the image of God and placing an understanding of the character and nature of God on the heart and conscious of every human being, no one will have an excuse on judgment for rejecting God and following the lie of humanism (Romans 1:20).
Romans 3:19, 20 says, "Now we know whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin."
This verse makes it clear that everyone has broken the law. No one can claim they have lived a good enough life to justify their entry into heaven because the standard God uses is the law and no one has kept the law. John 3:4 says that committing sin is breaking the moral law. "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness."
Romans 3:10 says there is none that is righteous, no not one. Romans 3:23 says "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
The law makes us aware of our sin, and because all but Jesus Christ have broken the law, all who have not repented of their sins and trusted in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ will not be pardoned or breaking the moral law.
To repent means to turn from sin; to stop practicing sin as a lifestyle. This does not mean you will not sin. But there is a big difference between stumbling into sin and willingly jumping into sin feet first. A repentant heart is born out of an incredible awareness of your sinfulness and the understanding that you deserve to fall prey to the wrath of God but are pardoned because of your faith in Jesus Christ and His work on the cross.
The very purpose of the moral law is to show man his need for God by convicting him of sin. Everyone has felt guilty for doing wrong, for sinning and breaking the moral law. This guilty feeling is the moral law doing its job, which is revealing the need for a pardon from God.
Galatians 3:24 says, "Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith."
43 No matter how good you may think you are -- other than Jesus Christ -- every person that has ever walked the face of the earth has broken the moral law. The Bible says if you break one, you have broken them all. We have all broken every one of the Ten Commandments.
So you think you have not broken the commandment "thou shall not murder" or "thou shall not commit adultery"? The Bible says hate is equal to murder and lusting after someone you are not married to is the same as adultery.
Keeping the moral law will not save you because no one but Jesus Christ has kept or not broken the law (see 2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15, I Peter 2:22).
Corinthians 5:10 says, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." All who have broken the law are condemned to spending eternity in hell unless they accept the free pardon that comes only through Jesus Christ: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life" (John 6:47).
"If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). "Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13).
"He who has the son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God" (I John 5:12,13).
The moral law convicts us of wrongdoing and that we are sinners in need of a sinless Savior. The moral law is the schoolmaster that brings us to repentance.
What is repentance? My friend Mark Cahill speaks for the Worldview Weekend and wrote a great book entitled
One Thing You Cannot Do in Heaven. Mark played college basketball at Auburn University and roomed with Charles Barkley. Mark has a faith like few people I know. In his book, Mark does a great job explaining the real meaning and result of repentance when he writes:
One topic that I believe we must talk about when we discuss sin is repentance. It seems to be a word that we don't use much in witnessing, and a word that some people don't want to use at all. Yet the word "repent" and it various forms are used over one hundred times in the Bible. It must be a very important word and something that we must understand.
The apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 7:10, "For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death."
John the Baptist preached in the wilderness, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" (Matthew 3:2).
Jesus preached this same message of repentance. Mark 1:14, 15 says, "Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel.'"
In Mark 6, Jesus sends out the twelve disciples two by two.
Verse 12 states, "So they went out and preached that people should repent." If Jesus sent the disciples out preaching that people must repent of their sins, we ought to do the same.
According to The Complete Word Study New Testament by Dr. Spiros Zodhiates, the main word used for "repent" in the Greek is metanoeo, meaning "to repent with regret accompanied by a true change of heart toward God." It signifies a change of mind consequent to retrospection, indicating regret for the course pursued and resulting in a wiser view of the past and future. Most importantly, it is distinguished from metamellomai, meaning "to regret because of the consequences of one's actions." As you can see, repentance is not when we feel bad because we got caught doing something wrong. True repentance is when we change our mind about our sin so our actions will not continue to be the same.
If people do not want to repent of their sins, do they really want to surrender their life to Jesus? I am in no way saying that someone can become a Christian and then the very next day be perfect and preaching like Billy Graham. But I am saying that, if there is no desire to walk away from sin, the person is not really making a true heart commitment to the Savior. In John 6:44 Jesus says, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him." If God is drawing someone to Him, he would also be drawing the person away from sin.
I was sitting around talking one night with a young man I had met at a camp. He was telling me about his life and confessed that he had been using cocaine for the past thirty days. About forty-five minutes into the conversation he asked, "Is this the point where you are going to start talking to me about Jesus?"
I said, "No." He looked rather surprised. "You're not?" I told him that he was not ready for Jesus, and that it was not his day to get saved. He did not hate his sin enough to want to repent and walk away from it. He loved the world way too much. It was very interesting that he didn't argue one bit with me. He didn't want to get saved that day. He wanted to use drugs. He had gone to a Christian high school, so he knew all the right answers. The issue was repentance, and he didn't want to do that.
Please remember that people don't become Christians by asking Jesus into their heart or by signing a decision card. Jesus said that we must be born again (John 3:3). John 3:16 also lets us know that we know that we must believe in Jesus. But belief is much more than just an acknowledgement of the facts. It is to be persuaded or convinced, and to put your complete trust and confidence in something. It is more than just using the lips, but it is using your heart also.
Romans 10:9 says, "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." We are not confessing simply that we don't want to go to hell and we want to go to heaven. We are confessing that Jesus is Lord!
God wants a total commitment of our whole being. I like to ask people if they want to surrender their life to Jesus, and by that, I mean, giving Him complete control of their life.
By the way, how do you think of Jesus? Do you believe in Him or do you trust in Him? Belief is trust with your mind; faith is trusting with your life. Jesus wants every bit of our entire being to serve Him, not just the part that we want to give Him. We can say we have a relationship with God, but He will know by the reality of what is revealed in our lives.
Second Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ; he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." You are not a new and improved version of the old you, you are a new creation in God! God is not an additive to your life; He is a Transformer and a Redeemer of sinners. Jesus is not some ticket that will save people from hell; He is the Savior of the world and wants us to submit to Him. He wants to completely change every area of our lives. When we repent of sin, commit our lives to Jesus, and make Him Lord, our lives will be different! And please remember, that is a good thing! I wouldn't change my life now for anything. I have lived on both sides of the fence, both in total sin and in trying to live for God. I choose this life over that sinful lifestyle any day of the week. Repenting means to make a turn, and that is what you see in the true Christian life. 44 |
I have watched Mark share truth again and again, and he knows what all of us know who have had our lives transformed by truth. Part of the proof for the truth is in the transformation. Truth is not truth if it does not work.
When was the last time you heard a humanist say, "As soon as I accepted the fact that I was god, my life was transformed, and I was able to overcome the destructive habits and behaviors in my life; I desired to do good; I wanted to serve and love others; I wanted to put others ahead of myself; I now have a peace in the midst of the storm I cannot explain, and I don't fear death." You never hear a humanist say that.
To the contrary, the worst sinners who repent and come to Christ are transformed in an amazing way. I can think of the transformation of slave trader John Newton who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace or Saul the killer of Christians who became known as Paul, or Chuck Colson the arrogant White House attorney who went to prison for Watergate, who is now the humble, reserved leader of the nation's largest organization that ministers to prisoners.
There are numerous life stories that confirm the power and validity of truth through the transformed life through Jesus Christ. MinCaye, one of the Auca Indians who was involved in killing famed missionaries Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian and Peter Fleming in 1956, now travels the world with Nate Saint's son, Steve Saint, preaching salvation through Jesus Christ alone.
There are untold numbers of lives who were once filled with evil that were made righteous through their encounter, acceptance, surrender, and practice of the Truth. Show me even one story where the life of an evil person was transformed unto righteousness through their commitment to the humanist worldview and their doctrines of moral relativism, atheism, hedonism, postmodernism, idolatry, and autonomous man. There is no such story. The life that is transformed from being a worker of iniquity to being a worker of righteousness is further proof that Christianity is truth and humanism is a lie! Only Truth can totally transform a life while a life built on the lie produces a life of calamity and vanity.
Dr. Erwin Lutzer is the pastor of the historical Moody Church in downtown Chicago. He has spoken for the Worldview Weekend on several occasions and is an outstanding author who speaks on many topics. In 1994 there was a large symposium on the religions of the world, and they met in Chicago.
Dr. Lutzer described what he saw and heard at the Worldview Weekends and has written a great book
Called. He walked around the convention center and visited with some of the 7,000 individuals that attended this meeting:
I walked through the display area in search of a sinless prophet/teacher/Savior. I asked a Hindu Swami whether any of their teachers claimed sinlessness. "No," he said, appearing irritated with my question, "if anyone claims he is sinless, he is not a Hindu!"
What about Buddha? No, I was told, he didn't claim sinlessness. He found a group of ascetics and preached sermons to them. He taught that all outward things are only distractions and encouraged a life of discipline and contemplation. He sought enlightenment and urged his followers to do the same. He died seeking enlightenment. No sinlessness here.
What about Baha'u'llah of The Baha'i World Faith? He claimed he had a revelation from God that was more complete and more enlightened than those before him. Though he was convinced of the truth of his teachings, he made few personal claims. He thought his writings were "more perfect" than others, but he never claimed perfection or sinlessness for himself.
When I came to the representatives of the Muslim faith, I already knew that in the Koran the prophet Mohammed admitted he was in need of forgiveness. They agreed. "There is one God, Allah, and Mohammed was not perfect. Again, no sinlessness there.
Why was I searching for a sinless Savior? Because I don't want to have to trust a Savior who is in the same predicament as I am. I can't trust my eternal soul to someone who is still working through his own imperfections. Since I'm a sinner, I need someone who is standing on higher ground.
Understandably, none of the religious leaders I spoke with even claimed to have a Savior. Their prophets, they said, showed the way, but made no pretense about being able to personally forgive sins or transform so much as a single human being. Like a street sign, they gave directions, but were not able to take us where we need to go. If we need any saving, we will have to do it ourselves.
The reason is obvious: No matter how wise, no matter how gifted, no matter how influential other prophets, gurus, and teachers might be, they had the presence of mind to know that they were imperfect just like the rest of us. They never even presumed to be able to reach down into the murky water of human depravity and bring sinners into the presence of God.
What did Jesus have to say about His sinless life? "Which of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?" (John 8:46). He pointed out hypocrisy in the lives of His critics, but none of them returned the compliment.
Judas, an apparent friend turned enemy, said, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood" (Matthew 27:4). Pilate, who longed to find fault with Christ, confessed, "I find no guilt in this man" (Luke 23:4).
Peter, who lived with Him for three years, said he "committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth" (I Peter 2:22). The apostle Paul said that God the Father "made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Jesus was either sinless or the greatest of sinners for deceiving so many people about His sinlessness. As C.E. Jefferson put it, "The best reason we have for believing in the sinlessness of Jesus is the fact that He allowed His dearest friends to think that He was."
Why was Christ exempt from the sin with which we are so well acquainted? If He, like us, would have had a human father, He would have had a sin nature that is passed on from father to son. If He had been the son of Adam in a natural way, He would have been a sinner.
The virgin conception preserved His sinlessness. Mary experienced a special miracle that ensured the perfection of her son. He was like us but with an important difference.45 |
What separates Jesus from all other religious leaders the world has known is that He was and is the sinless Savior. Through His death, burial and resurrection He fulfilled the one sign that He gave: the sign of Jonah.
That difference, my friends, is what makes Him the Savior of the world; Jesus Christ was and is the sinless Savior. That incredible difference is what makes him exactly what He is; a member of the Triune God who is the Creator, Savior and final Judge over all the earth.
Humanism is a lie because Christianity is the truth; and Christianity is the truth because Jesus Christ is the risen, sinless Savior who is the very embodiment, the very source of truth, for He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. All other ways to salvation are wrong. All ideas, values, beliefs, and worldviews that contradict the nature and character of God are wrong and are a lie for they come from Satan, the father of lies who is seeking whom he may devour.
I am eternally grateful that Jesus Christ is the Truth and that anyone can know the Truth and that the Truth has set me free. I am thankful that I have a faith that is reasonable, consistent, verifiable, and defendable; I don't have to check my brains in at the door to be a Christian. Whatever I don't understand now in my limited human mind, I know I can trust God and rest in that fact He is all-knowing. He knows what is best for me, and that is the Truth.
(Bible verses from American Bible Standard Logos software unless otherwise footnoted)
