Why should anyone believe in Jesus?
Jesus: The evidence of history!
A professor at Northwestern University in Chicago says that the Holocaust is a myth, a deliberate fabrication. Many thousands of people agree with him. Other people claim that the moon landing was a hoax, a Hollywood production designed to cover up billions of dollars of embezzled government funds. How do we know if these people are right or wrong? What is the basis for judging historical truth? Many academics today are saying that we can’t know anything outside of ourselves. But I would like to suggest a controversial (sic) starting point for this discussion: the events of history are true. You say, “What’s controversial about that? It’s all in the history books.”
Yes, but which books do you believe? Did you see any of the events that you were told happened before you were born? How do you know that men went to the moon or that the Holocaust happened? Were you there?
In fact, how do you know anything about history?
Witnesses, documents, and evidence…
The fact is, we know about history through witnesses, documents, and evidence. There are plenty of people living who witnessed the Holocaust and can testify to its reality. When they are dead, there will be documents recording their testimony. There may also be physical evidence of the horrific tragedies at Auschwitz and other death camps.
This is how we know about any historical person or event. They are passed on to future generations in documents and, less reliable, oral traditions. Documents are not all reliable. Historians must consider how many documents there are and to what degree they corroborate each other’s story. Physical evidence may be available to back up certain cataclysmic events such as wars, famines, fires, floods, and also the existence of cities and villages.
History is not an exact science. If someone really wants to doubt a historical event, such as the holocaust, they can propose all kinds of strange theories to explain it away. The best way to decide what is historically true is to consider what the evidence points to as the MOST LIKELY explanation of an event.
The witnesses, documents, and evidence for Jesus…
Of all events occurring in the period of the first century, not one has more documentation than the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified by the Romans and that he was found alive three days later. No reputed scholar now dates the accounts of Jesus’ life to any later than the first century. That means that the accounts we have were written and circulating within the lifetime of eyewitnesses.
These documents record numerous eyewitnesses to Jesus’ death. Some have said that he didn’t die. Could a man survive Roman execution, be run through with a spear, and then recuperate without any medical attention in a damp cave for three days?
Some have said he wasn’t really alive again. But, more than 500 people saw him. He ate a meal with some of them. He was no ghost, but alive. There were numerous eyewitnesses, documents, and they all fit the evidence we have of the realities of first-century Palestine. History tells us that Jesus of Nazareth came back from death!! See also: More Evidence for the Resurrection.
Why Believe in Jesus?
We set out with the question, “Why should anyone believe in Jesus?” So far we have answered, “Why should anyone believe about Jesus?” We should believe about him because of the historical evidence. But why should we believe in him?
Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, sent from God, and he backed up his claims with the greatest miracle ever. He rose from the dead to prove he really was who he said. Would God have allowed him to rise if he was a blasphemer or a deceiver? Shouldn’t we heed Jesus’ advice about eternal life if he has truly been through death and back? Who could be better to listen to than one such as this?
How to believe in Jesus?
You must realize that you are guilty of such wrongdoing as lying and hurting others as well as being guilty of such shortcomings as a lack of love.
You must realize that God is holy and cannot have any part with such guilty people as we are. (“Your sins have made a separation between you and your God” Isaiah 59:2)
You must know that God loves you and has made a way for you to live with him eternally.
You must know that the only way to have this eternal life is by accepting the claims of Jesus of Nazareth, Messiah Yeshua. (“There is salvation in no other name under heaven” Acts 4:12)
If you want to be forgiven and have eternal life, pray: “Holy God, I believe that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah, and that his death on the Roman execution stake was the full payment for my guilt. I believe that I can be raised from the dead since Yeshua (Jesus) has defeated death. Teach me how to be a follower of Yeshua (Jesus).”
If you have made this decision, please contact us immediately so we can rejoice with you!