Our Defensible Faith
Christianity is uniquely a defensible faith with clear, rational, and compelling evidence. God has instructed all believers to “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:15).
How can we accomplish this?
Be a single-minded witness who is faithful to keep “Christ as Lord” number one in your life. This means we first keep the Lord as the supreme object of our own worship, service, witness, and ultimate authority of our lives. It also involves keeping “a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for what is wrong” (1 Peter 3:16-172(7.1%)). In other words, don’t live a hypocritical life that discredits the gospel and condemns your own conscience conviction.
Be an available witness who is “always” ready to respond “to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).
Be a prepared witness who is “ready to make a defense” (1 Peter 3:15). How do we know Jesus is truly the only Savior and Lord?
We know by documented evidence. The Bible’s authenticity is compelling. This evidence involves manuscript, archaeological, prophetic, and statistical probability evidence. Check out a document we compiled on Evidence for the Reliability of the Bible (S.T.A.M.P.)
Manuscript: We have 5,686 partial and complete manuscript portions that were copied by hand from the second century through the fifteenth century. Add to that 10,000 Latin Vulgate manuscripts plus 9,284 manuscripts in thirteen other languages for a grand total of 24,970. The next closest attested document of antiquity is Homer’s Iliad with 643 copies, but the copies were written 400 years after the original while the Bible's first copy was written between 30-80 years after the originals.
Archeology: Nelson Glueck (one of the greatest archaeologists of the 20th century, president of Hebrew Union College from 1947-1971) said this, "It may be clearly stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a single biblical reference."
Predictive prophecy: The Bible is uniquely 27% predictive prophecy. There were 109 prophecies of Jesus Christ’s first coming and every single one was precisely fulfilled.
Statistical probability: It has been determined that for one man like Jesus Christ to fulfill just eight prophecies, it would be 1 in 1017 power: that’s one with 17 zeroes or 100 quadrillion. That is like spreading silver dollars across the whole state of Texas two feet deep and marking one, throwing it back into the massive pile, blindfolding one person, and having them pick just one silver dollar and it being the one that was marked. Jesus didn’t fulfill just 8 prophecies but 109.
We know this by profile evidence. Identity evidence says Jesus Christ was convinced He was the Son of God and His life didn’t reveal any indication of lying or signs of psychological disorder. His life also matched the attributes of God (omniscient, omnipotent, miraculous healing, creating power) and He matched the identity of the prophesied Messiah.
We know this by the miraculous evidence of the Lord’s bodily resurrection. The empty tomb attests to this (with 11 repudiated theories against this miracle: Swoon, Theft, Wrong-Person, Open Pit, Hallucination, Wrong-Tomb, Telepathy, Séance, Mistaken Identity, Unreliable witnesses, Spiritual-resurrection) and eyewitness testimony attests to this (Jesus was seen on 10 separate occasions over a 40-day period by 548 people).
We know this by personal evidence. How can anyone explain the millions of radical life transformations without drugs or therapy that transformed marriages, families, neighborhoods, and communities? The influence of Christianity on society is profound on the sanctity of human life, sexual morality, women’s freedom and dignity, hospitals and health care, labor and economic freedom, science, liberty and justice issues, art and architecture, music, education and literature, holidays, and on charity and compassion for the needy.
4. Be an appealing witness by displaying virtues like “gentleness” (power under control that restrains frustration, anger, or impatience with rude, angry, bitter, belligerent, or arrogant unbelievers) and “reverence” (a holy fear of God that emits a calm awareness of God’s ability to radically transform sinful hearts as well as justly punish unrepentant sinners)
We can confidently share and defend a gospel that will be mocked and dismissed as anti-intellectual, outdated, or even toxic to people's lives “because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).
We have the saving, rescuing, redeeming, forgiving, resurrecting, acquitting, adopting, healing message of truth on our side, so let’s unleash this good news message and power to those in our sphere of influence.
Pastor Jeff