Who was Jesus? Christians believe that Jesus was God incarnate, in other words, God in human form. But how can we really know who Jesus was? Did Jesus himself claim to be God? The Bible attempts to prove Jesus’ divinity by recording many miracles that He performed, but are miracles even possible? All the stories about Jesus are written in the first four books of the New Testament, but how do we know that what they say about Jesus is true? Did those things, even the miracles, actually happen? Christians stake their faith on the greatest miracle of all, Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. But what evidence is there for this? Journey with Adam through this nine-part series where he explores the historical accounts of Jesus found in the New Testament and how we as Christians can trust that Jesus is really God.
Part 1: Is Jesus God?
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Part 2: Did Jesus Claim to be God?
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Part 3: Are Miracles Possible?
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Part 4: Do We Have an Accurate Copy of the New Testament?
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Part 5: Did the NT Authors Tell the Truth?
Recent Accounts and Eyewitness Testimony
Sometimes it can be hard to know whether or not someone is telling you the truth, but there are some common indicators that we all use to determine if someone is probably telling the truth or has the facts straight. These criteria can also be applied to the gospel accounts found in the New Testament. For example, if someone is an eyewitness to an event, their report is probably more reliable than a second-hand source. Likewise, if someone reports events close to when they actually happened, it is more likely they have an accurate memory of the events than someone who is recalling details from many years ago. The gospels contain the testimony of eyewitnesses that was given soon after the events occurred.
Part 6: Did the NT Authors Tell the Truth?
Archaeology and Embarrassing Details
The narratives that we find in the gospel accounts of the New Testament make numerous historical claims and statements of fact about the past. We can validate these claims against what we know about the past, such as evidence from other written sources and archaeological discoveries, to see if what we find corroborates the stories in the gospels. Also, the presence of embarrassing details in the gospel accounts lends credibility to their claims. Would you write down embarrassing facts and incidents about yourself if you were making up a story to bolster a claim to religious authority? Neither is it likely that the apostles were doing this in the gospel accounts.
Part 7: Did the NT Authors Tell the Truth?
Coherent Stories and Willingness to Die for Them
The stories recorded in the four gospel accounts are surprisingly coherent; the stories fit together in a way that can form a plausible narrative that could have actually happened. Because of this internal consistency and the lack of irreconcilable differences, we can trust that the gospel accounts are reliable. Also, if someone is willing to put their life on the line for what they are saying, chances are that they believe it to be true. Would someone die for something they know to be false? There is good historical evidence that many of the apostles died as martyrs rather than recanting their claims, which can give us confidence that what they have told us about Jesus is what they believed to be the truth.
Part 8: What’s the Evidence for Jesus’ Resurrection?
Did Jesus actually rise from the dead? What evidence is there that this alleged event occurred? One way to examine whether or not Jesus actually rose from the dead is to take account of all the historical facts surrounding this situation and ask whether or not Jesus’ resurrection is the best explanation for these facts. This approach is sometimes known as the “minimal facts” argument. It uses only historical facts that are extremely well evidenced and that are agreed upon by virtually all scholars, including skeptical ones. It then uses these facts to evaluate competing explanations about what happened to Jesus after He died. Did the disciples steal His body? Did Jesus not really die but only become unconscious for a while? Did the disciples hallucinate Jesus’ appearances? Or did He actually rise from the dead? What is the best explanation of the facts?
Part 9: What Reasons Are There to Believe Jesus was God?
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© Adam Lloyd Johnson and Convincing Proof.