Pastor Ryan of Palm Valley Church: This is a discussion that can go down so many paths. One can view all types of evidence: archeological, historical, textural or Biblical. If you took any of these approaches and did a side by side comparison with Christianity and any other world religion, the evidence would side fully with Christianity being correct. There are several authors I would recommend if you should choose this approach: Josh McDowell’s “New Evidence that Demands a Verdict” and Lee Strobel’s “The Case for Faith” would top my list.
However, I would take just a moment to walk through the case of looking at the person of Jesus Christ. If one can resolve in his mind and heart who He is, the question about Christianity being the correct path to take will be self-evident.
If one were to take a look at just the teaching of Jesus, one quickly comes away with the conclusion that Jesus is one of the greatest moral teachers. His teachings have survived the test of time and transcended cultures around the world. Even other religions such as Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism all refer to Jesus as a wise and moral teacher. However, his teachings, claims and life make it impossible to leave him at that level. As we look at the scriptures, we must land in one of three categories. Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic or the Lord he claimed to be. C.S Lewis famously presented this argument many years ago in his book “Mere Christianity”:
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
Simply put, Jesus claimed to be God, the messiah and the way to eternal life. These claims are found throughout the Gospel account. Here are a few examples:
“‘Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?’ Jesus said, ‘I am. And you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of Heaven. Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, ‘Why do we need other witnesses? You have all heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?’ ‘Guilty!’ they all cried. ‘He deserves to die!’” Mark 14:61-6
“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.’” John 14:6
Either Jesus lied, thus disqualifying himself as a moral teacher; He was delusional and insane, a lunatic who believed He was the Messiah and Son of God; or He was actually who he said he was: our Lord.
There is no middle ground in Christianity. It is an all or nothing proposition. To follow Jesus is to completely put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. It is not a blind faith. God has given us all types of evidence. However, none of it is conclusive…God requires our faith.
Jennifer: To me, Christianity makes the most sense. My favorite quote on this subject is this: When you believe in God… “Does everything make sense? Absolutely not. But I think more stuff doesn’t make sense without Him.” – Hillsong
