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Christianity teaches that the soul and the body are not the same. This is supported in Old Testament² as well as in New Testament³ scriptures. The soul continues after death to exist without the body until the resurrection⁴. Paul also talked about the soul that left the body⁵.  Many Christian scholars, however, do not believe this any longer and do not hold that the soul and the body are different entities. Under pressure of modern neurophysiology, they believe the soul is a behavior of the brain and that the resurrected body will be recreated out of nothing.  Some hold that evolution makes the existence of an immaterial soul highly unlikely. Further more, if Darwinism is true, then there is no god, and the mind and the brain are the same thing. But the question is; can the mind be pure matter and how did it come to be?  Did it evolve from matter and is nothing but matter? Or are there persuasive arguments to contradict this notion?

To argue that the soul and the brain are not the same, we have to define certain terminologies.  It is important to distinguish between property and substance. Property is a characteristic or attribute possessed by something, it belongs to something, e.g. brown, square, humanity – these all belong to ‘something’ but is not the ‘something’. Physical properties are used in hard science; in chemistry and physics, like mass, being in motion or electric charge to describe and study these disciplines. Substance has properties but nothing has it. Substance can gain or lose properties, though the substance stays the same. For example, an electron can gain or lose charge but stays an electron. Even so myself. I can gain or lose properties, yet my substance would not change.

The mind-body problem raises the question; are humans one kind of thing with the mind equal to the body, just material? Or two kinds of things namely body and mind, that is, material and something more?

The Strict Physicalist holds that humans are one kind of thing. Just physical. We are a physical substance, brain only, with physical properties. Yet, holding this view, the existence of consciousness is a problem.

Dualism asserts that humans are two kinds of things namely physical and immaterial. There are, however, two dualist views. a. The property duelist. Humans are one physical substance but with two kinds of properties namely with physical properties and with immaterial mental properties (mind/consciousness). b. The substance dualist. Humans are two kinds of properties. Each has its own possessor or substance: a material object, the brain (the substance), that has physical properties plus an immaterial thing (substance) that has mental properties, that is the ‘I’ or the soul.

We have to consider the nature of identity and look at the law of indiscernible identicals – ‘Leibniz’s Law ⁶; for any or all of X, and any or all of Y, if X is identical to Y, then for all properties P, P will be true of X only if P is true of Y (X with all properties P = Y with all properties P). Thus X=Y is identical and the same thing. But if all P is not in X but in Y, then X and Y are not identical.

Science cannot help with the question of mind and body.  We have to ask; are there things that we know about the mental properties P, say of X, that are not true of the physical properties P, say of Y. And vice versa. If so, then X does not equal Y.

Science can show that stimulation of the brain causes a reaction; a thought or an emotion of pain. Or with damage, loss of function can be demonstrated. But if X is shown to functionally interact with Y, it does not follow that X equals Y. Now we can ask; are there things we know are true of mental properties that are not true of physical properties and vice versa? Are there mental properties that are not the same as physical properties? As an example, stimulating the brain can cause a physical reaction but the person can also see his mother in a green dress. This image is not physical but mental and therefore not the same for each.

Arguments for At Least Property Dualism (mental properties not identical to physical properties)

Mental states are sensations of two kinds. 1. Perceptual Sensation. These are states of sentience or an awareness of conscience produced by the five sense organs. E.g., awareness of color or sound. This awareness is present in the person. 2. Non-perceptional Sensation. This is the same but not produced by the senses e.g., a. the feeling of pain, b. the sensation of fear, love, anger, c. thoughts, that exist while occurrent, can be expressed in sentences and can be true or false, d. beliefs, mental content, e. beliefs that are not thoughts. I can have beliefs that I am not thinking of and they can be true or false, f. acts of free will, g. desires. These mental states or properties do not have physical properties like size, mass, electric charge. Thought activities can be seen on a scan but not what they are or if they are true or false.

Therefore, there are things true of perceptual and non-perceptual sensation that are not true of physical properties. And vice versa. They are not identical to the physical properties of the brain and the physical properties of the brain are not identical to these mental properties. The mental state or mental properties do not have shape, size, and not are not spatially located. Physical states cannot be true or false, but thoughts can. Some sensations are pleasurable but physical properties can never be. There are things true of perceptual and non-perceptual sensations but not true of physical properties which have shape and weight, etc, and vice versa. These are not the same kind of properties.

The first argument for At Least Property Dualism: The comprehensive knowledge of matter through science does not exhaust all knowledge that there is. For example, a scientist may have more knowledge about my brain than what I have but he cannot have more knowledge of my thoughts, emotions, etc. I only have this first-person private awareness.

The second argument for At Least Property Dualism. Intentionality is not a physical feature. Intentionality is an ofness, a unity of thought, or aboutness, of my sensations, beliefs, and thoughts. Intentionality points to things like thoughts about objects, about God, beliefs about the holocaust, sensations of the sound of a musical instrument. All conscious mental states have this feature of intentionality, but physical ones have not. I know my thoughts and feelings just by paying attention to them and I can inspect them. A scientist cannot do that, he can only monitor my brain status.

Conclusion. What is it that has these mental properties? Either it is the brain that has two kinds of properties (property dualism) or we have a body and a soul that each possesses its respective kind of properties (substance dualism). Thus that At Least Property Dualism is true.

Arguments for Substance Dualism

  First argument. No amount of information about my body or my consciousness will tell anyone who or where I am. At least, in theory, one can switch from one body to another, but you cannot switch your mind/soul. Then, if I am a brain others should be able to tell, by describing my brain, which person I am, who I am and where I am. Yet, it still is an open question to ask, “Which one is mine, which brain is mine, after I have switched bodies?” I have to be immediately acquainted with my own ego to know the description is true of me. Now consider the ‘split-brain operation’. One-half of person 1’s brain is put into a body (call this person 2), and the other half is put into a different body (call this person 3). Suppose that persons 2 and 3 have all person 1’s memories and personality traits, where is person 1? There could be four options: a. Person 1 was annihilated, and two new people came to exist. b. Person 1 is equal to person 2, and person 3 is just a mental double, but not a new person. c. Like option 2, but here person 2 is the mental double and not a new person, and person 1 is equal to person 3. d. You cannot split persons in half, where person 2 is equal to ½ person 1, and person 3 is equal to ½ person 1. What is the solution? While we know where person 1’s body and brain are, we don’t know where person 1 is. Yet, we would, if person 1 is equal to person 1’s brain (i.e., the physicalist view). We would know where person 1 is if person 1 is equal to all his or her personality traits, memories, and conscious life (on a property dualism view). But, one person cannot be two people, person 2 and 3.  No amount of information in this dilemma can solve the question. We are missing the information about person 1’s ego, so there is more to person 1 than just his or her brain, or his or her personality traits, memories, and conscious life.

  The second argument. I, the soul, the mind, have the property of being possibly disembodied but my body does not have this property. Therefore, I am not identical to my body. Even if life after death is false, it is at least possible that I am the kind of thing that can exist in a disembodied manner. If so, I am not identical to my brain. Near-death experiences involve an immaterial self that can look at one’s body. Where did humans get this idea that one can leave one’s body? From what we experience and how we see ourselves separate from the body/brain. We are aware of being a conscious being and not a brain. Throughout the world and history, people talk about ‘my brain, my foot, my eye’, not meaning that I am a brain, a foot or an eye but that I possess it.

  Thirdly, the argument from the reality of free will. Physical objects behave by natural laws and inputs. If I am just a brain, even if with consciousness, then all my behaviors are fixed by my brain, genes, and environmental inputs. Free choices require that I am more than just my body, more than just physical material, that I am a body and an immaterial mental substance.

The Structure of The Human Soul

  Evolution can explain where the body comes from but not where the mind, the soul or ego, the immaterial comes from. Darwinism is a physical theory. Humans have many capacities (potentialities, abilities) that we do not exercise, that are often not functional. And cannot be physical. For example, when we are sleeping, we can have the capacity to speak English but not speaking English. We also have the capacities to have capacities. I have the capacity to speak English, but not Russian, but I have the capacity to develop that capacity, to speak Russian, too.

  Faculties of the soul are families of resembling capacities Examples are; 1. Capacities of seeing, smelling, touching, tasting, and hearing. My eyes don’t see. I see. But my eyes have to function. My soul needs the faculty of sight. 2. The mind is my set of capacities to reason, think and believe. My mind is a faculty of my soul – all my capacities together. 3. Emotions are a set of capacities. 4. The will is a set of powers to choose – the faculty of volitional will. 5. The spirit, a faculty of the human soul. It is a power to be aware of God and be related to Him.

  I am essentially my soul. I, my soul, is attached to my body but I am not my body. I have one and have a mind but am not identical to it.

           1. J.P. Moreland. (B.S., M.A., Ph.D., Th.M.) American philosopher, theologian, and Christian apologist. He currently serves as a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University in La Mirada, California

2. Ecclesiastes 12:7 For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

        3. Matthew 10:28 “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul.

      4. Philippians 3:20–21 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will            ………. transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

5. 2 Corinthians 12:3 Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don’t know—only God knows.

6. The Identity of Indiscernibles First published Wed Jul 31, 1996; substantive revision Sun Aug 15, 2010 Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

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A Response to the Objector

In response to your objection that ‘Christians are narrow-minded by claiming that Jesus is the only way to God’, I realize that this might probably be one of the most offensive elements of Christianity. I would, therefore, like to share with you the basis for this Christian claim. I think that the claim is reasonable, just, fair, and defensible. Though, in today’s pluralistic society, this claim can certainly be seen as audacious and politically incorrect, implicating that those who do not believe in Christ will go to hell. Some might even be of the opinion that such a view can encourage hate crimes – ‘You, Christians, think you are better because only you know the truth and the only way to heaven’ – this can cause certainly negative feelings.

I would like to address your objection under four key headings.

1. Why do Christians hold this belief?

• does Scripture teach it

2. Why would Jesus Christ be the Only Way?  

• moral failure and guilt

• what about good, moral, sincere people?

3. What about other religions?

• are they not all basically the same, just different paths to God?

4. What about those who never heard?

 

My response:

1. Why do Christians hold this belief?

Does the Bible teach this? There are at least one hundred verses in the New Testament that, explicitly or implicitly, expressed either by Jesus or the disciples, that communicate this teaching. ‘Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.’¹ and Peter said ‘There is salvation in no One else!’²

Greg Koukl gives nine lines of argument that Jesus is the only way to salvation supported by the hundred scripture verses in his book ‘Jesus the Only Way’³These scripture supported arguments are, 1.  Jesus is the only source of salvation for the world 2. Jesus is the Father’s choice 3. Rejection of Jesus is a rejection of the Father 4. Rejection of Jesus brings judgment and wrath; belief in Jesus rescues from wrath 5. Jesus is the one who provides forgiveness of sin. 6. Many imposters will claim to provide other ways of salvation 7. There are no alternatives for salvation 8. All nations are to be given this Gospel 9.  Jesus will be man’s judge on the final day.

Christians believe the Bible as the word of God. This makes it impossible for a Christian not to believe that Jesus is the only way. But what is the basis for this teaching, these statements in the Bible?

The Bible teaches that people are dying from sin and the Bible conveys the message for the cure. I realize the Gospel is offensive enough to the world, but Christians cannot remove this ‘offensive’ doctrine of sin inherent to the Gospel, or Christianity will no longer have a message. Sin is the problem. Jesus Christ the solution. Why this belief and why is Christ the only answer?

All religions believe their way is the true way but contradict each to such an extent that only one or none can be true. It is not reasonable to pick and choose certain aspects from each religion and for individuals to form their own ideas of truth. The God of the Bible has always been narrow but so are all other religions in what they believe. Christians believe we can inherit eternal life, that is, will be in the loving presence of the personal eternal God, through the grace of repentance and the forgiving of our sins through Christ. Muslims inherit eternal life through good works that outweigh the evil that man has done in life. Neither the Hindu faith nor Buddhism teaches an afterlife but a state of having escaped the ‘this troubled life’. Through ‘enlightenment’ of the individual in Buddhism. In Hinduism liberation means the deliverance of individual souls (atman) from Samsara or the cycle of births and deaths. It is a complex, transformative process that requires the cleansing of the mind and body, the overcoming of duality, delusion, and egoism, and achieving oneness with the Self or Brahman. Thus, not only do the major religions contradict each other in the way to ‘salvation’ but are also very different in what the end goal means and will be. In all major religions sin, moral failure is central to what will happen to the soul.

2. Why would Jesus Christ be the only way?

i. The identity of Jesus is central to Christianity. Not His teachings, but who He is. He drew the attention to His own identity. We read ‘Then He asked them, “But who do you say I am?”⁴ and Jesus was crucified for blasphemy. ‘Then the high priest said to Him, “I demand in the name of the living God—tell us if You are the Messiah, the Son of God.”- therefore, claiming to be God. Jesus answered in the affirmative and the high priest tore his clothes and said they needed no further evidence.⁵Blasphemy that deserved death.

ii. Jesus claimed to be God. That makes Him either Lord God, a liar, or a lunatic.⁶Making this claim, He is either right or wrong. If wrong, He either knew it or did not: (a) If He knew He was wrong, He lied. (b) If He did not know He was wrong but thought He was the only way to God, He was a lunatic. But if He was right, He is the Lord.

Was He a lunatic? Not a reasonable alternative: most people regard Jesus’ teaching as good and coherent. Was He a liar? If so, and we say He was a good man but lied about who He was, it makes no sense. Therefore, if He was neither a liar nor a lunatic, He was the Lord.

iii. In the eyes of the world sin is probably the second most offensive element of the Gospel. Sin, however, is totally tied to Christ as the only way, the reason for His birth into this world. No one is good and everyone needs Jesus Christ. Is this claim correct, you might ask? We are all aware of our moral failings and guilt. This is coherent and comprehensible to people. Maybe we feel guilty because we are guilty. We are aware of our brokenness, our moral failures. One might ask the question “Do you think people who commit moral crimes ought to be punished?” And then, “Have you and I ever committed moral crimes, maybe most of the time not so serious but also serious ones throughout our lives?” Moral crimes ought to be punished, in particular serious moral crimes. Agree? We are all guilty of moral crimes in our lives. We all need clemency. God made provision: Jesus Christ. ‘For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.’⁷‘Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.’⁸Our own experience of life convince us of our own moral guilt. Even if we try to live one single day without any moral failure in thoughts or deeds, we will realize there is a problem, and we fall short of God’s standard. But there is clemency. That is in one particular way only. Jesus Christ. God is fair. He has offered a way of pardon, and we are responsible to act or not. As a righteous God, a righteous Judge, He has to punish sin, moral failure, lest He is not righteous. Christ has taken our punishment onto Himself.

iv. I realize you might object and ask what about good, moral people? The good person, one who has never sinned, would not need Jesus. Since no one is good, we all need Jesus. God does not want any people to go to hell, but we are all guilty. God provides a way out. Now it is up to us. You might feel: “I have not committed that many sins.” Just because we do one thing right does not allow us to commit other wrongs. God is the highest perfect Being and His perfect justice requires perfection. And we know that over our lifetimes we are repeatedly guilty of moral failures. We are repeat offenders.

Jesus is the only way because He is the only One dealing with the problem of sin. Either you pay for your moral guilt or Jesus pays for it.

And what about sincere people? Sincerity is irrelevant if we break the law. Sincerity does not create truth. But seek the truth sincerely. And it will be found.⁹

3. What about other religions?

“All, religions are basically the same.” This is in reality said by people who do not have much knowledge about other religions. Religions are superficially the same but fundamentally very different as I have pointed out in 1. Different religions have different views of God, as well as what happens after we die. These views are mutually exclusive. All religions can simply not be true as they contradict each other in the most fundamental ways. That Jesus the only way is defensible. He is the only One dealing with sin. Every person is a repeat offender. Moral failure, the defiance of what we know is morally right, deserves punishment. And Jesus is God’s provision, the perfect God who takes our punishment unto Himself. The only way out of this predicament.

4. What about those who never heard?

This is certainly a reasonable concern. The assumption though, is that those who never heard the message of Christ, even if they would have wanted to know it, will go to hell. It assumes that there are millions of unevangelized who really want to know God but cannot, since they are isolated from the message. People born in the wrong place – and one might ask, is that just? We believe again that the Biblical answer is reasonable, just, and fair.

We need to look at five fundamental Biblical Truths in response.

i. God only punishes because of guilt – all are guilty. No one goes to hell because he never heard of Jesus, and no one goes to hell because he did not believe in Jesus. It is not the disbelief or ‘never heard’ why people go to hell: it is sin, not wrong belief but wrong behavior. God only punishes the guilty, sin. We read that we are judged by our deeds.¹⁰ Since we have all committed sin, we are judged justly if we are sent to hell. We go to hell because we break God’s law, not because of belief. No one goes to hell for not believing in Jesus. Instead, God sends people to hell for violating His moral law.

ii. God does not owe anyone a pardon. A judge is never obliged to pardon the guilty. Justice requires punishment, not pardon. Justice also requires that God would not send anyone to hell who is innocent. Forgiveness is not obligatory; that is why it is grace. Those who never heard stand before God just as they are: guilty. God can forgive who He wants, the rest, all, still deserve punishment. This is not ‘unfair’ because God has not hidden Himself from anyone.

iii. He does not hide Himself. ‘Forever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature. So, they have no excuse for not knowing God.’¹¹‘In the past He permitted all the nations to go their own ways, but He never left them without evidence of Himself and His goodness. For instance, He sends you rain and good crops and gives you food and joyful hearts’¹²God reveals Himself through His Word, the Bible and through His works, nature.

iv. Humans do not seek God but run from Him. We read ‘people suppress the truth’¹³, and often go to great lengths to deny it and ‘exchange the truth for a lie’¹⁴Anyone who genuinely seeks God will receive the gospel of grace. For it is not because people cannot, but will not.

v. God actively seeks the human heart and He always responds to the seeking heart. ‘Come close to God, and God will come close to you.’¹⁵He loves us and wants no one to perish. ‘He does not want anyone to be destroyed but wants everyone to repent.’¹⁶‘But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.’¹⁷God is doing something to draw them. So, He will give them what they need to be saved, i.e., the Gospel¹⁸ They need to be seeking God’s mercy due to their guilt. The God they discover will be the true God. Those who reject Jesus reject the true God, their only solution for their sins. Either He pays for our sins, or we do. William Lane Craig “God will judge us on the knowledge we have, even if we have never heard of Christ Jesus, like the gentile Job, who had a personal relationship with God but could never have heard of Jesus, yet was still saved through Christ’s sacrificial death’

In short: Christians believe that Christ is the only way to God, to eternal life, based on scripture, and on the reality of the moral guilt that we all experience, on the righteous of God who needs to punish sin because He is righteous. Jesus is the only One dealing with the sinful nature of man and took the guilt onto Himself. We cannot overcome our daily moral failures. We cannot stand perfect before God. Through grace, accepting what Christ has done, we are freed from our guilt and failures, it’s paid, and we can inherit eternal life.

References

¹ John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

² Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

³ Jesus, the Only Way: 100 Verses by Gregory Koukl June 10, 2009

⁴ Matthew 16:15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

⁵ Matthew 26:62-64 Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” “You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

⁶ C.S. Lewis, Josh McDowell, Pascal

⁷ Romans 3:23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard

⁸ Galatians 3:10. For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law

⁹ Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.

¹⁰ Revelation 20:12 … the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done

¹¹ Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse

¹² Acts 14:16-17 In the past, he let all nations go their own way. Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.

¹³ Romans 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness

¹⁴ Romans 1:25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator…

¹⁵ James 4:8 Come near to God and he will come near to you…

¹⁶ 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord …. not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

¹⁷ Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

¹⁸ Acts 17:27 God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us.

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Click here for: Link to YouTube Video: Discussing the Facts of the Resurrection

This is a really important question. Christianity stands or falls on the evidence for this event. Is there enough support for the truth of this and to give an answer with confidence, you might ask? I believe there is strong historical evidence that Jesus did rise from the dead.

It is not generally accepted that people come back from the dead, but the evidence is overwhelming that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead. And I will tell you why I say this.

The resurrection is at the heart of the Christian faith. If the resurrection is shown not to have happened, Christianity will collapse into insignificance. If Christ was not raised from the dead, then holding on to this belief, ‘spreading the Gospel’, would all be in vain, not only worthless but misleading, a message deceiving people.

Christianity is not ‘blind faith’ asking us to believe what we do not see but is based on verifiable facts. The testability of the facts of the resurrection is of particular importance. In stark contrast to all other religions, which is not supported by verifiable facts, Christianity is testable. The resurrection in particular sets Christianity apart from all other religions. It leaves itself open to scrutiny, to claims that are testable. If the ‘evidence’ for the resurrection is found to be inaccurate, Christianity can be written off as a mythical story, a legend, a narrative hardly worth any consideration except that it misled hundreds of millions of people over the last 2000 years and nothing short of a tragedy.

To answer the question of the truth of the resurrection, we need to look carefully at the sources of knowledge available to us. Firstly, what are these sources and are they reliable? Do they represent the original text so we can know that we read today is what was written millennia ago and secondly, is the content of that that was originally written, reliable?

The Case for the Resurrection – discussion points

I. Sources of Knowledge and Reliability

  A. Sources

    1. Non-Biblical (extra-)

     2. Biblical manuscripts

B. Reliability of the manuscripts

II. Reliability of the Content

1. Changed lives

2. Birth of the Christian church that exploded into a worldwide Church

3. Academics (Christian and non-Christian) agree on a number of minimal facts about the resurrection

The Case for the Resurrection

I.                       The Available Sources and Reliability of the Sources

Ancient Biblical manuscripts describe the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. We also find descriptions of this in non-Biblical external Christian and non-Christian sources.

A. The Sources are a. the ancient manuscripts that were used to reconstruct the New Testament. b. Extra-Biblical ancient writings and c. Archeology. Do b. and c. support what was written in a. the ancient Biblical manuscripts?

1.  Non-Biblical (External) Support. Support for the truth of the New Testament is found in archeology as well as in ancient writings. a. Two examples of archeological findings that support the New Testament records are the existence of an ossuary of Caiaphas¹, the Roman-appointed Jewish high priest, who sent Jesus to Pontius Pilate for His execution and secondly an inscription of the name of Pontius Pilate on a tablet², the Roman ruler who gave Jesus over for crucifixion. An important side note is that not once in history has any archeological finding contrasted Biblical content. b. Several ancient writings support what is written in the New Testament. Josephus, Tacitus, Lucian, Thallus, and Pliny the Younger and others, all describe the life of Jesus, where He lived and died, that He did miracles as well as mention that Jesus claimed to be God. ‘We know 60 facts of the life of Jesus from sources outside the New Testament (the Biblical manuscripts), from 130 Christian and non-Christian sources, about His life. Seventeen of these non-Christian sources were written within 100-159 years of Jesus’ life.’ Gary Habermas³.

2.     The Biblical Evidence, the New Testament. How can we know that what was written 2 000 years ago is what we read in today’s reconstructed New Testament, and that it is trustworthy? We do not have a single original manuscript at our disposal, not of the Gospels nor any of the letters of the New Testament.

There are over 5,000 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, and nearly 20,000 in other languages (close to 10 000 in Latin Vulgate, 9 300 in other ancient languages) available to us today⁴. Today’s New Testament is reconstructed from all the different ancient manuscripts available.

A.   Reliability of the Sources

Are the available manuscripts reliable in communicating what was written in the original texts?

Historians evaluate the authenticity of ancient manuscripts on mainly three points.

1. How many copies are available – the more copies, the more reliable the reconstruction would be. The number of copies of ancient writings available today is 5,735 New Testament Greek manuscripts. The closest to this number in other ancient writings is Homer’s Illiad (a recount of the significant events of the final weeks of the Trojan War and the Greek siege of the city of Troy) with 643 copies⁵. On Plato, there are 219 manuscripts available.⁵

2. How large is the time gap from the original writing to the earliest manuscripts.  Homer’s Illiad 400 years, Plato 1300 years, and the earliest New Testament copies 35 years.⁶

3. How significant are the differences between the different copies/manuscripts. There are 400 000 differences between the numerous different New Testament manuscripts. However, the vast majority are spelling differences and different synonyms that were used. Less than one percent of these differences have significance in meaning and none of these differences affect the core doctrines or principal beliefs of Christianity.⁷

When was the New Testament written? Most researchers place the date of Jesus’ death at Passover time around the year 30. In the year 70, the Roman armies destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. The earliest New Testament books, the letters written by Paul, were composed in the decade of the 50s. In the mid-60s, James, Peter, and Paul were all killed. None of the four Gospels or the book of Acts, neither any of the 21 epistles (letters of Paul and others, e.g., James, Peter) mention the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, except for Jesus predicting it forty years earlier, before His crucifixion. One would expect that such a major event in the life of the Jews, would have been mentioned unless the books were written before it happened. It is, therefore, reasonable to accept that the Gospels, Acts, and letters of Paul and others were written pre-A.D. 70. Thus around 35 years after the event.

Homer’s Illiad, (like the Bible of the ancient Greeks) was composed in 800 BC by Homer with an account of the Trojan war that was fought around 12th or 11th century BC – a 400-year lapse.

Therefore, the large number of manuscripts, the short period from when they were written to the first manuscripts, the insignificant differences between the copies, and the short period between the actual events and when the original was written, makes a very strong case for the confidence one can have that the reconstructed books of the New Testament are the same as the original writings penned nearly 2,000 years ago and that the content is reliable.

II.        The Reliability of the Content of the Manuscripts

How do we know that what was written is true? We have tried to beyond reasonable doubt, establish that the New Testament is a reliable source of what was written about the life and death and the resurrection of Christ. But can we be sure that what was written actually happened and was not made up by the writers?

If the sources are found to be reliable, how can we be sure that what was written in them is true, a true reflection of what really happened? Here we will consider, amongst many facts, the dramatic and radical changes that took place in peoples’ lives that claimed to have seen the risen Christ and interacted with Him, and the dramatic explosion of the Christian church into a worldwide movement despite brutal persecution.

1. Changed lives. In the scriptures Jesus’ disciples claimed to have seen and interacted with the risen Christ. We read that it radically and dramatically changed their lives from timid scared followers of Jesus afraid of the Jewish authorities into bold preachers that would directly disobey the authorities ‘We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard’ Acts 4:20. They were prepared to be imprisoned and to die for what they believed was true. Paul, a devote Jewish pharisee, filled with zeal for God, for Judaism, and for the Jewish tradition was prosecuting the church but dramatically changed when he encountered the risen Christ. (Galatians 1:11-14) He became a most zealous follower of Christ and wrote most of the new Testament letters.  James, Jesus’ brother, and a skeptic was converted and became one of the prominent leaders of the Christian faith in Jerusalem.

Let us look in particular at what Paul wrote and witnessed. We read in 1 Corinthians 15: 3-4 and 14. 3 ‘For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.’ This account was written much earlier than the Gospels’ time of writing, around AD 54-57, at most 27 years after the crucifixion.

2. The Christian church was born. The Christian church was born at this time and exploded into a worldwide Christian movement spreading the news and meaning of the resurrection as the central theme, because of the absolute confidence of these men in what they experienced. A movement that has 2.3 billion followers today despite the fact that most of the disciples and Paul were tortured and martyred and so many millions more Christians to follow, persecuted and many martyred throughout history to this day. Something dramatic touched them and is still touching them confirming what they saw. The risen Christ Jesus said: “… I am always with you until the end of time.” Matthew 28:20. His tangible presence. Colossians 1:22. And a  love that compels them. 2 Corinthians 5:14

3. Scholars agree on a number of minimal facts about the resurrection. The available information that we find in all of the manuscripts makes the most sense in coherence and in a logical progression of the narratives and argues for the truth of the resurrection. The belief that the disciples, Paul, and many other witnesses (500, many still alive at the time of Paul’s writing, 1 Corinthians 15:6) saw the risen Christ is the best explanation of the data available today.

‘On the basis of accepted principles of textual and historical analysis, the Gospel records are found to be trustworthy historical documents — primary source evidence concerning the life of Jesus of Nazareth.’ About 95% of New Testament scholars, that is, academics anywhere on the theological spectrum (Christian and non-Christian), agree with a number of minimal facts about the resurrection as assembled from the Biblical and extra-Biblical ancient manuscripts. Dr. Gary Habermas.³

William Lane Craig and Gary Habermas catalogs the historical data concerning the resurrection, twelve historical facts from the ancient Biblical and extra-Biblical manuscripts that even the harshest, most skeptical critics consider to be true:

1) Jesus died by crucifixion 2) He was buried 3) Jesus’ death caused the disciples to despair and lose hope, believing that his life was ended 4) The tomb was discovered to be empty just a few days later 5) The disciples had experiences which they believed were literal appearances of the risen Jesus 6) The disciples were transformed from doubters who were afraid to identify themselves with Jesus to bold proclaimers of his death and resurrection 7) This message was the center of preaching in the early church 8) This message was especially proclaimed in Jerusalem, where Jesus died and was buried shortly before 9) As a result of this preaching the church was born and grew 10) Sunday became the primary day of worship 11) James, who had been a skeptic, was converted to the faith when he also believed he saw the resurrected Jesus 12) A few years later, Paul was also converted by an experience which he, likewise, believed to be an appearance of the risen Jesus.

All the available facts argue for the resurrection and the fact that all other theories trying to explain away the resurrection fail and have to yield to the conclusion that Paul and disciples really saw the risen Christ. Liars do not make martyrs.

Some of the many different theories that try to explain away the resurrection are the unknown tomb theory, the wrong tomb theory, the legend theory, twin theory (Jesus had a twin brother), hallucination theory and more. We can test these theories against known facts and all have been shown not to be supported by facts or logic and have failed.⁸

Lord Darling, formerly Lord Chief Justice of England, wrote: “On that greatest point (the resurrection of Christ) we are not merely asked to have faith. In its favor as a living truth there exists such overwhelming evidence, positive and negative, factual and circumstantial, that no intelligent jury in the world could fail to bring in the verdict that the resurrection story is true.”⁹  

If Jesus claimed to be deity and He was in fact raised from the dead, then this would be a very powerful argument for His deity. His resurrection would confirm the claims of Jesus, including His claim to be God. If Jesus was indeed raised from the dead, that what He predicted, His death and resurrection, and He claimed to be God, we should give Him our fullest attention and adoration.

 

References

¹ Israeli, Yael, and Mevorach, David, Cradle of Christianity, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 2000, English / Hebrew

² Caesarea, Israel. New Testament Period. Pontius Pilate, (26-37 AD), Limestone, inscribed 82.0 cm H, 65.0 cm W. Building Dedication, 4 Lines of Writing (Latin). Date of Discovery: 1961. Israel Museum (Jerusalem). AE 1963 no. 104

^3. Gary Habermas. New Testament scholar and Christian apologist who frequently writes and lectures on the resurrection of Jesus. He is a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Theology at Liberty University.

⁴ McDowell, The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict, 34-36.

⁵ Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible, Moody, Chicago, Revised and Expanded 1986, 366-67.

⁶ http://generationword.com/_notes/2.html

⁷400,000+ Scribal Errors in The Greek New Testament Manuscripts What Assurance Do We Have that We Can Trust the Bible? by Edward D. Andrews

⁸ Josh McDowell The Resurrection Factor, p. 76

^9. From ‘ The Day Death Died’, p.15. Michael Green (Author)’

https://youtu.be/tijlW4kSU-g

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I. When you are wronged by a friend or foe, to forgive is to heal your hurt.

i. This healing of your heart will set you free from being trapped by negative feelings. The one who has wronged you is not involved in this process. This is about you, being set free from carrying the baggage of unforgiveness and the negative effects it will have on you. It will also soften your attitude towards the person that wronged you.

ii. Your relationship with this person, however, cannot be restored unless he/she comes to you, confesses the wrongdoing, say that they are sorry, and ask for forgiveness. This will restore trust and restore the relationship. Approaching you will also be so much easier for him/her sensing your positive attitude as a result of your act of forgiveness, even without you having said a word.

Two other possible scenarios:

1. Though, even without you having forgiven him, he still carries the moral obligation to ask your forgiveness, to repent, and confess the wrongdoing. But without your forgiveness, the relationships cannot be healed.
2. If you have forgiven the wrong against you, but the wrongdoer has not confessed and repented, it may leave you with an unfulfilled feeling of sadness because of the broken relationship that cannot be healed and there is very little you can do about it but to live in love and integrity, and in the hope that he/she will come back to you.

Thus, you forgive and get inner healing. But to restore the relationship he/she has to confess his/her wrongdoing towards you. This confession will complete the process and mutual trust will be the basis of a restored relationship.

And, of course, forgiveness, confession, and repentance have to come from the heart to have any meaning. Mere words will accomplish nothing.

II. With God, it is, to no surprise, remarkably similar.

Forgiveness is possible for every human being. He took our sin, our wrongdoing against Him, onto Himself on the cross (whether committed directly against Him or indirectly by sinning against fellow man). This forgiveness stands as a solid rock.

But, unless we confess and repent, our relationship with Him cannot be restored. John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just (to the cross, to His promise) to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The word confess implies agreeing with God about how bad our sin is and saying sorry. Repentance, or turning away from it, is part of this confession. For those who have not been pardoned by Christ, every sin that is unconfessed is unforgiven, yet in the full potential of complete forgiveness, it was already dealt with at the cross.

Though forgiveness is freely available, our relationship with Him will stay broken until we confess and repent.

Thus, we sin (just try to live one day without doing anything morally wrong by thoughts, words, or deeds). Our relationship is broken with the One whom we are sinning against, our Creator God. Forgiveness was made available to all on the cross, all who would confess and repent. This restores our relationship with God.

‘So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.’ Romans 5:11

‘This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!’ 2 Corinthians 5:17

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Happiness and Meaning in Life

‘What is the meaning of life? To be happy and useful.’ Dalai Lama– the 14th Dalai Lama born Lhamo Dhondup, 6 July 1935, a monk of the Gelug school, the newest school of Tibetan Buddhism

‘The most important thing is to enjoy your life – to be happy – it’s all that matters.’ Audrey Hepburn -British actress and humanitarian.

The Reality, however, is:

‘I think I’ve discovered the secret of life – you just hang around until you get used to it.’ Charles M. Schulz– American cartoonist and creator of the comic strip Peanuts

‘It would seem like life is designed to frustrate us in our quest to find happiness.’ Sam Harris – an American author, philosopher, neuroscientist. New age atheist.

‘I love walking in the rain because no one can see my tears.’ Charlie Chaplin – Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin KBE was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer

‘Smile though your heart is aching. Smile, even though it’s breaking.’ From the song ‘Smile’ – Music by Charles Chaplin, Lyrics by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons

‘The mass of men leads lives of quiet desperation.’ Henry David Thoreau– an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher.

‘Live is hard, bloody hard.’ Jordan Peterson– Canadian clinical psychologist and a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto.

‘Life is hard and then you die.’ Woody Allan– an American director, writer, actor, and comedian. Agnostic.

Happiness is a feeling or expression of joy – Collins Concise Dictionary. It is a fleeting emotion, a temporary feeling of excitement, now up, then down. An ever-evading dream. Grab it in the moment and soon it’s gone again. Build your life on this dream and times of heartache and desperation will soon be crouching at your door.  It is a temporary emotion.

It is Meaning that gives meaning to life.

‘Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in Thee.’ ― St Augustine – a theologian, philosopher AD 354-430.

‘When I finally reached the point where I expected the rest of my life to be very difficult, I suddenly found myself wholly changed. My soul, which had always been troubled, finally came to rest in a profound inner-piece.’ ‘God often allows us to go through difficulties to purify our souls and to teach us to rely on Him more (In this one rejoices greatly, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, which is much more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested and purified by fire, may be found to result in [your] praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:6-7).  Brother Lawrence – a 17th-century Carmelite friar. From the book ‘The Practice of the Presence of God’ – written over three hundred years ago.

I said to myself, “Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things’ in life.” But I found that this, too, was meaningless – Ecclesiastes 2:1 So I came to hate life because everything done here under the sun is so troubling. Everything is meaningless—like chasing the wind – Ecclesiastes 2:17 Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! – Ecclesiastes 5:10 In the few days of our meaningless lives, who knows how our days can best be spent? Our lives are like a shadow – Ecclesiastes 6:12 When all has been heard, the end of the matter is: fear God – worship Him with awe-filled reverence, knowing that He is almighty God – and keep His commandments, for this applies to every person. Ecclesiastes 12:13. “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” And Jesus replied to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself – that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for others-.’” Matthew 22: 36-39

The question of the meaning of life may be asked in many ways, such as ‘Why are we here?’ or ‘Does my life have a purpose?’ The Bible shows that our purpose in life is to build a friendship with God.

Consider some of these fundamental truths that the Bible reveals:

God is our Creator. “It is God that has made us, and not we ourselves.” — Know and fully recognize with gratitude that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, not we ourselves and we are His. We are His people Psalm 100:3 “Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they exist, and were created and brought into being.” Revelation 4:11. God has a purpose for everything He creates, including us. — For the Lord, who created the heavens (He is God, who formed the earth and made it; He established it and did not create it to be a wasteland, but formed it to be inhabited) says this, “I am the Lord, and there is no one else.” Isaiah 45:18.

‘The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever’ ― Westminster Catechism – 1646-7 by the Westminster Assembly, a synod of English and Scottish theologians and laymen.

1. To glorify God: For from Him all things originate and through Him all things live and exist and to Him are all things directed. To Him be glory and honor forever! Amen.; Romans 11:36 You were bought with a price, you were actually purchased with the precious blood of Jesus and made His own. So then, honor and glorify God with your body. 1 Corinthians 6:20 “Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they exist, and were created and brought into being.” Revelation 4:11
2. To enjoy Him forever: How blessed, fortunate, prosperous, and favored are the people whose God is the Lord! Psalm 144:15 “Behold, God, my salvation! I will trust and not be afraid, For the Lord God is my strength and song; Yes, He has become my salvation.” Isaiah 12:2 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people Luke 2:10 Rejoice in the Lord always, delight, take pleasure in Him; again I will say, rejoice! Philippians 4:4

Jesus the Christ: Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, following Me as My disciple, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest, renewal, blessed quiet, for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:29-30

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world John 16:33

Peace I leave with you; My perfect peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge. John 14:27

And the peace of God, that peace which reassures the heart, that peace which transcends all understanding, that peace which stands guard over your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus is yours. Philippians 4:7

This transcends, far exceeds happiness. Knowing God in a personal relationship, knowing, and being assured of the purpose of one’s exitance is the ultimate meaning in life.

Standing firmly on this rock of meaning, the waves of happiness that come and go, would suddenly lose their high priority in life. Enjoy happiness when it comes. And when it’s gone meaning will carry you to deeper levels in your love for God, for others.

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Two people, from privileged backgrounds, went to Africa: one to Uganda, and one to The Gambia. Both were confronted with desperate situations of human poverty and human suffering.

One could not reconcile such suffering with a loving God who would allow it, who would not do something about it (is He not omnipotent?) and lost his faith – a well-known worship leader.* He left the church in search of answers.

The other** was intensely touched by the suffering he saw ‘Looking into their eyes, realizing they are the same as I am, created in the image of God, with the same needs and aspirations. The only difference is the place and circumstances we were born and neither of us had any say in that. Overwhelmed by knowing how blessed I am, I knew nothing in my life would be the same. Often crying in the plane on my way home. I need to share my blessings, I can not keep[ it to myself. I realized God was also blessing us to test our hearts – what are you doing with your blessings? I went home, gave it all up, all that I had, to serve God by serving the poor from this time onward.’

“I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these, you did for Me” Matthew 25:40. Christ identifying with the suffering of this world, relieving His pain as we relieve their pain. One at a time. ‘It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness’

‘LET MY HEART BE BROKEN BY THE THINGS THAT BREAK THE HEART OF GOD.’ – Bob Pierce

The words of Teresa of Avila, almost half a millennium ago:

‘Christ has no body now on earth but yours; no hands but yours; no feet but yours.

Yours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ must look out on the world.’

From generation to generation He has heard their cries, shared their tears and asked His people again and again, ‘Who will go?’***

It’s not God who ignores the heart-cries of the poor, it’s us: you and me, His people around the world.

The simple key to fighting injustice and unlocking your highest destiny is the word ‘yes’ addressed to God. Perhaps He is waiting for you in a prayer room somewhere even now, inviting you to seek His Face to allow your heart to be broken with His deep concerns. Perhaps He is waiting to wreck your life for good; longing to give you the commission for which you were born. There is only one way to find out; See His face with a sincere heart.  – From ‘Dirty Glory – Go where your prayers take you’ Pete Greig p 147 – 8

*  1. Jon Steingard. ‘Hawk Nelson’

   2. Where is God in Suffering? Jon Steingard & Amy Orr-Ewing  https://youtu.be/feRpdJJ50ds

** 1. Tertius Venter www.tertius26.org

    2. God and Suffering:  https://youtu.be/upwtiESUukI   

*** ‘Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” and I said, “Here am I. send me!”Isaiah 6:8

GRACE – sometimes I think I understand more about suffering than grace.

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The Bible is God inspired. Science God created. Our task is to figure out this oneness.

Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642). There are two sources of knowledge of knowing God. The Book of God’s Word and The Book of God’s Work. (Bible and Science)

It is equally wrong and damaging for the religious fundamentalist to ignore the facts of science as it is for the science fundamentalist to ignore Biblical and spiritual truths.

It is not that people cannot believe, but will not.

Romans 1:20 ‘For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.’

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What does it mean ‘Touched by God’? Is it real? Or just an emotion, a delusion? We will look at many encounters with God, in the Bible, in history, today.  Life-changing encounters that often changed history in dramatic ways.

Hagar was the slave-wife of Abraham. She became pregnant when Abraham and Sarah became impatient with God, not believing Him really. With the strife between Hagar and Sarah, Hagar was sent away. God in the form of an angel came to her in the desert and told her to go back to Abraham and Sarah. He promised her that the son she was carrying will become a great nation and she should call him Ishmael. Hagar’s response was in Genesis 16:13 13 ‘She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” – her encounter with the living God. This slave girl’s life was never the same and her name established in human history.

After 40 chapters of Job struggling with God, after he had lost everything as an ‘innocent’, good and righteous person, he declares in Job 42:5, after God spoke to him and confronted him, ‘“but now my eyes have seen You”’ and verse 10 ‘God restored him.’ He has seen God, who God is, encountered the living God, understood more of who God is, and his life was changed in a dramatic way.

There are many reasons why people believe in God, least of which should be emotional justifications or ‘blind faith’. Are there good rational reasons to believe in God?  The two reasons why I believe in God is first, my personal experiences of His love and presence daily and the profound changes that took place in my life that far exceeds mere emotional experiences and secondly, confirming my experiences, the good evidence for His existence. The radical change that took place in my heart was not from a rational decision but in response to an overwhelming Love that became rational. www.torquetalk.nl

My story, my encounter with the living Christ; https://youtu.be/Ukv5c50cR1E

Jacob with a name meaning ‘deceiver’ had to flee for his life after he deceived his brother Esau out of his firstborn right. Years later God told him to go back to the land of his birth and also face his brother. The night before he was to meet his brother, he had a dream: God appeared to him in the form of an angel and the whole night he wrestled with God. In Genesis 32: 30 Jacob named the place Peniel (which means “face of God”), for he said, “I have seen God face to face”  and God changed his name changed from Jacob – the deceiver to Israel – people who struggle with God, being engaged with God. It is often in our struggles that we meet God and throughout our lives we are engaged with the living One, struggling. After this encounter, nothing was the same for Jacob and he became the father of the nation of Israel into which the Messiah was born.

Paul. A devote Pharisee and committed to God and the Jewish religion was determined to destroy the new ‘sect’ of Christ-followers but suddenly overwhelmed by God on his way to Damascus, on his way to arrest and put Christ-followers in jail, destroy the newly formed church.  

A bright light surrounded him and his party traveling with him. Acts 9:4 ‘He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting Me?” 5 “Who are You, lord?” Saul asked. A rhetorical question really. Paul knew who he was persecuting.

Paul had the most radical change in his life when encountering the living Christ. He later declared in 1 Corinthians 9:1 ‘Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?’ Instead of persecuting the church, he became the most famous spokesman for Christ and wrote 13 letters/books of the New Testament that profoundly influenced human history and still do.

Blaise Pascal was one of the greatest mathematicians, physicists and engineers of all time. While still in his teens he invented the first mechanical calculator – a precursor to modern computers. He created at least two new fields of mathematical research. His Law of Probability is still used by economists today. His name has been lent to a unit of pressure and a programming language. He developed the first bus route for Paris. But the defining moment of Pascal’s life came on in November 1654 between 10.30 and 12.30 at night. Often described as his ‘Night of Fire’, we only know about it because of some Words written secretly on a slip of paper and sewn into his jacket, discovered at last by a curious servant after the great man death:

Fire.

God of Abraham,

God of Isaac, God of Jacob,

not of philosophers and scholars.

Certainty certainty,

heartfelt joy, peace.

God of Jesus Christ.

That mysterious encounter with God changed Pascal’s life. Thereafter he turned his intellect towards theology and philosophy. His book Pensées is widely considered a masterpiece of prose.

Martin Luther King’s encounter

One night after a particularly threatening phone call, Martin Luther King Jr got out of bed, made coffee, and bowed at his kitchen table. He was worried about his family and the burden of his responsibilities weighed heavily on his shoulders. ‘Lord/ he prayed aloud, ‘I am taking a stand for what I believe is right. The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they will falter. I am at the end of my powers. I have nothing left. I have come to the point where I can’t face it alone.’ Later he told his wife, ‘At that moment, I experienced the presence of the Divine as I had never experienced Him before.’ Martin Luther King Jr was imbued with a new sense of confidence through that encounter. In fact, his wife would later recall that it was a turning point, after which he became willing and able to face anything.

Have you had an encounter with the Living Christ?

‘You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.’ Jeremiah 29:13

Not everyone’s encounter with the living Christ is as dramatic as Paul and others. It is however very personal and very unique and can happen in a moment but in many also over a period of weeks, months, years. Like David growing closer and closer to God over the years of fleeing from Saul, and writing most of the Psalms.

None of the people I mentioned, including myself, did not have a relationship with God prior to their encounter with God. Andrew Murray, Scottish/South African missionary and writer of at least 30 Christian books, talk about a ‘second blessing’. A rebirth. John 3: 3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. The spiritual life that Paul talks about in Romans 8, the whole chapter and specifically v 15 …you received God’s Spirit when He adopted you as His own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” (Abba = term expressing warm affection and family confidence.) 16 For His Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. (Tim Keller stated that the closest we come to the true meaning of Abba is ‘daddy’ and that is what we can call our Father in heaven)

To get into such a close intimate relationship with God, we can exclaim with Paul: 21 ‘For me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. 23 … I long to go and be with Christ, …’

How do we get there, experience such life-changing encounters?

Floyd McClung. Writer of ‘The Father Heart of God’

How do I follow God?

‘Ask God to show you His glory (who He is), so much that you fall

in love with Him.

After this you will do anything for Him’

‘You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.’ Jeremiah 29:13

Tim Keller

‘Jesus the Christ asks for far more than you ever thought but offers far more than you ever dreamed.’

To be touched by God, to have an encounter with Him, is profoundly deeper than a mere emotional experience, it is life-changing and can be confirmed by the rational evidence for the truth and reliability of the Gospels and the resurrection of Christ.

Head knowledge is informative, really important, but heart knowledge transforms our lives. ‘And [I pray] that the eyes of your heart [the very center and core of your being] may be enlightened [flooded with light by the Holy Spirit]’ Ephesians 1:18 AMP

Have you had an encounter with the Living God, Christ, our LORD and God? If not, I urge you, seek Him and you’ll experience the deepest reason for being alive.

YouTube version: https://youtu.be/_GVJI3IixxM

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