10 Reasons To Believe In God And Jesus

Whether you are an atheist, agnostic or a person who is struggling to believe, have little faith or great faith there is a set of logistical thinking that can be applied to understand the probability of God as indicated in the Old and New testaments. The following logic applies:
  1. The existence of God is a 50/50 probability. He either exists or he does not. God is either true or false. If true, then ALL true. If false, all false.

  2. Our decision to reject or accept the existence of God is also a 50/50 probability. Either right or wrong.

  3. Our decision has a potential twofold outcome: If God is FALSE, then whether we accept or reject God, the consequences is irrelevant. If God is TRUE, then our decision to accept or reject God will have eternal consequences.

  4. The same logic applies to Jesus Christ. The proposition of his divinity is 50/50 probability. He was either the unique, divine Son of God or He was not. It is either true or false. If true, all true. If false, all false.

  5. What if Jesus was a mad man who believed his own delusion? Or a liar? This is possible. But is it probable? While Jesus may have died on the cross as a mad man who believed his own delusion, what is the probability that his disciples, (who may have followed him knowing he was a lying mad man for some perceived potential power or political gain), would follow him to death?

  6. While one disciple, or even two could have been manipulated by Jesus’ charisma to die for him, what is the probability that 11 disciples (Judas killed himself) would willingly die for a mad liar?

  7. Re-framing the question: What is the probability they wouldn’t have died for a mad liar? All they had to do to avoid death was to deny Jesus as the risen Son of God after his execution. They did not deny the resurrection. All eleven apostles stuck to their testimonies until their death when executed by Jewish and Roman officials.

  8. The apostles must have seen something that compelled them to stick to their testimony to the point of death. That single something could only be the resurrected Jesus.

  9. While this does not factually prove the existence or truth of God or Jesus, it does slightly tip the scales of probability in favor of God and Jesus to 51/49 in favor of God.

  10. Given this analysis, if you are not a believer, perhaps you should rethink your decision to accept Jesus into your life. The decision you make will be either right or wrong. And there are only three possible outcomes: No consequence, eternal life or eternal death in hell without God, for eternity.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

The Coming Of Jesus Foretold In The Old Testament

Did God foretell the coming of Jesus through the prophets in the Old Testament? The answer is yes… Let’s take a look at some scripture that first point to the plurality of God and then some of the key prophesies pointing to Jesus Christ.

The plurality of God:

Gen 1:26 And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness:

The term "let us" and… "Make in our image" specifically indicates a plurality of God. Otherwise He would have said: Let Me make man in My image… The question then becomes what is meant by the term "us"? Common sense dictates that it means God and someone else and this can either be one other person, more than one person, a race or life form similar to the image of God.

It could also be the Holy Trinity of God-The Father, God-The Son and God-The Holy Spirit. The obvious question then becomes: how can God be three persons in one? Theologians have struggled over this issue for a long time but it is generally held that the Godhead is much like a three-leaf clover. While a three-leaf clover is one plant, it has three unique and independent leaves which are each dependent on the one stem. While the answer is not known for sure, we can assume that each person of the Trinity (The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit) are one and the same God.

The first prediction of Jesus when God was talking to the serpent Satan in the Garden of Eden:

Gen 3:15 and I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel.

In this prophetic statement God indicated that there was going to be a conflict between Satan and Jesus (Jesus being born from the virgin Mary-the woman’s seed). God further states that "he" (meaning Jesus) would wound Satan’s head when Satan bruised Jesus’ heel (at the cross). In other words, Satan thought he won the battle with Jesus when he killed him at the cross (bruised Jesus’ foot) but Jesus delivered a crushing blow to Satan’s head through the resurrection and redemption of mankind. How is this known? There are many prophecies pointing toward Jesus coming to earth, the most clear are from the prophet Isaiah:

Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.

And,

Isa 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

And,

Isa 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
Isa 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
Isa 53:3 He is despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isa 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgression, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isa 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.
Isa 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off from the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Isa 53:9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death: because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Isa 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Isa 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

And, (from the book of Psalms)

Psa 22:16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

Psa 22:18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

You might say this is just circumstantial…keep in mind the book of genesis describes the events of creation over 6,000 years ago and the prophet Isaiah wrote his prophecies about 800 years before the appearance of Jesus on earth. Coincidence? Circumstantial? Or prophecy?

The biblical description of the crucifixion of Christ so accurately portrays Christ’s suffering that it can not be chalked off as a "lucky" prediction.

Posted by Jim Hart at 6:47 PM
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