A Grounded Faith
“If there is no
resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our
preaching is useless and so is our faith.” (1 Corinthians 15:13,14)
Having
visited the Holy Land a while back, I find myself more convinced than ever that
God has made our faith so easy to believe.
He has given us so many ways to verify the backdrop of Scripture that
you almost have to work at it to not believe what the Bible says. The nation of Israel, only 360 miles long and
60 miles wide, is only the size of Vermont but large enough to encompass over
90% of the events of the Bible. This
small piece of land, where Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East meet, was
strategically picked as the land where God touched down.
As I
sat in a chair and read my Bible on the south shore of the Sea of Galilee, I
pictured Jesus walking along and calling His disciples from net-menders to
life-changers. (Mark 3:16ff)
Then I stood on the northern end of Galilee, at the sight of the Mount
of Beatitudes, and couldn’t help but be reminded of Christ’s tradition-breaking
message of the Sermon on the Mount and its timeless themes. (Matthew 5-7) Soon, as I walked by the excavations of
Jericho, I envisioned the Joshua-led seven-day march that culminated in the
collapse of the city and another Israel victory. (Joshua 6)
And later, strolling along the Jerusalem wall, I could almost hear
Nehemiah’s team hammering and rebuilding the city following the exile in that
proximity. (Nehemiah 1)
Many
faiths and religions are so spiritually minded…they are no earthly good. Their ideas and philosophies are based in
theory rather than practicum. Not so
with Christianity. Everything happened
with real people, in real places, at a real time in history. And they all serve to remind us that our
beliefs are grounded in solid facts and faces.
Put it under an attorney’s cross-examination and you find proof of
overwhelming proportions. Consider the
facts:
1) The
Evidence of our Faith: Evidence is defined
at something legally submitted to a court to ascertain the truth of a
matter. One such example is the Bedouin
shepherd discoveries in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
In 1947, a young boy came upon the scrolls of Isaiah (and other books)
that were written 200 years prior to Christ’s birth with writings pertaining
exactly to over 90% of the Old Testament books.
This revealed that the prophecies of Christ were written and confirmed
before He was even born.
2) The
History of our Faith: History refers to
a chronological record of significant events that include an explanation of
their causes. Someone once said,
“History is His-Story,” meaning Jesus as God embedded Himself into our timeline
for everyone to see and experience. The
division of A.D. and B.C. denote the most significant figure in history to whom
we have adjusted our calendars.
3) The
Rationality of our Faith:
Rationality is an explanation of controlling principles of opinion,
belief, practices or phenomena. When it
comes to Christ and His claims, as C.S. Lewis mentioned, there are only three
options..Liar, Lunatic or Lord. Everyone
will choose.
But the
strongest statement of the Christian faith came on a plot of land on the
outskirts of Old Jerusalem where, almost 2,000 years ago, a cross held a man in
place. Soon, thereafter, He was laid in a tomb in a tiny garden
which stands empty as a reminder of victory over sin, death, and hell. The apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians
15:13,14, “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has
been raises. And if Christ has not been
raised, our preaching is useless and so is our faith.” Conversely, because He did…we do too.
Some
people question whether that old, rugged cross and a barren, empty grave could
really make a difference. But it’s not that
hard to believe when you think about it.
Terry Risser
Reflections:
1) Why
is a variety of evidence importance to a faith?
2)
What most convinced you to follow Christ?
Consider reading the Word today:
Copyright 2014- Terry Risser
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