Is Faith in Jesus Christ Reasonable?

How many people in the world believe in Jesus as the Son of God? How many believe in something else?

Christianity		31.5%
Islam		23.2%
Unaffiliated		16.3%
Hinduism		15.0%
Buddhism		7.1%
Folk religions		5.9%
Other		0.8%
Pew Research Center, 2012[1]

64% of Americans believe in the God of the Bible and 90% believe that Jesus was a historical figure.

But personally, to believe in Jesus and to be ‘all in’ I need more. I am a critical thinker. I need evidence upon evidence to believe in something. My heart follows my head, not vice-versa. I think my way into believing something. I can’t take leaps into darkness. Can following Jesus be a logical step into the light instead?

These are some words from an apostle of Jesus named John.

1 John 1:1-4

We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.

The apostles were with Jesus physically. The saw him, embraced him, listened to him, watched him do incredible miracles. They were with him day in and day out. They were commissioned by him to explain his message (NT).  They were fully convinced that he was more than a man. He was the promised Savior of all mankind. He was eternal (1). He was life itself (2). They believed through faith in Him all people can be in God’s kingdom, having the forgiveness of sins and eternal life (3). They believed that he was the source of everlasting joy (4).

      They were willing to die rather than recant this faith. Most of them were martyred, killed for believing. Was it in any way logical to believe like this, not just in a philosophy, but in a person, so strongly that you would willingly give up your life? I think so.

Here are a few reasons I believe.

Miracles - not the first thing most people associate with logic

The New Testament is full of the miracles of Jesus. It describes him healing the sick, blind, lame, deaf, people crippled from birth, blind from birth, even putting body parts back on that had been severed and bringing the dead back to life. Having these things recorded in the bible is not enough to produce my belief or fortify my faith. In fact, it wasn’t that these things were recorded in the Bible at all that caused me to follow Jesus. It was that the actions were described outside of the Bible, by non-Christians in what scholars call extra-biblical literature. Many of these writers were antagonistic to Christianity.

To name a few:

Josephus – 1^st century Jewish historian

The Rabbinics – Jewish religious leaders

Greco-Roman writings – Porphyry, Heirocles, and Julian

Excerpts of these writings can be seen at:

http://www.rationalchristianity.net/jesus_extrabib.html

The main thing that stood out as I read these accounts is that they spoke of Jesus’ miracles as a matter of fact. They used words like, “no one can deny he did miraculous deeds.” The Jewish leaders just attributed them to Beelzebub (the prince of demons, Satan) and the Greco-Romans said he was an incredible sorcerer. But no one said he faked them.

Matthew 12:23-24

23 The crowd was amazed and asked, “Could it be that Jesus is the Son of David, the Messiah?”24 But when the Pharisees heard about the miracle, they said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons.”

The astounding thing to me is that no one, not even his enemies said he is a FAKE, a charlatan. They just said he did the miracles by the power of Satan or sorcery. This is not true of any other person in history. So, if I am going to place faith in a Savior (someone who claimed to be my source of forgiveness and eternal life) this causes Jesus to be my first and logical choice…but that is not all.

Prophecies

There are hundreds of Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament. Forty-four of these prophecies are about specific experiences that the Messiah (anointed Savior) would have during his lifetime. Some have said that Jesus just read them and replicated them. But, how do you choose where to be born?

Micah 5:2 - Written in the 8th century B.C.

"But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
are only a small village among all the people of Judah.
Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you,
 one whose origins are from the distant past."

Psalm 22 is a Messianic Psalm written more than a thousand years before Jesus was born. It describes his crucifixion, yet the process of crucifixion would not be invented for another 600 years.

Psalm 22:16-18

“My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs;
 an evil gang closes in on me.
 They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones.
 My enemies stare at me and gloat. They divide my garments among themselves
and throw dice for my clothing.”

Isaiah prophecies about the Messiah 700 years before Jesus was born. He does it all in past tense to express the certainty of its occurance.

Isaiah 53:3-9

“He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
 He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
 a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all. He was oppressed and treated harshly,
yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth.  Unjustly condemned,
he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down
 for the rebellion of my people. He had done no wrong 
and had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a criminal;
he was put in a rich man's grave."

I watched someone read this passage to college students who said they did not believe the Bible or that Jesus was the Son of God. After reading it, the man asked the students who was being described here in the Bible. They all said, “Jesus.” These words were written 700 years before Jesus was born! They describe His life so clearly that even unbelieving, un-churched college students recognize immediately that the words describe Jesus.

There are many religions and many historical religious leaders. There are many who have claimed to have life’s answers. But how many of them caused people (who were well-known by their communities) born blind, deaf, and disabled to be healed and whole? How many of them raised the dead to life? How many of them fed thousands with a few fish and loaves and had twelve baskets left over when everyone was full? The answer is none. How many of those who claim to have answers had hundreds of prophecies written about their lives hundreds of years before they were born? None.

There is only one Savior.

Jesus claimed to be the Son of God and the Savior of our souls. He deserves to be the Lord of our lives. He lived a perfect life and willingly suffered, giving that life up as the sacrifice for human sin and rebellion. Then, the ultimate miracle happened. He conquered death, rose up from the grave and taught people, in groups as large as 500 for 40 more days before He ascended back to the Father. That is why people were more than willing to die for this faith. They knew that He was the source of eternal life and physical death, through Jesus becomes the doorway real life, abundant, eternal, and full of joy.

Jesus promises to save all who have faith to receive Him. Faith in Jesus is logical. Receiving Him by faith is reasonable. A prayer similar to this one helped me cinch my decision to receive Christ. Maybe it will help you.

Jesus, I believe in you. You are the Son of God and the Savior of our souls. Come into my life and save me. Forgive my many sins. Help me to follow you as my Lord, I want you to lead my life. You gave your life for me and now I give my life to you. Amen

If you made the decision to follow Jesus I would love to know! 

email me at restorationchurch.tim@gmail.com

Hearing His Voice

I am sharing this in the hope that someone will be encouraged and hear God, maybe for the first time. I am not highlighting my holiness. To the contrary, I am sharing some ways God graciously dusts me off time and again and gives me direction for life's often-arduous journey. If He does it for me, He’ll do it for you. I’m nothing special. I’ve just learned that if I am to hear God, I have to decide pay attention in these ways.

Holy habits. A holy habit is something I choose to do regularly that restores and transforms my thinking. Romans 12:2a says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”. I am writing these notes as an expression of a holy habit. I feel the need to spend time in Bible reading, devotional reading, and prayer in the morning. I need this time for God to shape my soul and strengthen me for life in the flesh suit. I need more than this, but I definitely need this. It helps my soul to write some of it down. It also helps me to have a ‘prayer of examen’ at the end of my day (I have a blog entry on how to do this exercise). There are lots of holy habits, sometimes called spiritual disciplines. Here is a list of some examples.

The Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God speaks to me when I am most willing to do what He says. The result of allowing the Holy Spirit to lead me to some action ALWAYS fills my soul with what the Bible describes as the ‘fullness of God’ (Ephesians 3:19). Following the Spirit’s leading involves me becoming spiritually lighter…as in lightweight. Naturally, I am like an anvil, heavy, set in my ways. The Holy Spirit leads like a gentle wind. The anvil is unaffected. To be led by the Spirit, I have to become more like a balloon. The Spirit led me in this manner recently. I was feeling heavy. I would say that I was having a pity party, but ‘party’ implies enjoyment and there was none. I asked God for an opportunity to be led out of the morass by the Holy Spirit. It came later that day at an unexpected time and way. I went to a river to collect some rocks for an art project I am working on. I noticed a man in the parking lot who had a bicycle and small cart overloaded with bags of aluminum cans. I took my rock bag from the back of the truck and gave him a slight wave of acknowledgment as I walked past him to the river trail. He looked haggard and dirty. Deep lines were etched in his face. It was really hot out. I collected my stones, walked past him to the truck, and headed on down the road. Then it happened. I felt the Wind. “What do you want me to do Lord?” As a matter of clarity, I don’t hear the words of the Holy Spirit, I feel them, but they are specific. “Go back,” He said, “offer him something to drink and eat in My name.” “What should I say Lord?” “Tell him I have not forgotten him," So I did. It was a bit awkward at first. But I went back, rolled down my window and said, “Hey friend, can I offer you some water and snack?” He smiled a toothless grin and said, “Of course!” I told him that I was doing my best to follow Jesus and I wanted to give this to him in Jesus’ name. I told him that the Lord wanted me to tell him He had not forgotten him. I expected…I don’t know what I expected. I didn’t expect what happened. He simply looked at me calmly and spoke like he was counseling me. He said, “I know the Lord and I know He never forgets me.” You see, the message was not for Buddy (that was his name). It was for me! Buddy said, “He (God) reminds every day that He is with me. This is one of those reminders. I pick up aluminum cans (he couldn’t pronounce aluminum, it sounded like alumeeum). I will go down a road sometimes and see nothing, then something tells me to turn down another road and there are cans everywhere! That’s God. He blesses me!” I gave him what I had, a couple of bottles of water and some granola bars. He said, “This will refresh me! Thank you.” I got in my truck and drove away. Through this encounter with this simple man, God lifted me out of a pit and spoke to me. I felt my soul fill up and run over the top as tears spilled down my cheeks. The Spirit whispered to me, “You are not forgotten. You are mine and I love you. Buddy is working hard doing what he knows to do and I am taking care of him. He is grateful. You go and be more like Buddy.” God help me to be more like Buddy.

Hard experiences. Life in this world is not easy and not as it should be. Jesus said, “In this world you will have tribulations…”(John 16:32). Trials and sorrows are the rough-grit sandpaper, or maybe even a chisel that knocks off my soul imperfections. I don’t like trials. I do like what I have seen God bring out of them by His grace. I have experienced no-fault trials. I have experienced trials directly connected to my sin and foolishness. God brings healing and grace, regardless, when I seek it with humility. I feel the Christ-like shaping of my soul in this continual ‘going to God’ in hardship. This is not a ‘one and done’ situation. It is a continual process. I have hurts, habits, and hang-ups that need changing. My pastor said recently, “If people say they don’t have these things they’ll lie about other things too!” Every human has hurts, habits, and hang-ups. That’s why I think we need to develop holy habits, make our soul light enough to be led by the Spirit, and yield our trials continually to God. God always uses hard experiences, yielded to Him, to produce a Christ-like spirit of compassion. Staying in this process keeps me from being a judgmental, condemning person. I hope this helps you along the way and gives some encouragement that a good God hasn’t forgotten you. He speaks and He cares.

Connecting with God through Bible Study

Inductive Bible Study

“Inductive” means drawing general principles from specific examples. In other words, getting what applies to all of us from specific examples in the Bible. It is done in three steps. It helps tremendously to do this on your own and then discuss the passage in a group setting. I find it helpful to take notes in a journal under the three headings.

Step One: Observation (What does it say?)

This is simply writing down the four 'Ws": who, what, when, where, and why. My current group is studying the gospel of Luke. It is an 8 week study. We read about half a chapter a day(or natural division, usually titled in your Bible). When we are together, we choose a passage from the previous week and I simply let them respond with each of these “w’s” and we write them down.

Today’s reading is Luke 4:1-30

Step Two: Interpretation (What does it mean?)

This is boiling down the meaning/thrust of the passage from a God-ward and man-ward perspective. It is simply two sentences. This is called the central idea of the text (C.I.T.). Together, we develop a sentence about God and a sentence about people that communicate the main idea of the passage.

Step Three: Application (What does God want me to do?)

Here, we are formulating a biblical prayer focusing on two things. First, what are the promises we can claim and be grateful for? Secondly, what do we need to change (repented of)? I find it helpful to write this prayer down. In the group setting, we pray this together.

It helps when whoever is leading the discussion has studied the passage. I recommend Dr. Thomas Constable’s notes on the Bible that have been posted at www.soniclight.com in PDF.

I hope this is helpful!

Tim

What Does God Feel Like?

What does it feel like when God is present? "And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God." 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 MSG

When God is present it feels like freedom. When God is a just concept, it's scary and foreboding.

How do we experience God "personally present" in our lives? The verse just before this one in 2 Corinthians 3 says this, "Only Christ can get rid of the veil so they can see for themselves that there’s nothing there. Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face!"

Jesus Christ came to reveal and unveil. He reveals God and unveils our misconceptions. He came to demonstrate that God is truly good, loving, kind, ready to forgive and willing to go to any length so we can have the opportunity to be with Him. In this moral universe, sin demands payment. He paid our debt. But Jesus is the consummate gentleman. He does not force His way into our lives. He does what anyone with love and compassion does, He gives people opportunity. His grace is always extended but must be received. So...when we decide that God exists and we want Him to be our God, we receive Jesus into our lives by faith. Our heart cry may be something like this, "Jesus I receive You and all you have done for me. I want you to be my Lord. I give my life to you."

The more we understand His sacrifice, the less rigid we are. Gratitude soaks into our consciousness. We are vitreous, steeping in divine grace. The more we let His life, revealed in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) shape our thinking about the nature of God, the deeper our experience of peace and freedom becomes. We see God (incarnate in Jesus)...willing to die...to give us the opportunity to live with Him forever. As we respond to this, the last verse (v. 18) becomes our reality:

"And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him."

Prayer of Examen

The Ancient Prayer of Examen – Developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola

The Daily Examen is a technique of prayerful reflection on the events of the day in order to detect God’s presence and discern his direction for us.  It is designed for those who have made the decision to follow Jesus. Click here if you want to begin the journey of following Christ. The Examen is an ancient practice in the Church that can help us see God’s hand at work in our whole experience. It is “tracing the fingerprints of God” and opening oneself up to the “scrutiny of Love” in order to overcome sins and folly by His grace. In Ignatian Spirituality, journaling the Daily Examen created a way of remembering God’s faithfulness and producing field-notes for others on the Way. I (Tim) am finding it to be a helpful discipline for my walk with my Lord. My choices during the day are affected by the realization that I will be sitting on the couch with my Father at the end of my day doing this.

Paretus - Preparation

I come to you, my Father, through the grace of Jesus Christ

Deo Gratias - God, thank you.


I thank you, God, for always being with me, but I am especially grateful that you are with me right now.

Spiritus Sancti - God, grant the Holy Spirit.
                                                                                                                          God, let the Holy Spirit enlighten my mind and warm my heart that I may know where and how we have been together this day.

Reflection - Consulo 

God, let me look at my day.
                                                                                                                                           God, where have I felt your presence, seen your face, heard your word this day?


God, where have I ignored you, run from you, perhaps even rejected you this day?

Repentance - Penantentia 
God, let me be grateful and ask forgiveness.
                               

God, I thank you for the times this day we have been together and worked together.


God, I am sorry for the ways that I have offended you. What have I done or left undone that I need forgiveness for? Please grant me the grace of Your forgiveness in these areas through Jesus Christ. 

Direction - Directio God,


God, I ask that you draw me ever closer to you this day and tomorrow.


God, you are the God of my life—I thank you, in Jesus' name. Amen