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