Credentials of Divine Revelation St. Mary and St. Mina Coptic Orthodox Church Youth Meeting April 1, 2016

The Need for Revelation Reason can tell us that a Creator and Ruler of the Universe exists That Person should in some way reveal Himself to us The contents of the revelation should be understandable, but its truth or falsity will not be directly decidable by reason

Credentials of a revelation Testing whether a given revelation is from God or not Suppose you are reading a puzzling story that is being serialized, and someone tells you he is the author The ability to explain the story The ability to predict what would happen The ability to control the course of events in the story

The ability to explain the story Christianity explains: Sin and guilt Adequate direction and purpose of life Dealing with others

1. Sin and guilt We all sin and we can not escape from the bondage of sin by ourselves Sin is a big deal, but we can trust in God’s mercy God gives us the power to overcome sin, by His incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection

2. Adequate Direction for Life “He has made every thing beautiful in its time: also he has put eternity in men's heart..” (Ecclesiastes 3:11) Living with Christ make us enjoy this life, as well as eternity with Him God is the only ONE Who satisfies mankind

3. Dealing with others All members in One body, complementing one another Each person has an eternal value, and is loved by God

Prophecies Two types of prophecies in the Old Testament: Direct prophecies Typology

Isaiah’s Prophecies 1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. 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 did not esteem Him.

4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

Christ’s Miracles Alternatives & our response Claim that they did not happen Try to explain them away Admit they happened and thus they support the claims of Christ