questions questions@occweb.org occweb.org/news-and-updates/sure/ 705.279.6267 paper

Raise the questions so we can engage

Why believe in Jesus?

The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact. C.S. Lewis The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact.

C.S. Lewis My own position at the threshold of Xtianity was exactly the opposite of yours. You wish it were true: I strongly hoped it was not.

Are the Gospels historically trustworthy?

occweb.org/news-and-updates/ sure-resources/ There are some excellent resources out there I’ll put some links on the website for you

1 Peter 3:15 Always be prepared to give an answer  to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect

facts to be explained

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one Love the Lord your God with all your heart  and with all your soul and with all your strength.

John 14:9 Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.

Matthew 7:29 he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Claims are… true not true

intentionally false the lie hypothesis not true intentionally false the lie hypothesis unintentionally false the legend hypothesis [CLICK] top line on each column

LIE hypothesis What possible motive would the disciples have had to lie? Early critics never accused disciples of being insincere. They never accused them of making it up or denied His miracles. How could they have pulled off a lie of this magnitude? There aren’t any records of any of the early followers cracking under pressure to reveal some secret lie. [CLICK] each #

LEGEND hypothesis 1st century Palestinian Judaism was not a conducive environment for legend making. If a 1st century Palestinian Jew made up a legend, it wouldn’t have sounded like the Gospels. [CLICK] each #

John 14:9 Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.

John 5:22-23 the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

LEGEND hypothesis 1st century Palestinian Judaism was not a conducive environment for legend making. If a 1st century Palestinian Jew made up a legend, it wouldn’t have sounded like the Gospels. There is not enough time to develop a legend.

LEGEND hypothesis The Gospels claim to write history and they read like history. [CLICK] each #

1 John 1:1-3 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

LEGEND hypothesis The Gospels claim to write history and they read like history. The Gospels give evidence of being written not long after Jesus’s life. [CLICK] each #

Mark 15:21 A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross.

LEGEND hypothesis The Gospels claim to write history and they read like history. The Gospels give evidence of being written not long after Jesus’s life. The Gospels give every indication of being based on eyewitness accounts. i.e. superfluous, unexplained and counterproductive details. [CLICK] each #

John 20:1-2 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved,

John 20:2-4 and she said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.

John 20:5-7 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen.

John 20:8-10 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

Luke 8:22-39

John 20:17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.”

Luke 6:27-28 Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,  bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Luke 9:54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”

Jesus’ family doesn’t believe during his lifetime

Matthew 27:46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”  (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”)

The lie hypothesis The legend hypothesis It is true Jesus story The lie hypothesis The legend hypothesis It is true If the two ways of believing the story [CLICK] each line

that changes absolutely everything if it’s true … that changes absolutely everything

So we are in week 2 of our series