Some fantastic claims are made for Jesus Christ. How can we be sure that they are true?
1. Because of reliable historical records. The life of Jesus, like the life of any historical person, is established on the testimony of reliable witnesses. To be a reliable witness a person must have first-hand knowledge of the event, be able to remember and report it accurately, and they must be reliable, trustworthy people. The witnesses to Jesus met all of these qualifications. You can believe in him with the same confidence that you believe in any ancient historical person.
2. Because of the transformation of the first disciples. Elton Trueblood in A Place To Stand said, “In my own life, I certainly began as a skeptic so far as the resurrection of Christ is concerned. I thought of the story as comparable to stories in Greek mythology and accordingly carried my doubt to the point of denial. I knew, of course, that the early Christians believed that Christ rose, but I was aware of the fact that many people, in many ages, have believed things that are manifestly untrue. The first real change in my conclusions came when I began to consider seriously a particular kind of evidence, that of altered lives. Suddenly I saw that the primary evidence provided by the apostles is not what they said, but what they became.”
3. Because of Christian history since that day. There is an old saying that every great organization is the lengthened shadow of one man. Dig into the history of any company or any movement and you’ll find that someone had a dream and the dedication to make it a reality.
Christianity has produced more literature and sparked more social action and blessed more lives than any other movement. Could all of this good come from nothing? Is there a reality behind this shadow? Unquestionably! Weigh the evidence—the Christian faith is reliable.