According to the Oxford dictionary, faith is defined as "complete trust or
confidence in someone or something or strong belief in God or in the doctrines of
a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof." No offence to
Oxford, but I disagree! Faith IS complete trust in God, but it is not based on
apprehension but rather on historical proof.
If we were to boil our faith down to a single, important, defining event it
would have to be the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. As Paul says in I
Corinthians 15:17 "And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are
still in your sins." Christ's resurrection is the foundation all our believe and faith is
built on, so, as Paul states, if it did not happen then we are still in sin and our faith
is worth nothing. I do not know about you, but I do not like the idea of thinking
that my whole life may be worth nothing, that all I have thought and lived for is
worthless. So, that makes me wonder...How do I KNOW that my faith is secure
and on a true foundation? Well, we have a gracious God, who does not demand
blind faith (because he deserves it, if we are honest), but gives us indisputable
evidence of Christ's resurrection.
Lee Stroble's redemption story is one that reminds me of a modern-day
Paul. For those who do not know, he was an angry drunk who proclaimed
atheism. When his wife was converted, he set out to disprove the Bible's
legitimacy, and what better way than to rock the foundation and prove that Christ
never rose from the grave. Through this 2 year long journey, Lee Stroble
uncovered some remarkable historical evidence, but not to disprove the Bible,
rather to uphold it. As he explains in "The Case for Christ," there are some pretty
key events surrounding Christ death and resurrections that solidify our faith. He
calls them the 4 "E's."
-Execution. Not only does the Bible recount Christ's death, but at least 5
other ancient texts verify that Jesus was killed on the cross, and was dead before
he was taken down. When we are looking at ancient history, 2 corroborating texts
is considered good evidence of an event, to have 5 outside of the Bible is
significant. So, Jesus died!
-Early report. There is evidence that the report of Jesus's resurrection was
reported in text as early as a few months after the events. The Christians
developed a creed stating beliefs of the Christians and the eye witnesses to these
truths. This negates any theory of it being a legend which takes decades or
centuries to develop. The transformation of the disciples lives before the
resurrection and after, documented in ancient text other than the Bible as well, is
another proof of its legitimacy. If Jesus did not rise, how do you explain the
disciples abrupt 180 degree turn from fear to zeal for his message?
-Empty tomb. If his tomb was not empty, then it would have been easy for
the opposing side to prove this...just go into the tomb and show the world that he
was still there, but even his enemies claimed that the apostles stole his body. The
fact that Jesus's body was not in the tomb was a fact the whole area knew in the
first century. The question was not IF it was empty rather how it became empty,
which leads us to be certain that it was, in fact, empty.
-Encounter. So many of the disciples and apostles, in the weeks after
Jesus's resurrection, were eyewitnesses to this fact. They were all convinced of
this encounter with the risen Lord. There are at least 9 ancient historical accounts
that corroborate the disciples' conviction of their encounters with the resurrected
Jesus, not including the Bible. It is improbable for that many ancient texts to agree
upon the same thing if it were not true. The encounter changed the apostles'
lives, and not only theirs but jump started a worldwide movement.
The apostles believed in Jesus as the Son of God, because they KNEW it,
they saw him, and encountered his resurrected body. We KNOW that Jesus is the
Son of God because God has made the evidence clear throughout history that
Jesus rose from the dead and is our risen Savior. God knows us, and knows that
we are skeptical people, so he so graciously provided these proofs. We do not
hold our faith on blind assumptions, rather on truth. Jesus is alive and he has
given us his Spirit to guide us and lead us to his truth. Thanks be to God that he
does not require us to have a blind faith, but gives us a firm foundation to stand
on.
Daily Reading: Not a blind faith
Luke 24:45; 1 Corinthians 1:18