Some Questions and Some Answers

What does it mean to be "Born Again?"

I have Some Questions About All This
Below are some questions that I asked before I accepted Jesus as my savior. I am no theologian, so these are not brilliant answers or even brilliant questions. What these questions and answers are, are the some of the most common questions asked by a person who is truly open to accepting God, but still has a few doubts.

Is the Bible really reliable, hasn't it been changed over the years so that the Bible we have is vastly different than what was written?

This is probably the most common of all questions. The short answer is, yes the Bible is really reliable, and no it hasn't been changed.
The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew from about 1500 BC. to about 400 BC. The Dead Sea Scrolls revealed that the Hebrew underlying the Old Testament we have now is virtually identical to the Bible that Jesus and the apostles used. The differences found were mostly spelling differences. Occasionally, different words were used, but the same meaning was transmitted. Found recently was a tiny silver scroll, dating back to the time of Isaiah the prophet (700 BC.). It contained a portion of the book of Numbers and was virtually identical to the Hebrew texts that our modern Bibles are based on.

The New Testament was originally written in Greek in the first century AD. There are nearly 2500 complete Greek manuscripts of the New Testament and thousands more fragments. The New Testament is the best documented ancient writing in existence. The earliest fragments date to only a few years after the close of the first century, and the first complete manuscript dates to early in the third century, but there are numerous fragments in between. What can be found by examining the manuscript evidence is virtually complete agreement from oldest to newest in the words of the New Testament writers. Most skeptics do not question the validity of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, or Homer, yet these writers have no where near as many manuscripts and the gap between the time it was written and the first manuscript evidence is measured in centuries (1)

Was Jesus really an historic figure? Is there any evidence outside the Bible for His existence?

Yes, Jesus was historic. Not only do we have the record of the New Testament, but Jesus and his crucifixion is mentioned in contemporary non biblical sources. The writings of Josephus a first century historian and Tacitus a second century historian bear testimony of the historicity of Jesus. One should also bear in mind that the New Testament accounts of Jesus were written within 30 years of the events, when many of the eye witnesses were still alive and the stories could have been refuted. The book of Luke was most likely written before the close of Paul's imprisonment in Rome in 62, the books of Matthew and Mark were probably written within a few years of Luke. It should also be considered that Matthew was an eye witness and Mark was was a close associate of Peter who was also an eyewitness. The gospel of Luke was written by a man of learning after research and probable interviews with many of the participants. Luke was most likely with the apostle Paul during his last visit to Jerusalem and subsequent imprisionment in nearby Ceaserea. This would have given him ample opportunity for a full investigation. Thhis is what Luke claimed to have done in the third verse of his gospel. "Having carefully investigated all of these accounts from the beginning, I have decided to write a careful summary for you." Luke 1:3
(2)

Is the story about Jesus rising again really true, what is the evidence for it?

The main evidence is the Biblical record. Peter, John, Matthew, and Paul all claim to have seen the risen Jesus. The evidence does not end there. After the crucifixion the apostles were cowering in fear, according to the Biblical record. Yet, for some reason all of them regained their courage, went out from Jerusalem and proclaimed a risen Jesus. Some have maintained that the apostles made up the resurrection story to gain wealth and fame. If that were true, wouldn't you think that they would give up the story when facing torture and death instead of wealth and fame? However, according to 'Fox's Book of Martyrs' (3) nearly every one of the apostles were killed for the gospel and died proclaiming its truth. The one exception was John who died in exile on the Isle of Patmos where he wrote Revelation, and possibly the gospel and epistles (letters) that bear his name, but he still was proclaiming the truth of Jesus until he died. People will often willingly die for the truth or what they believe to be truth, but nobody is going to willingly die in order to maintain what they know to be a lie. The lives and martyrdom of the apostles gives substantial weight to the resurrection story.

Doesn't evolution prove that the Bible can't be true?

Science has yet to prove evolution. Evolution is based on observable evidence that is viewed through a biased lens, with some things exaggerated in importance and other things of importance, ignored. Michael Behe, in his book 'Darwin's Black Box (4) ' gives ample reason to doubt evolution by random chance. He shows that the simplest single cell organism is a microscopic chemical machine of enormous complexity. So complex that the mathematical chance of a cell forming out of a "chemical soup" is virtually impossible. Mr. Behe also shows that complex systems in our bodies, such as blood clotting, are virtually impossible to have evolved by random chance. Mr. Behe has been criticized by some in the scientific community, but none have been able to give any reasonable explanation for the formation for the simplest bacterial cell except random chance. (example)

If the Bible is so clear, why are there so many different churches, all calling themselves Christian?

True there are dozens of denominations and sub denominations, but not all of them are truly Christian. Many were Christian, but have lost there way and are preaching about how to get along in this world, or how to love yourself and your neighbor. These are fine things in their place, but the real message of a church should be to help others be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, and to help Christians, new and old, grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus.
Many times, the different denominational labels signifies only a different organizational structure, or a difference in minor points of belief, but they teach the same gospel. Even though my church (Regular Baptist) doesn't see eye to eye on all points of doctrine, we still consider those churches that are true to the gospel of Christ, as brothers in Christ. Which church should you go to? I don't know about all churches, but I can recommend some that I am reasonably sure are teaching the gospel.
Regular Baptists (GARBC) : this web site lists over 1000 churches in the US.
Calvary Chapel is a fairly new organization, but teaches the word.
Evangelical Free Churches are also a good choice. or
Southern Baptist Churches . With their church finder you should find one near you.

This is a short list of church organization, there are others but you should be able to find a church near you from these resources.

Isn't Christianity a hard life to live with all those "thou shalt nots?"

This is one of the more believable lies that is told about faith in Christ, but it is still a lie. When you come to Christ and place your life in his, a change takes place. The Bible says you become a new creature, old things pass away and new things come. I don't live my life by what I don't do, I live my life out of love and thanksgiving for what God has done for me. Many things that I used to do out of habit have become distasteful to me, because I know through the Bible that these things are displeasing to God. As a Christian, I want to live my life by the two commandments that Jesus said were the basis of all, (1). love the Lord with all my being, and (2), love my neighbor as myself.

Aren't other religions just as valid as Christianity?

Most of the other religions of the world tend to be philosophies of living and are based on the teachings of an ancient human philosopher who has since died. Christianity is based on the teachings of a man, though he was the Son of God, who died, was buried, and rose again on the third day. He is not dead, He lives in heaven with His Father and His Spirit resides in the heart of all who receive him as savior.

You have answered some of my questions, but I still have doubts. Can you prove that Jesus is the Son of God, and that Christianity is the true way?

No, I can't prove it, nobody really can except Jesus. Christianity is a faith that is based on evidence, it is not a blind faith. We get our evidence from the Bible, from history, and from the changed lives of people here and now. Those of us who have received Jesus as our savior, know because of His work in our lives through the Spirit. For some, habits that seemed impossible to break, are broken, addictions that seemed to have a permanent grip are instantly gone. Sins that we thought we would never be able to conquer are now in the past. Please don't misunderstand, these works of the Spirit in a Christians life aren't all instantaneous, from most people these victories are often long struggles, punctuated by points of progress, but without God's work in our lives the victories would not have been won. Most Christians still have problems with our sinful human nature. The bumper sticker is correct, Christians aren't perfect, they're just forgiven.
As a personal example, I was a two pack a day smoker. I tried to quit at least a dozen times, and always failed. I tried so many times to quit that I had decided to quit trying. One day I prayed again for God's help in getting victory over my smoking habit/addiction. During that prayer, a knowledge came over me that I had the power to quit. Being a bit of a skeptic, I decided to finish the packs of cigarettes that were on my dashboard, reasoning that if this was truly from God, I'd be able to quit anytime. The next day I finished the last cigarette. I had some minor urges to buy some more, but they were easily overcome. Being around others who were smoking, didn't bother me at all. When I got home, my wife noticed that I wasn't smoking, and commented that I wasn't on edge as I had been the other times. I quit instantly and without any struggle. I know myself enough to know, this was the hand of God acting on my life.

The bottom line is that if you decide to receive Jesus as your savior, you must do it on faith. There is no absolute proof.
They way I look at it, one has to either believe in eternal matter that has organized itself into higher and higher complexity until life resulted. In which case life has no real meaning and our existence and intelligence are some sort of cosmic joke. Or, one has to believe in a creator God who spoke the universe into existence. In which case one has to consider that if we are created, for what purpose, and how are we to know the purpose? I choose to believe the later of the two arguments, believing that this God has revealed a glimpse of himself in the pages of the Bible, and along with that, given us the information we need to know him.

If you have any questions or comments, .

If you have any real questions that you want answered, e-mail me at frank@gbcbellingham.org. I do not wish to get into a debate, but I am willing to answer any questions asked by anyone who is sincerely seeking to learn about the God of the Bible and the salvation offered through belief in Jesus Christ.

(1) For more information about the reliability of the Bible consider reading " Seven Reasons You Can Trust The Bible" by Erwin Lutzer.
(2) An excellent source for the historicity of Jesus is " The Case For Christ" by Lee Strobel. Written in 1998, it answers many questions about who, what, and if, Jesus was and is.

(3) You can read the first chapter of Fox's Book of Martyrs here.

(4) "Darwin's Black Box" is a really thought provoking work. Written by Michael Behe, who is not a creationists, but realized through his work as a chemical biologist that Darwinism is virtually impossible. (In science, nothing is absolutely impossible, if there is a one in a trillion trillion chance, it's still theoretically possible.) Michael Behe is what some would call a progressive creationist. One who believes that God created everything through many steps.

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