As Christians, we believe certain things. We believe that God exists, and that He created the entire universe, the Earth, and everything in it. We believe God created angels and then human beings, that we are made in His image and likeness, and that He gave us free will. We believe that God revealed Himself through Scripture. Those scriptures foretold the coming of a Messiah to save man from the abuse of our God-given free will and the rejection of God through sin. In fulfillment of the scriptures, we believe God sent His only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to be born of the Virgin Mary and to suffer and die for our sins, opening the gates of heaven to those who believe and keep His commandments.
Through Holy Scripture and Tradition, we also believe many amazing things about the life of Christ, that He was a healer who performed many miracles. He showed us His divinity by exhibiting His control over nature, by walking on water, calming the seas, feeding thousands of people from a few loaves of bread, and raising the dead. Most importantly, He predicted His own torture, death, and subsequent resurrection, then actually accomplished it. We know He rose from the dead because He appeared many times to His friends and followers before ascending into heaven in their midst.
For non-Christians who are aware of what Christians believe, the obvious question is: What is it specifically that you don’t believe? Where do you get off the Jesus train?
Maybe you never got on the train at all. If so, do you believe that there is no God? Or that there is a God, but that Jesus never existed? Or that Jesus did exist, but He was just a man and not God?
For those who do not believe in God at all, I have written a book called The Logic That God Exists, which delves into the logical and scientific reasons why there really must be a God. But for the purpose of this article, let’s assume the reader believes in God but is not convinced of much else.
Starting with the question of whether Jesus existed at all, there are several extra-biblical references to the fact that Jesus lived in the reign of Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus and was crucified under a local procurator, Pontius Pilot (Tacitus c. 56-120 AD). This, combined with the fact that Jesus was the most influential person ever to walk the face of the Earth and that we count time by His birth, seems to be conclusive evidence towards His existence.
The next step on this logic train is why do we believe that Jesus is God? What keeps us on the train? It is one thing to believe that there is a God and that Jesus existed, but quite another to believe that Jesus is God.
The first thing to emphasize is that Jesus definitely said that He is God. This is important because throughout history, few credible people have claimed divinity, and none of them have backed it up.
Again the high priest asked him and said to him, “Are you the Messiah, the son of the Blessed One?” Then Jesus answered, “I am; and ‘you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.’”
Mark 14:60-62
So, Jesus said that He was God, but did He back it up? The answer is yes, He backed it up in spades through the many miracles reported in the New Testament. It’s safe to say that only God could do these things, and the problem with dismissing them is that there are so many of them, they are reported in such detail, and they are so spectacular in nature. Plus, the reliability of the New Testament writings is excellent, especially compared to other ancient texts with thousands of Greek, Latin, and Coptic manuscripts.
Some people have tried to say that the miracles were allegorical writings. The loaves and fishes story, for instance, where Jesus feeds 5000 families with 12 loaves of bread and a few fish, could be an enhanced story of people pitching in and sharing. But why would the entire population of Galilee follow Jesus around if His miracles weren’t real? The sheer weight of the accounts of Jesus’s miracles suggests they’re all true…unless the entire story was made up.
This is highly unlikely. We know that the writers of the Gospel accounts certainly believed it! These events transformed their lives. They dropped everything and followed Jesus, almost all of them ending up martyrs for the cause. They would not have died for something that was made up.
Since the miracles have great credibility, and the story wasn’t made up, you still gotta be on the train, right?
Many people say okay, Jesus was a great healer, but that doesn’t mean He is God. Or they say He was a nice guy and a very wise man who preached love, but He was just one of the prophets. And they get off the train here.
But again, Jesus clearly said that He was the Son of God—He claimed divinity. So, this great healer/wise man/prophet…is also a liar?
This leads us to Jesus’ greatest miracle. The most compelling evidence of His divine nature lies in His prediction of His own torture, death, and resurrection. He foretold that He would rise on the third day after His crucifixion, a feat that goes beyond the abilities of a mere healer, wise man, or prophet. According to the testimonies of His closest disciples and numerous other witnesses, Jesus fulfilled this prophecy, rising from the dead precisely as He had said. The unwavering belief in His resurrection became the driving force behind the expansion and survival of Christianity, which has remained the dominant religion worldwide for the past two millennia.
Moreover, He predicted that His disciples would continue to do miracles “even greater than these,” and this also has come true through the last 2000 years as recounted in the post-resurrection Acts of The Apostles and down through the ages with the great works and miracles of the saints, including the Eucharistic miracles and apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in recent centuries. These modern-day miracles are a constant reminder that Jesus’ miracles were real and provide evidence of the authenticity of His claim to be the Son of God.
So, where do you get off the Jesus train? I don’t think there are any places to get off. There are no stops! But if you do get off, always remember that you can get right back on—the tickets are free. Jesus will always welcome you. My advice is just to ride the train into a blissful eternity with your Creator.
Author’s Note: The author’s new book, The Logic That God Exists, is available from Sophia Institute Press.
Photo by Charles Forerunner on Unsplash
