So What? (Pt 2 of 2)
When I do seminars on preaching, I teach pastors to make sure their message is “Clear, Compelling, and Couched In Love.” Clear is about making sure everything is at a level people can understand, about making no assumptions. Couched in love is about the fact that people are open to hearing truth, but not if it’s coming from a jerk.
The compelling part hits on this USA Today article I mentioned in my post yesterday. The article reveals that increasingly people in America don’t care about church, God, or even “spirituality.” They’re not searching, not asking questions, and not interested.
Apparently there was a time in America when if you could prove to people that the Bible and Jesus’ claims were true, they would agree to become a Christian. Today, if I prove to someone that the Bible and Jesus’ claims are true (which I can), the response I would expect is, “So what?” Truth doesn’t overcome their apathy. And that’s why we have to make it compelling. We must show them why it matters. People need to see not that it’s true, but that it’s what they need and what will change their lives. We need to present, in a compelling way, that what they really need is love – and God is the only one offering perfect love, and that they need healing from their hurts – and God offers healing, and the difference that having a sense of purpose provides – and God offers that purpose. We must answer the “so what” question.
No, you absolutely can NOT “prove” that the Bible and Jesus’ teachings are true. Was the Bible written? Yes – by a bunch of Bronze age goat herders and translated over and over such that the original message is likely very different from what we refer to as the “Bible” today. That much is true. Was it inspired by a Deity of some sort? ZERO proof. Did a man named Jesus live and teach a new covenant? ZERO proof. At BEST only 2 hints that such a man existed can be found in the historical record; most historians believe the concept was an amalgam of respected or influential messages of hope from people during a time of oppression. Heck, the four gospels were written by men who lived an entire century after the life of the man you call Christ. They never met him and only heard stories. The gospels contradict themselves in several places which suggests either problems with translation or that the stories changed as they were handed down via word of mouth from different vectors. Or both. The concept of heaven, God, and specific acts of Jesus are unprovable, so please do not use that term. You hope to get people to believe those concepts, but that is a very different thing altogether.
Hey Anonymous,
Sorry, and I say this respectfully, but you have bad information. There is actually tons of evidence and you can prove it. Study this further and you’ll see. Do you know that the Professor Emeritus of Evidence at Harvard Law tried to disprove the Bible, but became a Christian because he found overwhelming evidence to prove it true. Same with the Professor of History at Oxford. And on, and on, and on.
What you wrote in your comment just isn’t true. No scholars, even unbelieving scholars, would agree with you.
Do some more research. If you want, I can suggest a ton of books for you.
vince
See? This is exactly my point. What you have done is the same thing that all people trying to say they have proof pull. You simply say I am wrong but again offer no evidence. A professor here or there who converted to Christianity is irrelevant. That is not proof. It is an anecdote and evidence of the fact that someone believes in Judeo Christian theology. Millions of people do that – I need no other instances to accept that as fact.
You said YOU could prove it, but then not only did you fail to provide that proof when asked, you simply tried to offer an appeal to authority as evidence.
I appreciate the respectful tone of your reply and I apologize if my tone is less so. I am somewhat frustrated by the events. You said you could prove it. I said you could not and explained why (because such evidence does not exist). Specifically, while there is some historical references to a man who lived at that time and may have stirred things up a bit (he may have even been called the Christ), those writings all came after his life so their veracity is questionable. Even if we accept them as true, that does not prove that the man was who he said he was, which is my main point.
You tell me to look it up myself. I have. If I missed something, show it to me. Tell me of the specific evidence that PROVES such a man was, in fact, the son of God (as opposed to only claiming it) and that eternal life awaits those who believe. Where in the accepted historical and physical record is there PROOF that the “Bible and Jesus’ claims are true”? You cannot use the “‘This very important person’ tells me so” argument. Prove means empirical and reliable evidence.
I look forward to your reply.
I appreciate your frustration. The issue is that asking me to prove Jesus’ identity and the veracity of the Bible in a blog comment is a stretch. I teach 3 hour courses on this (real, hard evidence) – how do I condense that to a few sentences? There are 13 week courses on the evidence. How about this? If you’re serious about evidence you may have missed, why don’t you take the time to read one of the books that shows the evidence. There are tons, but I’ll put a few below. If you read one (or how about a couple) of these books, and still think this is all a load of crap, leave me a post (or, better yet, let’s get together) and let me know – tell me where the author went wrong.
– Tim Keller, “The Reason For God”
– Lee Strobel (investigative journalist for the Chicago Tribune), “The Case for Christ” and “The Case For Faith.”
– Josh McDowell, “Evidence That Demands a Verdict” and “More Evidence That Demands a Verdict” and, “More Than a Carpenter.”
– Viggo Olson, “The Agnostic Who Dared to Search.”
– William Ramsey (probably the preeminent archeologist of all time), “Was Christ born at Bethlehem?”
– Simon Greenleaf, the (Professor Emeritus of Evidence at Harvard Law School), “The Testimony of the Apostles.”
– Steven Masood (a Muslim), “Into the Light.”
– Ravi Maharav (a Hindu), “Death of a Guru.”