Kosh

Real simple: Why should I become a Christian and believe in it?

Peter Kirby

I will move this to General Religious Discussions.

best,
Peter Kirby

EstherRose

Hi,

I don't have much time now (my anniversary) but I will answer this one when I have free time to devote to this answer later tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for your patience.

HelenM

Happy Anniversary, EstherRose!

EstherRose

Thank you HelenM. We had a nice, quiet anniversary.


Hi Kosh,

Here is my long-winded response. I'm not sure if it provides any answers you were looking for, but it is a heartfelt answer.

EstherRose

I spent a good part of today trying to figure out where to begin to answer this question. I have no idea how to approach this from the “logical” standpoint. (I never even heard of Pascal’s wager until last month. Still not sure what it is.) You’ve seen many of the arguments pro and con on Jesus’ life, divinity, God’s existence, hell and everything else. You’ve formed your own opinions on all of this. All I can add to what you’ve already heard are my personal reasons for accepting Jesus as my Saviour, the changes that took place afterwards, and why I think you should become a Christian if your heart is ready to accept Him.

Are you seeking God?

Matthew 7
7"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

I think so. You don’t believe in Him, yet it seems that you are looking for proof or a lack of proof for His existence. God reveals Himself through the Bible. His plan for our salvation is shown throughout the Bible, all the way up through Jesus’ death, resurrection and salvation.

Is the Bible reliable?

I believe it is. I’ve seen this board debate the issues, especially of the New Testament frequently. I don’t believe a good case has been made for its fallibility. I believe the Gospels are eye witness accounts of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. I believe the rest of the New Testament (and Old Testament) is valid as well. The bible affirms it’s inspiration from the Lord. (Yes I know, some of you will say circular arguments or some such, but at some point you either reject the Bible in its entirety, or accept it in its entirety. If you reject it out of hand, then why bother reading further?)

1 Corinthians 2
13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

If you are seeking to know God, if you believe in the words of the Bible, then what it says about Jesus is true.

Your eternal destiny rests on this question: Is Jesus the Son of God? If there is even a remote chance that Jesus is the Son of God and the Messiah, then what He said is true. It becomes crucial for everyone to investigate this.

Matthew 16
15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Mark 1
9At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

Luke 9
34While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35A voice came from the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him."

Luke 4
40When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. 41Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, "You are the Son of God!" But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ

Mark 5
6When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. 7He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!" 8For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!"

There are many external sources that confirm His existence and, according to some scholars, confirm His divinity. You probably know the sources better than I do and have picked them apart. Ask yourself if any document relating to a historical figure of that time would stand up to the critiques you put the documents about Christ through.

The Bible states that Jesus is:

omnipresent

Matthew 18
20For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

Matthew 28
20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

omniscient

Matthew 24
24For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible. 25See, I have told you ahead of time.

omnipotent

Colossians 1
15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

John 5
25I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. 27And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

eternal

John1
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.

performed miracles

John 10
37Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. 38But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father."

accepted worship

Matthew 14
33Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

forgave sins

Matthew 9
2Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven."

sinless

John 8
46Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me?
holy

John 6
68Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."

Jesus confirmed His deity.

John 10
30I and the Father are one."

John 14
7If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
8Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
9Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.

Mark 14
61But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.
Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?"
62"I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."

John 8
58"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!"

If you believe that Jesus is an historical person, that He possesses the attributes of God, and that He claimed to be God, and the Bible is God’s word, then this is sufficient to believe.

As for my personal reasons…

I sought God all of my life. I longed to have a personal relationship with Him. I prayed to Him but never felt connected to Him. One day, after some personal turmoil, I knelt down and acknowledged that Jesus is the Son of God, something I rejected for many years. I felt so much power around me when I did that. I cried for so long and eventually got up dazed. The next day I went to work shaken by the emotional impact of what had occurred. A colleague of mine, an unbeliever, asked me what happened. I looked so peaceful to him, serene and calm. That’s when I knew that something real had taken place. Despite my feeling like the world had turned upside down, people could see” the peace that transcends all understanding” inside of me. I believe it was the Holy Spirit that he saw.

Now I do have that personal relationship with God. Whenever I have a problem, I know I can turn to the Lord and He will help me. He answers every prayer. It may not always be the way I want it to turn out, but He guides me to what He wants the answer to be and changes me so that I can accept it. (Before anyone chimes in, we have undergone real hardship too, but the Lord has helped us out in ways that leave no doubt about His existence.) His presence is real and felt/experienced by me every day of my life. I have no doubts about God’s existence.

Kosh

Thanks for answering Esther. Hope you have a good anniversary. We're coming up on number 15 ourselves.

Why do you believe this? How do you know who wrote the Gospels? Also, if they are eye witness accounts, why is it that Luke and Mathew have copied so much of Mark in writing theirs? If Mathew was an eye witness, why his is geography of Israel so wrong?

Yes, it IS circular reasoning. It is common sense. Noone in their right mind would accept such a self verification of truth from a document. So why should an exception be made for the Bible?

This statement makes no sense at all to me. "If you believe it, then it is true". Ie, if you have already decided it is true, then it is. Simply because you have decided something is true, doesn't make it so. What I'm asking you for here are the reasons that someone who hasn't made these apriori assumptions, should decide to believe it.

I agree that it is crucial to be investigated. However, your statements do not support the assertion. Simply because there could be a remote chance of it's truth, does not then lead to conclude that it is true.

Here's an analogy. There is is a remote chance that Hitler escaped his compound, used a double to fake his death, and lived the rest of his life in South America. Therefore, it must be true!

See how that doesn't make sense?

Excellent! THis is exactly what I have been looking for! Can you list for me the external sources which confirm Jesus' existence and prove that he was the Son of God? Also, what were the dates when these sources were written?

Ie, if I have already decided to believe, then that's good enough to believe. Once again, I'm asking why someone who doesn't already believe that should believe it. Imagine that I am alien who has come here and NEVER heard of any of this. Why should I believe any of it?

I have spoken with Buddhist Monks and Muslims who have related the same feelings. Why should I discount their religion in favor of yours?

beth

Is this the same EstherRose from Rapture Ready?

emotional

Your eternal destiny also rests on the question whether Muhammad was the Last Prophet of God. If there is even a remote chance that Muhammad was the Last Prophet of God, then what the Qur'an says is true. It becomes crucial for everyone to investigate this.

The Qur'an says that following the laws of Allah is the only way to heaven:

The Qur'an also says that Allah's hell is eternal, there is no getting out of there:

Are you willing to take the risk? Have you investigated Allah's Word? Eternity is a long time to be wrong about Muhammad...

Think it over. Maybe you'll just have a small doubt about whether Islam is true or not, or maybe - and so I hope - you'll come to the conclusion that God is not a petty politician who needs to resort to blackmail in order to win followers.

Rational BAC

Esther--

I don't like to dump too much on a fellow Christian.

But--------That all or nothing thing as far as Christianity does not work for me. Nor does it work for the vast majority of Christians.--who are not Fundamentalist, who are not literalists.

I also accepted Jesus as my personal saviour. And also during a very difficult period in my life. And I did feel the same peace that you did.

But I did not lose my rational mind in doing so. I think that the OT is fascinating literature in some places, excrutiatingly boring in other places. But hardly the word of any God to be taken literally.

I do believe that Jesus was half God half man, born of the virgin Mary, died and was resurrected. And in between had many "Godly" things to teach mankind.

The rest of it for me is up for dispute. I do not take the Bible literally. Who could? It was a work of committees with "issues" to solve. But I do try to try and understand the essence of the Bible. Or at least what to me seems to be the essence of it. (Which entails primarily what Jesus is purported to have said and taught) The rest of the Bible for me is open to debate.

And I believe that Jesus (or the Holy Ghost if you like ) is helping me to pick and choose ---in my cherry picking way --what is valid and what is not valid in the Bible.

We are both Christians. Both of us just take a different outlook on the subject.