Simple Apologetics
Does God
exist? Did God create the universe? Did God create the first man and woman? Did
the Israelites exit Egypt as freed slaves? Did Moses receive the 10 Commandments
on Sinai? Was Elijah taken to heaven without dying? Are the stories and
principles of life in the Bible historical and true? Simply stated, is the
Christian Bible true? How can we know? Attempts to prove the answer to these
questions in the affirmative have taken many forms involving science, logic,
and historical evidence collectively known as Christian Apologetics.
Unfortunately many of the attempts to prove the biblical answers to these
questions end up being too complex to either understand or, if understood, hard
to remember. There must be a simpler way to answer all these types of
questions. While the more sophisticated approaches are valuable, we need a
foundation that is easier to remember and more solid. There is a simpler way to
argue the accuracy of the Bible. That way is based on the eyewitness testimony
to Jesus’ resurrection. Consider the following quote from the New Testament.
1 Corinthians 15:1-8
1Moreover, brethren, I declare unto
you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and
wherein ye stand; 2By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory
what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3For I
delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4And that he was
buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5And
that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 6After
that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater
part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7After
that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 8And
last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
What Does This Mean?
Notice there
were more than 500 hundred witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection after he had died
from crucifixion no less. Many of those witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection were
still alive when the author, Paul, wrote this. Paul was also a witness to the
resurrected Jesus. Eyewitness testimony is the simplest, most convincing, and
easiest to remember evidence of any historical or truth claims. Certainly more
than 500 witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection is compelling evidence for its
occurrence. How could a crucified Jesus be resurrected unless God, the creator
and giver of life, raised Jesus from the dead? God would only raise someone
from a crucifixion if the person were sinless (i.e. perfectly righteous)
because the Bible says the soul that sins (i.e. breaks the law) will die (Rom.
6:23) and any society condemns people who break the law. This means Jesus never
lied because lying is a sin by any measure of ethics.
Thus everything Jesus said was the truth. In summary we only have to believe the
part of the Bible referring to Jesus’ resurrection to believe the rest of the
Bible.
What Did Jesus Say?
Jesus quoted
the book of Genesis regarding God creating the universe (Mark 13:19). Jesus
referred to God having created the first man and woman (Matt. 19:4). Jesus
referred to Moses in the context of having written the law from God (Mark 1:44;
Mark 7:10). In general, then, Jesus believed the Bible was true. This then means
one can believe the Bible is true because Jesus believed it to be true. We
believe Jesus because God resurrected a crucified man, dead in the grave for 3
days. So if we simply believe in the eyewitness testimony of Jesus
resurrection, we also have compelling evidence for the content of the Bible
being true. No complex evidence or argumentation, while useful, is required to
believe the book that is the basis of the Christian faith.