Our Confidence
People often criticise Christians for having a 'blind faith'. You may have heard some of the criticisms people say - or you may think them yourself:
"Why believe in something you have no evidence for?"
"What makes you think that your God is real and gods of the other religions aren't?"
"We're all atheists - the rest of us have just gone one step further by not believing in any gods!"
As Christians, we disagree with these statements and questions. We believe that there is evidence - not just for a God, but for the God of the Bible.
Our faith isn't blind, but is based on evidence that we have weighed up and found convincing. It is because of this evidence that we believe there is one God.... and that this one God is the God of the Christian Bible.
We will present the evidence below. On this page we will only present the summary of the evidence - the top headlines. If you want to discuss any of this further, then please click on the button below. We may not convince you completely of our faith - but we hope to show you that it is anything but 'blind'.
The Evidence
1. Science
It may seem strange that we are using this as evidence, when most people would say that Science disproves the existence of God. However there are many scientists - award wining scientists from all different disciplines that believe in God. Below is a video which will show some of the scientific evidence:
2. PRophecy
The Old Testament - the first part of the Bible - is largely a record of God's dealing with the Jewish people. There are books of history, books of prophecy, and books of poetry. God sent prophets to his people telling them what was going to happen in the future. He even said that this was a way that they would know he was the only God (as opposed to the false gods of the nations around) - that he could tell what was going to happen. The Bible contains many specific prophecies about Israel and the nations around at that time. ALL of them have come true:
Egypt - the major world power was defeated and reduced to a minor nation (predicted 10 years beforehand)
Tyre - the glorious trading city of the world was destroyed (predicted 250 years beforehand)
Greece - the major empire had its rise, history and eventual fall predicted 300 years beforehand
Israel - the nation in the Old Testament was predicted that it would be invaded and destroyed, that its people would be scattered throughout the earth, and that eventually they would be regathered to the land of Israel again to be a nation. This describes the history of the Jews over the last 2000 years - and was predicted in approximately 1400 BC!
There are many others examples like these also.
These are not vague predictions like the ones you might read in horoscopes - these are specific testable predictions made a long time before they happened.
These were not easily predictable events. No one would have foreseen the fall of Tyre, or the regathering of the Jews 2000 years after they were persecuted.
These are reason why we believe in the God of the Bible
3. Consistency
The whole Bible is a library of books, written 1500 years apart, by different people in different parts of the world. However, they are not a 'loose collection of bronze age tales' - they are a remarkable unified set of books which outlines God's promises to his people, the salvation of humans and the eventual future for the world.
The whole theme of the Bible is God's intention to establish a community of people on this earth who have the same characteristics as he does and to live with them forever.
- The first chapters of the Bible show the wonderful creation of the world by God. They also show how humans disobeyed God and became prisoners to sin and death but indicates the promises of God to mankind to send a redeemer.
- The early books of the Bible show God starting to choose people to reveal his character to, and his promises to to send a specific man who would be a blessing to all nations.
- The rest of the Old Testament shows the dealings of God with the Jewish people - who were the first nation God revealed his character to. It shows their failings, but also God's promise to help them and all the world by sending a man who would be a King over the whole world and bring peace and justice.
- The Gospels (the first four books off the New Testament) show the promises fulfilled in God's son Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and then rose from the dead again, before ascending to heaven.
- The Acts of the Apostles (the fifth book of the New Testament) describe the preaching of the apostles (the early followers of Jesus) as they told the whole of the known world about the hope of redemption in Jesus.
- The rest of the New Testament (the letters) give instruction and advice to Christians on how to live their lives as they wait for the return of Jesus Christ to set up the kingdom. The final book of revelation describes the return of Jesus and the end state of the world - when God's purpose will be fulfilled and he lives with humans on the earth again.
It is hard to show this to people who have not / do not read the Bible - as it is something which becomes more evident the more you read and see how every part of the Bible interlinks with every other part. However we invite you to take the test for yourself - to read the Bible and see for yourself what an amazing book it is.
4. The resurrection of Jesus
The whole Christian faith finds meaning in the resurrection of Jesus. It shows that he was the son of God
Jesus was a real human being who lived on the earth. It's not just the Bible that says this. The Jewish historian Josephus and the Roman historian Tacitus both describe the existence of a man called Jesus.
Jesus was killed by the Romans. Again Josephus and Tacitus both describe how the Roman governor of Palestine - Pontus Pilate commanded that he was killed and how the soldiers crucified him. Other writers around in the 1st century such as Mara bar Serapion write of the death of Jesus.
Then something amazing happened. His followers started telling people he was alive and that he was the promised redeemer sent by God. The Christian faith grew exponentially in the Roman world - eventually taking over as the religion of the empire. This could just seem like a big lie that got out of control - but it does not seem likely:
- This was not a good lie to make up - nobody believed that someone could be raised from the dead - neither Jews nor Romans. The Bible itself records that when the disciples preached the resurrection, they were made fun of.
- It was a poor way from a PR perspective to start - someone who died by crucifixion was looked upon with disgust in the Roman world - why would you make up a religion based around someone who was crucified - something that would never work?
- The early disciples did not gain anything from starting this 'religion'. They were persecuted, tortured and killed for their beliefs - right from the get go. Why would they make something up and then stick to it if it brought them nothing but trouble?
The only real thing which explains all these facts is if the disciple actually believed that Jesus rose from the dead. There were hundreds of people who claimed the risen Jesus had appeared to them. It seems unlikely that this many people all hallucinated, and they had nothing to gain from making this up - only rejection and torture.
We think that this is another good reason to believe in the God of the Bible. He said that he would send a redeemer who would die and rise again. A man called Jesus who claimed to be that redeemer lived and was killed by the Romans. This man is the subject of a faith which started in unfriendly circumstances, grew massively against all the odds and is now the main faith in the world. We believe the only explanation of this is that Jesus did rise from the dead.
OUR CONFIDENCE
We said at the start that we may not convince you completely of our faith. However we hope from reading this, that even you don't agree with our conclusions, you will see that we do base our faith on evidence. We genuinely believe in the God of the Bible - and we would love for you to share in our faith.