Friends! We’ve reached the final post in this blog series based on Josh’s best-selling apologetics classic: More Than a Carpenter! Our goal in these 17 posts has been to definitively answer “Who is Jesus?” This week we’re sharing with you how Josh made the leap from diehard skeptic to sold-out believer. 

In Josh’s case, the journey took time. The historical evidence he’d studied for months in libraries across Europe had convinced Josh of the facts supporting the truth of Jesus being the Son of God. Yet Josh still “felt a strong reluctance to make the plunge” of asking Jesus to be his Savior.

Read on to learn the personal hurdles Josh had to get past to fully believe in God’s love and power. Perhaps Josh’s struggle is the struggle YOU are experiencing in your own heart and mind today.

Josh’s Hurdles to Trusting

“I had to admit,” says Josh, “that Jesus Christ must be exactly who He claimed to be. I could plainly see that Christianity was not a myth, not a fantasy of wishful dreamers, not a hoax played on the simple-minded, but rock-solid truth. My mind was telling me that Christianity was true, but my will was resisting it with all the energy it could muster.”

Yet two hurdles held Josh back: The first was pleasure. Becoming a Christian meant having no more fun … right? “I did not want any party pooper spoiling my fun,” Josh admits. “I couldn’t think of any faster way to ruin my good times.” Typical thinking for a college kid. But many people have the mistaken idea that choosing Jesus will remove — rather than add — joy to their life. That life becomes one big “Do Not!”

The second obstacle was Josh’ pride. If Josh chose a relationship with Jesus, he’d have to admit that the Christians on campus who had dared him to disprove God were, well, right. Having egg on his face galled Josh. “Every time I got around those enthusiastic Christians,” he admits, “the inner conflict would boil over.” Letting go of ego can feel incredibly painful. Especially when you pride yourself on your intellectualism, as Josh did.

Josh had believed that Christianity was fake — and Christians dimwits for believing in it — and now he was faced with deciding whether to become one of them. Another hurdle!

“I had always tried to be open-minded, but not so open-minded that my brains would fall out,” quips Josh. Yet in his research of Christ, Josh had to admit that he’d found “the most solid reality” he had yet to experience. So on December 19, 1959, at 8:30 p.m., Josh finally invited Jesus to become his friend and Savior.

Indisputable Personal Proof

His prayer wasn’t a “bolt of lightning” moment, admits Josh. “After I prayed, nothing happened. I mean nothing. And I still haven’t sprouted wings and a halo.” But Josh did slowly begin to notice changes within himself. One of the biggest changes was relief from his constant restlessness. Before he accepted Christ, Josh says that he always had to be occupied; that he was always bouncing off the walls. But he began to feel a mental peace that helped to settle him.

And he felt better able to handle stress and conflict. Josh had previously “walked around ticked off with people, things, and issues,” his insecurities causing him to view most people as threats. “I used to blow my stack if anyone just looked at me cross-eyed,” Josh admits. “My temper was such a part of me that I didn’t consciously seek to change it. But one day I encountered a crisis that should have set me off, only to find that I stayed calm and collected.” His no longer felt goaded to angrily lash out. 

Another amazing change was God’s removal of Josh’s deep-seated hatred toward his father, the town drunk. “My high school friends had made jokes about my dad’s drinking,” shares Josh. “They didn’t think it bothered me because I fell in with the joking and laughed with them. I was laughing on the outside, but let me tell you, I was crying on the inside.”

“About five months after I made that decision for Christ, a love from God entered my life so powerfully that it took that hatred, turned it upside down, and emptied it out. I was able to look my father squarely in the eyes and say, ‘Dad, I love you.’ And I really meant it.”

One day Josh’s father looked at Josh, totally blowing Josh’s mind as he said, “Son, if God can do in my life what I’ve seen Him do in yours, then I want to give Him the opportunity. I want to trust Him as my Savior and Lord.” Unlike Josh’s steady metamorphosis, his dad was instantly changed. “It’s as if God reached down and flipped on the light switch,” says Josh. “Never before or since have I seen such a dramatic change.” His supernatural 180 influenced many in his small town to give their lives to Jesus, too.

The second person that Josh was able to forgive was Wayne, the hired help who had sexually molested Josh for 6+ years. The unwanted abuse started when Josh was just six years old. “I wanted Wayne to burn in hell and I was willing to escort him there,” admits Josh. “The memories of the abuse scarred me.” But after accepting Christ, Josh was able to release his hatred.

“It was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do. I could never have done it on my own, he says. “If you have a similar story, be assured that you don’t have to face your demons alone, either. Your past can be overcome with God’s help.”

People can mock and ridicule Christianity — as Josh himself once did — but it’s powerful and it’s real. Christianity isn’t a religion. It’s not an ethical idea. And it’s not a psychological phenomenon. It’s a person, Jesus Christ.

Don’t let trusting in God’s love and goodness be a hurdle for you. Jesus wants to change your heart, heal your wounds, and renew your life. You just need to grant Him access.

Jesus is continually trying to get your attention and draw you to Himself. Your present isn’t a hurdle to Him. Your past isn’t a hurdle to Him. There is nothing you can do to remove His love and grace for you. This may sound impossible to you, but it’s one aspect of Christianity that you initially have to take on faith. Then, as you daily grow in your relationships with Jesus, He will continually prove it!

“Perhaps the prayer I prayed will help you,” adds Josh. “Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank you for dying on the cross for me. Forgive me and cleanse me. At this very moment I trust you as Savior and Lord. Make me the type of person you created me to be. In Christ’s name. Amen.”

In this series we’ve focused on showing you that the claims of Christ stand firm as solid historical facts, confirmed by the evidence of history, prophecy, and reason. Understanding the facts will give you a solid, dependable foundation to stand on as you experience Christ for yourself!

Jesus: He’s More Than a Carpenter!

FREE download: Read the first chapter of Josh’s bestseller, More Than a Carpenter. You can buy the book here.

> Watch how More Than a Carpenter changed one reader’s life AND set off a chain reaction that introduced many others to Jesus. That’s how the truth of God’s love is shared: person to person!

> Want to learn more about starting YOUR personal relationship with Jesus? Click here.

You can buy the book in English or Spanish.

Jesus! He’s our focus in this blog series based on Josh’s best-selling apologetics classic: More Than a Carpenter. In this post let’s look at whether prophecy helps us to identify the identity of the Savior.

Is Jesus really who He claimed to be — the Son of God and the Jews’ long-awaited Messiah? 

Of all the men ever born, Jesus is the only one to fulfill all Old Testament prophecy about the coming Messiah’s birth, death, and resurrection. Let’s look more at that astounding fact!

Prophecy Reveals the Messiah

Jesus repeatedly pointed to Old Testament prophecy to substantiate His claims about Himself. What events had to precede and coincide with Jesus’ arrival? Let’s look at just a handful.

Let’s start with Genesis 3:15: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Only Jesus could possibly fulfill this prophecy. Because He’s the only person in history who did not come from the seed of a man. Jesus, as the “seed” of a woman (Christ’s virgin birth), came to us to destroy the works of Satan (bruise his head) and redeem us unto Himself. Hallelujah!

Genesis 9 and 10 helps us to see what prophecy had to say about Jesus’ bloodline. Let’s go all the way back to Noah, who courageously built the ark when God told him about the upcoming flood. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. All nations of the world can be traced back to these three men. Through prophecy, God let it be known that the Messiah would come through the lineage of Shem.

Then God got even more specific. He told Abraham that the Messiah would be one of his descendants. Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau. God chose the lineage of Jacob. His 12 sons fathered the 12 tribes of Israel. God then singled out the tribe of Judah, choosing the lineage of Jesse, who had eight sons, one of whom was David. Interesting note: David, regarded as Israel’s greatest king, is the most frequently mentioned person in the Old Testament. Only Jesus is mentioned more frequently than David in the entire Bible.

So, in terms of lineage, prophecy stated that the Messiah must be born of the seed of a woman, the line of Shem, the race of the Jews, the line of Isaac, the line of Jacob, the tribe of Judah, the family of Jesse, and the house of David. Then God eliminated all but one city in the world, Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), as the location of Jesus’ birth. God even defined the time of Jesus’ arrival: during a period in which the Jewish Temple is still standing. This is of great significance when we realize that the Temple was destroyed in AD 70 and has not since been rebuilt.

A prophecy dating from 1012 BC predicts that the Messiah’s hands and feet would be pierced and that He would be crucified (Psalm 22:6-18, Zechariah 12:10, Galatians 3:13). Don’t miss this fact: The description of Jesus’ death was written 800 years before the Romans used crucifixion as a method of execution. Other Scriptures provide prophetic details on the place, time, and manner of Jesus’ birth, people’s reactions, and His betrayal.

The Old Testament, written over a period of a 1000 years, contains more than 300 references to Christ, recorded hundreds of years before His birth. 

The authors of the book Science Speaks ran calculations to analyze the probability of a single person being able to fulfill all Old Testament Messianic prophecy. By analyzing just eight prophecies, they found that the chance of any man fulfilling all eight is 1 in 10 to the 17th power. That’s one in 100,000,000,000,000,000. Mind blown! In fulfilling these eight prophecies alone, Jesus gives us proof that God inspired the Old Testament writings.

Some skeptics assert that Jesus was able to fulfill all prophecy by simply taking careful, deliberate action. In other words, Jesus checked off a list, much like you and I might check off our to-do list. Interesting idea — but we’d have to admit that many of the details of Jesus’ birth and death were entirely beyond human control.

Jesus could not have controlled the details of His birth, nor manipulated the details of His betrayal or crucifixion. Jesus was able to fulfill all Old Testament prophecies ONLY because He’s the Son of God.

God gave us so much prophetic information so that we can clearly see that Jesus is the Messiah. That’s how much God wants us to know Jesus. Will you trust in Him today? He’s trustworthy!

Jesus: He’s More Than a Carpenter!

FREE download: Read the first chapter of Josh’s bestseller, More Than a Carpenter. You can buy the book here.

> Watch how More Than a Carpenter changed one reader’s life AND set off a chain reaction that introduced many others to Jesus. That’s how the truth of God’s love is shared: person to person!

> Want to learn more about starting YOUR personal relationship with Jesus? Click here.

You can buy the book in English or Spanish.

Jesus! He’s our focus in this blog series based on Josh’s best-selling apologetics classic: More Than a Carpenter. His resurrection takes the question, “Is Christianity valid?” out of the realm of philosophy and makes it a question of history. Why? Because there is sufficient evidence to warrant our belief in the resurrection as a real event in history.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ either happened or it didn’t. Let’s look at what just a small bit of history research shows us, so you can make an educated decision on answering this question for yourself!

Jesus’ Death and Burial

After Jesus was condemned to death by Pontius Pilate, He was stripped of His clothing and whipped, per Roman custom, before His crucifixion. Eusebius, a third-century historian, provides us with descriptive details of just how much damage flogging did to a victim: “The sufferer’s veins were laid bare, and the very muscles, sinews, and bowels of the victim were open to exposure.” Flogging was no slap on the hand. It served, in part, to quicken the death of those about to be crucified. The Romans weren’t messing around.

Given the brutality of the whipping, as well as the confirmation of Jesus’ death by Roman soldiers before His body was removed from the cross, scholars are certain that Jesus was dead. Therefore, we can disregard any theories put forth by skeptics that suggest He merely fainted. Rome had no reason to allow Jesus to live. Crucifixion served one purpose: a humiliating, excruciating death of those whom Rome considered criminals. History confirms this.

Have you seen movies depicting the torture and crucifixion of Jesus? One, The Passion of the Christ, showcases the horrific events in detail. Do you think Jesus deserved this barbaric treatment? What’s your reaction as you watch His suffering on your behalf?

To meet Jewish burial customs, Jesus’ body was quickly prepared for burial and placed in a solid rock tomb. A large stone, weighing approximately two tons, was then rolled against the entrance with the help of levers, sealing it closed (Matthew 27:60). Roman guards were then stationed outside the entrance, to ensure that Jesus’ disciples didn’t steal His body.

Three days later, when the tomb was discovered open and empty, the Roman guards abandoned their post, terrified. This was a huge deal. Byzantine Roman emperor Justinian, in his Digest 49:16, lists 18 offenses for which a Roman guard could be put to death — including falling asleep or leaving one’s post.

The Empty Tomb

Is it possible that Jesus’ disciples stole His body? If you think it’s a possibility, please explain how you think they got past the highly trained and weaponized Roman guards. Or, if you believe, as some skeptics assert, that Jesus escaped from the tomb on His own, because He wasn’t really dead when placed there, please explain how He would have had the strength to remove the heavy stone sealing the tomb, given the condition of His body. We have to remember that the beatings and whipping would have shredded His flesh and done considerable damage to what lay beneath. His blood loss would have been significant. He would have been in shock. And His hands and feet would have been rendered useless, from the long metal stakes driven through them to hold Him to the cross.

The difficulties in belief of the resurrection may be great, but the problems inherent in disbelief are even greater. The Roman seal on the tomb was broken, which would have meant crucifixion upside down for whoever broke it. The massive stone was not just partially rolled back, but looked as if it had been picked up and carried away. And the guards abandoned their post — punishable by their own deaths.

Skeptic theories — from the Wrong-Tomb Theory, to the Stolen-Body Theory, to the Moved-Body Theory — attempt to come up with plausible explanations, but they all fail, as they ignore fact. The Jewish leaders were unable to squelch rumors of Jesus being alive because they couldn’t produce His body. They continued to reject the truth of the resurrection. But just because we ignore an event doesn’t remove it as being factual history.

History Confirmed by Evidence

The Jewish leaders show us, clearly, how blind we can be to the truth when we refuse to see. Though they fabricated a story to dispute the resurrection, they — and those who saw and interacted with Jesus after He rose — knew they were lying. German theologian Paul Althaus reminds us that the claim of the resurrection “could not have been maintained in Jerusalem for a single day, for a single hour, if the emptiness of the tomb had not been established as a fact for all concerned.” All the Jewish authorities had to do was produce Jesus’ dead body — but they couldn’t. Because He was alive!

While a professor at Harvard, Simon Greenleaf, one of the greatest legal minds America has produced, wrote a volume in which he examined the legal value of the apostles’ testimony to the resurrection of Jesus. He observed that it is impossible that the apostles “could have persisted in affirming the truths they narrated, had not Jesus actually risen from the dead, and had they not known this fact as certainly as they knew any other fact.”

The cowering disciples, who hid when Jesus was arrested and stayed in hiding even after His crucifixion, were emboldened by seeing the Risen Jesus. The early Church grew and spread because these believers were now thoroughly convinced that Jesus was God! And all but one of the disciples died a martyr’s death for this assertion.

Don’t shrug off the resurrection as no big deal OR impossible. Jesus had accomplished what He repeatedly told His disciples He would do: die and resurrect, to reconcile us with God when we accept Jesus as Lord. Jesus willingly served as our proxy, so that we could stand forgiven before God. 

It’s not only the past that speaks to the resurrection power of Jesus. It’s the present. Every committed Christ-follower today can testify to the power of the risen Christ in their own lives. They live with the gift of forgiveness (1 Corinthians 15:3), and the daily indwelling of God’s power, as He helps them journey through life (Galatians 5:22-23).

As Josh had to do, after his own attempt to discredit Christianity failed, we have to be willing to surrender our personal biases to be able to see the truth staring us in the face. Josh once thought Christians were really dumb for believing in God and Jesus. But when convinced of the resurrection, by facts, He surrendered to Jesus to remain “intellectually honest.” Where are you in accepting Jesus as legit?

The resurrection matters because it changes everything. For you. For me. For all eternity.

Jesus: He’s More Than a Carpenter!

FREE download: Read the first chapter of Josh’s bestseller, More Than a Carpenter. You can buy the book here.

> Watch how More Than a Carpenter changed one reader’s life AND set off a chain reaction that introduced many others to Jesus. That’s how the truth of God’s love is shared: person to person!

> Want to learn more about starting YOUR personal relationship with Jesus? Click here.

You can buy the book in English or Spanish.

Jesus! He’s our focus in this blog series based on Josh McDowell’s best-selling apologetics classic: More Than a Carpenter. 

In this post let’s look at one of the most influential conversion stories in the Bible: that of Saul of Tarsus. A bitter enemy of the early Church, Saul was personally leading the charge to destroy it. But then Jesus stalled Saul, via a blinding vision, to show him the goal he should be chasing.

Why is Saul’s dramatic conversion so important? Because it’s the pivotal moment that led Saul (Hebrew), later referred to as Paul (Greek), to become the hugely influential spokesman of the Jesus Movement. It’s mind-blowing who God can choose to use, right?!

Saul/Paul: The Before

Saul, like his father, was a Roman citizen. He was well educated, under the strict doctrines of the Pharisees, in Tarsus, a city known and praised for its Stoic philosophers and culture. Possessing great command of the Greek language, Saul displayed superb dialectic skill. At the tender age of 14, he was sent to study under Gamaliel, one of the great rabbis of the time, to learn to adhere to and preserve strict Judaism.

It was this devotion to Jewish law that later triggered Saul’s adamant opposition and hostility to the Christian faith, due to the importance he attached to the law as a way of salvation.

Saul sought to decimate the early Church by putting followers of Jesus in chains and taking them to Jerusalem to face trial. But on the day he approached the city of Damascus, carrying letters addressed to the Damascus synagogues asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way, Jesus stopped him by appearing to him in a vision.

A bright light from heaven suddenly shone down and Saul fell to the ground. A voice cried, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” cried Saul, trembling in fear.

“I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
Saul’s companions, who also heard the voice, quickly realized that Saul could no longer see. So they led him into Damascus, where he sat in his blindness for three days. Then God sent Ananias, a believer, to lay his hands on Saul’s eyes to restore his sight (Acts 9).

Ananias had heard of Saul’s reputation and mission. He was scared to put himself in the same room as Saul, but he obeyed when the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel.”

“Brother Saul,” said Ananias, as he placed his hands on Saul’s eyes, “the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” The Bible says that instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes and he could see. Saul got up, nourished himself, and got baptized.

Why did Saul’s conversion have to be so dramatic? God had His reasons, but likely because Saul needed to be dramatically convinced of Jesus’ resurrection power. And recognizing that he’d been personally hand-picked for a mission would have had a HUGE impact. One thing we do know: The experience overturns every area of Saul’s life, including where he places his allegiance. 

Saul/Paul: The After

After this encounter, Saul/Paul is transformed in three dramatic ways:

First: His CHARACTER is radically transformed.

The Encyclopedia Britannica describes Paul before his conversion as an intolerant, bitter, persecuting, religious bigot, who was proud and temperamental. The “after” adjectives describe Paul as patient, kind, enduring, and self-sacrificing. Wow!

Second: His RELATIONSHIP with the followers of Jesus is transformed.

The Christians no longer need to fear Paul, as his focus has changed from destroying the Church to helping to grow its members. Paul now encourages them to stay strong in their faith!

Third: His MESSAGE is transformed.

He still loves his Jewish heritage, but Paul has changed from bitter antagonist to determined protagonist of the Christian faith. The Book of Acts tells us that Paul immediately began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!”

Don’t miss this: In acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah, Paul’s message is now in direct conflict with the Pharisees’ messianic ideas. Paul now teaches that Jesus’ death on the cross was not a cursing by God, but rather God reconciling the world to Himself through Jesus. That Christ’s death wasn’t a failure, but a great victory, completed by the Resurrection.

Can you imagine the shock waves that swept through the Jewish leadership? And in Paul’s own family?

Fourth: His MISSION is transformed.

As a Jew and a Pharisee, Saul had despised Gentiles, viewing them as inferior to God’s people. But now here he is wholeheartedly serving them, as God’s self-appointed missionary. The Jewish zealot is now an on-fire evangelist to non-Jews!

For the rest of his life, Paul will repeatedly claim that Christ, alone, fueled this transformation in his life. Paul even endured a martyr’s death for his commitment to Christ. Can you say, “Sold out”?

As Paul’s ministry teaches us, Jesus came for the Jew and Gentile alike. Which means that Jesus came and died for YOU! Will you accept Him as your Lord and Savior? 

Jesus: He’s More Than a Carpenter!

> FREE download: Read the first chapter of Josh’s bestseller, More Than a Carpenter. You can buy the book here.

> Watch how More Than a Carpenter changed one reader’s life AND set off a chain reaction that introduced many others to Jesus. That’s how the truth of God’s love is shared: person to person!

> Want to learn more about starting YOUR personal relationship with Jesus? Click here.

You can buy the book in English or Spanish.

Jesus! He’s our focus in this blog series based on Josh’s best-selling apologetics classic: More Than a Carpenter. Our goal is to definitively answer “Who is Jesus?,” so that you can answer these big life questions: “Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going?” 

Jesus’ disciples thought they knew who Jesus was — and what He was here to do. They got that entirely wrong — until they interacted with the resurrected Jesus. Then they finally understood His purpose. The power of their fact-based testimony is unmistakable. Did they die for a lie? Not likely.

Those who challenge Christianity often overlook the amazing transformation in these men: these disillusioned disciples suddenly became all-in evangelists willing to die for sharing the Good News. Men who boldly claimed, “Here lies the truth!”

Disillusioned Disciples

On the night Jesus was arrested, His supposedly committed disciples not only hightailed it from the scene, they hid. Only Peter followed at a safe distance, but he, too, within hours abandoned Jesus by denying three times that he even knew his rabbi. Ouch. With His crucifixion, Jesus’ disciples viewed Him to be as dead as their movement. Their hopes slashed, along with their expectations.

We have to remember that the Jews at that time were expecting a powerful, political Messiah to liberate them. Jesus’ life and teachings were in tremendous conflict with this expectation. Jesus’ own disciples were convinced that Jesus would kick some Roman butt and restore Israel as an esteemed, independent nation. The Messiah would be victorious. Publicly humiliated and killed by their hated enemy? Nope. Nope. Nope.

It is a psychological fact that we hear only what we are prepared to hear. Jesus told His close companions more than once that He would suffer and die (and resurrect), but they couldn’t make sense of His words. It seems weird to us now, as we read the Gospel accounts, that they could be so unprepared for His arrest and death. Their minds simply couldn’t comprehend this reality.

So as they hid together in that upper room, their disillusionment was likely so thick it draped heavy on their bodies and heart. Shock? Grief? Disillusion? Yup. In buckets. Hope? Nope. And yet, only three days later, the resurrected Jesus appears and blows their minds wide open!

Fully Convinced Disciples

Jesus first had to convince His close companions that He was physically there — not just a mirage or hallucination, as some skeptics suggest. And He had to meet each of them in their fear and doubt. Thomas, for example, refused to believe that Jesus had risen until he got the chance to personally touch Jesus’ wounds. And with His customary grace, Jesus lovingly restored Peter, so that Peter could release his shame and fulfill the critical role Jesus had for him.

All but one of these disciples would eventually be murdered for doggedly sharing the Good News. Peter was crucified. Andrew was crucified. James was killed by the sword. Philip was crucified. Bartholomew was crucified. Thomas was killed by a spear. Matthew was killed by the sword. James, son of Alphaeus, was crucified. Thaddaeus was killed by arrows. Simon, the zealot, was crucified. Only John died a natural death.

During Jesus’ ministry, his brother James scoffed at Jesus being more than human. (Sounds like Mary didn’t allow miracles at the dinner table!) But James was apparently convinced against his will. He became not only an enthusiastic evangelist after Jesus resurrected, but a leading figure in the Jerusalem church. James, a book in the Bible, starts with “James, a slave [servant] of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (James 1:1). James also suffered for proclaiming the Good News. He was eventually stoned to death by order of Ananias, the Jewish high priest.

These men all had one thing in common: An unshakeable belief they were willing to die for. Would they so stridently pursue their goal for a lie? As religious scholar Michael Green notes, “You could imprison them, flog them, kill them, but you could not make them deny their conviction that ‘on the third day He rose again.'” The unanimity of their message and their conduct is amazing.

The Disciples Testimony Matters

As Christian apologist J. P. Moreland notes, “they were willing to spend the rest of their lives proclaiming this, without any payoff from a human point of view. It’s not as though there were a mansion awaiting them on the Mediterranean. They faced a life of hardship. They often went without food, slept exposed to the elements, were ridiculed, beaten, imprisoned. And finally, most of them were executed in torturous ways. For what? For good intentions? No, because they were convinced that they had seen Jesus Christ alive from the dead.”

Without the testimony of these men, we have no window into any historical event involving Jesus. So we rely heavily on their testimony — as we should. The bold conduct of the apostles after they were convinced of Christ’s resurrection makes it highly unlikely that it was all a fraud.

As Josh McDowell notes, “These men learned the truth about Jesus’ identity as the Messiah. The Jews had misunderstood. Their national patriotism led them to look for a Messiah to save their nation. What came instead was a Messiah to save the world. A Messiah who would save not merely one nation from political oppression, but all of humanity from the eternal consequences of sin. The disciples’ vision had been too small. Suddenly they saw the larger truth.” The Good News!

Have you ever been disillusioned, but then had your expectations radically overturned? How do you think the disciples felt the very moment they realized Jesus was the Messiah? How do you think they felt when they fully understood the Good News? Have you felt this realization yet? We invite you to do so!

Jesus: He’s More Than a Carpenter!

> FREE download: Read the first chapter of Josh’s bestseller, More Than a Carpenter. You can buy the book here.

> Watch how More Than a Carpenter changed one reader’s life AND set off a chain reaction that introduced many others to Jesus. That’s how the truth of God’s love is shared: person to person!

> Want to learn more about starting YOUR personal relationship with Jesus? Click here.

You can buy the book in English or Spanish.

Welcome back! In this blog series, based on Josh’s best-selling apologetics classic More Than a Carpenter, we’re asking, “Who is Jesus? Did He really live, die, and resurrect? Is He really the Son of God?”

As the New Testament provides the primary historical source for information about Jesus, critics have spent the last two centuries attacking its reliability. Most of their charges lack historical foundation. Too, archeological discoveries continue to prove the trustworthiness of the events, people, and places recorded in the Bible. In this post, let’s look at three tests that can, without bias, determine the validity of the Gospels and other biblical manuscripts.

The Gospels Vetted by Three Tests

Three tests can be employed to verify the historical accuracy of a text: the Bibliographical Test, the Internal Evidence Test, and the External Evidence Test. We’ve covered them in earlier posts, so we’ll highlight them here.

The Bibliographical Test

The Bibliographical Test asks, Are existing copies of biblical manuscripts faithful to the originals? What is the time interval between the original and copy? How consistent are the copies with one another?

Scholar Bart Ehrman asserts that because biblical manuscripts contain numerous human errors, the New Testament can’t be trusted. From his own in-depth research, Josh McDowell points out that the majority of these errors don’t affect the validity of the text. “A key point Ehrman raises,” explains Josh, “is the 300,000 to 400,000 variants among New Testament manuscripts. A textual variant is any time the New Testament manuscripts have alternative wordings.” But, he adds, “this is not the whole picture. When the variants are looked at more closely, a very different story emerges. By far, the most significant category of variants is spelling differences.“

Spelling differences actually account for about 75 percent of these variants — between 225,000 and 300,000. A second large category of variants is the use of synonyms. Some manuscripts refer to Jesus by His proper name, while others call Jesus “Lord” or “He.” When all variants are considered, only about ONE PERCENT involve the meaning of the text. So we CAN have full confidence in the Gospels and other New Testament writings.

The Internal Evidence Test

The Internal Evidence Test asks, Is the original text credible? To what extent is it credible?

It’s important to look at the Gospel writers’ proximity to recorded geographical and chronological events. The New Testament accounts of Jesus were written down by men who were personal eyewitnesses, or who had access to eyewitnesses. As they shared the Good News, the Gospel writers often reminded their listeners that they weren’t making stuff up. Just three examples:

John 19:35: This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account. He speaks the truth so that you also can believe.
1 John 1:3: We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us.
2 Peter 1:16: We were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw His majestic splendor with our own eyes.

Did the Gospel writers faithfully record Jesus’ life and words? Scholars who have analyzed the ancient literary forms and oral traditions behind the biblical writings remind us that a rabbi’s words were carefully preserved and passed down via memorization. As Ministry speaker Matthew Tingblad teaches us in his video series on the reliability of the Gospels, much of Jesus’ teachings were in Aramaic poetical form, which aided in their easy memorization. Too, we must remember that God inspired the Gospel authors, aiding them in their recollection and writing.

Eyewitness testimony is the best relevant evidence. Can a modern skeptic assert that he or she is better qualified to judge the validity of the Gospels than the writers themselves? No.

The External Evidence Test

The External Evidence Test focuses on studying other historical materials to see where they confirm or deny this eyewitness testimony. What sources, apart from the Gospel writers, substantiate the Gospels’ accuracy, reliability, and authenticity? Ancient extrabiblical sources present a large amount of detail about Jesus’ life and ministry, as well as the nature of early Christianity. Twentieth-century archeological discoveries continue to confirm the accuracy of Gospels and other New Testament manuscripts.

As New Testament scholar Craig Bloomberg notes, “97-99 percent of the New Testament can be reconstructed beyond any reasonable doubt.” Adds apologist Douglas Groothuis, the New Testament is “better attested by ancient manuscripts than any other piece of ancient literature.” Just one example of how biblical manuscripts stack up against other historical documents: More than 20,000 copies of New Testament manuscripts exist. The Iliad, by comparison, has only 643 manuscripts in existence. Think about that!

The next time a critic tries to tell you that the Bible lacks relevance or authority, share this assertion by the late theologian Clark H. Pinnock: “There exists no document from the ancient world witnessed by so excellent a set of textual and historical testimonies, and offering so superb an array of historical data on which an intelligent decision may be made. An honest [person] cannot dismiss a source of this kind. Skepticism regarding the historical credentials of Christianity is based on an irrational [i.e., antisupernatural] bias.”

> > > BELIEVER, if you don’t know the historical facts validating the Bible and Christian faith, GET UP TO SPEED! Numerous posts in our Evidence and Resurrection series will grow your knowledge, to give you confidence that what the Gospels teach you about Jesus is true. He came. He died. He rose. For YOU.

Jesus: He’s More Than a Carpenter!

> FREE download: Read the first chapter of Josh’s bestseller, More Than a Carpenter. You can buy the book here.

> Watch how More Than a Carpenter changed one reader’s life AND set off a chain reaction that introduced many others to Jesus. That’s how the truth of God’s love is shared: person to person!

> Want to learn more about starting YOUR personal relationship with Jesus? Click here.

You can buy the book in English or Spanish.

Welcome back to our series based on Josh McDowell’s apologetics book, More Than a Carpenter. Let’s continue discussing why atheists believe society is better chucking religion, particularly Christianity.

Let’s start with this assertion: Atheism is more reasonable than Christianity. True?

Is Atheism More Reasonable Than Christianity?

Atheists assert that atheism holds the rational higher ground. The late atheist Christopher Hitchens noted that religious belief requires faith, but atheism doesn’t, because it relies primarily on the empirical evidence of science. But didn’t Albert Einstein state that the most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is incomprehensible?

Einstein understood a basic truth about science: that it relies on certain philosophical assumptions about the natural world — including the existence of a real external world that is orderly and knowable, and the trustworthiness of our minds to grasp that world. Science cannot proceed apart from these assumptions.

This raises a thorny dilemma for atheists: If the human mind developed through the blind, material process of Darwinian evolution, is it trustworthy? Charles Darwin himself pondered this problem: “The horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man’s mind, which has been developed from the mind of lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy.”

Atheists place enormous trust in their personal powers of reason. Yet their worldview undermines the basis for such confidence. If Darwinian evolution is true, our cognitive faculties are the result of an unguided, irrational process, which should make us distrust them.

“Science is based on the assumption that the universe is thoroughly rational and logical at every level,” notes prize-winning physicist Paul Davies. “Atheists claim that the laws [of nature] exist reasonlessly and that the universe is ultimately absurd. As a scientist, I find this hard to accept. There must be an unchanging rational ground in which the logical, orderly nature of the universe is rooted.”

Atheism undercuts any such rational ground, while theism does provide a foundation. We can expect a rational universe if God exists.

In her article God Versus Science: Atheists Aren’t as Rational As You Might Think, Lois Lee notes, “The problem that any rational thinker needs to tackle is that the science increasingly shows that atheists are no more rational than theists. Indeed, atheists are just as susceptible as the next person to ‘group-think’ and other non-rational forms of cognition. For example, religious and nonreligious people alike can end up following charismatic individuals without questioning them.”

Is atheism more reasonable than Christianity? What might lead an atheist to change his or her mind? What are your thoughts? We’d love to hear them!

Jesus: He’s More Than a Carpenter!

> FREE download: Read the first chapter of Josh’s bestseller, More Than a Carpenter. You can buy the book here.

> Watch how More Than a Carpenter changed one reader’s life AND set off a chain reaction that introduced many others to Jesus. That’s how the truth of God’s love is shared: person to person!

> Want to learn more about starting YOUR personal relationship with Jesus? Click here.

You can buy the book in English or Spanish.

Welcome back to our series based on Josh McDowell’s best-selling book, More Than a Carpenter, in which Josh shares the historical evidence for the divinity of Christ, and how Judeo-Christian standards have long benefitted the world.

Modern atheists, however, assert that religion is the bane of human existence … that science has disproved God … and that society will flourish when atheism is embraced. Really? Let’s discuss!

Is Life Better With Atheism?

Atheism is not new. About 1,000 years before Jesus Christ walked the earth, King David described a person who says in his heart, “There is no God” (Psalm 14:1). There have always been people who deny the existence of God, but recent polls indicate that U.S. adults increasingly identify as atheist or agnostic. This is due, partly, to atheist influencers receiving a warm welcome in classrooms and the media. But it’s also due to Christians being less committed to actively living out their faith. 

Per a December 2021 article by Pew Research Center, the religiously unaffiliated population in the U.S. is 6 percentage points higher than it was five years ago and 10 points higher than a decade ago. About three-in-ten U.S. adults are now religiously unaffiliated. As more U.S. youth are being raised by non-religious parents, they are easy marks for atheist claims.

“The latest cognitive research,” states University of Kent Research Fellow Lois Lee in her article Why Atheists Are Not as Rational As Some Like to Think, “shows that the decisive factor is learning from what parents do rather than from what they say. So if a parent says that they’re Christian, but they’ve fallen out of the habit of doing the things they say should matter – such as praying or going to church – their kids simply don’t buy the idea that religion makes sense.”

Another report states that about 40 percent of U.S. atheists are between the ages of 18 and 29, and 37 percent are between 30 and 49. Millennials and Gen Z are the most racially, ethnically, and religiously diverse generation to date.

The influence of modern atheist authors such as Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens has spread far beyond the publishing world. Their goal: eradicate any rational grounds for religious belief. In their view, Christianity poisons society. 

It’s not a stretch to say that contemporary atheists celebrate the death of God. They hold zero tolerance for religious faith. It must go. The sooner, the better. They assume, notes Professor John Haught of Georgetown University, that we “can just drop God like Santa Claus without having to witness the complete collapse of Western culture — including our sense of what is rational and moral.”

Many have bought into the argument that Christianity is a dangerous relic that needs to go. But if we do a side-by-side comparison of atheism and Christianity, will we find that banning God and Judeo-Christian standards from society is a good thing?

Is life better with atheism? Let’s discuss further in our next post when we look at the atheist claim that atheism is more reasonable than Christianity.

Jesus: He’s More Than a Carpenter!

> FREE download: Read the first chapter of Josh’s bestseller, More Than a Carpenter. You can buy the book here.

> Watch how More Than a Carpenter changed one reader’s life AND set off a chain reaction that introduced many others to Jesus. That’s how the truth of God’s love is shared: person to person!

> Want to learn more about starting YOUR personal relationship with Jesus? Click here.

You can buy the book in English or Spanish.

Welcome back to our blog series based on Josh’s best-selling apologetics classic: More Than a Carpenter. Our goal is to show you that Jesus definitely lived, died, and resurrected. Why? Because if Jesus really is the truth, then He puts everything else about life into perspective!  

In this post we answer, “Does science disprove Christ? Does it hold that power?”

“Often when I’m speaking to a philosophy or history class,” notes Josh, “someone confronts me with the challenge, ‘Can you prove the resurrection scientifically?’ I usually say, ‘Well, no, I’m not a scientist.’ Then I hear the class chuckling and the students say things like, ‘Then don’t talk to me about it,’ or ‘So I’m supposed to take it on faith?’ Their response makes me chuckle!”

Does Science Disprove Christ? Yes/No?

No is the correct answer. Those students have it wrong: Science can only prove what it can repeat in a controlled environment. Science is great when it stays in its lane. But it oversteps its authority when it chooses to make definitive claims beyond its boundary. This hasn’t stopped the scientific community, in general, from curtly dismissing the miraculous and supernatural as “old fashioned” and “preposterous” ideas that belong in the past.

This explains why many people mistakenly hold the belief that if something can’t be proved scientifically, it isn’t true. Many have accepted that science has adequately disproved the basis for rational faith — when it hasn’t. Because it CAN’T.

Think about this reality for a moment: YOU freely accept, as truth, many facts that can’t be verified by the scientific method. Did you watch TV last night? Did you eat lunch today? Don’t try using the scientific method to answer these questions, because it can’t. But you can find answers using legal-historical proof.

The scientific method is related to measurement of phenomena and experimentation or repeated observation. This method, however, can’t prove anything outside of an environment it can replicate. So the scientific method isn’t a reliable tool when we’re seeking to learn the truth about historical events or people.

Legal-historical proof incorporates three sources: oral testimony, written testimony, and exhibits (perhaps a bullet, glove, or other item). This method provides answers, beyond reasonable doubt, using available evidence. Courtrooms rely heavily on legal-historical proof to determine verdicts. An inquiry into whether you watched TV or ate lunch might begin with these questions: Was someone with you? Did an eyewitness observe you? Is there a restaurant receipt? What’s in your trash can?

Did George Washington chop down a cherry tree? Science can’t say. Was Martin Luther King, Jr., a civil rights leader? Science can’t say. Did Jesus live, die, and resurrect? Science can’t say, despite its assertion that miracles don’t happen and God doesn’t exist. 

Do we value the scientific method? Highly. Do we believe that science has proven many facts about the earth and how the universe works? Absolutely. Do we believe that science alone validates what is true or possible or believable? No way. Science has proven many things, but it has not disproved God. Don’t blindly accept that it has. Instead, dig into the wealth of legal-historical proof that shows that Jesus is so much more than a carpenter!

Jesus: He’s More Than a Carpenter!

> FREE download: Read the first chapter of Josh’s bestseller, More Than a Carpenter. You can buy the book here.

> Watch how More Than a Carpenter changed one reader’s life AND set off a chain reaction that introduced many others to Jesus. That’s how the truth of God’s love is shared: person to person!

> Want to learn more about starting YOUR personal relationship with Jesus? Click here.

You can buy the book in English or Spanish.