Posted by S. Baker on March 18, 2019 at 16:03:43:
In Reply to: Re: MOUNT ZION posted by Johann Cronje on March 15, 2019 at 01:01:21:
What defines Christianity at its core?
For Christianity, we find the answer in Ro.10:9. "If you declare with
your mouth 'Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised
Him from the dead, you will be saved."
Here we find the entire Gospel message formulated as the minimum
requirement for saving faith.
It has three components
1. That Jesus died.
2. That He rose from the dead.
3. That He is God.
Thankfully, each of these components can be tested from a historical
angle.
Did Jesus die on the cross or not?
As we have seen, this is a fundamental teaching of Christianity and
would have happened in history.
So we can open the pages of the historical records to see if they
support or rebut Jesus' death.
The same is true of His resurrection.
Although it would be a supernatural event, it would still have
happened in history.
So we can investigate the historical records to see if they corroborate
the truth claim.
Lastly, do the historical records indicate that Jesus claimed to be
God or not.
If all three are true, we have good reason to accept the. Christian
message, as these three together form a compelling case.
If someone were to demonstrate their supernatural authority to
validate their claim, then that would give us good reason to believe
them.
In other words, if someone were to say "I am God", we would think
them crazy.
But if they were to say " I will prove my claim by rising from the
dead", and then do so, we would have good reason to believe them.
That is exactly what Jesus said the resurrection is for.
When people who were skeptical asked Him for a sign, He said that
the one sign He would show them is the resurrection.