The Seed Blog: No Other...

Have you ever had a moment where you secretly asked yourself, "Is it all really true, or have I been misled?" If you say that you haven't, you and I both know that is not true. True faith can only be achieved through facing your doubts. I have heard it said by so many people through the years, concerning faith in Christ: “You only believe in Christ because you live in America. If you lived in Japan you'd be Buddhist; Iraq, you'd be Muslim; India, you'd be Hindu.” And I've heard answers from Christians when confronted with issues about their beliefs, make statements such as: "We are to accept these things by faith alone, " Or, "We walk by faith, not by sight."

There is a twinge of truth in all of these statements. Yes, some believe only because they live where they live, and that gives them no more reason to believe, on the surface, than any Muslim or Buddhist that ever lived. And Geography cannot decide whether your belief system is the right one. And, yes, we are to walk by faith, but only after we know Who we are believing in and why. And only after we know His Character and heart. Otherwise we could walk in faith for Satan the same way. [Therefore, this is a ridiculous argument that I hope you never use, or believe in your heart.] God has never expected anyone to believe in His existence or His Love without proof. That would not be love on His part; that would not be peace on our part. God has made it plain in His Word that He has revealed Himself, if we are interested in opening our eyes: Acts 17:30-31; 1 Peter 3:15. (defense) Newsflash class: If God is real; if there is a Creator; if there is a way to Heaven; and if that way is only Jesus Christ—I am quite sure there would be compelling and adequate evidence to sustain that conclusion in this world. And I am quite sure that our God would want our belief in Him to be built upon the Foundation of that evidence. We have gone through very detailed studies, of many subjects in defense of what we believe here, but today, I would like to do something slightly different. I would like to touch briefly on a number of subjects, without digging deeper into any of them. 1) So that you may have a larger view of just how much logic and evidence exists. 2) So you may have something for your heart and mind to come back to in your own times of doubt or pain. 3) So you may have honest, compelling Truths to fulfill 1 Peter 3:15 in your life (be ready to give a defense). These evidences will not even scratch the surface, but it is a great place to start. And we will go through a number of these in the future, in much detail and study. The short answer for, “Is Christ The One & Only Way?” Yes! The long answer? Yeeessssss!
So let's quickly walk past many of the roads that leads to Christ, and look down those roads as we pass, for just a moment.
1) No other religion offers, not only a real, reasonable explanation of how and when the world began. Here’s the key—and will end. Scriptures rings true to every discovery of modern science about the beginning of the universe: Genesis 1:1. Not until recently did we find the evidence for the beginning of this Universe. Until then, for some time we believed—many hoped—for a static, or constant Universe that never began or ended. And just for thought, many say they will put their hope in science over God. First of all, I put my hope in both, because God created the laws of Science, so they will ultimately prove Him. [Period!] But secondly, go to any University today and quote emphatically, all of the evidence they taught in any particular field, with certainty, fifty or one hundred years ago in their classrooms, and see if they laugh at your adamant faith in your claims. Not only does our faith match the evidence for the beginning of the Universe, but there is certainly no other religion that proclaims the very scientific understanding of what is literally happening to our entire universe as it winds down and slowly dies: Romans 8:19-22. Compare these incredibly accurate statements to the origin story of other major religions: Hinduism (over 1 in 7 people alive).
 2) No other religion gives a real, literal, and complete history and genealogy of all of mankind which is believable and accurate with what we know about demographical, linguistic, and archaeological information. Scriptures literally follow mankind’s history, with a real lineage, throughout time.
3) No other religion has numerous statements involving science and medicine that have held true through the ages. Though not a purposeful Book of science or medicine, many statements in Scriptures include information beyond the knowledge of the men writing them at the time, and have held true through to modern discoveries. Through thousands of years, as other religions and cultures stated things about our earth such as: the earth rests on giant elephants; the god Atlas holds earth on his shoulders; the earth is flat; and the sea is a saucer shaped bowl. Our Scriptures were saying this: Job 26:7; Isaiah 40:21-22; Job 26:10; Jonah 2:5,6. Listen to the details of some of these incredible facts: In the 1800's, Matthew Maury, an officer in the U.S. Navy Discovered paths and currents in the sea like rivers flowing. He wrote the first book on oceanography and became known as "the pathfinder of the seas"; "The father of modern navigation." He did so after being inspired to look for them in this Scripture:  Written 500 yrs before Christ: Psalm 8:8.
4) No other religion is based upon simply accepting a Person rather than keeping a set list of rules as a way of life, rather than weighing the good against the bad, relying on the love of their God, rather than appeasing his wrath. Which would you pray is accurate?
5) No other religion has a Book that could not possibly have been written by men. Written by so many people (40), over so many years (1500), on three different continents (Africa, Asia, Europe), and three different languages (Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic), from fishermen to kings to prisoners to priests, in complete unison, which has so many copies (25,800- closest being 200, 49, 10), in so many languages, it couldn’t have been altered, and from such a close time to the actual events (25yrs to 800yrs), that it had to be accepted by the locals as true, and it has extreme security in having been accurate, and having secondary quotes in so many other sources that It could literally be recreated without the original sources, and finally, in 1947, with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (About 200 BC)—which included pieces of every Book of Scriptures but Ester. No notable scholar considers the Bible in your hands to be any less than 99% accurate to what was written by the original hands. (Sir Fredric Kenyon)
6) No other religion has been based upon a literal Historical Figure who did not just show up one day, but of Whom their very appearance, was written about in extreme detail, hundreds, and even over a thousand years before He arrived, telling Who was to come, when He would come, precisely, where He would come from, why He would come, and What would happen to Him. The prophecies telling of these events, proven to be written hundreds of years before the birth of Christ even occurred—undeniably. The Greek Translation of Old Testament, the Septuagint, was completed 250 years before Christ. The Dead Sea Scrolls providing further evidence with thousands of fragments of these writings dated back to the third century BC. How many here doubt the historicity of Augustus Caesar? Did you know there is more historical Evidence for Christ?
7) No other religion can prove the historical claims of the Key Figure of their religion through the history of multiple cultures in archeology and writings. Roman, Jewish, and Christian cultures show undeniable evidences in writings and archeology—that Jesus was not only a Man of history, but that the events written about in Scriptures occurred. Including His death, including His miracles, including that many saw Him after His resurrection. Dr. David Woods, Doctorate in Philosophy, Preacher, and Apologist commented on the ignorance of an entire generation concerning Jesus. Some of the fiercest opponents of Christianity had to write about Jesus' existence, miracles, and crucifixion. Trusted historians confirmed these events, and even wrote of the many that saw Him after the resurrection. Even Jesus' own brother who denied Him in life, became a leader in the church, and died a horrible death proclaiming He had risen (James was stoned). Dr. Gary Habermas, American Historian, New Testament Scholar, Philosopher of Religion, and Christian Apologist comments on these facts. These facts include His life, when and how He died, that He was surely dead, that He was seen by many again after death, that these events drastically changed the lives of those present in that time. No other religion has its most central point of belief, so completely grounded in history and archeology, attested to by multiple cultures, many of which stood against Him.
8) No other religion was birthed in the midst of two cultures, which hated every Word proclaimed, and yet not only survived against all odds, it permeated the society and spread throughout the known world, and down through the ages to us today. Look at the cultures: The Jews were looking for a completely different Messiah, to free them and lead them—not a weak, defeated, Messiah who could be murdered helplessly. And they would have created a Messiah of whom the religious leaders could have loved and supported—of whose resurrection could have been attested to by someone other than their own culture's most untrustworthy, lowly members (women), and they certainly would not have quoted the names of people still living when they wrote their documents (500 witnesses), who saw Christ, and could verify such a story if it were not true. How could such documents, if known to be untrue by the masses, cause many to give up everything for a known lie? How could these documents be accepted so soundly, as they grew and spread with passion throughout the known world? The Romans faced certain rebellion and struggle by not quickly snuffing out this problem of Jesus' resurrection. The largest military and social power of the day had only to produce a body, buried in a local grave, but historically, they never could.
9) No other religion gave detailed prophecies of the forming of nations and powers throughout mankind's history with flawless accuracy.
10) No other religion gave incredible and unforeseeable prophecies of every detail which would immediately follow the birth of their religion. After the Messiah was rejected, the Temple was destroyed in 70AD, the Jews became hated, killed in enormous numbers, and dispersed throughout every nation on earth, and the Jewish Nation ended until the last days.
11) No other religion perfectly predicted the unfathomable condition of the entire world 2000 years after its birth, including the return of the Jewish people, to their own land again, against all odds; including the alignment of nations, the details of technology used today (Money System), the details of modern warfare (conventional and nuclear), the details of our world economic structure (moving towards one), and the moral attitude of mankind
(fallen, depraved, selfish, warring).
12) No other religion has a God that has literally altered the entire world as Jesus has done; changing the literal calendar for the entire world, affecting more cultures in laws, morality, government, science, arts, music, and caring for the poor and sick, than any other, "religion" in history. With more people willingly being targeted, tortured, and killed for their belief in Christ than any other religion. More now, two thousand years later, than ever before in history, and still going strong. H. G. Wells, known novelist, teacher, historian, and journalist—who was an evolutionist, and socialist in his views—said this.
13) No other religion has a God that did not demand that we work our way to Him, but that came to us. That treasured us more than we treasured Him. That worked to win us, rather than expecting us to work our way to Him. That wanted to be known intimately and loved, not just feared and obeyed. Wouldn't a True Creator feel this way about His precious creation?
14) No other religion has a God that is literally more humble than His own subjects. That has more love, and shows more passion for them. Than He has yet to receive from one of them in return. That has more desire to win them back, than they show to be won.
When you see that no other religion can come remotely close to Christianity in any of these areas, it makes you suddenly realize, maybe this isn't a religion at all. It is a Real God, proving Himself through His Real Word, showing Real Love, and wanting a Real Relationship. Just be honest for one moment—if all of this evidence were admitted into a court trial, what would be the only fair and logical verdict? And yet for some, it is less faith to believe everything suddenly came from absolutely nothing, from one huge accidental explosion, with no purpose or reason, and the random debris from that explosion, came together to form creations of unimaginable complexity, with function and purpose, until they accidentally grew, purposelessly, into self-conscious, self-driven, self-aware, self-replicating oddities, who would once again, sometime in the future, die with the rest of the accidental explosion, as the Universe winds down to a heat death. All of Creation having been an uncaused, unneeded, blip never to occur again. And you think the evidence given to you just now, is what requires faith? Romans 1:18-22.