First Post

We might trust in what we don't see, but as Christians, we trust in the testimony about what others have seen.  We have a faith that is based in historical accounts of facts about what people saw happen thousands of years ago.  Even though a lot of time has passed, this still makes Christianity a faith in facts.  The Bible itself points out that "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith" (1 Corinthians 15:14).  Christianity is not based on some philosophy that someone just made up, but the heart of it's foundation is something that Christians consider a real, historical event.  Sure, there is plenty of philosophy that comes out of that event, but all of that is based on observations of what really happened and what this miraculous man who could overcome death had to say about our lives.

You might debate whether what I as a Christian call a "real, historical event" is truly "real and historical", and that's great!  That is exactly what you should be doing!  Don't focus on all the other details and side plots of Christianity, just ask yourself a few simple questions to get started:  

1. Was Jesus Christ a real person who really walked this earth?  
2. If so, did he really suffer and die via execution on a cross?  
3. If so, did he then rise again and appear to several witnesses who then attest to this in the Bible?  

If you answered "yes" to all of these things, you must then ask yourself, "What does this mean to me?"  If you answered "no" to any of these three questions, look at the first question to which you answered "no" and ask yourself, "Why is my answer no?" 

If you answered "no" to only the third question above, your reason might be something along the lines of "because that's impossible."  But how do you know it's impossible?  Just because you've never seen it happen yourself?  Thomas was the same way (John 20:24-29).  You need to do research for yourself and determine what really happened two-thousand years ago, and only then can you decide if you're going to believe it as truth, or dismiss it as false, but just saying, "It's impossible" without digging deeper is not acceptable.

The starting of this blog and this first post were inspired by a Bible study at my church about the eyewitness accounts of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Though the phrasing is my own, the key ideas behind this post were pulled from that study.