Why Christianity?

So what if I believe in the existence of God? Which religion should I believe in? Doesn't all religions teach the same thing?

Many religions claim to be teachings of God but all it contains is a system of do's and don'ts. How do we know if the teachings are indeed from God? Christianity is unique because in its teachings, the bible, we can find convincing proofs that of God's inspiration.

Scientific proofs of the Bible

One of the strongest evidences that the Bible is the Word of God is the great number of scientific truths that have lain hidden within its pages for thirty centuries or more, only to be discovered by man within the last few centuries or even years. Let's look at some examples.

The bible says in Genesis 2:2 that "God ended His work which He had made." The matter and energy that was part of the original creation is all there will ever be; no new matter or energy is being created. The complete cessation of creative activity has been recognised by modern science as the first law of thermodynamics, or the law of conservation of mass and energy. According to this law, which is one of the most universal and certain of all scientific principles, nothing is now being created or destroyed. This truth is also illustrated in the following verse.

Ecclesiastes 3:14;15. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him. 15 Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before.... (NIV)

The second law of thermodynamics tells us that though energy cannot be destroyed, its ability to do useful work decreases. Systems tend to degenerate from a state of order to a state of chaos. Science tells us that eventually this process will lead to the death of the universe. The bible also teaches this truth.

Psalms 102:25;26 25 In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. 26 They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment.(NIV) Recently the nobel prize was given to a scientist who confirmed that the universe is expanding and therefore cannot be measured. Thousands of years ago this truth is illustrated when God swore that He will preserve Israel against this impossible act.

Jeremiah 31:37 This is what the LORD says: "Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done," declares the LORD. (NIV)

The following verse has been a source of attack for bible critics.

Psalms 19:6 It(The Sun) rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat. (NIV)

For a long time it was thought that the sun was stationary while the earth revolves around it. It was only recently that astronomers discovered that the sun, with the entire solar system, actually does move through space at the tremendous speed of 600,000 miles per hour in such a gigantic orbit that it requires two million centuries to complete it. The sun's circuit is indeed from one end of the heavens to the other!

Job 26:7 He spreads out the northern over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing. (NIV) Normally, when looking at the sky through the telescope, you cannot put a pin-prick between the stars. In 1900, Lord Roscoe, an astronomer, through a powerful telescope, found a "black" hole in the northern hemisphere that measures millions of light years across. Indeed, the northern part is an empty space. The second part of the verse which tells us that the earth is suspended upon nothing also goes against our reasoning and is a relatively new scientific discovery.

Isaiah 40:22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. (NIV) The word translated "circle" is the Hebrew word "khug", a more exact connotation of which is "sphericity" or "roundness". In contrast to the widely held ancient belief that the earth was flat, the bible clearly teaches that it is round. This verse also talks about the protective effect of the atmosphere. We know as a fact that the ozone layer in the atmosphere act as a canopy to protect us from the sun's harmful ultra-violet rays.

Isaiah 40:12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? (NIV)

Isostasy is a field of study that deals with the balance maintained within the earth's crust. The differing weights of the various types of rocks maintain a delicate balance; otherwise the earth would wobble in its rotation like a lopsided basketball. The above verse describes how God keeps everything exactly in balance.

Genesis 1:24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. (NIV)

God is very clear that living things reproduce only after its own kind. In other words, a horse will reproduce only horses, a donkey only donkeys. Scientist have tried to cross a horse with a donkey; the offspring will be a mule. A mule in turn cannot be reproduce further off-springs just as the bible predicted. Likewise, if you cross a peach seed with a plum seed, the result will be a tree bearing nectarines. If you plant a nectarine seed, it will produce a tree but will bear no fruit. Job 36:27;28 27 "He draws up the drops of water, which distil as rain to the streams; 28 the clouds pour down their moisture and abundant showers fall on mankind. (NIV)

The science of hydrology was founded in the seventeenth century by Mariotte, Perault, and Halley, but the hydrologic cycle is clearly described in scripture long before that. Ecclesiastes 1:6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. (NIV)

In the seventeenth century George Hadley discovered that the winds circulate around the world. Thousands of years earlier, the book of Ecclesiastes referred to this phenomenon. Job 37:7 He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work.(KJV)

In 1858, Sir William Herschell, a British Government official in India, first used the finger print as a method of identifying different people. Way before that, the bible describes that the unique seal of man is in the hand.

We have seen that the bible contains many scientific truths even before they were discovered by modern scientists. How is this possible? Surely it demonstrates that God, who knows everything from the beginning, is behind the teachings.

The resurrection of Jesus

The bible records many incidents of Jesus after this death. He appeared to the eleven disciples (John 20:26), apostles at the sea of Tiberias (John 21:1), apostles at Galilee (Matthew 28:16,17) and even up to 500 brethren at one time (1 Corinthians 15:6). Why is the resurrection of Jesus important? Paul said that if Jesus did not rise from the dead, then our faith is useless; it cannot save us.

1 Cor 15:14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. Why? Jesus predicted many times that He will die and be raised from the dead. Luke 24:46 He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,

So if Jesus was not resurrected, He is a liar and not God. But if he was, then Jesus has proven that He is God as He is in control even of death. Note that there have been cases where people have been raised from the dead but these people were totally not in control of the situation. Jesus, on the other hand, predicted that He will rise from the dead and He did.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is also an important factor because other major founders of religions died and remain dead. Jesus died and was raised from the dead. Thus, we can take Him seriously and believe in His claims.

Why we can believe in the resurrection of Jesus

(i) Because it has been recorded in history

How do we derive history. History is gathered from records of events written and passed down by people from the past. In the early days, paper had not been invented so people had to write on materials made from plants, which had the disadvantage of rotting easily. Therefore, to preserve a document, people had to recopy it many times, whenever a copy becomes old and rotten.

Thus, we derive history not from original records but from copies of the original record. How then do we know that the copies which we have are the same as the original? Could there have been mistakes when the copying was made? A general rule used in history is: the more copies we have, the more confident we are of how the original looks like because we can use them to crosscheck each other. Take an extreme case when there is only one copy. How do we know if it is the same as the original?

It is because of this that we are very confident of the new testament stories about the resurrection of Jesus. There are more than 24,000 copies of the New Testament which documents the resurrection of Jesus. If we are not impressed, consider that in all of history, the second historical document in terms of the number of copies is "The Illiad" by Homer, which has only 643 surviving copies. Let's take another example. We all believe as a historical fact that Julius Caesar fought the Gallic War although we only have 10 surviving copies telling us of the event. Yet many people would not believe in the resurrection of Jesus even though the evidence is much more overwhelming. (ii) Because they were recorded by eyewitness

Why believe in a record if it is written by people who heard it from other people. We know very well that facts tend to get distorted if it passes through too many people. The New Testament, which contains the record of Jesus' resurrection, is different. The writers of the New Testament said that Jesus "presented Himself (to them) alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days." (Acts 1:1;3) You see, they were eyewitnesses of Jesus' resurrection and did not write just based on heresay.

Not only do we have their claims to be eyewitnesses, the authors' accuracy proves that they were indeed eyewitnesses. Archaeology has demonstrated the accuracy of the events that were recorded. For example, the following verse alone contains many points that can be verified for accuracy. Lk 3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar--when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene-- (NIV)

The accuracy of Luke was by no means an easy task when one considers the fact that at that time there were no efficient records for easy reference. The accuracy of Luke confirms that he was indeed an eyewitness of Jesus.

(iii) Because it is almost impossible for the New Testament writers to tell lies

There is strong evidence that the gospels were written at an early date and therefore were circulated only shortly after the death of Jesus.

The Book of Acts records the missionary activity of the early church and was written as a sequel by the same person who wrote the Gospel according to Luke. The book of Acts, ends with the apostle Paul being alive in Rome, his death not being recorded. This would lead us to believe that it was written before he died, which many historians believe to be AD 64. This means the Book of Acts was written before AD 64, and because Acts was a sequel to the Gospel of Luke, Luke had to have been written some time before that, probably in the late fifties or early sixties of the first century. Scholars could show that the Gospel of Luke was dependent on the Gospel of Mark for some of its material.

Therefore, the Gospel of Mark would have been written shortly even before that. Even John, the latest of the four gospels was not written long after Jesus died. According to Iraneus and Polycarp (2nd Century), John composed his gospel at Ephesus in his old age.

Because the New Testament writings were circulated during the time when the contemporaries of Jesus were still alive, the writers cannot afford to tell lies. For instance, if we all witness a murder and a week later someone wrote a report which is full of lies, we as witnesses can refute it. Furthermore, the accounts were circulated during the lifetime of those who were extremely hostile to Jesus. (They crucified him, remember?) Would these people have allowed false statements to pass as facts concerning events which they themselves were witnesses to?

(iv) Because the disciples died for their belief

We can believe in the resurrection because out of twelve disciples, eleven died as martyrs testifying to the resurrection of Christ. The question we have to ask ourselves is this: "Who is willing to die for a lie?" It is true many people died for something which is not true, but they died thinking it was true. It would be hard to find eleven people in history who died for a lie, knowing it was a lie. Conclusion

We see that for these important reasons, we cannot dismiss the resurrection of Jesus as a historical fact.