BBXtra: Chapter 7 of 12 Points that Prove Christianity is True

Ever wondered how to confidently defend your Christian faith using logical reasoning? In today's episode of the Bible Breakdown podcast, Pastor Brandon guides us through the first six foundational points from Dr. Norman Geisler's "12 Points That Show Christianity Is True." By focusing on the nature of truth, the impossibility of contradictory truths, and the existence of a theistic God, Pastor Brandon offers practical examples and personal anecdotes to underscore the necessity of evidence in belief. This episode is packed with insights that affirm the reality of objective truths and the existence of a theistic God, laying the groundwork for a robust defense of the Christian faith.

Join us as we delve into the profound implications of Jesus's declaration of divinity. Pastor Brandon takes us on a journey through Jesus's statements like "I am the bread of life" and "I am the door," connecting them to their roots in Exodus and revealing their extraordinary nature. This discussion not only emphasizes Jesus's divine claims but also sets the stage for understanding how He confirms and proves His divinity. As we move past the halfway point in exploring the 12 points that demonstrate the truth of Christianity, anticipate gaining a deeper understanding of God's existence and the unique truth of the Christian God. This enlightening and faith-affirming episode is a must-listen for anyone eager to defend their faith confidently!

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Chapters

• 0:00 Defending Christianity's Truth Claims
• 12:04 Uncovering Jesus' Claim to Deity

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, and today is another one of those times. It's become one of my favorite things we're doing on the podcast and it's much more of a laid back environment as we are going through what is becoming one of my favorite books, and it's the 12 points that show Christianity is true, and it is written by one of my great mentors, Dr Norman Geisler. Now Dr Norman Geisler passed away, and I believe it was 2019. And so I didn't really get a chance to learn a lot of his ministry until after he had passed away, but since then he has become a great mentor that I read and he's just amazing because he was a lifelong apologist. If you know what an apologist is, it comes from the Bible that says apologia, which means a defense of the faith, and what Dr Geisler understood was it's one thing to know the word of God, but it's quite another to be able to defend the word of God, and Christians need to know how to defend God's word, because number one is it helps us to know what we believe, but then also it helps us to know what we believe, but then also it helps us to be able to share our faith with others, because I don't know about you, but it's one thing to share my story with someone. But nowadays we live in a culture that says, well, that's okay for you, but I don't know about for me, and there's a lot of people who want to shed doubt or put light or put doubt on the light of God's word. Well, that's okay, because we have answers for God's word.

Speaker 1: 1:52

I was talking to somebody one time and he was terribly afraid that the only way he could be a Christian is he had to just take it all by faith. There was like no evidence for anything and he was a very logical person and he was like pastor. I don't think I can do that, because I get that I have to have faith, but can I have some evidence? And I was like Pastor. I don't think I can do that, because I get that I have to have faith, but can I have some evidence? And I was like my goodness man, absolutely. I mean you have to have faith at some point, but instead of it being like 90% faith, 10% evidence, it's more like 90% evidence and 10% faith. I mean there's a lot of evidence. And you should have seen the look on his face, he was like, oh, thank goodness. I was like oh, thank goodness. I was like, no, no, I'm the same way, my friend, and that's one of the things I love about this book is it's 12 points that start all the way back with just the nature of truth and it ends with Christianity is true.

Speaker 1: 2:41

And so I want to read for you the first six that we've covered, and then the one we've covered today is actually pretty straightforward and a pretty simple concept to get our minds around. Step one that we read was that truth about reality is knowable, and if you've ever had a conversation with someone, you have to quickly start to define your terms right, like what is the nature of truth? Is truth knowable? Well, I'm going to go ahead and tell you that there are people in your life and there's people in my life who say things like that's your truth and this is my truth. So you have to first say can we agree that it's possible to have certain truths that are objective, in other words, we can observe them and they don't change based on what we think. If they say no, then you ask the question well, is that statement true? Is it true that no truth is observable, that no truth. Other words, it's a self-defeating statement. Of course it is.

Speaker 1: 3:34

If someone says that there's no such thing as foundational solid truths that don't change and that it's the same for everybody, then ask them to start flying. Well, you can't fly. You know why? Because this thing called gravity it keeps us. You know, you have to have something else. You can't fly by yourself, right? Well, it's because gravity is in play. It is a foundational, solid truth. Go, try and do something other than two plus two equals four. It doesn't work that way. There are certain foundational truths and then, once you agree on that one, step two is that the opposites cannot both be true. So, in other words, step one is that there are truths, there are certain things that are true and certain things that are not, and there cannot be two truths at the same time. In other words, there can't be gravity and non-gravity while you're on the earth. One has to be false, right? So there's truth and there's false.

Speaker 1: 4:24

Once you agree on that, that there are some things are true and some things are false, then number three is then it is true that a theistic God exists. Well, then you say, okay. Well, there's various degrees. There's atheists that believe there is no God. Then there's agnostics with belief we can't know if there's a God. Then you have deists who believe there is a God but he is completely separate from all he has made. Then you have theists who believe that there is a God and he's personally involved in creation.

Speaker 1: 4:53

And you can go back to that podcast and, as we talk about that and say we can prove them that all of them can't be true. There can't be no God, maybe God and maybe God. Incomplete God and incomplete God. There's got to be one or the other right, because we've already covered that. And so then it becomes which one's real and so there's truth. There can't be multiple truths, there's just truth and false Theistic God exists. And then number four miracles are possible. If there is a God, then he has the ability to do things only God can do. And then make sure you go back and listen to that one, because it's very important on how we define miracles.

Speaker 1: 5:29

And then, if miracles are true, number five miracles performed in connection with a truth claim confirms that truth of God through the messenger of God. In other words, if you can do a miracle, then that means you're God. Now, that doesn't mean if someone like, for instance, there are times when God will do miracles through people, but it was God that was the originator of the miracle. He did it through a vessel and an object with that person. So the person is not God. The one who originated the miracle is God, and so truth is knowable. There are not multiple truths. Truth in a theistic God exists. Miracles are possible. Number five miracles performed by a person to establish a truth claim makes the truth claim credible.

Speaker 1: 6:18

Last time we said, and then the New Testament documents are reliable. We talked about how there are so many evidences that the evidence of the gospel being real is more. We can prove that God's word is real and reliable more than any other book in antiquity. And what's amazing is no book has been attacked more than the Bible. Yet the Bible still stands true, and go back and listen to that one. There's so many reasons why.

Speaker 1: 6:45

Now here's the one for today, and that is that, if all of that is true, the number seven, as witnessed in the New Testament, jesus claimed to be God. As witnessed in the New Testament, jesus claimed to be God. Now, the reason why that's important is because if there is a God, if miracles prove that the person's claim to be God is true. Not that person necessarily, but using God as the one who did it right. Jesus didn't claim that he was being used by God, he claimed to be God. The Bible's reliable, then number seven, as witnessed in the New Testament, as witnessed in the New Testament, jesus claimed to be God. If the New Testament is reliable, then we know that Jesus claimed to be God. Now, the reason why this one is pretty straightforward is because we can see throughout the New Testament, over and over again, jesus claimed to be God.

Speaker 1: 7:42

I'm going to give you a couple of ways why. Number one is Jesus claimed to be the Messiah. Couple of ways why. Number one is Jesus claimed to be the Messiah. Now, the Messiah was an Old Testament word that meant the coming deliverer of the nation of Israel. Now, during the time of Jesus, they thought that he was going to be just a normal human guy who was just a king. But also, when you actually read the prophecies of the Old Testament, especially in the book of Isaiah, he began to show that he wasn't just going to be a coming king, but he was going to be God in human form. He was going to be born of a virgin. He was going to be the one that was coming as a savior and ruler. Also, throughout the book of Mark, he calls himself the son of man. The son of man comes from the book of Daniel and it was intended to represent God, god coming to the earth.

Speaker 1: 8:30

Also, throughout the book of John, jesus constantly says I am this, I am that. Well, it's a play on words. It goes all the way back to the book of Exodus, when God revealed his covenant name with Moses and he said I am that, I am Yahweh, I am that, I am. And so, over and over again, jesus kept saying I am this, I am that. That's why, when Jesus would make one of these claims, the Bible says they would pick up stones to kill him with because he was claiming to be God. And so, over and over again in the New Testament, jesus claims not just to be a good man, not just to be a teacher, but he claims to be God. The chapter summary of this says Since God exists, from chapter 3, and miracles are possible, from chapter 4,. Therefore, miracles can be used to confirm the claims from God Chapter 5.

Speaker 1: 9:24

Since the New Testament documents are historically reliable, from chapter 6, then Jesus really claimed to be God. Almighty in the human flesh Chapter 7. He did this in numerous and repeatable, repeated ways, and his immediate followers made the same claim for him. This being the case, it remains only to see if there is a miraculous confirmation of Jesus' claim to be God. So, in other words, what we're going to cover next time is Jesus claimed to be God, but did he prove it? Did he prove it? That's all that chapter 7 is. And remember, what we're doing is we're slowly making the case for Christianity, and what we're going to cover next time is Jesus proved that he was God because of miracles.

Speaker 1: 10:10

But before that, we have to set up that some people say Jesus never claimed to be God, because there are places where you know they would accuse him of being God and he would say well, you say I'm God and they go well, that's not actually a claim, and I agree If he is just saying you said I'm God, that's not. But you have to look at the other things that he said. Every time he called himself the son of man, he's claiming deity. Every time that he says I am this. He said I am the bread of life, I am the way, the truth and the life, all those things. He's claiming deity and every time that he allows himself to be worshiped he even says pray in my name. There was another place where he's marching, or coming into, rather, jerusalem, and they are worshiping him and the Pharisees try to stop him and he says wait a minute, don't stop them, because if they stop, even the rocks are going to crumble. So he receives praise as the coming Messiah, as God. So, over and over again, he actually does claim to be the Messiah, and this would have been very much noticed by the first century reader. Part of the problem is is the further and further we get away from the original events, the more we lose the culture of the time, which is why it's so important for a wise Bible student to study first century culture, because it brings the Bible back to life. So let's cover it one more time.

Speaker 1: 11:28

The 12 points that show Christianity is true. Point number one truth about reality is knowable. Number two opposites cannot both be true. Number three the theistic God exists. Number four miracles are possible. Number five miracles can be used to confirm a message about God. Last time was. Number six the New Testament documents are historically reliable. And what do they teach today? The New Testament documents? In the New Testament documents, jesus claimed to be God.

Speaker 1: 12:04

Now I want to know, in the comments on the YouTube video, I want to know what you got out of this chapter when you read it. Were there certain parts about the way Jesus said things that you never realized before that he was claiming to be God? Did you know that when he says I am the bread of life, I am the door, I am these things, he's actually referring back to Exodus? Did you know that the fact that Jesus claimed to be God was actually pretty amazing? Because what we're going to learn next time is he confirms, he proves that he is God, and all of this is one small step at a time getting to where we can say I know that God exists and I know that he's not one God among many. He is the God and the Christian God is the God who is true. I look forward to continuing to go through this with you, as we are now over the halfway point, as we are looking at the 12 points that show Christianity is true. I'll see you next time.