Historical Christian Evidences

Introduction to Historical Christian Evidences


    Historical Christian Evidences is the study of internal and external proofs for the validity of the New Testament documents.  Highlight and copy this portion to your word processor or printer for study and completion.  If you have any questions please let me know or purchase the book "A Case for Historical Christian Evidences" by Ed Wharton  Be sure to use this material in conjunction with your Bible.

   

 1. Historical Christian evidences isn’t new, it the precise method by which the NT writers convinced their contemporaries. They did not use the following to induce faith:

    They did however use "many convincing proofs", Acts 1:3; "he appeared", Acts 13:31, cf. 1:9; "He appeared to Cephas", "to the 12", "to 500+", "to James" & "to all the apostles", 1 Cor 15:5-7; I Jn 1:1.


    By the examples above we see that they wrote their letters after much consideration and research. Luke writes in 1:1-3, Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word have handed them down to us, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write {it} out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; (NAS)  

    2. What is Christianity? It is the belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God with power to raise the dead and judge the world. Where does one gain this belief? There is only one place a person can find this information and that is the historical record of his life - The Bible. "It is therefore necessary to view the NT as a reliable record of facts providing a credible ground of evidence for belief." (1.)  

    3. He Lived, So What? To agree that Jesus lived is sometimes not enough to prove that He is the Son of God. What then is the practical value of knowing He existed? Atheists will agree to the existence of Jesus and this is the point - that an admission of His existence (greatness) is an endorsement of the documents (NT) that prove His existence.  

    Great men/women of history do not receive recognition simply because they existed. They must have done or said something that takes them out of the realm of the ordinary man/woman.
    Therefore to agree that Jesus lived and that He did great things forces one to rely upon the only record of this person and of these events and that is the New Testament record.  

1.  Ed Wharton, A Case for Historical Christian Evidences, Pg. 3.