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.
