What Makes Christianity so Special?

 Hey gang, and welcome back to another Summitable! As you may recall, our theme this year has been "WHY?" - asking those big questions behind all our deeply held beliefs and getting to the bottom of why we believe (or should believe) what we believe.

This week's focus? Christianity.

We have already talked about the fact that God exists, and some of the evidence supporting that fact. But, believing that there is a God is a far cry from believing in Christianity. I mean, there are a LOT of religions out there, and they all claim to have it right. They all claim to be true, and Christianity is no exception. So, if every religion claims to have the right understanding of who God is and how to get to Him, what makes Christianity so special? How do we know that we are right?

Well, in the message time I asked everyone to discuss what they thought was the most important part of the Christian faith - what belief, if taken away, would ruin our faith? Think about that for a minute before reading on. *insert contemplative pause here*

The truth is, the Christian faith rises and falls on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Anyone can die (actually, pretty much everyone does), but people have this tendency to stay dead. Jesus did not have this tendency. In fact, we believe that His resurrection from the dead is the proof of His claims to be the Son of God and the only sufficient sacrifice for our sins. We believe that the only way to get to God is by believing in Jesus and what He did for us by dying on the cross and paying the penalty for our sins. As I said before, anyone can die, but in order for the sacrifice to be worthy of covering EVERY SINGLE PERSON'S SINS there needs to be absolute perfection and divinity involved. Jesus coming back to life after His death on the cross offers the proof we need to believe that He was who He said He was and that His sacrifice paid it all for us.

IF, somehow, it was proven that He didn't really come back to life and it was all just a hoax, then our faith would be based on a lie and Christianity would fall apart. Our faith really does rise and fall on whether or not Jesus actually came back to life. And this is what separates us from every other religion - our claims can be tested in history. You can "fact check" the Bible. The best part is, so far everything history and science has found has told us that the Bible is true, which means we can trust that Christianity is true.

Now, getting into Jesus' resurrection, I would like to share with you 5 historical facts that just about every historian (Christian AND non-Christian) agrees to be true:

1. Jesus died by crucifixion.

2. Jesus' disciples believed that Jesus appeared to them after His resurrection.

3. The Church Persecutor, Paul, converted to Christianity.

4. The Skeptic, James, converted to Christianity.

5. The tomb was empty.

On point number 1, if Jesus didn't really die, then He had no need to come back to life, and at the same time, that means He didn't die for our sins. There are two reasons we can know that Jesus really died on the cross: 1) the Romans were REALLY good at executions, and had perfected crucifixion by this point in history. Not only was it the most painful and humiliating way to die, but they had ways of making sure you were dead. 2) Other historians (not Christians and not from the Bible) have talked about Jesus' death by crucifixion. It is a real, historical event.

On point number 2, based on their testimony (what they said), their actions, and the way they chose to die (most of Jesus' disciples were tortured and executed for believing in Jesus), we can be certain that the disciple really believed that Jesus appeared to them and had come back from the dead. They weren't liars, they didn't all have some kind of group hallucination, and they weren't crazy. They lived and died for Jesus because they were convinced that He has risen.

On point number 3, Paul (also called Saul - Jewish name) was an active opponent of Christianity. He absolutely hated Christians and saw their religion as complete heresy. He went looking for Christians wherever he could find them to kill them or throw them in prison. In many ways, he saw himself as Batman and Christianity was crime - although he did not follow Batman's one rule. This is the last guy you would expect to find converting to Christianity. That would be like Batman joining the mob. And yet, we read in the book of Acts that Paul has his own encounter with the risen Jesus while he is on his way to arrest more Christians, and it completely changes his life. He not only becomes a Christian, but he becomes one of the greatest evangelists this world has ever seen. He almost single-handedly brought the message of Jesus to the entire known world. Only a real encounter with Jesus could have done this in his life.

On point number 4, James the Skeptic was actually one of Jesus' half-brothers (the son of Joseph and Mary). Having grown up with Jesus, we see in the Gospel accounts that James doesn't see Jesus as anything but his older brother. Try convincing your siblings that you are the Savior of the world! I doubt they'll believe you, just like James didn't believe Jesus. However, in the book of Acts we see this same James, the brother of Jesus, leading the church! He's not just a Christian, he is a basically a pastor. He would have needed super awesome, undeniable proof that his brother (Jesus) was the Messiah in order for him this kind of buy-in. Seeing Jesus alive after being executed by crucifixion would certainly do it.

And on point number 5, some people have claimed that the whole thing was a hoax and that someone just stole Jesus' body from out of the tomb. The people who hated Christianity back then said as much. They accused the disciples of stealing the body. I'd like to point out that Jesus wasn't just buried in the ground. His body was put in a tomb and massive stone was rolled over the entrance to prevent anyone from getting in (with the unintended, and usually unnecessary effect keeping the body from getting out). The Romans actually posted guards in front of the tomb to make sure there was no funny business. There was no way for the disciples to have gotten in and stolen the body - the guards and the stone were in the way. The guards were later killed for not doing their job (since Jesus' body was gone), so we know they didn't steal it. And no body was ever presented. The fact remains: the tomb was empty.

Put these 5 facts together and we have a lot of evidence that Jesus really did come back to life. And if he really did come back to life, then He proved that everything He said about Himself was true - He was the Son of God and He died for our sins so that we could have forgiveness and be found righteous in the eyes of God (this means we're cool with God). This is the foundation of our faith, everything else stands on it, and it is tied to history.

If you're reading this and you are already a Christian, then I hope this helps you to know that what you believe is true. And if you are not a Christian, then I hope this helps you to understand why we believe what we believe. Without Jesus, there can be no forgiveness of sins and we can never have a relationship with God, no matter how good of a person we are. The only way to God is through belief in Jesus, and I hope these facts help you to put your faith in Him.

That's all for today's post. But you should all know that I am always available to talk if you have questions. Don't let your questions go unanswered - look for the answers! Look to God.

As our buddy Paul would say, "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!"