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Christianity

Psalm 22 Made me the Christian I Am Today

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Simply put, Psalm 22 is what got me to put my trust in Jesus.

Still with me?

Great! Here’s the longer version of that story…

I grew up in the Christian church and was raised by very faithful Christian parents, but my own faith wavered quite a bit as I grew older. By the time I was in college, it’s fair to say I had no faith at all. I was pretty sure religion was just a pleasant fiction that helped weak-minded people pretend that life isn’t as horrible as it truly is. I wouldn’t say I was ever an atheist, but I was very much an agnostic. That is, I was never certain that God didn’t exist, I was just uncertain that He did exist. And I didn’t really care whether He existed or not.

But it made me uncomfortable to have a family so devout in their faith while I remained neither hot or cold. I’ve always been a decisive person, so I really disliked taking the position that “maybe” God exists. And it seemed to me that if I were to not follow in my family’s footsteps, I should at least have good reasons for it. So, I decided to do something I had never done before: I read the Bible.

I started with the Gospel of Mark. I started with Mark for 2 reasons. First, as one of the 4 Gospels, it was almost entirely about Jesus. And since Jesus is what Christianity is all about, that seemed like a good place to start. And second, it was a very short book. Yes, that’s right: I was putting the lowest possible effort into my spiritual well-being! Ah, to be young.

Overall, I didn’t run into anything surprising (though I never previously read the Bible on my own, I was thoroughly exposed to the Gospels over the years simply through my family’s regular attendance). But I happened to have a study Bible with me as I was reading Mark, loaded with footnotes about the text that offered alternate translations and scholarly notes about the culture of the time and how it might impact the meaning of the words in ways our modern ear might not pick up.

One note in the account of Jesus’s crucifixion stood out to me in particular. It noted that Jesus’s anguished cry of “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” was actually quoting the first line of Psalm 22. The note further suggested that it was common to quote the opening line of a Psalm as a way to call the entire Psalm to the listener’s mind. Well, that piqued my curiosity. Now I had to know, what did the rest of Psalm 22 have to say?! I immediately flipped through the pages back to the Psalms, and to Psalm 22. I began to read…

And I was absolutely blown away by what I found! Psalm 22 described, in eerie detail, what Jesus was going through. The scorn and ridicule of those around him. His garments divvied up by the casting of lots. His hands and feet pierced. It was clear to me I was reading a summary of what I had just read in Mark!

And I knew that the Psalms were written several hundred years before Jesus endured the agony that it described so well. 
That simple realization in that very instant opened my eyes to the possibility that even though the idea of an omniscient and omnipotent supernatural person might sound made up, it doesn’t mean it is made up. Eventually, you reach a point where there are just “too many coincidences.”  And I’ve discovered many more since then.

I encourage you to take a moment right now to follow in my footsteps. Read the Gospel of Mark. And once you’ve read through 15:39, go read Psalm 22 while it’s still fresh. Your mileage may vary, but for me, the day I read Psalm 22 was the day I truly began to believe that Jesus’s death on a cross thousands of miles away and thousands of years ago was the most important event in all of history.

apologetics, Christianity

Peering Into The Manger

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As I write this post, Christmas is rapidly drawing to a close. I had a great Christmas this year, and I hope that you have as well (if you celebrate Christmas, that is). And I have a question for you as another Christmas ends:

Who did you see in the manger?

A Baby In The Manger
Each year, we are drawn to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the one who would grow to become our savior by reconciling the sins of man with a holy God. When we read the Gospel accounts of the nativity story, many of us see a beautiful baby boy, dreamily sleeping as shepherds and wise men graciously visit him with gifts and reverence.

And if on Christmas you see a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger, then I would humbly ask you to look deeper into the manger to discover the full wonder of the Christmas story.

God Almighty In The Manger
All too often, we see the baby in the manger and forget that there is more to the story — the baby Jesus is also God! For me, this is what makes the story of Christmas indescribably marvelous.

In our daily lives, we constantly seek to improve our skills and increase our learning so that we may steadily improve our station. We seek ever to improve our influence and our importance among our fellows. We strive to know more, have more and to be more.

But imagine having created the entire universe and all that exists within it. Imagine having ultimate power and perfect knowledge. God had it all, and yet lowered himself to the smallest possible position of humanity so that he might elevate us.

This is the miracle of Christmas: that God chose to come from Heaven to Earth, placing himself among us as a baby so that we may one day leap from Earth to Heaven.

The Christmas Spirit
Our need must truly be great if a supremely powerful being must take such a surprising and humbling action to broker a reconciliation to him!

Often, we don’t realize the depth of our need. Often, we don’t recognize sin’s poisonous influence in ourselves. In a world where people daily carry out atrocities against each other, like a serial killer that coolly slays his victims solely for the joy of watching them die at his hands, it can be pretty easy for us to look at ourselves and think that we are basically good people.

But if we are honest with ourselves, we can readily see that we fail each day to abide by God’s precepts. He asks for us to merely put our trust in Him and to treat each other with loving kindness. Yet we find that we often fail to do so or miss opportunities where we could have done so, despite our honest desire to do good.

And yet, despite our great failings, God has already done the work required to reconcile us to him and view us as holy and blameless, beginning with his work on Christmas day.

How then should we respond to the miracle of Christmas? I believe the most appropriate response is, in gratitude to God for his extraordinary love, to reach out to each other with loving kindness and to renew our trust in God — for he has shown himself worthy, time and time again.

apologetics, Christianity, faith, reliability of Bible, wordplay

This Sentence Has Over 100 Errors

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One of the classic arguments against the reliability of scripture is that there are tens of thousands of errors in the texts. You see, there are many ancient copies of the books of the New Testament. However, there are several errors among them, and many copies don’t completely match any of the other copies. Some are spelling errors, others are syntax errors. Some are paraphrases rather than direct copies. And so, the argument goes, there is no way to know what the original scripture is supposed to be. Such an overwhelming number of errors, as some assert, casts suspicion over what exactly constitutes the true teaching of the religion — or indeed the very legitimacy of such a religion.

Sounds convincing, doesn’t it?

Well, don’t throw your Bible away just yet. Here we have a situation where the facts as they are presented are technically accurate — there are indeed many discrepancies among the thousands of New Testament texts that exist. However, the conclusion presented (that there is no way to reliably know what the original text says) is false!

Perhaps a little experiment will demonstrate just how important accuracy among several transcriptions matters with regard to understanding what the original source says?

I will write a single sentence incorrectly 100 times. No sentence will match any other sentence, and no sentence will completely match the correct sentence. In fact, I will not write the correct sentence even once. My challenge to you is this: read each of the sentences and see if you can honestly claim it is “impossible” to know what the correct sentence is. Hint: It won’t require 100 sentences…you will likely determine the correct sentence after only the first few lines!

  1. When looking for the truth, look carefully.

  2. Wen searching for the truth, look carefully.

  3. When searching for truth, look carefully.

  4. When searching for the truth, look closely.

  5. When searching for the the truth, look carefully.

  6. When surching for the truth, look carefully.

  7. When searching for a truth, look carefully.

  8. When searching for the facts, look carefully.

  9. When searching for the truth, watch carefully.

  10. When for searching the truth, look carefully.

  11. Look carefully when searching for the truth.

  12. When searching for teh truth, look carefully.

  13. When searching for the truth, watch carefully.

  14. When searching for the truth, investigate carefully.

  15. When seeking the truth, look carefully.

  16. When you are searching for the truth, look carefully.

  17. When searching for the trueth, look carefully.

  18. When searching for the truth, look intently.

  19. When searching for the truth, luke carefully.

  20. When searching for the truth, look carelessly.

  21. When searching out the truth, look carefully.

  22. Whoever searches for the truth looks carefully.

  23. When searching for the truth, please look carefully.

  24. When searching for the truth, look carefuly.

  25. When “searching” for the truth, look carefully.

  26. When searching for fact, look carefully.

  27. When searching for the truth, look with care.

  28. When investigating the truth, look carefully.

  29. When researching the truth, look carefully.

  30. When searching for the trooth, look carefully.

  31. When searching for the truth, investigate carefully.

  32. When searching for the truth, research carefully.

  33. Look carefully to find the truth.

  34. When searching for the reality, look carefully.

  35. When searching for the truth, look karefully.

  36. When searching for the truth, look carefully

  37. When sEarching for the truth, look carefully.

  38. Women searching for the truth, look carefully.

  39. When something for the truth, look carefully.

  40. When searching fo the truth, look carefully.

  41. When searching for truth, look carefully.

  42. When for the truth, look carefully.

  43. Searching for the truth, look carefully.

  44. When searching for the, look carefully.

  45. When searching for the truth, carefully.

  46. When searching for the truth, look.

  47. Whe searching for the truth, look carefully.

  48. When searchin for the truth, look carefully.

  49. When searching for th truth, look carefully.

  50. When searching for the trut, look carefully.

  51. When searching for the truth, loo carefully.

  52. When searching for the truth, look carefull.

  53. When searching for the truth, look diligently.

  54. When searching for the truth, look patiently.

  55. When searching for the truth, look fervently.

  56. When searching for the truth, observe carefully.

  57. When searching for the truth, scrutinize carefully.

  58. When searching for the truth, look carefully.

  59. When when searching for the truth, look carefully.

  60. When searching searching for the truth, look carefully.

  61. When searching for for the truth, look carefully.

  62. When searching for the truth truth, look carefully.

  63. When searching for the truth, look look carefully.

  64. When searching for the truth, look carefully carefully.

  65. Whon searching for the truth, look carefully.

  66. When soarching for the truth, look carefully.

  67. When searching for tho truth, look carefully.

  68. When searching for the truth, look carofully.

  69. When searching for the truth, look carefully.

  70. When searching for the truth: look carefully.

  71. When searching for the truth? look carefully.

  72. When searching for the truth (look carefully).

  73. Who’s searching for the truth, look carefully.

  74. Where searching for the truth, look carefully.

  75. This sentence is totally in left field!

  76. When searching for the fish, look carefully.

  77. When searching for the truth, look lively.

  78. When searching from the truth, look carefully.

  79. When searching for the truth, look care

  80. When searching for the honesty, look carefully.

  81. For when searching the truth, look carefully.

  82. When the searching for truth, look carefully.

  83. Are you still reading this?!

  84. When searching for the proof, look carefully.

  85. W.en searching for the truth, look carefully.

  86. When sea.ching for the truth, look carefully.

  87. When searching fo. the truth, look carefully.

  88. When searching for .he truth, look carefully.

  89. When searching for the tru.h, look carefully.

  90. When searching for the truth, lo.k carefully.

  91. When searching for the truth, look ca.efully.

  92. Wehn searching for the truth, look carefully.

  93. When snihcraeg for the truth, look carefully.

  94. When searching for the tturh, look carefully.

  95. When searching for the truth, look clluferay.

  96. When hiding the truth, look carefully.

  97. When searching for the lie, look carefully.

  98. When searching for the truth, close your eyes.

  99. When reaching for the truth, look carefully.

  100. when searching for the truth, look carefully.

Surprising, isn’t it? How many lines did you read before the correct form of the sentence became obvious? As you can see in this demonstration, it would have been almost impossible to determine with any degree of certainty what the actual sentence is meant to be if there were only two or three of these sentences. But when there are a hundred, it becomes an elementary exercise to discern the real meaning. In the case of the texts of the New Testament, there are several hundred copies of parts of the New Testament, and thousands of copies of other parts!

The conclusion, then, as you can clearly see, is this: in light of the sheer number of copies of the New Testament that are available, the errors amongst them can be seen at worst as a trivial nuisance — and utterly incapable of clouding their true message.

apologetics, Christianity, faith, reliability of Bible

I Am Not A Brainwashed Moron

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I attended public school as a child and a public university as an adult. One thing my instructors consistently taught me throughout the years, either explicitly and implicitly (regardless of the subject), was this: Only brainwashed morons could be Christians.

Since I am a Christian and am not a brainwashed moron, I feel this sentiment begs an argument. I will ignore the flagrant condescension inherent in the claim and instead focus only on its most important (and false) assumption: That the evidence for the historicity of Christ does not warrant rational belief, and that you would therefore have to be a moron to put your faith in it.

I believe that this assumption is rooted in three major misconceptions:

  1. The New Testament is not a reliably historical account of events and belongs more appropriately on the fiction shelf. This misconception completely ignores the very motives that the gospels themselves express. The author of the Gospel of Luke, for instance, explicitly states that he has carefully researched the facts. Such research inherently includes seeking input from primary sources — including speaking to witnesses of the events. Because he set out specifically to prepare a historical document based on facts, there are plenty of specific references to people, places and even the times that these events occurred. Luke 2, for instance, is loaded with such details, specifically naming Caesar Augustus, Quirinius, Syria, Galilee, Judea, Bethlehem and Nazareth. Perhaps the most interesting detail is the mention of Nazareth — a region so insignificant that until recently it was thought to not even exist. The Gospels were intended from the beginning to be historical records, supply the very details that could be used to refute them if it were possible, and were written during a time when witnesses who could have refuted them would have.

  2. Christianity would crumble if it would acknowledge the “other” Gospels (those of Thomas, Judas and Mary, for instance). Admittedly, the fact that some “Gospels” are not included in the official canon of scripture can make it appear that the Church actively ignores evidence that contradicts their “dogmatic, preconceived notions”. On closer examination, however, it becomes obvious why the Gnostic Gospels are not included in the classic canon of scripture: they don’t match. The character names are the same, but the characters are not. In the Gospel of Thomas, for instance, the boy Jesus is reported to have killed another boy for bumping into him on the street. Is this just showing a different side of Jesus, or a totally fictitious one? Well, let me offer an illustration. I love the book “Huckleberry Finn”. But if I were to pen a new “lost” chapter to the book, one in which Jim speaks the Queen’s English and Huck becomes a hardworking oil baron, on what grounds should I or anybody demand that it be included in the book? Anybody that has read the rest of the book will instantly realize that my chapter does not belong in Huckleberry Finn. As with the Gnostic gospels, merely having characters with the same names doesn’t make them fit in the broader context of the book.

  3. The claims made in the New Testament are too fantastic to be taken as fact. If we were to use only what “seems possible” as our benchmark, we would be using a poor standard indeed. For a glimpse into just how strange a world this is, take a look at “twin studies”. Twin studies are used to determine the influences of nature versus nurture in the development of the human psyche, and are conducted by following the lives of twins who were separated at birth — same genetics (nature), but different families (nurture). More than once, the similarities in the lives of the twins are staggering. They end up liking the same foods, having the same occupations, driving the same cars (makes AND models!), and sometimes even their wives have the same first names! But however improbable that may be, it does happen. Now, look at the New Testament. These books, which were written with the full intent of recording history accurately and by men who stood to gain nothing by doing so, tell of a man who is born, miraculously heals several people on many different occasions — including raising people from the dead — and claims to be the very son of God whose arrival was predicted centuries before in the book of Isaiah. He then is killed as predicted centuries before and rises again, fully alive, to be seen by many witnesses over a period of 40 days before ascending into the heavens. Improbable? Certainly. Impossible? Nothing is impossible, and due to the credibility of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, there is every reason to believe it is true.

Christianity does not demand a “blind” faith. Christians are welcome to test their faith against reason, because the Christian faith has substance and stands up to an honest search for the facts. I believe in the life-saving work of Jesus not because I have been brainwashed, not because I have ignored evidence to the contrary, and not because I fervently wish it were true. I believe because I have examined the evidence and found that the record preserved in the New Testament is credible and continues to stand the test of time.

If you are finding that the facts don’t warrant a belief in Jesus, perhaps your research is incomplete?

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