Evidence for Christianity By Bob Dutko
All religions claim they are the one true faith and certainly Christianity is no different in that it also claims to be the one true faith, so how can we know who is right? First, we have to understand and accept the fact that they can not ALL be right because they contradict each other. Some Eastern religions teach that you can become fully “enlightened” through a reincarnation process if you do enough good deeds. Islam teaches you must follow the teachings of the Qu'ran and the Hadiths and accept Mohammad as God's true prophet for the hope that Allah may grant you entrance into paradise. Jesus taught that he was God in the flesh, who came to Earth in human form to die for the sins of mankind, so that “whosoever would believe on Him would not perish, but have everlasting life”. So who's right?
If we are to approach this logically, we need to see that all religions began with a founder who had a philosophy and then convinced others to follow that philosophy. (Mohammad, Buddha, Krishna, etc.) The next logical step is to determine which of these religious leaders was speaking with the authority of Heaven, the authority of God, the real God, the God who created the Universe. So lets examine the facts. Jesus is the only “religious leader” who actually claimed to be God on Earth, in the flesh. Of course, he was the Son of God while in human flesh, and yet also fully God and fully human. While our finite minds are not yet capable of comprehending how the Son of God can also be fully God and fully human, we must acknowledge the fact that Jesus himself claimed this to be true, whether we can comprehend this mystery or not. In Isaiah 9:6 it is prophesied the Messiah that comes to Earth in the flesh will be called “Mighty God, everlasting Father” and in Isaiah 7:14 the coming Messiah is prophesied to be called Emmanuel, which means “God with us”. (It is important to remember that while Scripture is God's Word, it is also historical documentation and accounts of events written down by real people in history) Jesus came along hundreds of years later and declared that he was the Messiah prophesied about, that he was indeed “God with us”. He said in John 6:41 that he “came down from Heaven” and in verse 62 that he would ascend to “where he was before”. He said in John 8:23 that he is “from above”, in John 10:30 “I and the Father are one” and in John 8:58 “Before Abraham was born, I am”, using the same “I AM “ self reference God used with Moses at the burning bush.
Remember, in addition to Scripture, these are the actual historically recorded words of Jesus by John, an eyewitness who recorded them within the lifetimes of other eyewitnesses who were in a position to refute John's account if it wasn't historically accurate. While there certainly were people at that time who rejected the conclusions drawn by the disciples that Jesus was who he claimed to be, there are no writings from the time ever found in archeology or epigraphy from anyone who disagreed with what the disciples claimed Jesus did and said.
Also, remember, Jesus allowed himself to be worshiped as recorded in places such as John 9:38 and Matthew 14:33. In the Old Testament we see that God is a jealous God and declares that no one besides God is to be worshiped, so for Jesus to allow himself to be worshiped establishes that he did in fact consider himself to be God. He also declared that he was to only true religion in that he said many times that he is the only way to get to Heaven.
The next logical step is to determine whether Jesus was right or wrong about his claims. Jesus backed up his claims by doing things no regular human being can do. It is historically recorded by eyewitnesses that Jesus changed the weather with his spoken word, walked on water, changed water into wine, instantly healed the blind, the deaf, the paralyzed, created fish and bread to feed thousands, brought the dead back to life and rose from the dead himself, after which he appeared before 500 brethren over 40 days. Back then, only men were counted in crowd size estimates, so factoring in women and children, Jesus would have appeared to probably 1500 to 2000 people easily. Again, this is not just Scripture, but actual recorded historical accounts by eyewitnesses. Compare this to every other religious leader and the difference becomes clear. Every other founder of every other religion was just a regular human being with a philosophy who convinced others to follow that philosophy. They possessed no power to defy the Laws of Physics. Anyone can invent a religion, but not anyone can claim to be God and then back it up with the power to control sickness, disease, the weather, the Laws of Physics and even death itself.
When Mohammad, Buddha, Confucius, Krishna or any of these other people were in a storm, they couldn't change the weather, they merely got wet. When they came across blind, deaf or paralyzed people, those people stayed blind, deaf and paralyzed. If they attended a wedding where the wine ran out, water would have to do. If they had only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish to feed 5000, 4990 would have to go hungry. When they came across dead people, those people stayed dead and when they died, they stayed dead.
Remember, if any of these other religions are true, then Jesus, with all of his proofs, would have to be wrong and these regular human religious leaders would have to be right. That's something I can not logically or intellectually accept.
If we are to approach this logically, we need to see that all religions began with a founder who had a philosophy and then convinced others to follow that philosophy. (Mohammad, Buddha, Krishna, etc.) The next logical step is to determine which of these religious leaders was speaking with the authority of Heaven, the authority of God, the real God, the God who created the Universe. So lets examine the facts. Jesus is the only “religious leader” who actually claimed to be God on Earth, in the flesh. Of course, he was the Son of God while in human flesh, and yet also fully God and fully human. While our finite minds are not yet capable of comprehending how the Son of God can also be fully God and fully human, we must acknowledge the fact that Jesus himself claimed this to be true, whether we can comprehend this mystery or not. In Isaiah 9:6 it is prophesied the Messiah that comes to Earth in the flesh will be called “Mighty God, everlasting Father” and in Isaiah 7:14 the coming Messiah is prophesied to be called Emmanuel, which means “God with us”. (It is important to remember that while Scripture is God's Word, it is also historical documentation and accounts of events written down by real people in history) Jesus came along hundreds of years later and declared that he was the Messiah prophesied about, that he was indeed “God with us”. He said in John 6:41 that he “came down from Heaven” and in verse 62 that he would ascend to “where he was before”. He said in John 8:23 that he is “from above”, in John 10:30 “I and the Father are one” and in John 8:58 “Before Abraham was born, I am”, using the same “I AM “ self reference God used with Moses at the burning bush.
Remember, in addition to Scripture, these are the actual historically recorded words of Jesus by John, an eyewitness who recorded them within the lifetimes of other eyewitnesses who were in a position to refute John's account if it wasn't historically accurate. While there certainly were people at that time who rejected the conclusions drawn by the disciples that Jesus was who he claimed to be, there are no writings from the time ever found in archeology or epigraphy from anyone who disagreed with what the disciples claimed Jesus did and said.
Also, remember, Jesus allowed himself to be worshiped as recorded in places such as John 9:38 and Matthew 14:33. In the Old Testament we see that God is a jealous God and declares that no one besides God is to be worshiped, so for Jesus to allow himself to be worshiped establishes that he did in fact consider himself to be God. He also declared that he was to only true religion in that he said many times that he is the only way to get to Heaven.
The next logical step is to determine whether Jesus was right or wrong about his claims. Jesus backed up his claims by doing things no regular human being can do. It is historically recorded by eyewitnesses that Jesus changed the weather with his spoken word, walked on water, changed water into wine, instantly healed the blind, the deaf, the paralyzed, created fish and bread to feed thousands, brought the dead back to life and rose from the dead himself, after which he appeared before 500 brethren over 40 days. Back then, only men were counted in crowd size estimates, so factoring in women and children, Jesus would have appeared to probably 1500 to 2000 people easily. Again, this is not just Scripture, but actual recorded historical accounts by eyewitnesses. Compare this to every other religious leader and the difference becomes clear. Every other founder of every other religion was just a regular human being with a philosophy who convinced others to follow that philosophy. They possessed no power to defy the Laws of Physics. Anyone can invent a religion, but not anyone can claim to be God and then back it up with the power to control sickness, disease, the weather, the Laws of Physics and even death itself.
When Mohammad, Buddha, Confucius, Krishna or any of these other people were in a storm, they couldn't change the weather, they merely got wet. When they came across blind, deaf or paralyzed people, those people stayed blind, deaf and paralyzed. If they attended a wedding where the wine ran out, water would have to do. If they had only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish to feed 5000, 4990 would have to go hungry. When they came across dead people, those people stayed dead and when they died, they stayed dead.
Remember, if any of these other religions are true, then Jesus, with all of his proofs, would have to be wrong and these regular human religious leaders would have to be right. That's something I can not logically or intellectually accept.
Evidence of God - By Bob Dutko
While Intelligent Design skeptics may claim there is no evidence of God, the actual scientific evidence for God's existence is overwhelming, scientifically answering the question, "does God exist?".
In science there is a Law of Physics called the 1st Law of Thermodynamics. Within it is a Conservation of Energy Law that states, as a key principle that all energy in a closed system must be conserved. Okay, fancy language, but what does that mean? It means that while energy can convert into matter (physical “stuff”), and matter into energy, however much total “stuff” there is (matter and energy), there can never be an increase in that total amount or a decrease in that total amount. So however much total “stuff” there is in the universe, (matter and energy combined), there can never have been more and never have been less. All it can do is convert to different forms, like matter to energy or energy to matter, but the total amount of all of it has to remain the same.
The “closed system” is a scientific term that refers to a system or an “area” that has no outside influence, like the universe. Now, as believers we know, of course, that God does influence the universe, so many believers would consider the universe an “open system”, (one that does get outside influence), but for the atheist who says there is no God, the universe is all there is, so from their perspective and for the sake of conventional science, the universe would get no outside influence and would therefore be considered a “closed system”.
Back to the 1st Law of Thermodynamics. If it states that you can never have an increase or decrease of energy/matter, which means that matter/energy can not be created from nothingness, how did we get all the matter and energy in the universe? If science is all there is and there is no God, then the 1st Law of Thermodynamics reigns supreme and therefore it would be impossible to have matter and energy in existence right now. Simply put, when you open your eyes and see matter and experience energy, what you see is impossible according to the known Laws of science if, in fact, there is no God. Therefore, science itself says there must be a God.
Plain and simple, matter/energy can not come into existence. It is scientifically impossible, yet here we see everything around us, so how can that be? There are really only 3 possibilities.
Option A: Everything came into existence by itself anyway, without the help of God, (even though science has proven that impossible).
Option B: Everything in the universe has always existed for all of eternity, (which, by the way is also scientifically impossible due to something called the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics), or
Option C: There must be a God, a Being greater than science, who created the Laws of science and has the ability to disobey them. Not only is a belief in God the only logical conclusion to draw, it's the only one scientifically possible because remember, if there is no God, the first two options are scientifically impossible according to the actual Laws of Physics.
Believe it or not, a 5 year old child could be an atheistic scientist's worst nightmare by merely asking him “where did everything come from if God didn't make it?” What that child is actually asking in scientific terms is “how do we have a violation of the 1st Law of Thermodynamics by the creation of energy and matter in the closed system of the universe if there is no Creator capable of doing that?”
Many times people who do not believe there is evidence of God have claimed that a faith in God is only a matter of faith and that it can not be proven scientifically. They say "does God exist ?....if so, prove it to me". When confronted with this, we must fully understand what it means to “prove” something. The fact is that none of us were there when the universe came into being, so technically, none of us can “prove” what happened. We can't “prove” God did it and the atheists can't “prove” everything came into being on it's own, so what we have to do is examine the evidence based on science to determine the most plausible explanation. For example, if I see a beautiful sand castle on the beach with intricate design, but no one there along with it, I can not “prove” someone made it, just as someone else can not “prove” the sand castle made itself from the wind, waves and sand randomly interacting with one another, so we have to determine what logic and reason tell us is the most plausible explanation, based on scientific evidence and examination.
In science there is a Law of Physics called the 1st Law of Thermodynamics. Within it is a Conservation of Energy Law that states, as a key principle that all energy in a closed system must be conserved. Okay, fancy language, but what does that mean? It means that while energy can convert into matter (physical “stuff”), and matter into energy, however much total “stuff” there is (matter and energy), there can never be an increase in that total amount or a decrease in that total amount. So however much total “stuff” there is in the universe, (matter and energy combined), there can never have been more and never have been less. All it can do is convert to different forms, like matter to energy or energy to matter, but the total amount of all of it has to remain the same.
The “closed system” is a scientific term that refers to a system or an “area” that has no outside influence, like the universe. Now, as believers we know, of course, that God does influence the universe, so many believers would consider the universe an “open system”, (one that does get outside influence), but for the atheist who says there is no God, the universe is all there is, so from their perspective and for the sake of conventional science, the universe would get no outside influence and would therefore be considered a “closed system”.
Back to the 1st Law of Thermodynamics. If it states that you can never have an increase or decrease of energy/matter, which means that matter/energy can not be created from nothingness, how did we get all the matter and energy in the universe? If science is all there is and there is no God, then the 1st Law of Thermodynamics reigns supreme and therefore it would be impossible to have matter and energy in existence right now. Simply put, when you open your eyes and see matter and experience energy, what you see is impossible according to the known Laws of science if, in fact, there is no God. Therefore, science itself says there must be a God.
Plain and simple, matter/energy can not come into existence. It is scientifically impossible, yet here we see everything around us, so how can that be? There are really only 3 possibilities.
Option A: Everything came into existence by itself anyway, without the help of God, (even though science has proven that impossible).
Option B: Everything in the universe has always existed for all of eternity, (which, by the way is also scientifically impossible due to something called the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics), or
Option C: There must be a God, a Being greater than science, who created the Laws of science and has the ability to disobey them. Not only is a belief in God the only logical conclusion to draw, it's the only one scientifically possible because remember, if there is no God, the first two options are scientifically impossible according to the actual Laws of Physics.
Believe it or not, a 5 year old child could be an atheistic scientist's worst nightmare by merely asking him “where did everything come from if God didn't make it?” What that child is actually asking in scientific terms is “how do we have a violation of the 1st Law of Thermodynamics by the creation of energy and matter in the closed system of the universe if there is no Creator capable of doing that?”
Many times people who do not believe there is evidence of God have claimed that a faith in God is only a matter of faith and that it can not be proven scientifically. They say "does God exist ?....if so, prove it to me". When confronted with this, we must fully understand what it means to “prove” something. The fact is that none of us were there when the universe came into being, so technically, none of us can “prove” what happened. We can't “prove” God did it and the atheists can't “prove” everything came into being on it's own, so what we have to do is examine the evidence based on science to determine the most plausible explanation. For example, if I see a beautiful sand castle on the beach with intricate design, but no one there along with it, I can not “prove” someone made it, just as someone else can not “prove” the sand castle made itself from the wind, waves and sand randomly interacting with one another, so we have to determine what logic and reason tell us is the most plausible explanation, based on scientific evidence and examination.