I pray that all would realize that there is a God. What a joy and happiness you have in your life when you believe. I can't describe the feeling. Thank you Jesus!!

The proof that Jesus exists today can be seen in the lives of those who have truly put him on the throne of their heart. Their lives are a testimony to that truth that even those who have no knowledge of the Bible can see.

Erik and JCO, maybe the timing of this devotional is just coincidence, but maybe this might be the "miracle" that you point to some day where you really began your search for the truth. Bryant mentioned a few things, but if you want to explore the facts further there are several sources. I suggest "The Case For ___" (God, Jesus, Faith). These books are by Lee Strobel who started his searching as a sceptic. Also, Josh McDowell has written many books on these topics. You may find that you don't have enough faith to NOT believe.

If Jesus was real, why is the Bible the ONLY place he's mentioned? After all, electons and protons are mentioned in thousands upon thousands of textbooks, and we know there are REALLY atoms to split (we all know about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki). There is scientific evidence abound for most of the things we "believe" in today.

However, the problem with this devotion is, scientific principles are NOT something (repeat NOT something) to be "believed in". Science does not work on faith. Science works with evidence and principles. Science works with experiments where results are readily observable. Scientific principles are not something you have faith in.

Religion is something you have faith in.

I, for one, am not sure if Christ existed or not. I doubt we'll ever know for sure. The only historical text he's mentioned in is the Bible, which makes his existence doubtful, but I wouldn't reject the idea. He may have been a good man, who tried to change the world, and I give him credit for that. He was an innovator ahead of his time for sure. But did he think he was devine himself? Probably not. Jesus was a jew of his day and early Christians adopted the Jesus legend, wrote about it, and "added in" the magic to convince people to join their cause. The divinity of Jesus was to put more weight in support of the early Christian cause.

That's my view.

John, unfortunatly, Erik advises that he has already read about 90% of the books people recommend to him, including the Lee Strobel books. Perhaps JCO will read them. That is IF JCO and Erik are different people.

JCO, the Bible is not the only place Jesus is mentioned. Josephus(?) was the most famous historian of his day, and he talks about Jesus. Josephus was not a believer, but he did acknowledge the existence of Jesus.

Oops! I meant to say Josephus was the most famous "Jewish" historian of his day.

I haven't read the Lee Strobel books, but I might. Which is a good one to start off with?

FYI - Josephus' writings cover a number of figures familiar to Bible readers. He discusses John the Baptist, James the brother of Jesus, Pontius Pilate, the Sadducees, the Sanhedrin, the High Priests, and the Pharisees. As for Jesus, there are two references to him in Antiquities.
First, in a section in Book 18 dealing with various actions of Pilate, the extant texts refer to Jesus and his ministry. This passage is known as the Testimonium Flavianum referred to hereafter as the "TF".
"Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ, and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians so named from him are not extinct at this day."

"The Case for Christ" was the first one, and I think you can find it cheap (used) on Amazon.

Thank you RTFH for this devotion I really enjoyed it. As I promised, I will not get into the act of trying to argue this point with anyone I just believe it. God bless everyone and have a blessed day. I thank God for the rain that is falling today in Georgia.

While my denomination of my church home believes in "free will", my own personal experience convicts me more in the direction of "irrisistable grace". As Paul said, our Belief is by Faith, and that by Grace, so that none might boast.

This also makes more sense to me when I see people who do not believe. They simply do not feel, or have not yet felt, the call to Jesus by the Father through the works of the Holy Spirit.

I agree with Kaye. There is nothing like the change that occurs in a heart circumsized by Holy Spirit. When Jesus came into my heart I did not become perfect (far from it), but the process of sanctification began. Sometimes it is painful. Most often it fills me with a peace that transcends understanding. It is the greatest gift you can ever wish for those you love.

One of the reasons that there are those long chapters in the Bible that describe the genealogies of all the families & tribes was to give extra proof of the people being mentioned including Christ. You'll noticed so often when any person is talked about that they will tell who the person's parents were and they also mention every little town or city involved. If they were trying to make things up they wouldn't be purposedly giving so much background historic information that would be common knowledge in that day. I'm not going to bother to try to argue & convice you, but someday you will know the truth because one day EVERY knee with bow & every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Unfortunately for some it will be too late. I pray that it won't be for you JCO or Erik -if indeed there are two of you.

"The witness of thousands of people who saw the miracles of Jesus.Testimonies from dozens who witnessed His death, then saw Him alive after His resurrection."

Thousands of people? Dozens? How about naming just two.

BTW RFTH- most of the Testimoniam Flavianum was added by a later Christian editor who meddled with the text after Josephus was safely dead.

No need to rehash all this we went over at Easter. We gave our evidence & You choose to not believe. It can be argued if any of the historical characters lived during that day since none of us actually witnessed them, but those of that know Christ-know Him. We KNOW our lives from before & we know the transformation He made in our lives-Today. That's just something you'll have to decide if you want to witness or not. We nor God will force you at this time, but like I mentioned above -someday every knee will bow & every tongue confess. Unfortunately it will be too late for some & we hope & pray that it won't be for you, but that is all we can do. No one here is trying to force you to do anything though. God bless

Well said, Christ Follower.

I forgot who said this, but the quote was: "The problem for the unbeliever isn't the lack of evidence, it is the suppression of it."

I know God is real because I experience Him. I know he is real the same way I know my fingers real.

Jonathan: Scientists are forced to have faith in their theories (if they postulate a theory, they must have some level of faith that it is right). For example, there is no scientific evidence that anything existed before the Big Bang, yet science continues to search for what must have caused the creation of our universe (the "big banger"). That cause has to be outside our universe, and therefore cannot be tested scientifically. It's interesting that many scientists will come up with just about anything, no matter how farfetched, to explain how our universe seemed to pop into existence out of nothing, but would consider creation by an intelligent being off limits. That is because they are naturalists, and reject that idea out of hand. That is what you are. But, if you open your mind a little, looked at the complexity of the world around you, and the unlikelihood that we are merely a random collection of atoms that somehow became self-aware through an undirected process, you mind find that God is a better place to put your faith.

One other thing, Jonathan... almost no one that has done any scholarly work, even the most secular historians, think that Jesus was not a real person. Plus, even if you exclude extra-biblical mentions of Jesus, which I don't think is warranted, it is fallacious to say the only place Jesus is mentioned is in "the Bible" as if the bible is only one source. The bible is collection of individual accounts and letters about the Jewish people, Jesus and his followers. In fact, there are many more manuscripts supporting the biblical account that are dated much closer to the events than there are about the lives of other historical figures. If someone put together a book about the life of Julius Caesar that was based on historical letters, accounts, and other manuscripts, you would not reject the content of that source simply because the individual documents happened to be compiled together in a single book.

Ricky.

1. I'm not saying Jesus didn't exist. I actually think he did.

2. I don't know what caused the Big Bang. But I'm not introducing a man-made religion as the answer to that question. Scientists don't know either. What's wrong with saying "I don't know?" ?? Why do you have to say you CERTAINLY know the answer. You don't know, for certain, if your God caused the Big Bang. You are just blindly guessing, erronously, and I'm saying "I have no idea".

3. Natural Selection is a long long process. It's reasonable to assume intelligent life came out of a long genetic mutation process. EVIDENCE supports this. 150 years of it.

4. I don't reject God created the universe, I'm just waiting for the evidence. I don't reject that The Invisible Teapot did it either, but waiting for the evidence of that too.

5. The problem with the Bible, as any kind of accurate reflection of reality is: a) it's been copied down (by hand) over 2,000 years into a variety of languages. There are copying errors, translation errors and deliberate errors (i.e. to convert people to their faith). b) there have been books exlcuded, included with the conversion intention. c) there are too many continuity errors to even begin to say it's some kind of accurte reflection of any old reality.

I guess Hercules lived too, since Josephus mentions him and believes him to be a real person. Can you prove Hercules DIDN'T exist? There are many accounts of him and his deeds.

You will believe what you will believe. The evidence is all around you in nature, throughout the scriptures & through the witness of His followers. It it evidence that is proof beyond a reasonable doubt but the rest we accept through faith. God bless

Last word from me on this. There is nothing wrong with saying "I don't know". If you think God is a possible answer, that makes you more of an agnostic than an atheist. That's a step in the right direction. Science tends to be pretty dogmatic itself at times, even when there is no evidence that life developed out of nothing, or could have transitioned from one species to another. I agree there is plenty of evidence for small changes within a species. But, I don't think 4 or 5 billion years here on earth is nearly long enough for what Darwinian Evolution suggests, if that is even possible, which is the move from a single organism to the complex life we have today, especially if that first organism has to spontaneously generate out of some primordial soup. I don't think the 15 billion years is enough time to go from a massive explosion of time and space to a human being, regardless of what Carl Sagan thought. These are all guesses from Science. The question for me is, what's the best explanation. If I don't rule out a creator a priori, it is a pretty good explanation.

You tend to make statements that are not supported by facts. It sounds like you are listening to things that others say that have not thought through their positions. The original biblical manuscripts for the new testament were in Greek. The modern translations we use today are translated directly from the Greek manuscripts. Also, while there are copyist errors, there are so many copies of manuscripts that we can get back to what the original copies said with a very high confidence level. You can see where changes or errors were made by comparing the different copies, and there is nothing in those changes or errors that effect the accounts or essential doctrine. Keep looking Jonathan. You want to question things. Question some of the stuff you are hearing on the other side, too.

I am new to this (not Christ, but this 'comment' section)and I am amazed that Erik and JCO bother to say anything at all. It is clear what your choice is, so why do either of you bother to comment. Are you searching for Christ, or do you just like to 'debate' the issue? God does not force anyone to follow Him, it is your own personal choice. Those of us who have chosen to follow Him have a Peace in our hearts, that I can clearly hear that neither of you have. My words to both of you and it is said with love in my heart...Just give Jesus a chance in your life. Give Him an honest to goodness chance. If nothing changes for you then you can you have lost nothing, but I can assure you once you experience what God has to offer, you will never turn back.

Why the human mind believes ridiculous things has always been a fascination of mine.