 |
 |
|
|
Boyle's Argument: Jesus Christ is God.
Premise 1: He predicted
numerous events that came true, did miracles, healed incurable diseases, and resurrected other people from the dead.
Premise 2: Jesus Christ has
fulfilled over a 100 detailed and precise prophecies most of them were written hundreds of years before his birth, and some
were written up to 1000 years before his birth. There is no plausible explanation that these prophecies could be accomplished
by mere chance, and they are mathematically impossible to be falsely engineered.
Premise 3: No
other holy book of any other religion has prophecies that were fulfilled this testifies to Christ's divinity.
Premise 4: The enemies of Christianity documented events in accordance with the gospels. Why would the ancient enemies of
Christendom document accounts that where in alignment with the scriptures if these accounts were not true? What did they have
to gain by lying?
Premise 5: Most of the life of Christ in the New Testament Gospels
can be pieced together without any reference to the Bible.
Premise 6: Most importantly he
also professed that he would die and be resurrected on the third day. There is overwhelming evidence for the resurrection,
through historical references, eyewitness testimonies, and secular non Biblical sources.
Premise 7: He
claimed to be God.
Conclusion: Based on this evidence this leads me to the logical conclusion that Jesus Christ
is God, and Creator like he has stated.
Veritas.org. MP3 Audio: Does God exist? Debate between Dr. William Craig, and Austin Dacey. California State University, Fresno,
2005.
Veritas.org. MP3 Audio: Contemporary Scholarship and the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus. Lecture by Dr.William Lane
Craig. Northwestern University/Greater Chicago Area, 2001.
Veritas.org. MP3 Audio: Creator or Blind Watchmaker. Lecture by Philip Johnson at the University of Michigan, 1995.
"The following probabilities are taken from
Peter Stoner in Science Speaks (Moody Press, 1963) to show that coincidence is ruled out by the science of probability. Stoner
says that by using the modern science of probability in reference to eight prophecies, "we find that the chance that
any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is 1 in 1017." That would
be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. In order to help us comprehend this staggering probability, Stoner illustrates it by supposing
that "we take 1017 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two
feet deep. "Now mark one of these
silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as
far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting
the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all
come true in any one man." Stoner
considers 48 prophecies and says, "we find the chance that any one man fulfilled all 48 prophecies to be 1 in 10157,
or 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000. The estimated number of
electrons in the universe is around 1079. It should be quite evident that Jesus did not fulfill the prophecies
by accident." (McDowell, Slick)
Work Cited
McDowell, Josh. Evidence that Demands a Verdict. San Bernardino, CA: Here's
Life Publishers, Inc., 1979.
Slick, Matthew J, 1996-2007, Jesus & Prophecies. CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS
& RESEARCH MINISTRY, 7 Nov 2007, <http://www.carm.org>
|
|
Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30)
Jesus answered, "I am the way
and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
(Genesis 1:1)
(Artwork: Michelangelo, Buonarroti, Creation of stars and planets,
Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome, Italy, 1475-1564)
(Music: Antonio Lucio Vivaldi, Winter Allegro, The Four Seasons, 1678-1741)
|