THE INESCAPABLE FACT OF HUMAN EXISTENCE: I,, AM GOING TO DIE. ME PERSONALLY, NOT JUST EVERYBODY ELSE -- I AM GOING TO DIE.

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2 THE INESCAPABLE FACT OF HUMAN EXISTENCE: I,, (fill in your name here) AM GOING TO DIE. ME PERSONALLY, NOT JUST EVERYBODY ELSE -- I AM GOING TO DIE.

3 IS GOD UNFAIR? Or, How can a good God allow death and suffering: Hurricanes, tsunamis, plagues, famines, wars, etc.?

4 All the wars, famines, plagues, pestilences, etc. throughout human history have not changed the death rate one bit. The death rate is 100%. The FACT of death does not change, only the TIMING.

5 Death is the fairest thing there is. It happens to rich, poor, black, white, American, Asian -- EVERYBODY. WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO GET READY FOR IT?

6 There are many religions in the world - - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, Judaism, Shintoism, Daoism, and so on. Each claims to have the truth. How do we Christians know that we are right and everybody else is wrong?

7 WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO KNOW SOMETHING? 1. Personal Experience through the five senses I know a bee sting hurts; I know how to ride a bike.

8 WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO KNOW SOMETHING? 1. Personal Experience through the five senses I know a bee sting hurts; I know how to ride a bike. 2. Reliance on Authority. I know the sun is 93 million miles away; Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. I know when I was born because my Mom told me.

9 WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO KNOW SOMETHING? 1. Personal Experience through the five senses I know a bee sting hurts; I know how to ride a bike. 3. Logic. I know 2 million + 2 million = 4 million, even though I ve never counted that high. I know I have a brain, even though I ve never seen it. 2. Reliance on Authority. I know the sun is 93 million miles away; Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. I know when I was born because my Mom told me.

10 WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO KNOW SOMETHING? 1. Personal Experience through the five senses I know a bee sting hurts; I know how to ride a bike. 3. Logic. I know 2 million + 2 million = 4 million, even though I ve never counted that high. I know I have a brain, even though I ve never seen it. 2. Reliance on Authority. I know the sun is 93 million miles away; Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. I know when I was born because my Mom told me. 4. Feeling or Intuition. I know she s the one for me; I know God has called me to the ministry.

11 WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO KNOW SOMETHING? 1. Personal Experience through the five senses I know a bee sting hurts; I know how to ride a bike. 3. Logic. I know 2 million + 2 million = 4 million, even though I ve never counted that high. I know I have a brain, even though I ve never seen it. 2. Reliance on Authority. I know the sun is 93 million miles away; Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. I know when I was born because my Mom told me. 4. Feeling or Intuition. I know she s the one for me; I know God has called me to the ministry. 5. Wishful Thinking (you really want it to be true) I just know I m going to win the lottery!

12 WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO KNOW SOMETHING? 1. Personal Experience through the five senses I know a bee sting hurts; I know how to ride a bike. 3. Logic. I know 2 million + 2 million = 4 million, even though I ve never counted that high. I know I have a brain, even though I ve never seen it. 5. Wishful Thinking (you really want it to be true) I just know I m going to win the lottery! 2. Reliance on Authority. I know the sun is 93 million miles away; Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. I know when I was born because my Mom told me. 4. Feeling or Intuition. I know she s the one for me; I know God has called me to the ministry. 6. Bluffing (lying!) - you try to persuade others for an ulterior motive You should buy these tickets from me because I know this team is going to the Super Bowl this year; I know evolution is a fact! 16

13 1. Is there a God? Yes No Impossible to be sure of anything

14 HOW CAN I BE SURE GOD EXISTS? For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed [it] unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified [him] not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools... Romans 1:18-23

15 GOD OR RANDOM CHANCE? The Bible says that God loves you so much that He gave His only Son to die for your sins. A. If you believe in the God of the Bible and you are right, you at least have the potential to spend eternity in heaven with Him.

16 GOD OR RANDOM CHANCE? The Bible says that God loves you so much that He gave His only Son to die for your sins. A. If you believe in the God of the Bible and you are right, you at least have the potential to spend eternity in heaven with Him. B. If you believe in the God of the Bible and you are wrong, you ll never know - so it doesn t matter.

17 GOD OR RANDOM CHANCE? The Bible says that God loves you so much that He gave His only Son to die for your sins. A. If you believe in the God of the Bible and you are right, you at least have the potential to spend eternity in heaven with Him. B. If you believe in the God of the Bible and you are wrong, you ll never know - so it doesn t matter. C. If you believe in Random Chance and you are right, nothing matters anyway.

18 GOD OR RANDOM CHANCE? The Bible says that God loves you so much that He gave His only Son to die for your sins. A. If you believe in the God of the Bible and you are right, you at least have the potential to spend eternity in heaven with Him. C. If you believe in Random Chance and you are right, nothing matters anyway. B. If you believe in the God of the Bible and you are wrong, you ll never know - so it doesn t matter. D. If you believe in Random Chance and you are wrong, you are headed for an eternal hell. Which step of faith makes more sense?

19 1. Is there a God? Yes No 2. Could He communicate clearly if He wanted to? Yes No Impossible to be sure of anything Impossible to be sure of anything

20 Many of the world s religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, Daoism, Jainism, Confucianism, etc.) teach that there is no personal God, just some sort of impersonal force or cosmic consciousness. Their holy books claim nothing more than to be the wisdom of Ascended Masters who have attained higher consciousness than the rest of us. All such religions are based on some form of evolution.

21 APE WISDOM What is the meaning of bananas?

22 1. Is there a God? Yes No 2. Could He communicate clearly if He wanted to? Impossible to be sure of anything Yes No Impossible to be sure of anything 3. Are there any books that claim to be a revelation from Him? Yes No Impossible to be sure of anything

23 HOLY BOOKS Only 3 of the world's Holy Books specifically claim to be divinely inspired: The Bible The Qur an (Koran) The Book of Mormon Every other religion is based only on the wisdom of the As- cended Masters.

24 1. Is there a God? Yes No 2. Could He communicate clearly if He wanted to? Impossible to be sure of anything Yes No Impossible to be sure of anything 3. Are there any books that claim to be a revelation from Him? Yes No Impossible to be sure of anything 4. Is there any way to test any such books to see if they are beyond human capabilities? Yes No Impossible to be sure of anything WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? TEST THEM!!!!!

25 The Bible contains thousands of descriptions of places and events that have now been confirmed by archaeologists -- for instance, the Pool of Siloam, Hezekiah s Tunnel, the existence of the false temples in Samaria and Tel-Dan, the historicity of the House of David and the kings of Israel, etc. No other Holy Book in the world gives so many details. This does not automatically mean the Bible is the Word of God, but it does mean that critics of the Bible through the centuries are looking awfully foolish!

26 An impartial, objective test of whether a book is beyond human capabilities: Can it accurately predict the future? The Book of Mormon: only one so-called prophecy, and it s wrong!... the Son of God cometh upon the face of the earth. And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers... (Alma 7:9-10) Jesus was born in Bethlehem, not Jerusalem!

27 The Qu ran: a grand total of two so-called predictive prophecies. The Greeks have been defeated in a neighbouring land. But in a few years they shall themselves gain victory. (Sura 30:1) A safe prediction, since the war had been going back and forth for many years. "God has in all truth fulfilled His apostle s vision, in which He had said: If God will, you shall enter the Sacred Mosque secure and fearless... (Sura 48:27) But Muhammad had already signed a treaty saying that he could return to Mecca!

28 The Bible: hundreds of detailed, specific prophecies, 100% accuracy! Dozens (at least) about the Messiah - descended from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, David; not descended from Jehoiachin; born in Bethlehem; born of a virgin; time of birth; kings would bring gifts; would live in Egypt for a while; circumstances of death, etc. Many about specific people - Cyrus, Josiah, Jehoiachin, etc. Prophecies about nations and cities - Tyre, Sidon, Lebanon, etc. Future history of Jewish people given in minute detail in Daniel - Ptolemaic and Seleucid dynasties, etc.

29 BUT WHERE DID THE BIBLE COME FROM?

30 THE OLD TESTAMENT CANON No one person or group decided which books were canonical - determined by consensus over centuries. Any errors resulted in a book being disqualified. Except for the Book of Esther, the contents of the Jewish Bible (our Old Testament) were settled by the time of Jesus. The Apocrypha were well known and had been rejected before Jesus time. They were not officially added to the Catholic Bible until the Council of Trent in the 1600s. Jesus never disagreed with the scribes and Pharisees on which books were Scripture - only disagreed with their lack of understanding. The uncertainty about the Book of Esther was removed by the Council of Jamnia ca. 70 A.D. Christian chapter and verse divisions done in 1227 A.D. - different from Jewish divisions.

31 THE NEW TESTAMENT CANON The Councils of Carthage (397 A.D.) and Hippo (393) merely acknowledged which New Testament books were already accepted as scripture. They neither added to nor subtracted from the list. Athanasius had compiled a list of the 27 N.T. books decades earlier, in 367. Ever since the Edict of Diocletian in 303, Christians had aready decided which books were worth dying for and which were spurious. By the year 180 Iranaeus had listed 21 of the 27 books of the N.T. as canonical. Even without a list, we could reconstruct all but 11 verses of the New Testament from the writings of 2nd and 3rd century Christian writers.

32 Tests for Reliability of Ancient Manuscripts: 1. Date of Composition 2. Date of Oldest Surviving Copy 3. Time lapse between date of composition and oldest surviving copy 4. Number of Copies 5. Agreement between copies

33 The Best-Preserved Ancient Books WORK: DATE EARLIEST TIME # OF WRITTEN: COPY: LAPSE: COPIES: Herodotus B.C. A.D yrs. 8 Thucydides B.C. ca. A.D yrs. 8 Tacitus A.D yrs. 20 Caesar s B.C. A.D yrs Gaelic War Livy s Roman 59 B.C. - A.D yrs. 20 History A.D.17 ALL ARE REGARDED AS AUTHORITATIVE.

34 The Second-Best-Preserved Ancient Book HOMER S ILIAD Completed around 700 B.C. Oldest complete copy about 2,000 years after original Oldest partial copy about 500 years after original 5% of the text uncertain 643 manuscripts available Nobody doubts it.

35 The Best-Preserved Ancient Book: THE NEW TESTAMENT Completed by 100 A.D. Oldest complete manuscript about 200 years after original Some fragments as little as 25 years after original (John Rylands Fragment) Less than 1/2 of 1% uncertainty Over 24,000 ancient manuscripts available Greek, Latin, 9300 in other languages Yet critics say it s unreliable!

36 What About Those Uncertainties? There are a number of manuscript familes of the Greek New Testament. The Textus Receptus or Majority Text (on which the King James version is based), Nestle-Aland, Westcott & Hort, Scrivener, Metzger, etc. Even if we compare the best and worst manuscripts, less than 1/2 of 1% of the text is uncertain. IN NO CASE is there any question of doctrine involved.

37 A Possible Source of Variant Readings humeis hemeis The New Testament was written longhand, in all capital Greek letters. Handwritten upsilon in humeis ( your ) can look similar to eta in hemeis ( our ). The number of variant readings in the New Testament is greatly exaggerated. For instance, if the same word is misspelled in 2,000 manuscripts it counts as 2,000 variants instead of just one.

38 IS THE NEW TESTAMENT A MADE-UP MYTH? The date of composition and the date of the oldest surviving manuscripts and quotes are so close to each other that many hostile eyewitnesses were still alive. They would have been eager to point out any errors or additions to the events recorded in the New Testament.. THEY COULD NOT. Their response instead? Kill the Christians to shut them up!

39 COULD THE APOSTLES HAVE BEEN LYING? Every one of the apostles was willing to die a gruesome death rather than renounce his faith. So were hundreds of others who claimed to be eyewitnesses to the life of Jesus. If this were an elaborate conspiracy, surely at least one person would have admitted it in order to save his own life. People may die for something they only think is correct, but only a lunatic would die for something he KNEW to be a lie. Even skeptics must admit that the apostles and other early Christians truly believed the writings of the New Testament.

40 CHRISTIANITY S GREATEST CREDENTIAL: THE EMPTY TOMB! Go to Muhammad s tomb, or Buddha s tomb, or any other religious leader s tomb -- they re inside, still dead. From the beginning, both friendly and hostile eyewitnesses went to Jesus tomb and reported -- IT S EMPTY!

41 Does the New Testament reflect a growing mythology in the early church? If the miracles of Jesus were myths added later, the later books should record more and more of them. However, John s Gospel, one of the last books, pays less attention to miracles than do the earlier writings. And one of the earliest books, 1 Corinthians, reports that Jesus appeared to 500 people at a time after His resurrection. The Gospels, written years later, list only a few witnesses. If this is a myth, it s shrinking instead of growing! Paul s epistles were among the first N.T. books written. Approximate dates: 1 & 2 Thessalonians, A.D Corinthians, Galatians, Romans, 2 Corinthians, A.D ; James, A.D. 60; Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, Philippians, A.D ; Hebrews, between 61 and 70. Tradition says that Matthew s and Mark s gospels were written before Luke, and that Matthew was originally written in Hebrew, then translated into Greek in A.D. 60. Mark is believed to have been written between 60 and 70 A.D. Dates of 1 and 2 Tim: ca Titus ca. 65, 1 Pet. ca. 66, 2 Peter and Jude ca , 2, and 3 John came late, perhaps 85 or 90. John s Gospel ca. 90. Finally, Revelation, ca. 96.

42 OK, SO THE NEW TESTAMENT IS ACCURATELY PRESERVED. SO WHAT?

43 If the New Testament is accurately preserved, then the events and sayings took place just as recorded. What does this tell us about Jesus and our responsibility toward Him? Could He have been just a good man?

44 SOME OF THE CLAIMS OF JESUS: 1. He claimed to have been alive before Abraham. 2. He claimed to be equal with God. 3. He claimed to have the authority to forgive sins. 4. He claimed that He will be the one to judge the world. TRUE OR FALSE?

45 JESUS: NOT JUST A GREAT MAN. Either His claims were true or false. 1. If false and He knew it, He would be a worse liar than the devil himself! 2. If false and He did not know it, He would be a raving lunatic. 3. If He told the truth, then HE IS LORD OF ALL.

46 Jesus did not leave you the option of calling Him just a good man. He did not intend to. You must choose: Liar, Lunatic, or LORD?

47 Jesus asked: Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do the things which I say? (Lk 6:46) If you won t obey Him, He s not your Lord!

48 What Jesus demands: Full, unconditional, and absolute surrender. Will you surrender to Him right now?