Intro to Examining Historical Evidences  

  • Some poor reasons why some people believe in Christianity:

    • My parents are christians ?
    • My friends are christians ?
    • It's Comforting ?
    • I don't want to go to hell ?
    • Because I believe that it is true ?

  • I want to get you to this point:

    • I believe in Christianity because I know that it is true ?

  • The Christian faith is based on historical facts

  • The Bible contains historical facts (it is not a fiction !)

  • The Bible is a historical document

  How can you know that the Bible is true ?  

  • The basis of the Christian faith presented in the Bible is:

    • Jesus died, was buried and was resurrected after 3 days.

    There are ironclad historical evidence that support this fact.

  • Caveat:

    • Evidence, no matter how strong, do not constitute a proof.

  • The only thing that constitutes as a proof for you is:

    • you are an eyewitness to the actual events

    Second or third hand information is evidence but cannot be proof for you

  • I do not (and cannot) provide any proof for Jesus' resurrection to you (it's too late)

  If you can't prove it, how can you know it that it's true ?  

  • Question:

    • Do you believe that Julius Caesar and Octavius (Augustus) ever lived ?
    • Do you believe that Julius and Octavius were Roman emperors ?
    • Do you believe that the "Holocaust" ever happened - that Jews were systematically killed in concentration camps ?
    • Do you believe that the "Nanjin Massacre" ever happened - that Japanes soldiers brutally murdered countless innocent civilians ?

  • If you do, why do you believe that ?

    (If you don't, you are wired seriously wrong and are probably beyond any help....)

  • Good news:

    • There are mountains of historical evidences preserved that show that the events recorded in the Bible are true.

    So you can know that the Bible is true if you know these evidences

  Assertaining Historical facts  

  • Ways that Archeology use to assertain historical events:

    • Ancient artifacts

    • Ancient writings/documents