Your Easter Surprise

A co-worker recounted a very cute, and also sad story about her young son. One day as Easter was approaching, she heard these little-five-year-old footsteps, coming from an upstairs bedroom and stopping near the bottom of the stairs. Then a little determined voice stated, “Mom, I need you to tell me the truth.”

My confused friend responded, “Sure son, what’s going on?” Her child asked, “Is the Easter Bunny real?” His mom answered, “Oh son, you don’t want to look too deep into this, nothing to worry yourself about.” The determined child: “Mom, I want to know, is the Easter Bunny real or not.” She said, “No son, the Easter Bunny is not real.” The forlorn boy drooped his head down, turned around, and quietly walked back upstairs.

Not five minutes later, she heard these little steps down to the bottom of the stairs again. “Mom … I need you to tell me the truth.” “Okay son.” “Mom, is Santa real?” “Oh son, you don’t want to keep thinking about this, no need to worry yourself. Why don’t you …” The boy interrupted in as serious tone as he could muster, “Mom, is Santa real?” After his mom’s brief answer, “No”, the boy drooped his head, turned around, and went back up the stairs. The newly impoverished childhood received one more loss when he returned fifteen minutes later and asked if it was actually the tooth fairy who put the money under his pillow.

I laughed. In my defense, I couldn’t know what the boy felt as my parents have laughingly reminisced how I never believed in any of those things. Maybe redeeming myself a bit, thinking more about it, I felt bad for this boy, and knowing his mom was a Christian, I just had to ask, “What would you say if when your son begins college, one day you hear him coming down the steps, with bigger steps now, and he asks, “Tell me the truth, is Jesus Real?”

Skeptics try to lump biblical claims about Jesus with tales we tell children, and her son will hear those comments, and the Easter account of Jesus does sound fantastic – it was meant to – this is how Christ sets himself apart from any other claim. Yet aside from the error in logic claiming the accounts of Jesus are in the same category as fantasies like Santa, a claim one only makes if ignorant of the evidence, it is fair to ask, “If you believe biblical claims about Jesus are real, accurate accounts, what good reasons make you believe and base your life on this, as opposed to other beliefs?”

Jesus claimed to be God, and demonstrated the seriousness of our situation by personally enduring the consequences of our wrong-doing so we can have relationship with him, and then predicted he would validate his claim with an unprecedented event!

Jesus was not just a great man or moral teacher. He was either a severely narcisistic liar, an insane but lucky fraud, the greatest hoax of all time, or the most important potential relationship in your life. Sounds dramatic, but that is simply the reality of our situation. Additionally, all alternative claims have been thoroughly rejected by the scholars for deficient supportive evidence and abundant fatal flaws.

So why believe the biblical claim over all others? Based on the same standards one appropriately accepts any belief, theory, or choice: the biblical belief is far beyond any alternative because the supporting evidence is equally beyond any other. Considering what a fantastic and pivotal claim arose with Jesus, your Easter surprise is that this claim is the best historically supported.

One can always choose to reject Jesus and his claim, always a person’s own choice, but better have better reasons as this choice claims to carry constant consequences. For example, if you just cannot accept the claim because it involves miracles, and miracles are impossible. You need to be careful, you are carrying invalidated preconceived assumptions; think further. As noted in the Interesting Questions section, the greatest miracle has already occurred, and we have scientific proof of it.

It seems the Bible’s claim about Jesus, that he will be a “stumbling block” to many people, is accurate. Many trip over the truth of Jesus throughout their life, but simply get back up and keep moving along in the daily grind of life, or from one diversion to another, hardly considering a figure possibly the center point of history in general, and your life in particular. Where do you stand?

Here is a brief summary, with more details for where each person may choose to stand further below.

The logical question is: Why? It helps to write things down to visibly show how solid your current understanding stands.

What alternative explanation do you believe, and what supports your belief better than the biblical belief? Feel free to use another paper for more space,

Let’s consider different positions people may find themselves.

Person 3: You have compelling evidence to disprove Jesus as Lord, and can support your alternative belief to the point of setting it on a level of evidence alternative beliefs cannot reach.

If you think you are this person, what is that compelling evidence? Please send it in for us to consider. If you are not able to come up with such evidence, then you are not person 3, and not standing on a safe choice.

Person 4: You find you don’t have evidence to overwhelm what was provided for the biblical theory, but still don’t accept it, or are not willing to consider it further.

If you stand here, why? What evidence supports your choice as the safe or best one? Write in the space above, and please send your reasons in to us.

No matter what your choice is on this issue of Jesus, this is the most compelling figure in history and a most serious claim, and is well-evidenced. If your belief about Jesus is not better evidenced, it means your choice is not based on better reasoning, but on your feelings, emotion or volition (your wants). This is not meant as a put-down, just a straightforward assessment.

We all make some decisions this way, especially in impactful areas of life, so do not get defensive and dismiss this opportunity to really be thoughtful about what you believe and why. A choice going against the evidence is unstable, and expecting your choice will lead to an overall best outcome for you is equally unstable.

Maybe you do realize the seriousness of this choice, but are just waiting for more evidence to come in to hopefully support what you want to believe. This is an error in logic known as the ad futuris fallacy, which is like saying, “Just wait, there will be evidence, someday.” Wishful thinking. Not a safe choice.

As noted previosuly, the Christian claim has been studied with the finest-toothed combs, and the evidence is in.

Person 5: You don’t have support for your belief against Jesus, but have negative reasons why you will not accept Jesus.

There are a number of reasons to not want to accept Jesus: don’t like having an authority over your life (my personal life has great examples of disliking authority); comfortable where you are and changing beliefs will cause discomfort; will have costs, such as possible loss of friends, family; depending where you live, possible ridicule and even your life may be at risk. All valid things to consider, yet, aside from the benefits being far greater than all the costs, if the belief you change to is accurate, the accuracy of the belief, and therefore, whether you should stand on it or not, depends on the evidence, not on negative reasons you do not want it to be true.

Lawyers and politicians do this, trying to tear down their opponent’s position instead of showing why their position is the wise, correct choice. You will see this when people use ridicule instead of reasons, and sometimes people just had a bad experience with the religion side of the belief (religion is how people organize around a belief system), which can allow emotions to guide thinking instead of evidence. There may be people or things in a belief system you do not like or do not understand, but these do not determine truth, reality does by inevitable support from evidence. Therefore, making decisions as person 5 is not a reliable or safe foundation to base your belief upon.

Of course, challenges against the Christian claim should be addressed, and are in the Frequently Asked Questions section. If your specific doubt or problem is not answered, please send it in to us to consider.

If you are persons 4 or 5, not only would you require the evidence discussed for person 3, in order to have a rational and reasonably secure foundation to base your life upon, you would also have to answer some serious problems facing your different belief system. There are, of course, problems/challenges every belief system must answer. These do not seem to be brought up much in our culture, or our own personal thought life, but these are brought up in real life, which pits every belief system against each other for a clear comparison, which is covered in the articles comparing the different worldview belief options.

Consider a physician, after having fully considered the evidence, diagnosing a disease and recognizing the specific cure required, but the patient heard about or read online of a few other things the symptoms may point to, so they will just wait and see what comes along.

The physician recognizes there are a few other possible causes, and the patient will make their own decision how to approach the situation, but implores the patient to recognize the diagnosis is fatal if not approached the right way. The evidence is in and solid for an impending health crisis, and emotional defense mechanisms like denial, ignoring the issue, or hoping another diagnosis will somehow be true lead for the worst results.

I have personally watched this happen in our cancer center. Is this you, but regarding a fatal spiritual condition as opposed to just a physical one?

The logical question is: Why? How do you know your best choice is not to choose among the alternative explanations, what supports you belief that you cannot know?

Person 6 and 7: Seems honest and reasonable to say, “I don’t know.”

However, this stance is neither honest nor reasonable if the person is not also honestly and reasonably looking into it. Ask this person, or yourself if this is where you stand, if you genuinely looked into it: What is the evidence supporting the biblical claim, how do you answer it, and what evidence supports your belief of not being able to know? If not providing reasonable answers here, then the stance loses its reasonableness.

While neither science nor the biblical God will provide absolute proof (for reasons discussed in the Interesting Questions section), imagine you were given absolute, certain proof Jesus is who the Bible claims, would you become a Christian?

If you hestiated at all when considering this question, it tells you something serious about emotional or volitional barriers you have, keeping you from making a rational choice. The issue isn’t a problem for your head (choice based on evidence), but your heart (choice based on preference).

Furthermore, it seems safe to “straddle the fence” and jump into “belief” in a God when needed, a nod and a prayer now and then, but the rest of the time altogether ignoring, doubting without searching for real answers, or simply keeping the door closed to the God who is standing just outside their door, with open arms (as displayed in the Prodigal Son). While sounding like a good option on a shallow level, going deeper exposes this as not a safe position because the biblical God purposes for a relationship, not a nod.

It’s your choice, but one needs to recognize the situation for what it is. Holding off for a time to decide on beliefs, until properly looking into it, is reasonable, and walking the fence for a time is stable.

However, as time goes on and a person chooses not to make a decision, frequently combined with not even looking into it, then the fence becomes more like the one surrounding the federal prison near my hospital, which has really nasty razor wire curled through the top of the fence.

Like the wire, life has countless sharp points that will stick into a person the longer they walk along a path, tending to hold the person where they are. Having been stuck in barbed-wire, it can be very difficult to free oneself, without serious strain and some damage. Not fully committing to one belief system means you are fully committed to another. In this case, you commit to the belief system of “apatheism,” basically living as though it isn’t important enough or not possible to decide on the reality of Jesus, so you choose to ignore what Jesus may mean for you.

What are you waiting for? Jesus and his claim is the most scoured over historic event in all time, and the extraordinary evidence is in. Are you waiting for something bigger and better than the evidence of the cross and love God has shown? Make no mistake, a fence-straddler will be jerked by reality to fall into the fence if not choosing to stand on one side or the other, because either the Christian claim is accurate, or atheism, or some other belief, and there are serious consequences for not commiting to the belief fitting reality.

Now I do not recommend anyone go along with Jesus based on Pascal’s Wager (belieivng simply because Hell would be a bigger loss if you are on the wrong-side of this issue). As noted earlier, many people pray only when in need, or do religious stuff here and there in order to feel they have the “spiritual thing” covered, but God has no other place in their life. That is not what Jesus came and died for.

Either the biblical claim is false and people should not waste any time on a God who isn’t there, or the claim is true, and if not trusting in Jesus to the point of accepting what he did for us and seeking his relationship, then this Authority who knows for certain what is in store for us after-life, will be in a position to bring and welcome us into never-ending good consequences, but because rejecting the relationship and plan he had to offer, he will say, “I never knew you,” and allow the natural consequences of being separated from him to occur to you.

I never advocate believing in Christianity just for insurance in case Hell is real. Only believe in Christianity because it is true, and supported by the evidence beyond any other belief. Further, while those negative consequences of being separated from God are terrible, even more overwhelming for those who have not accepted a relationship with Jesus yet, you have the greatest opportunity possible to add wonderful things to your life!

There may be very significant, harmful, even fatal costs you may face in joining God’s family (a close friend, Abdu Murray, has provided insight into this coming from his Muslim background), but the benefits still far outweigh the costs. Some of these benefits are covered below, others can be found in the Lasting Joy article, and in comaprisons with other belief systems in the Decide Your Fate section of the website.

If you would like to know how to start a relationship with God, and experience salvation, there is an article: Salvation? Who, What, When, Where, Why. Another article can help explain some of these religious words, so you have a clear understanding what is meant when “sin” or “salvation” is used: Girl Talk, Geek speak, Religious talk – Understanding the technical or weird-sounding words.

Person 1: You have compelling evidence to support Jesus as Lord, to the point of setting it on a level of evidence alternative beliefs cannot reach.

If you think you are this person, what is that compelling evidence? Can you share it with others? If you are not able to come up with such evidence, then you are not person 1, and not standing on a safe choice.

Your reasons for belief do not have to be intellectual arguments as in these articles, God is a Spirit and interacts with us primarily spiritually, so these reasons can be amazingly valid. However, since spiritual interactions are personal and hard to quantify, and since our culture places a high importance on science and intellectual arguments, focussing on clear and well-established evidence is essential so anyone you share with can appreciate and find it useful. Consider how Jesus answered the questioner with what they needed.

If your belief is not based on the best reasons, then your belief would change depending on other factors, where you were born, what makes you most comfortable, people or ideas you happened to run into, etc.

If your belief is based on unmatched support for the biblical claim, you may think you can relax, and do not need more effort in this area – wrong. The rational response is to recognize the seriousness of our situation, the love and unmatched authority God displayed through Jesus’ sacrifice and victory over death, and be living with your relationship with God as your top priority. Are you? Do others see a difference in love you show other people, lack of anxiety or worry about what circumstances may come in life, reliable hope and unquenchable joy, and ensuring you have the answers people need to also find such reliable hope in relationship with Jesus (this is the Great Commission, not the Soft Suggestion)? If not, then there is a problem to resolve why your actions are not matching what you know to be true?

Or would you want to be like that captain and crew of the sinking Costa Concordia? When the ship had a hole tore into its hull, began sinking and tilting on its side, the captain and much of the crew fled the ship, not warning or helping passengers escape the danger. 32 of the passengers, who waited for answers, guidance, or assistance, died, and the disgusted comments from across the world were unanimous in judgement.

If the biblcial account is accurate, the ship we are riding in for this life is sinking, we have been shown the way and have been given access to another vessel to safety, and while there will be passangers who will deny the sinking, will wait for some other escape, become emotional against you, or just decide to go their own way, are you going to be the crew member who takes the risk to help save others, or be like the those thoughtless crew of the Costa Concordia, whom we all naturally scorn?

Person 2: You recognize the evidence supports Jesus’ claim, but choose to do life on your own terms.

It is your choice to do with your life as you please, but it should be obvious you are placing unwarranted importance on short term comfort or pleasure over vastly more serious long term results. Willful ignorance and wishful thinking on dangerous levels.

If there is a God, do you think you know better? Why would you believe that? If we have a Creator, who created us with a purpose, and validated through Jesus’ life and victory over death the knowledge and authority over reality, then to think you know better for your life seems the highest level of unwarranted arrogance, foolishness, and/or stubbornness. Following the evidence always has the highest likelihood of reaching what you best expect, while going another direction only takes you further from the reality you hope for. Consider the box score of consequences below.

These articles so far have appealed to the head (intellectual reasons to stand on the bibical belief), and the biblical claim being far and away the best suported belief as far as what occurred on that first Easter, is a reality we must all deal with. Then again, I recognize this is not just a head issue because impactful issues whether beliefs, poitics, or relationships, where personal choice and wants get involved, the appeal must not just be to our head, but also to our heart (meaning all the things we long for, or are passionate about).

It may surprise some to know God does not simply seek your intellectual assent, saying, “Okay, you exist so I must accept you now through fear.” God seeks for you to want to be in his family, his hope is for your head and heart to accept his relationship.

Is there any reason why you would actually want the biblical claim to be true, even if right now you hate the idea of Christianity? I am pathologically anti-authority-figure, so the idea of a Creator God, whom I am beholden to, doesn’t naturally sit well with me. And while my head tells me the evidence is clear this authority figure exists and is not an authority I can win going against, what really brought me into relationship with God was things that were good for life and beautiful.

The head keeps you safe in life, but your heart pumps such beauty to life. And I was blown away One with absolute power exceeding any authority ever on earth, at the same time, showed mercy, self-sacrifice, and love. A balance so unique it is beautiful. And almost a paradox as we all have heard and observed how “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

When researching other supposed Gods, Allah for example, I completely understood them and their characteristics, which for me was evidence they were just inventions of people making a God fit their own human image and expectations. Conversely, the biblical God, I cannot wrap my head around, and am continuously made aware of something beyond human potential.

An actual God would be beyond us to the extent of, even if ensuring we understand his essential characteristics, still confounding our expectations. Consider the Prodigal Son story (Luke 15:11-32), for example. For a culture where a son bringing shame on the family is to be disowned, God (portrayed by the father in the story) shows complete humility and love as he kept continual watch, wait, and hope for the relationship to restore, and when it did, he did something those of that time would find repulsive, by running to, embracing, and welcoming the child back into the family.

Even for those who have serious reservations to reject Jesus’ claim, all the good, benefits, beauty, and wonder that accompany connecting with Jesus are great potentials for your heart to consider.

Have you ever seen people in some in church, or worship service, with hands in the air, dancing around, or just “losing it.” Some laugh, even I have before, or use such images in negative ad campaigns to make religious people look foolish, but what a double-standard, ever go to a music concert? People get swept into not caring what people think and act wild when swept into something beatiful, and this happens when experiencing what connection with God brings.

Consider the artistry God used to change an instrument of torture into a symbol of hope worn around necks, or displayed in art, or in homes across the world. The cross for any other person in history would be their ultimate defeat, but Jesus used it to seal the victory he predicted. Hanging on a cross meant to Jewish people of the time you were cursed, to the Romans you were guilty, but Jesus used it to remove the curse and guilt of sin we had towards a holy God. The Roman army were experts and discisplined as far as pain and death were concerned, and used crucifixion as a drawn out display of the victim’s plans and hope leading only to suffering and inevitable death, but Jesus used this to offer healing, hope and everlasting life to people, even those who put him on the cross (which is all of us).

Another seeming contradiction: How can God carry out absolute justice, and at the same time, be absolute in mercy and love? Should a holy God wink at sin and just let it pass into Heaven, or as Islam claims of Allah, take the sin of those he wants in Heaven and just place it onto people of a non-Muslim belief system?

I have not seen any belief system escape this contradiction, except in the beautiful paradoxes of the cross. Perfect justice and perfect mercy only cross at the Cross. We have a holy God coming to us to personally model a holy life, personally take the curse of sin on himself, personally demonstrating he understands our struggles, pain, and loves us absolutely.

More potential paradoxes for us:

• Just as Jesus gained life beyond this one by losing his life on the cross, by losing our life to him (trusting him enough to turn our life over to him), we gain the same life he did.
• By handing over our freedom to do with as we please, we gain freedom as we begin to be pleased by the same good things the Bible asks of us and escape chains binding us of which we were unaware.
• Will we lose some joy in this world, sure, there are definitely short-term pleasures and comforts I would have liked, but following God had me on another path. Yet those joys were all temporary, and so often come with costs, while God’s path also brings joys not only greater, but the only lasting joy this world offers.
• We may want our future secured by our own hands, but this world has made obvious that anything of this world, which we use for security, can at any moment, be lost from anyone’s hands. Only with God’s hands around us can we truly have security.

Worried you would lose your freedom, joy, purposes and hope in life? Those are legitimate concerns, which everyone accepting God deals with, but when dealing with it one finds beautiful paradoxes to answer those concerns, to the point we want to ensure those we care about do not miss out on the same benefits. These will be covered in separate articles in the Decide Your Fate section, but without exaggeration, loss of freedom, joy, or purposes in life to God is the only way to gain actual freedom in this life, lasting joy, a proven primary purpose to add on to your purposes, and reliable hope. You think your life would be limited? Before limiting yourself by this worry, consider the limitless potential opened up for you when in relationship with the Authority able to create all there is, you in particular, and in a position to carry out what was began in the beginning.

If any of the alternative theories are correct (Liar, Lunatic, Legend, etc.) then Jesus really is of no importance, and as the apostle Paul himself noted Christians are pitiful basing their life and expectations on something that doesn’t fit reality (1 Corinthians 15:12-19). If the biblical theory is correct (Lord), then Jesus is of ultimate importance, and those rejecting his plan are basing their life and expectations on something that doesn’t fit reality.

Reality will run in to each of us at different times during life, and especailly at the end of life, and in those collisions between us and reality, reality is always the one bringing the inevitable consequences, good or bad.

If you would like to experience the potential God prepared for you, there are links below.

• Salvation? Who, What, When, Where, Why.

• Girl Talk, Geek speak, Religious talk – Understanding the technical or weird-sounding words.