Convince Me... Religions

November 14

Jesus’ message and life are completely unique

Matthew 5:20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

All religions recognize the gap

All religions hope doing good closes the gap

You can never close the gap by doing things

James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

Grace is freely given, because only Jesus can close the gap

Ephesians 2:8-9 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

Jesus’ message is completely unique

Jesus’ life is completely unique 

John 2:18-19 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

“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.” (Josephus 66 A.D. Antiquities, xviii.33.)

“Christ, the founder of the name was put to death by Pontius Pilate.” (Taticus, 100 A.D. Annals, XV.44)

“Thallus, in the third book of his histories, explains away this darkness as an eclipse of the sun ‑ unreasonably, as it seems to me (unreasonably of course, because a solar eclipse could not take place at the time of the full moon, and it was at the season of the Paschal full moon that Christ died).” (Julius Africanus 52A.D.)

1 Corinthians 15:1-5 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas,and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.

“I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified, they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Everyone was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren’t true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world-and they couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks. You’re telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.” ― Charles Colson

Acts 2:32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.

Jesus’ life and message are completely unique God is the best explanation for everything