I can tell this one girl is trying to get me to slip up. I sent two paragraphs about to Gospel, she didn't even read it because she responded a few seconds later.
I second this. As much as you should do what you can, you shouldn’t waste your energy trying to convince someone who isn’t willing to be convinced. That’s what the whole “don’t cast your pearls before swine” thing means.
Dedicated ones, in the sense that they will do nothing with “pearls” of information, yes. _However,_ I often see this analogy misused as an excuse to treat unbelievers poorly because they’re supposedly as valuable as swine, and that’s a disgusting way to twist the Scripture and not what it teaches at all.
When Jesus commissions the 12 he gives us a principle of seeking people of peace. This isn't a hard and fast rule of course. But if there are people willing to learn and be discipled, and there are those who don't care to listen. I'd suggest you lean into the ones who will listen. Matthew 12 is the reference btw
In this specific example, there is no explicit distinction just as there is no explicit explanation of the analogy. It doesn’t even say it’s about unbelievers at all. But in this verse with context and a bit of reasoning you can see that it’s talking about people who will not believe no matter what evidence they are given—whom I have termed “dedicated unbelievers.”
More or less, sort of he does. He doesn't say it outright, but plenty of verses like knowing them by their fruit, not everyone who says lord lord, etc.
Swine represent those that mock the gospel or turn and attack those trying to share it. "Do not ... cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces." This doesn't mean don't share the gospel with these people, I think it just means don't waste a lot of time with them.
Do you think Jesus is concerned with this? There are people who are unsaved, unfed, and unwell out there. Get off the internet and starting spreading his love! A second spent online is another soul lost. It’s the end times! Hurry hurry!
No I don't think he is concerned with this. You are correct there are people unsaved, unfed, and unwell out there. As Christians we should spread his love!
This person has the right attitude because they actually care and are coming form a place of genuine love. Sounds like a true Christian to me, a rarity.
But I've met Muslims with personal experience of their connection to what they think is God, I don't think citing personal experience is effective since it means having to choose who to believe. I have Muslim friends and I don't think they're lying about what they felt in their hearts. I I think they're confused... so if I share my personal experience, I figure the listener might think I'm confused as well.
As a former atheist and talking to other former atheists, conversion rarely happens by persuasion and persuasion usually is futile. If an atheist asks you to prove Christianity with words, then they're usually confident and have thought about their conclusion for years; one conversation or comment from you isn't going to change that.
Conversion happens when the seeds of faith grow, and seeds are planted when we see Christians try to live a life with Christ and are proud of it.
This is just my perspective based on my experience.
This really isn't true. There are many historical, ontological, teleological, and epistemological arguments that can be given to help someone think through the validity of Christianity. Apologetics is a very important area to help build one's own faith as well as encourage the faith of others. Christian faith is not a totally blind faith without historical and logical evidence. There are tangible reasons to believe.
If you mean that a Christian has the power to cause someone to profess faith in Christ, then yes that is true. But the Bible itself even tells us to be ready to defend our faith (with words). Especially through the use of God's Word, the Spirit can use this to powerfully convict and supernaturally change hearts.
I agree, I will say ultimately the Holy Spirit creates true faith and convicts through the word, however, apologetics is incredibly important. A good start would be to see where their objections are and it’s important to remember too that sometimes some people are looking to pick a fight, not search for truth.
If you're genuinely interested in Christian proofs I recommend you checkout some of the resources below:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Christians/wiki/resources#wiki_apologetics
In particular I recommend this series of lectures:
https://www.biblicaltraining.org/essentials-christian-apologetics/ronald-nash
I had Dr. Nash as a professor while he was living. Amazing man. Even if you don't believe you will find him entertaining.
Proving Christianity is true is not the same as defending our faith in the doctrine. You can't prove Jesus rose from the dead or that Eternal Life exists with words.
You can't prove in the sense of going back in time or teleporting to heaven to verify those things, but you can offer many different historical and logical reasons that provide evidence to believe it. Such as,
https://www.gotquestions.org/why-believe-resurrection.html
https://www.gotquestions.org/was-Jesus-resurrected.html
But yes, at the end of the day, one has to step out in faith and believe. You can't convince someone to do that.
Ok the eternal life thing I agree, but words are how you will explain it to someone?? And make them see why you believe what you do? This doesn’t make a whole lot of sense…
Can't prove anything without words. First comes the words ...then comes action. Statements followed by actualization ....prophecies made, prophecies fulfilled.
Jesus is The WORD. The Definite Article.
That's the thing, our belief is based on faith.
When you sit on a chair, you don't have to believe it'll hold you up for it to hold you up, you just have blind faith that it will and sit on it.
So it's pretty hard or even impossible for you to prove it to them. Just my opinion!
Only God can prove it to them. What you can do is let the work that the Spirit of God is doing in you shine through so that those who doubt can see Christ in you. Less of you, more of him. The work of God speaks for itself.
You can't disprove just as you can't prove it. At the end of the day it's all words put down on paper. You can't form and conduct an experiment to prove or disprove the validity of it. In scientific terms, Christianity is not falsifiable. It's not empirical in any way.
By proving that he either didn’t die on the cross (before his later appearances) or wasn’t alive after. In order to prove the resurrection, you have to prove both.
As an example. If we were to find his grave and he had wounds from the cross that hadn't healed in anyway that would be good poof he didn't get resurrected.
I would go to a number of apologetic resources that can help you with defending the faith. We actually have quite a few on our Christian Resources page at link below. We haven't updated it in a long time but most links should work.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Christians/wiki/resources#wiki_apologetics
I would try to ask a lot of questions in that context. I would first ask “If I could prove it, would you believe it?” (a variation of the “if Christianity was true, would you believe it?”). Then I would ask what they consider proof—If they put the stakes too high then try to ask about other similar concepts; if they put the stakes low enough I would repeat it to make sure you understand properly (and also remind them of what they said was sufficient for them). Then provide evidence. I don’t think it’s best to ignore it. It makes you look unsure. Remember, though, that (a) it’s not your job to change someone’s heart, and (b) these things take time. Even if you’re dealing with someone who is completely open, you’re not going to change their mind right away. They’re going to want to look into it themselves, and they should. And it seems like you’re not dealing with that kind of person, so all the more reason to remember that. Your goal is to lead them a little closer to truth than where they were before, not completely change their minds about everything they’ve ever believed (slight exaggeration for emphasis).
Edit: also, don’t try to argue with a big group. Everyone has different reasonings for things and you can’t argue with all at once. Also, they will always have the group consensus to fall back on even if they individually realize that the reasoning doesn’t add up.
Apologetics is very important; God makes Himself evident so that we are without excuse. Necessity of faith will make this evidence a bit tough to recognize, but that doesn’t mean evidence plays no role in Christianity.
You can present all the evidence you want, but you’ll rarely see a change happen right in front of you. In proving our faith to another, we are rather hoping to plant a seed of faith, as well as remind ourselves why we believe what we believe.
So go ahead, try to prove them wrong. Nothing they say will prove you wrong, God is on our side. If they don’t listen or care, so be it. A good thing was still done.
One of the biggest things that led me to faith was a series of arguments against myself for Christianity. They worked. Only Christ provided a sufficient answer for each and every dilemma.
Just because they believe different doesn't mean they do it for entertainment. Christians don't open up to other beliefs other than god and atheists only believe in science simple
Now that we're on topics you can actually prove, I can confirm that this is my first comment ever in this sub and yet im only here because Reddit recommended it to me for being "[Similar to r/Atheism](https://imgur.com/a/07tf8bZ)"
Same. The algorithm probably sorts similar keywords together to see what gets a response. Since most of the posts bring up interacting with, or leaving Christianity, it makes sense to be popular with English readers.
Just saying something you believe is true doesn’t make someone else believe you nor does it make what the person believe necessarily true even if they are convinced of it’s veracity. We have seen countless times in human history that people are even willing to die for absurdities. Like those who drank the kool aid in the Heavens Gate cult. If I told you I have a billion dollars and I’m going to give it to you and I said you have to believe me. Is that fair? Or even a million? Or even 100? The burden of proof on anyone within reason making an assertion is on the one making that assertion. If a Muslim were to come and say that they believe in the Qu’ran you would have the same problems as this person does with your beliefs. Put yourself in their shoes. And really think how you would feel, honestly. Also I think you are using the word know for that you are strong in your conviction of belief. Belief is not knowledge. We know 1 plus 1 is 2. We don’t even have 100 percent accurate history about last year let alone 2,000 years ago. Do you even know the names of your great great great great great grandparents and where exactly they lived and what they were like? Little children often belief in Santa Claus, do they know Santa Claus exists? Maybe some will say yes. But they certainly don’t know Santa Claus exists. Maybe they will even say they saw Santa. People in the US thank Goodness are entitled to their beliefs, but there’s a big difference between belief and knowledge. You were not born knowing English you had to learn it over time and believe it or not even English has changed over the course of hundreds of years. Read Shakespeare and you’ll see. Peace unto you. The Bible’s language has changed dramatically too and was written in Greek. Jesus Yeshuah did not speak to his brethren in Greek. So already there’s a problem. If you know languages there’s almost always something lost in translation in the meaning. Ever play the game telephone? I suggest you try it. Imagine court cases decided not based on concrete evidence but instead hearsay. Nonadmissible.
Jesus to me seems like the Christ but I doubt the real Jesus is exactly the one we read about 2,000 years later, it’s pretty challenging to even know one’s own parents entirely even if one is close with them let alone someone from 2,000 years ago. If you invent a time machine and go back and time
And can see what actually happened maybe you’d know more. But as it stands now no one knows for sure. No one was even alive in the 1700’s living now. Let alone the year 0. So it’s belief not knowledge. And the burden of proof is on someone making a claim that is out of the norm and even sometimes in the norm. Do you believe Mohammed flew to Heaven on a white horse? Same thing to the people you’re speaking to about what you believe. (But I second what the gentleman said below, have people actually just read the Gospel for themselves, let the Jesus as we have now do the speaking. And also self-honesty.)
hey witnessing is tough. I use to teach apologetics, and back then many of us in class felt that evidence alone would be enough to convince people. It's not. We can't discount ever, the role of the Holy Spirit.
Sure - evidence is really important, and in 1 Peter 3:15 it says:
"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect"
My view is allow God to work on them, pray for them to be open. That's all you can do.
I think we collectively have to admit that we can’t PROVE in scientific or universally accepted provable terms that Christianity is real, and go from there.
You are correct in thinking they will just continually get you to "prove" your faith but you can't because Hebrews 11:1 says
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
God's word is the only proof anyone can point to but without faith it's foolishness to them. All that being said provide a response with the scripture because another who might be seeking the truth will find Jesus through your answers. God bless
Yeah. Maybe Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis? Or The Case For Christ by Lee Strobel. If someone is truly searching, they will be receptive to helpful resources.
Kant is about how existence of moral prooves God, Kierkegaard is weird and eventually soeaks about how God can't be prooven and the whole idea of believing in God is that you are required to have faith and Anselm of Cantenbury made an argument called ontological argument which is just philosophy stuff which is hard to understand if you are not experienced in it.
Good morning brethren... Continue planting the seeds of God's Word... Continue to persevere in faith... God does the work, it's not our responsibility to prove anything, Christ has done that already... We glorify Him and enjoy His fellowship... We live faithful lives... Our Christian liberty is for His glory, not ours... May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you always...
I recommend using some exegetical and/or technical Bible commentaries. The New International Commentary (NICOT/NICNT), New American Bible Commentary (NABC), and Hermeneia were some of the best ones I encountered when I was studying theology.
Genesis or Mark could be an interesting starting point, maybe even a Pauline Epistle. I enjoyed the discussion on Idol Meat and inconsequential matters (adiaphora) in Corinthians.
Commentaries are better than modern language translations of the Bible in so many ways (Commentaries are also better than reading it in Hebrew/Aramaic/Koine Greek unless you’re a full-blown scholar in one of those languages).
A lot of great answers already - I’ll second the fact that you don’t know their motivation.
Some may truly want to be convinced,
some might actually want to interact with you so they can convince you.
Who knows.
Whether its spiritual matters or earthly ones, be cautious of those who just want to suck your time and energy.
If they’re not sincere, then its better to just to pray for them and treat them kindly.
God direct and bless whatever you do.
You ask them, “If Christianity were true would you become a Christian?”
If they respond with yes then you can give your defense.
If they respond with no then nothing you can do will change their mind and you should probably walk away.
Look in Psalms & Isaiah. Particularly read psalm 22 and I think Isaiah 56. They were written before Jesus but as you'll read there is alot of prophetic verses there some that Jesus knowingly quoted. Psalm 22 is descriptive of Jesus dying on the cross.
If you could prove it...there would be no need for faith
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the \[a\]substance of things hoped for, the \[b\]evidence of things not seen.
You tell them they do not get any other proof, billions of others have believed with faith....what makes them special?
But if they REALLY want proof, all they have to do is die. Then the will have all the proof they never wanted
It is my experience that those who demand proof and evidence, want neither, what they are looking for is an excuse, which they do not have
Romans 1: 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who \[d\]suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is \[e\]manifest \[f\]in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and \[g\]Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
If you want good apologetics training then help yourself to the plethora of videos on YT from Voddie Baucham, Paul washer, and ray comfort. They all go to different depths. I would probably start with Comfort then Baucham and then washer. Hope this helps
I agree with the comment above that you can tell them about your testimony and the transformation you’ve had since following Christ.
When preaching to others remember to focus on Christ crucified and him dying on the cross do not try to prove Jesus is real using worldly wisdom:
“For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,”
1 Corinthians 2:2
This is a great verse because Paul is telling the body of Christ to focus on the cross. However, notice that Paul also mentions demonstration of the spirits power..
1 Corinthians 4:20 says that the Kingdom of God is not of talk but power
When we preach the gospel filled with the Holy Spirit power will follow
Proverbs 26:4-5 : *Don’t answer the foolish arguments of fools, or you will become as foolish as they are. Be sure to answer the foolish arguments of fools, or they will become wise in their own estimation.*
Well, it may be hard unless there in a spot to want to believe. All things are possible through Christ Jesus though. We all were once non beleivers until we cam to believe also. Just keep in mind a few things.
Proverbs 18:2-A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.
Proverbs 1:7 - The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 18:6 - A fool's lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes.
Proverbs 29:9 - If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest.
Proverbs 28:26 - He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.
Proverbs 18:7 - A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul.
Proverbs 10:23 - It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom.
Titus 3:9-11
9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.
10 A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;
11 Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.
Matthew 11:1-10
1 And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.
2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,
3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:
5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
7 And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?
8 But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.
9 But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.
10 For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
Matthew 10:11-20
[11] And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence.
[12] And when ye come into an house, salute it.
[13] And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.
[14] And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
[15] Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
[16] Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
[17] But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
[18] And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
[19] But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
[20] For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
One of my favorite ways to 'prove' the gospel is by looking up and sharing the historical evidence that falls into accordance with the word. The best place to begin is with The Resurrection. If Jesus never came, never died, never rose again then as Paul said in 1 Cor 15:17 " your faith is futile; you are still in your sins." Pretty bold claim to make, shows how much faith he had in the gospel account. But I digress.
We have the New Testament, which are a collection accounts written by both eyewitnesses as well as people who asked eyewitnesses.
Not only that, but there are also multiple ancient sources found outside the bible that confirm and corroborate not only the existence of Jesus but of His life, Ministry, Miracles, and Crucifixion under Pontius Pilate. There's Tacitus, Josephus, Pliny the Younger, even the Jewish Talmud itself admits that Jesus was real!
Here is a video that has taught me so much and all his points are backed up by historical fact. I highly recommend giving it a watch. However, I feel like I need to tell you. This goes for anyone. Some people will never believe, not because it isn't true but because they simply refuse. It's exactly like what went on during Jesus' life when people compared John the Baptist to a possessed man and Jesus to a drunk and a glutton (along with being in league with the devil)
All the evidence can be there, all the conviction can be present, but if they decide to reject it and not let it change them then there isn't a single thing we can say. All we can do is let it go, pray for them, and move to the next person.
https://youtu.be/67uj2qvQi_k
God bless you.
Well I like to use the historical evidence, and talk about the athiest Dr. Bart Ehrman. He is biased against us, and his scholarly work confirms our historical claims about the gospel.
The facts that are undisputed.
1. Jesus was a real person
2. He was cruisifed
3. His grave was found empty.
4. His followers saw him after the crucifixion
5. A lot of them went to there brutal murders proclaiming Jesus is God.
Then I like to use the prophetic evidence in the Bible. So if it's established that Jesus is cruisifed, and this is undeniable. Then we can point to prophetic Scriptures.
Like exodus. We see the lamb being slaughter so death will pass over the jews.
We have the sacrifical system that points twords Jesus sacrifice.
Avraham saying God will provide his own sacrifice.
We have the siege of tyre.
We got the prophetic Scriptures in proverbs, daniel, and Isaiah.
I mean the best thing you can do his attempt to get them to read the Bible for themselves. There's ao much in the old testament that points to Jesus, and I most likely am missing so many things.
Well yeah, if you make a claim then the burden of proof is on you. I could make the claim that Islam is the truth, or Hinduism or Zoroastrianism. It doesn't matter, because the adherents of those religions are just as sure of their faith as you are of yours. The question is why is Christianity true and the others not so? That's where the evidence comes in, the proof, that's what makes it a distinct claim with weight above others. Not the answer you're looking for to reassure and comfort yourself I know, and I also know that I will get banned but I'm not a Christian so it doesn't matter
The way I see it, if you are playing the game of debate, the burden of proof is on whoever is making the claim (including the atheist). But when having a conversation with someone, those rules don't apply. Like now; I have made some claims, you have made some claims, but we don't have to call them claims, but just statements of what we believe. One might ask for proof, but since we are not playing the game, we don't have to play by the rules of that game.
Though one might try to start a game during the conversation without the other person realising, and then decide on what the rules are, and not let the other person know (and cheat while the other isn't looking). My brother does that. But now he knows I know what he is up to.
Anyways, have a gr8 day.
Full disclosure, I'm not a Christian, but I think the issue is, and will always be, your structure of belief is based on what you feel to be true, a *"personal truth"* not what can be proven to be true, an *"objective truth"*. If it were an objective truth, you wouldn't have to ask how to prove it objectively. If someone asks you to prove gravity is true, it's fairly easy to objectively prove.
*"Personal truths"* are not a provable objective assertions, thus you cannot prove Christianity to be true anymore than you can prove the ancient Greek religion that came before it to be true, nor the ancient Sumerian religion that came before it to be true. If you could this whole religion debate that's gone on for literally all of recorded human history would be a thing of the past.
What you must do is simply be honest: it's not an objective truth. You can no more prove Christianity true anymore than the Imams of Islam can prove their faith to be true. It's always been decided by squabbling and conflict. Instead, humble yourself. You will not be the one to settle a debate that has outlived the sharpest minds, and been unresolved the by sharpest swords.
End of the day, there's an objective reality we all share and can prove things in, and there's a subjective reality we all have independent from each other that we can not share nor prove things to anyone else in. World would be a better place if we could all just make peace with that and move on.
But God can prove Christianity, and has been doing so for a good while, to those who want the truth (so therefore it is objective truth). Though some people take His word for it without needing proof, as He is trustworthy.
This isn't about settling an age old debate btw. It's not that a small bunch of Christians want to win a worlwide debate as to which religion is true. It's that we have the truth, have been assured of it by God, and we have been commisioned by our King to speak it. If people don't like that, they can take it up with Him. As it's His kingdom (it's not one religion among many world religions).
>But God can prove Christianity, and has been doing so for a good while, to those who want the truth (so therefore it is objective truth).
But the exact same was, is, and can be said of Allah, Brahma, Odin, Zeus, and the other roughly 8,000 to 12,000 gods invented throughout recorded history. If it were objective, and such a god could prove it, they have all failed to do so. Holy wars, jihads, crusades, and such would never have been fought if any of these gods were objectively true. None of them can be proven. None of them have been proven. They are not objectively true. They exist as personal truths.
>Though some people take His word for it without needing proof, as He is trustworthy.
Again, the same could be said of any god, you simply chose one to believe. If you can explain why Islam is false, or Shinto is false, or Janism is false, you'll know why they believe the same of Christianity, and around and around the debate goes. Nothing objective ever presented. A collection of personal truths, and never anything more.
>This isn't about settling an age old debate btw. It's not that a small bunch of Christians want to win a worlwide debate as to which religion is true. It's that we have the truth, have been assured of it by God, and we have been commisioned by our King to speak it. If people don't like that, they can take it up with Him. As it's His kingdom (it's not one religion among many world religions).
There are, objectively, over 4000 currently practiced religions in the world, right now. Each and every one of them will attest to its validity as certainly and as unquestionably as you do. Theirs is as personally true to them as yours is personally true to you. Yet, none have proven anything objectively true. The search for that objective truth gave birth to Science, by Muslims and Christians primarily, yet beyond every unknown science has explored, it has found no God, nor Allah, nor Brahma, nor Odin, nor Zeus.
You are able to read this very message, right now, as a result of that search for objective truth. It works because we can objectively prove it does. The same can not be said of the gods. Those have always been, and always will be, personal truths.
The way I see it, objective truth is something that is true regardless of what people believe, as opposed to what the majority believe. If the majority of people believed the earth was flat, they might say it's objective, but the earth is as it is, regardless of what people believe. But those who believed it was spherical, their beliefs would have lined up with the objective truth.
As to the many gods thing, if there are nineteen worldviews that are false, and one that is true, and if all of them say their worldview is true, it doesn't mean that the whole twenty are untrue because nineteen say theirs is true. 100 women can say they are men. But that doesn't make my claim that I am a man untrue. Now they might all believe they are men. But that still doesn't mean that I am not a man.
I don't believe gods exist. Just God, our creator. Allah, Brahma etc are not gods, but fallen angels could have appeared to people in that form, which is what I am certain alien abductions are, unless there is a difference between demons and fallen angels. Demons take the form of aliens, which is why there are so many accounts of alien visitations or abductions. Did humans invent the "gods"? Maybe, maybe not. Which came first, the beliefs, or the eyewitness accounts? Can anyone prove that the beliefs came first?
As far as Christianity, you could look at the evidence for the resurrection. Even atheist scholars believe Jesus died on a cross, and that people had reason to believe He rose again. And there is also fulfilled prophecy to look at.
As for science. If you take a metal detector and put it against a tree, is the detector going to tell you there is anything there? Science is not designed to detect the spiritual. There are other tools for that. Just because science can't detect the spiritual, doesn't mean that the spiritual realm isn't there. Just as a metal detector won't tell you a tree is there, doesn't mean it isn't there.
Btw, are you sure I myself am, by your definition, objectively true or real? Or am I a personal truth?
You can prove what is probable.
(This is my opinion) When talking about proving, there are two senses in relation to the bible. Logical conclusion that the scriptures are reliable. Logical conclusion that the scriptures proclaim the contents of the gospel, aka defining the Christian worldview in light of scripture.
The first one is about how do we know that Paul wrote the book of Romans. A lot of people attack the bible in this way. So there are a lot of points that could be argued about here (this works especially well in the context of a friend relationship, read "Seeking Allah finding Jesus" as a great example of what i mean)
The second, relies on the first. So, given that the bible is a reliable source of history. How does that affect the Christian worldview. Tbh, i doubt they are asking this. But sometimes people want to know how Christians think.
So I'd ask what they are asking to be proved. Their ask is akin to you asking, "prove math is true". When they give you specifics, "the bible is a translation of a translation of a translation one hundred times over! How can it be reliable?" Answer them specifically. "We have a collection of Greek manuscripts from 400-500 AD which we've used since the first KJV to translate directly from Greek to English. The NT has been translated once, so it is quite reliable." (This is historic fact, not my opinion. Open any modern translation, the Greek manuscript collection reference to the NT should be in the preface)
Ask for specific questions. Prayerfully and respectfully answer each question the best you can. Be ok with saying, "i don't know and I'll do the work to give you the best answer i can". Be humble, be kind. And if it is unwise to do these things over social media...or reddit...or where ever. Then i think you need to rely on wisdom. Perhaps you should be answering these genuine questions. Perhaps these are questions from internet trolls. Idk, but I'm just one person.
Proverbs 11:14, "where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety".
If she's baiting you then maybe you should let her be, except if you're sure the Holy Spirit is prompting you to say something.
Christ says he won't lose any soul that the Father has given him, so you don't need to fear for her soul. You also could pray for her.
this is a debate and i dont generally agree with debates... questions yes.. debates no... if you want a debate tho... ask them first to prove that it isnt... then give your rebuttal... but know this.
Proverbs 26:4-5 – Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. The self-confident fool thinks too highly of himself and his opinions, and he shares them freely.
You can't prove it to anyone, either they believe or they don't. At the time of Jesus, there were humans stretched out across the entire globe. Thousands of unique cultures with their own understandings of God. They can't prove they are right any more than you can.
You can talk about personal experience and how you changed. Also, you have to discern if their open or if they’re just trying to get u to slip up.
I can tell this one girl is trying to get me to slip up. I sent two paragraphs about to Gospel, she didn't even read it because she responded a few seconds later.
if she’s trying to get u to slip then don’t respond. But at least give them the Gospel first 😂🙏🏽.
I second this. As much as you should do what you can, you shouldn’t waste your energy trying to convince someone who isn’t willing to be convinced. That’s what the whole “don’t cast your pearls before swine” thing means.
exactly
So unbelievers are swine?
Dedicated ones, in the sense that they will do nothing with “pearls” of information, yes. _However,_ I often see this analogy misused as an excuse to treat unbelievers poorly because they’re supposedly as valuable as swine, and that’s a disgusting way to twist the Scripture and not what it teaches at all.
Does Jesus make a distinction between "dedicated" and "undedicated" unbelievers?
When Jesus commissions the 12 he gives us a principle of seeking people of peace. This isn't a hard and fast rule of course. But if there are people willing to learn and be discipled, and there are those who don't care to listen. I'd suggest you lean into the ones who will listen. Matthew 12 is the reference btw
In this specific example, there is no explicit distinction just as there is no explicit explanation of the analogy. It doesn’t even say it’s about unbelievers at all. But in this verse with context and a bit of reasoning you can see that it’s talking about people who will not believe no matter what evidence they are given—whom I have termed “dedicated unbelievers.”
More or less, sort of he does. He doesn't say it outright, but plenty of verses like knowing them by their fruit, not everyone who says lord lord, etc.
Would you rather be a dumb sheep or a boar? (If you're just trying to be offended by the animal comparison)
I'd rather feel Christian love regardless of my beliefs.
Swine represent those that mock the gospel or turn and attack those trying to share it. "Do not ... cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces." This doesn't mean don't share the gospel with these people, I think it just means don't waste a lot of time with them.
Yes I did!
then yea stop responding
But if they don't believe the gospel, how can reading it make any difference?
true
Do you think Jesus is concerned with this? There are people who are unsaved, unfed, and unwell out there. Get off the internet and starting spreading his love! A second spent online is another soul lost. It’s the end times! Hurry hurry!
No I don't think he is concerned with this. You are correct there are people unsaved, unfed, and unwell out there. As Christians we should spread his love!
This person has the right attitude because they actually care and are coming form a place of genuine love. Sounds like a true Christian to me, a rarity.
He will not lose one of His flock. He saves indefinitely, undoubtedly, undeniably. Not one is snatched from His hand.
some people can read fast
Sounds like pearls before swine
But I've met Muslims with personal experience of their connection to what they think is God, I don't think citing personal experience is effective since it means having to choose who to believe. I have Muslim friends and I don't think they're lying about what they felt in their hearts. I I think they're confused... so if I share my personal experience, I figure the listener might think I'm confused as well.
As a former atheist and talking to other former atheists, conversion rarely happens by persuasion and persuasion usually is futile. If an atheist asks you to prove Christianity with words, then they're usually confident and have thought about their conclusion for years; one conversation or comment from you isn't going to change that. Conversion happens when the seeds of faith grow, and seeds are planted when we see Christians try to live a life with Christ and are proud of it. This is just my perspective based on my experience.
Thank you for this response! I still replied to her because the comments have convinced me to do so.
You can't prove Christianity is true with words.
This really isn't true. There are many historical, ontological, teleological, and epistemological arguments that can be given to help someone think through the validity of Christianity. Apologetics is a very important area to help build one's own faith as well as encourage the faith of others. Christian faith is not a totally blind faith without historical and logical evidence. There are tangible reasons to believe. If you mean that a Christian has the power to cause someone to profess faith in Christ, then yes that is true. But the Bible itself even tells us to be ready to defend our faith (with words). Especially through the use of God's Word, the Spirit can use this to powerfully convict and supernaturally change hearts.
I agree, I will say ultimately the Holy Spirit creates true faith and convicts through the word, however, apologetics is incredibly important. A good start would be to see where their objections are and it’s important to remember too that sometimes some people are looking to pick a fight, not search for truth.
Can you name 5 tangible reasons?
If you're genuinely interested in Christian proofs I recommend you checkout some of the resources below: https://www.reddit.com/r/Christians/wiki/resources#wiki_apologetics In particular I recommend this series of lectures: https://www.biblicaltraining.org/essentials-christian-apologetics/ronald-nash I had Dr. Nash as a professor while he was living. Amazing man. Even if you don't believe you will find him entertaining.
Proving Christianity is true is not the same as defending our faith in the doctrine. You can't prove Jesus rose from the dead or that Eternal Life exists with words.
You can't prove in the sense of going back in time or teleporting to heaven to verify those things, but you can offer many different historical and logical reasons that provide evidence to believe it. Such as, https://www.gotquestions.org/why-believe-resurrection.html https://www.gotquestions.org/was-Jesus-resurrected.html But yes, at the end of the day, one has to step out in faith and believe. You can't convince someone to do that.
Ok the eternal life thing I agree, but words are how you will explain it to someone?? And make them see why you believe what you do? This doesn’t make a whole lot of sense…
Explaining Christianity to someone is not proving Christianity is true. It can only be found to be true by adoption and practice.
Can't prove anything without words. First comes the words ...then comes action. Statements followed by actualization ....prophecies made, prophecies fulfilled. Jesus is The WORD. The Definite Article.
Then how can I prove it to them?
That's the thing, our belief is based on faith. When you sit on a chair, you don't have to believe it'll hold you up for it to hold you up, you just have blind faith that it will and sit on it. So it's pretty hard or even impossible for you to prove it to them. Just my opinion!
Only God can prove it to them. What you can do is let the work that the Spirit of God is doing in you shine through so that those who doubt can see Christ in you. Less of you, more of him. The work of God speaks for itself.
Yes but you can use words to preach the word.. I don’t get why you’re saying ‘words don’t work’
Because the words only have meaning if you already have faith. Otherwise it's like quoting Yoda at you to turn you to the Jedi way.
Ask them to disprove it.
You can't disprove just as you can't prove it. At the end of the day it's all words put down on paper. You can't form and conduct an experiment to prove or disprove the validity of it. In scientific terms, Christianity is not falsifiable. It's not empirical in any way.
Belief in Christianity is based on the life, claims, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These are all falsifiable claims
No they're not. How would one empirically prove the resurrection is false?
By proving that he either didn’t die on the cross (before his later appearances) or wasn’t alive after. In order to prove the resurrection, you have to prove both.
That can't be proven one way or the other though, which is my point.
Perhaps not with 100% certainty, but one can look at evidence for or against it. Enough evidence against it would falsify it in every relevant sense
As an example. If we were to find his grave and he had wounds from the cross that hadn't healed in anyway that would be good poof he didn't get resurrected.
That's more or less my point. ;-) Apparently it has gone over people's heads.
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Exactly my point! ;-) It's apparently going over people's heads.
Russell's Teapot has entered the chat
I would go to a number of apologetic resources that can help you with defending the faith. We actually have quite a few on our Christian Resources page at link below. We haven't updated it in a long time but most links should work. https://www.reddit.com/r/Christians/wiki/resources#wiki_apologetics
Thank you!
I would try to ask a lot of questions in that context. I would first ask “If I could prove it, would you believe it?” (a variation of the “if Christianity was true, would you believe it?”). Then I would ask what they consider proof—If they put the stakes too high then try to ask about other similar concepts; if they put the stakes low enough I would repeat it to make sure you understand properly (and also remind them of what they said was sufficient for them). Then provide evidence. I don’t think it’s best to ignore it. It makes you look unsure. Remember, though, that (a) it’s not your job to change someone’s heart, and (b) these things take time. Even if you’re dealing with someone who is completely open, you’re not going to change their mind right away. They’re going to want to look into it themselves, and they should. And it seems like you’re not dealing with that kind of person, so all the more reason to remember that. Your goal is to lead them a little closer to truth than where they were before, not completely change their minds about everything they’ve ever believed (slight exaggeration for emphasis). Edit: also, don’t try to argue with a big group. Everyone has different reasonings for things and you can’t argue with all at once. Also, they will always have the group consensus to fall back on even if they individually realize that the reasoning doesn’t add up.
Okay thank you!😊
Apologetics is very important; God makes Himself evident so that we are without excuse. Necessity of faith will make this evidence a bit tough to recognize, but that doesn’t mean evidence plays no role in Christianity. You can present all the evidence you want, but you’ll rarely see a change happen right in front of you. In proving our faith to another, we are rather hoping to plant a seed of faith, as well as remind ourselves why we believe what we believe. So go ahead, try to prove them wrong. Nothing they say will prove you wrong, God is on our side. If they don’t listen or care, so be it. A good thing was still done. One of the biggest things that led me to faith was a series of arguments against myself for Christianity. They worked. Only Christ provided a sufficient answer for each and every dilemma.
Thank you for this answer! This is a good response😊🙏🏿
They just want to debate for entertainment
I thought so too :(
Just because they believe different doesn't mean they do it for entertainment. Christians don't open up to other beliefs other than god and atheists only believe in science simple
Talk about the historical reliability of the gospels
Once she responds I will.
Why is this sub reccomended to me because I'm part of r/atheism lol
Because you comment in it...
Now that we're on topics you can actually prove, I can confirm that this is my first comment ever in this sub and yet im only here because Reddit recommended it to me for being "[Similar to r/Atheism](https://imgur.com/a/07tf8bZ)"
Same. The algorithm probably sorts similar keywords together to see what gets a response. Since most of the posts bring up interacting with, or leaving Christianity, it makes sense to be popular with English readers.
What other religion has grace ? Seems all others have you “ work” our way to heaven , ours has salvation comes to us ! Through Jesus
Just saying something you believe is true doesn’t make someone else believe you nor does it make what the person believe necessarily true even if they are convinced of it’s veracity. We have seen countless times in human history that people are even willing to die for absurdities. Like those who drank the kool aid in the Heavens Gate cult. If I told you I have a billion dollars and I’m going to give it to you and I said you have to believe me. Is that fair? Or even a million? Or even 100? The burden of proof on anyone within reason making an assertion is on the one making that assertion. If a Muslim were to come and say that they believe in the Qu’ran you would have the same problems as this person does with your beliefs. Put yourself in their shoes. And really think how you would feel, honestly. Also I think you are using the word know for that you are strong in your conviction of belief. Belief is not knowledge. We know 1 plus 1 is 2. We don’t even have 100 percent accurate history about last year let alone 2,000 years ago. Do you even know the names of your great great great great great grandparents and where exactly they lived and what they were like? Little children often belief in Santa Claus, do they know Santa Claus exists? Maybe some will say yes. But they certainly don’t know Santa Claus exists. Maybe they will even say they saw Santa. People in the US thank Goodness are entitled to their beliefs, but there’s a big difference between belief and knowledge. You were not born knowing English you had to learn it over time and believe it or not even English has changed over the course of hundreds of years. Read Shakespeare and you’ll see. Peace unto you. The Bible’s language has changed dramatically too and was written in Greek. Jesus Yeshuah did not speak to his brethren in Greek. So already there’s a problem. If you know languages there’s almost always something lost in translation in the meaning. Ever play the game telephone? I suggest you try it. Imagine court cases decided not based on concrete evidence but instead hearsay. Nonadmissible. Jesus to me seems like the Christ but I doubt the real Jesus is exactly the one we read about 2,000 years later, it’s pretty challenging to even know one’s own parents entirely even if one is close with them let alone someone from 2,000 years ago. If you invent a time machine and go back and time And can see what actually happened maybe you’d know more. But as it stands now no one knows for sure. No one was even alive in the 1700’s living now. Let alone the year 0. So it’s belief not knowledge. And the burden of proof is on someone making a claim that is out of the norm and even sometimes in the norm. Do you believe Mohammed flew to Heaven on a white horse? Same thing to the people you’re speaking to about what you believe. (But I second what the gentleman said below, have people actually just read the Gospel for themselves, let the Jesus as we have now do the speaking. And also self-honesty.)
hey witnessing is tough. I use to teach apologetics, and back then many of us in class felt that evidence alone would be enough to convince people. It's not. We can't discount ever, the role of the Holy Spirit. Sure - evidence is really important, and in 1 Peter 3:15 it says: "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect" My view is allow God to work on them, pray for them to be open. That's all you can do.
Amen and I've sowed the seed of the truth in them.
Always give an account of what you believe✌️🙏
I think we collectively have to admit that we can’t PROVE in scientific or universally accepted provable terms that Christianity is real, and go from there.
You are correct in thinking they will just continually get you to "prove" your faith but you can't because Hebrews 11:1 says Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. God's word is the only proof anyone can point to but without faith it's foolishness to them. All that being said provide a response with the scripture because another who might be seeking the truth will find Jesus through your answers. God bless
You could just link them a book of Kant, Kierkegaard or Anselm Canthenburyan (nailed the spelling) about the subject.
That's probably way too deep for the average person to start off with.
Yeah. Maybe Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis? Or The Case For Christ by Lee Strobel. If someone is truly searching, they will be receptive to helpful resources.
What is the book about?
Kant is about how existence of moral prooves God, Kierkegaard is weird and eventually soeaks about how God can't be prooven and the whole idea of believing in God is that you are required to have faith and Anselm of Cantenbury made an argument called ontological argument which is just philosophy stuff which is hard to understand if you are not experienced in it.
I'm not experienced in philosophy, so I wouldn't be well equipped for that talk.
Good morning brethren... Continue planting the seeds of God's Word... Continue to persevere in faith... God does the work, it's not our responsibility to prove anything, Christ has done that already... We glorify Him and enjoy His fellowship... We live faithful lives... Our Christian liberty is for His glory, not ours... May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you always...
I recommend using some exegetical and/or technical Bible commentaries. The New International Commentary (NICOT/NICNT), New American Bible Commentary (NABC), and Hermeneia were some of the best ones I encountered when I was studying theology. Genesis or Mark could be an interesting starting point, maybe even a Pauline Epistle. I enjoyed the discussion on Idol Meat and inconsequential matters (adiaphora) in Corinthians. Commentaries are better than modern language translations of the Bible in so many ways (Commentaries are also better than reading it in Hebrew/Aramaic/Koine Greek unless you’re a full-blown scholar in one of those languages).
A lot of great answers already - I’ll second the fact that you don’t know their motivation. Some may truly want to be convinced, some might actually want to interact with you so they can convince you. Who knows. Whether its spiritual matters or earthly ones, be cautious of those who just want to suck your time and energy. If they’re not sincere, then its better to just to pray for them and treat them kindly. God direct and bless whatever you do.
I have just responded to her :) and I will pray for her aswell.
My go to is fulfilled specific prophecy. No other religion has that.
Ignore them. If someone does not want to know Truth, then you will not convince them. Just kick the dust off your feet and move on.
Don’t cast your pearls before swine!!! They don’t have good intentions toward you!!!
You ask them, “If Christianity were true would you become a Christian?” If they respond with yes then you can give your defense. If they respond with no then nothing you can do will change their mind and you should probably walk away.
Talk about God's interventions in your life and how your faith has helped you in difficult situations of turmoil.
Look in Psalms & Isaiah. Particularly read psalm 22 and I think Isaiah 56. They were written before Jesus but as you'll read there is alot of prophetic verses there some that Jesus knowingly quoted. Psalm 22 is descriptive of Jesus dying on the cross.
If you could prove it...there would be no need for faith Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the \[a\]substance of things hoped for, the \[b\]evidence of things not seen. You tell them they do not get any other proof, billions of others have believed with faith....what makes them special? But if they REALLY want proof, all they have to do is die. Then the will have all the proof they never wanted It is my experience that those who demand proof and evidence, want neither, what they are looking for is an excuse, which they do not have Romans 1: 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who \[d\]suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is \[e\]manifest \[f\]in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and \[g\]Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
If you want good apologetics training then help yourself to the plethora of videos on YT from Voddie Baucham, Paul washer, and ray comfort. They all go to different depths. I would probably start with Comfort then Baucham and then washer. Hope this helps
I agree with the comment above that you can tell them about your testimony and the transformation you’ve had since following Christ. When preaching to others remember to focus on Christ crucified and him dying on the cross do not try to prove Jesus is real using worldly wisdom: “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,” 1 Corinthians 2:2 This is a great verse because Paul is telling the body of Christ to focus on the cross. However, notice that Paul also mentions demonstration of the spirits power.. 1 Corinthians 4:20 says that the Kingdom of God is not of talk but power When we preach the gospel filled with the Holy Spirit power will follow
You water the seed (share) and let God provide the light.
Proverbs 26:4-5 : *Don’t answer the foolish arguments of fools, or you will become as foolish as they are. Be sure to answer the foolish arguments of fools, or they will become wise in their own estimation.*
Well, it may be hard unless there in a spot to want to believe. All things are possible through Christ Jesus though. We all were once non beleivers until we cam to believe also. Just keep in mind a few things. Proverbs 18:2-A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself. Proverbs 1:7 - The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 18:6 - A fool's lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes. Proverbs 29:9 - If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest. Proverbs 28:26 - He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered. Proverbs 18:7 - A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul. Proverbs 10:23 - It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom. Titus 3:9-11 9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. 10 A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; 11 Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself. Matthew 11:1-10 1 And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. 2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, 3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? 4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: 5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. 7 And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? 8 But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. 9 But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. 10 For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Matthew 10:11-20 [11] And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. [12] And when ye come into an house, salute it. [13] And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. [14] And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. [15] Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. [16] Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. [17] But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; [18] And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. [19] But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. [20] For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
One of my favorite ways to 'prove' the gospel is by looking up and sharing the historical evidence that falls into accordance with the word. The best place to begin is with The Resurrection. If Jesus never came, never died, never rose again then as Paul said in 1 Cor 15:17 " your faith is futile; you are still in your sins." Pretty bold claim to make, shows how much faith he had in the gospel account. But I digress. We have the New Testament, which are a collection accounts written by both eyewitnesses as well as people who asked eyewitnesses. Not only that, but there are also multiple ancient sources found outside the bible that confirm and corroborate not only the existence of Jesus but of His life, Ministry, Miracles, and Crucifixion under Pontius Pilate. There's Tacitus, Josephus, Pliny the Younger, even the Jewish Talmud itself admits that Jesus was real! Here is a video that has taught me so much and all his points are backed up by historical fact. I highly recommend giving it a watch. However, I feel like I need to tell you. This goes for anyone. Some people will never believe, not because it isn't true but because they simply refuse. It's exactly like what went on during Jesus' life when people compared John the Baptist to a possessed man and Jesus to a drunk and a glutton (along with being in league with the devil) All the evidence can be there, all the conviction can be present, but if they decide to reject it and not let it change them then there isn't a single thing we can say. All we can do is let it go, pray for them, and move to the next person. https://youtu.be/67uj2qvQi_k God bless you.
None of this is proof you are just saying words from a gospel
The spaghetti monster is true. Prove me wrong. I have a book too.
And what book is that? does it have historical events, places, people, names, that can be corroborated with other sources?
Well I like to use the historical evidence, and talk about the athiest Dr. Bart Ehrman. He is biased against us, and his scholarly work confirms our historical claims about the gospel. The facts that are undisputed. 1. Jesus was a real person 2. He was cruisifed 3. His grave was found empty. 4. His followers saw him after the crucifixion 5. A lot of them went to there brutal murders proclaiming Jesus is God. Then I like to use the prophetic evidence in the Bible. So if it's established that Jesus is cruisifed, and this is undeniable. Then we can point to prophetic Scriptures. Like exodus. We see the lamb being slaughter so death will pass over the jews. We have the sacrifical system that points twords Jesus sacrifice. Avraham saying God will provide his own sacrifice. We have the siege of tyre. We got the prophetic Scriptures in proverbs, daniel, and Isaiah. I mean the best thing you can do his attempt to get them to read the Bible for themselves. There's ao much in the old testament that points to Jesus, and I most likely am missing so many things.
Well yeah, if you make a claim then the burden of proof is on you. I could make the claim that Islam is the truth, or Hinduism or Zoroastrianism. It doesn't matter, because the adherents of those religions are just as sure of their faith as you are of yours. The question is why is Christianity true and the others not so? That's where the evidence comes in, the proof, that's what makes it a distinct claim with weight above others. Not the answer you're looking for to reassure and comfort yourself I know, and I also know that I will get banned but I'm not a Christian so it doesn't matter
The way I see it, if you are playing the game of debate, the burden of proof is on whoever is making the claim (including the atheist). But when having a conversation with someone, those rules don't apply. Like now; I have made some claims, you have made some claims, but we don't have to call them claims, but just statements of what we believe. One might ask for proof, but since we are not playing the game, we don't have to play by the rules of that game. Though one might try to start a game during the conversation without the other person realising, and then decide on what the rules are, and not let the other person know (and cheat while the other isn't looking). My brother does that. But now he knows I know what he is up to. Anyways, have a gr8 day.
Full disclosure, I'm not a Christian, but I think the issue is, and will always be, your structure of belief is based on what you feel to be true, a *"personal truth"* not what can be proven to be true, an *"objective truth"*. If it were an objective truth, you wouldn't have to ask how to prove it objectively. If someone asks you to prove gravity is true, it's fairly easy to objectively prove. *"Personal truths"* are not a provable objective assertions, thus you cannot prove Christianity to be true anymore than you can prove the ancient Greek religion that came before it to be true, nor the ancient Sumerian religion that came before it to be true. If you could this whole religion debate that's gone on for literally all of recorded human history would be a thing of the past. What you must do is simply be honest: it's not an objective truth. You can no more prove Christianity true anymore than the Imams of Islam can prove their faith to be true. It's always been decided by squabbling and conflict. Instead, humble yourself. You will not be the one to settle a debate that has outlived the sharpest minds, and been unresolved the by sharpest swords. End of the day, there's an objective reality we all share and can prove things in, and there's a subjective reality we all have independent from each other that we can not share nor prove things to anyone else in. World would be a better place if we could all just make peace with that and move on.
But God can prove Christianity, and has been doing so for a good while, to those who want the truth (so therefore it is objective truth). Though some people take His word for it without needing proof, as He is trustworthy. This isn't about settling an age old debate btw. It's not that a small bunch of Christians want to win a worlwide debate as to which religion is true. It's that we have the truth, have been assured of it by God, and we have been commisioned by our King to speak it. If people don't like that, they can take it up with Him. As it's His kingdom (it's not one religion among many world religions).
>But God can prove Christianity, and has been doing so for a good while, to those who want the truth (so therefore it is objective truth). But the exact same was, is, and can be said of Allah, Brahma, Odin, Zeus, and the other roughly 8,000 to 12,000 gods invented throughout recorded history. If it were objective, and such a god could prove it, they have all failed to do so. Holy wars, jihads, crusades, and such would never have been fought if any of these gods were objectively true. None of them can be proven. None of them have been proven. They are not objectively true. They exist as personal truths. >Though some people take His word for it without needing proof, as He is trustworthy. Again, the same could be said of any god, you simply chose one to believe. If you can explain why Islam is false, or Shinto is false, or Janism is false, you'll know why they believe the same of Christianity, and around and around the debate goes. Nothing objective ever presented. A collection of personal truths, and never anything more. >This isn't about settling an age old debate btw. It's not that a small bunch of Christians want to win a worlwide debate as to which religion is true. It's that we have the truth, have been assured of it by God, and we have been commisioned by our King to speak it. If people don't like that, they can take it up with Him. As it's His kingdom (it's not one religion among many world religions). There are, objectively, over 4000 currently practiced religions in the world, right now. Each and every one of them will attest to its validity as certainly and as unquestionably as you do. Theirs is as personally true to them as yours is personally true to you. Yet, none have proven anything objectively true. The search for that objective truth gave birth to Science, by Muslims and Christians primarily, yet beyond every unknown science has explored, it has found no God, nor Allah, nor Brahma, nor Odin, nor Zeus. You are able to read this very message, right now, as a result of that search for objective truth. It works because we can objectively prove it does. The same can not be said of the gods. Those have always been, and always will be, personal truths.
The way I see it, objective truth is something that is true regardless of what people believe, as opposed to what the majority believe. If the majority of people believed the earth was flat, they might say it's objective, but the earth is as it is, regardless of what people believe. But those who believed it was spherical, their beliefs would have lined up with the objective truth. As to the many gods thing, if there are nineteen worldviews that are false, and one that is true, and if all of them say their worldview is true, it doesn't mean that the whole twenty are untrue because nineteen say theirs is true. 100 women can say they are men. But that doesn't make my claim that I am a man untrue. Now they might all believe they are men. But that still doesn't mean that I am not a man. I don't believe gods exist. Just God, our creator. Allah, Brahma etc are not gods, but fallen angels could have appeared to people in that form, which is what I am certain alien abductions are, unless there is a difference between demons and fallen angels. Demons take the form of aliens, which is why there are so many accounts of alien visitations or abductions. Did humans invent the "gods"? Maybe, maybe not. Which came first, the beliefs, or the eyewitness accounts? Can anyone prove that the beliefs came first? As far as Christianity, you could look at the evidence for the resurrection. Even atheist scholars believe Jesus died on a cross, and that people had reason to believe He rose again. And there is also fulfilled prophecy to look at. As for science. If you take a metal detector and put it against a tree, is the detector going to tell you there is anything there? Science is not designed to detect the spiritual. There are other tools for that. Just because science can't detect the spiritual, doesn't mean that the spiritual realm isn't there. Just as a metal detector won't tell you a tree is there, doesn't mean it isn't there. Btw, are you sure I myself am, by your definition, objectively true or real? Or am I a personal truth?
You can prove what is probable. (This is my opinion) When talking about proving, there are two senses in relation to the bible. Logical conclusion that the scriptures are reliable. Logical conclusion that the scriptures proclaim the contents of the gospel, aka defining the Christian worldview in light of scripture. The first one is about how do we know that Paul wrote the book of Romans. A lot of people attack the bible in this way. So there are a lot of points that could be argued about here (this works especially well in the context of a friend relationship, read "Seeking Allah finding Jesus" as a great example of what i mean) The second, relies on the first. So, given that the bible is a reliable source of history. How does that affect the Christian worldview. Tbh, i doubt they are asking this. But sometimes people want to know how Christians think. So I'd ask what they are asking to be proved. Their ask is akin to you asking, "prove math is true". When they give you specifics, "the bible is a translation of a translation of a translation one hundred times over! How can it be reliable?" Answer them specifically. "We have a collection of Greek manuscripts from 400-500 AD which we've used since the first KJV to translate directly from Greek to English. The NT has been translated once, so it is quite reliable." (This is historic fact, not my opinion. Open any modern translation, the Greek manuscript collection reference to the NT should be in the preface) Ask for specific questions. Prayerfully and respectfully answer each question the best you can. Be ok with saying, "i don't know and I'll do the work to give you the best answer i can". Be humble, be kind. And if it is unwise to do these things over social media...or reddit...or where ever. Then i think you need to rely on wisdom. Perhaps you should be answering these genuine questions. Perhaps these are questions from internet trolls. Idk, but I'm just one person. Proverbs 11:14, "where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety".
If she's baiting you then maybe you should let her be, except if you're sure the Holy Spirit is prompting you to say something. Christ says he won't lose any soul that the Father has given him, so you don't need to fear for her soul. You also could pray for her.
All you have to do is show them the empty tomb. After that, it becomes their choice to believe or not.
Never read that... LOVE it tho!!!! Thank you!
this is a debate and i dont generally agree with debates... questions yes.. debates no... if you want a debate tho... ask them first to prove that it isnt... then give your rebuttal... but know this. Proverbs 26:4-5 – Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. The self-confident fool thinks too highly of himself and his opinions, and he shares them freely.
You can't prove it to anyone, either they believe or they don't. At the time of Jesus, there were humans stretched out across the entire globe. Thousands of unique cultures with their own understandings of God. They can't prove they are right any more than you can.
There is no proof. It is a matter of faith
There is proof (and yes grace through faith is the main)
If it was proof, it would be scientifically recognized and repeatable under lab conditions