The Standard May 10, 2025
Virtually all mainstream historians, people of religious faith or not, agree that Jesus of Nazareth walked this earth and eventually was crucified. Several ancient writers, Jewish and Roman, indicated this and, from what we can tell, the early Christians shared agreement that Christ was put to death on a cross. That is where consensus ends.
Since relatively soon after the crucifixion of Jesus, there have been those who have accepted the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as trustworthy and true and others who have not. There have been people of faith who recognize the all-powerful God who is not bound by physical, human limitations, and those whose faith in science and provable facts will not allow them to believe that miracles could happen or that a higher power, if one exists, could be almighty. Many atheists veer from provable scientific facts in believing that at the beginning of time, something came from nothing. The Big Bang theory suggests that the universe expanded from a hot, dense state, but cannot explain how that hot, dense state. or all of the world’s matter and energy, came to be. Atheists often have faith in this origin theory, although it leaves unanswered questions.
As Christians, we trust that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the three persons of the Trinity, communicated all that was necessary for faith and godliness in the Holy Scriptures. The New Testament words of Jesus and those of Paul clearly spell out on the most basic level God’s plan for humanity.
“Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.’” John 14:5-7
“A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your fingers here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’ Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” John 20:26-29
Most historians agree that the Apostle Paul, once a persecutor of Christians, was so convinced of the claims of Christ that he died for his faith. In his letters to various churches, Paul meticulously laid out key doctrines to which we hold fast today. We celebrated these on Easter Sunday and every day of worship.
“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 [Peter], and then to the Twelve.” 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
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