Disclaimer: This post is pretty long, and contains a high dosage of religious stuffs, in particular, Christianity. However, it was not intended to stir any disturbances, nor to offend anyone out of my religious belief. Thank you for your understanding.
This week is the week that the Bristol University's Christian's Union (BUCU) would like to call, the 'dare to believe' week. A list of talks on a wide range of topic about Christianity will be held at the Chemistry's school on lunches' break. So, this can only mean a fresh understanding of the faith that I've been holding on to since I was young, plus, free lunch!
So, as you can see, the title of the talks were, if I may, slightly controversial. *cough* I'd like to draw you into attention here, that they were made as so, to call for attention, and not to deliberately offend another. Though, I personally think that the organizer should have given a deeper thought in choosing the titles. We'll leave that matter for the future, shall we?
I've been to the first talk today; What if, Jesus is a historical fact?
(by, Andrew)
Imagine, you were in a room, with a group of people, and the door was locked from the outside, so that there was no way for you to get out. You didn't know what happened before you went inside the room. Think of it as something like a scene in the movie 'Men in Black'. You were flashed with a light, and you've just simply forgotten anything else.
Humans are intelligent being. We are restless if we live not knowing about something that we've deemed important. So, for self-satisfaction, we've begun to produce guesses, intelligently, or randomly. We take into accounts the parameters that could be found around the room, and prove many things. Namely; how pain is measured with actions, and many others. However, we are still not sure of the life outside of the room.
Then, someone opened the door from the outside, and enter the room. He/she will be bringing news from the outer side. He has the knowledge that we don't know, and by going inside the room, he chose to share it with us. So, it is just given that his words will take president over the many guesses that we've made inside the room prior to his arrival.
You can see where this analogue is going to. It's as if taking the world that we know now as the room we were in, and the person who came into the room as Jesus who came into our world over 2000 years ago. He knew things that we don't know, and he came to share them to the whole world.
So, now the cynical may think; what if he's just a man who proclaimed he can do all those 'things' that he did in the past, but none of them were actually true?
My dears, the evidence are clear in the gospels written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The gospels are a set of reliable sources that have recorded first-hand, the life and death of Jesus Christ. They can be trusted, for the writings were detailed, to the extent that we can trace back the origin of the story. Not only that, but the gospels themselves have been circulating after a short period of time after the life and death of Jesus. If they were not true, they will never have been accepted into the society, and last to this age at all.
These may sound one-sided, coming from a Christian like me. Obviously, I'd want to dress my faith in flowers, and sunshine. However, as for now, that is not exactly true. I mean, I'm just stating the facts, and not trying to pull any strings, or make up anything, just to make sure that Christianity looks pretty.
These are some other cases at which showing that the gospels could not have been anything, but history itself. The writers would have not made up the stories, nor could they have done that.
#1. The death of Jesus.
"If he is the Messiah, the king of Israel, let him come down from the cross! Then, we will see and believe."
Indeed! If, the gospels were written in order to share to the whole world about how great is Jesus, the writer wouldn't have written about the crucifixion of Jesus. It's of a great humiliation to this particular faith itself to tell that the Messiah himself was crucified by the Romans. Due to this fact, the Christians were being ridiculed by the Romans, and the Jews. However, they can't help it, but to write about this death, since it really happened.
#2. The witness of Jesus' resurrection.
"The women went into the tomb, and on the right side, they saw a young man in a white robe sitting there. They were alarmed."
Did you know, that during that period of time, women were not counted as witnesses fit for court, a.k.a, the people in those days were hardcore sexists. If the gospels were written with the thought of making others believe in the greatness of Jesus, they wouldn't have made women as the witnesses. Unless, of course, if that's what really happened. The women were there, and saw Jesus.
#3. Names were named, and the events took place in public
"Once again, Jesus got into the boat, and crossed Lake Galilee. Then, as he stood on the shore, a large crowd gathered around him. The person in charge of the Jewish meeting place was also there. His name was Jairus, and when he saw Jesus, he went over to him."
The location where the event took place was described, and a person with power in that era was named in this writing. In addition to that, the event happened publicly, where there were many witnesses that can account for this day, should there be any doubt on the accuracy of the story.
Jesus, IS a historical FACT. Dare to believe, if you please.
Cheers, love!
