His Name is Jesus

by Rocky Fleming

Day 1:  Myth or Fact

“After six years given to the impartial investigation of Christianity as to its truth or falsity, I have come to the deliberate conclusion that Jesus Christ was the Messiah of the Jews, the Savior of the world and my own personal Redeemer.”  General Lew Wallace

General Lew Wallace was once an arrogant, aggressive atheist, a military general and highly regarded writer.  He, along with Robert Ingersoll, another atheist, agreed that they would write a book to destroy the myth of Christianity.  Mr. Wallace studied for two years in the leading libraries of Europe and America for information to destroy Christianity.  It was while writing the second chapter of his book that he came to realize the truth about Jesus.  He cried out, “My Lord and my God,” for the evidence was overwhelmingly conclusive that Jesus is indeed who He said He is.  He is the Son of God.  All that has been claimed about Him is true.  After this revelation, Wallace wrote Ben Hur, which is one of the greatest Christian novels ever written.

There are some people who grow up in a church culture and are never challenged as to whether Jesus is really all He declared Himself to be.  As a result, they develop a cultural believe-ism that feels safe in their ignorance and belief as it is.  What happens when they get out of their safe culture?  Can they resist the onslaught they will face?  Can they help a non-believer find Christ and turn the table on someone who is trying to turn them?

Although I would personally desire that a safe environment could exist and our faith not be threatened by an atheistic argument, it would be unrealistic to expect it.  We see it more and more in the public universities that atheistic teachers and curriculum have an agenda to “re-indoctrinate” students by purging them of their faith, and especially Christian students.   If you ever talk to an atheist, you will pick up in a hurry that they think they are smarter than you if you believe in God.   These “intelligent people” think that a student cannot gain ground in academics or life as long as faith is in their life, so they seek to undermine it.   We see this agenda also coming against schools, government, military, commerce, and yes, churches.  

How do we resist this indoctrination?  How do we put forth an intelligent argument about our faith in Christ that a non-believer could be influenced by?  I have had several discussions with atheists.  What I can say without a doubt is that they are not as smart as they think.  You see, it is not what they do not believe.  Rather, it is about being a contrarian to what you believe.  You become a target of sorts that they want to shake and undermine, to reinforce their need to be a contrarian.  They have chosen a lonely place and it needs others to join it, and that is why we see the systematic work of these intelligent, but ignorant people recruiting to their belief in what they do not belief.  But they can be held at bay and sometimes reached with the tool they respect the most….your brain.

This week I would like to put forth some of arguments so that your intelligence can meet their intelligence head on.  You see, there are some very smart and well-known thinkers who have concluded, as Lew Wallace did after really researching it and thinking it through, that Jesus Christ is indeed the Lord God.  This leads into rule number one.

Rule number one for any intelligent argument, whether it is for or against something is to know the facts.  You can believe for something or against something equally incorrectly.  As a Christian, your belief in Christ gives you a big advantage.  The things you believe about Him are true.  But you have another thing going for you in facing the intelligent contrarian.  You do not have to shy away from this person, for the facts prove those things about Jesus if they will get to know the facts like Lew Wallace did.  Therefore, you need to know the facts, and then ask the intelligent atheist who thinks he knows more than you if he knows the facts?  Mark one point for you, for he will not know them.  Next, ask him to get to know the facts and then discuss them with you.  This is where it is going to get very interesting for both of you.