Evidence That Demands A Verdict Quotes

the value of Christian faith is not in the one believing, but in the One who is believed in, its object.

Forgiveness is an action, not an emotion.

The question is not whether we are apologists, but what kind of apologists we are.

Many Christians claim to believe in Jesus, but only a minority can articulate good reasons for why their beliefs are true.

Do not underestimate the role you may play in clearing the obstacles in someone’s spiritual journey.

My pastor had told me that forgiveness doesn’t mean justifying or condoning what he did, but it would begin the process of freeing me from the past, and it would offer a lost person the opportunity for redemption.

People naturally have questions. They always have and always will. One of the key functions of apologetics, then, is to respond to questions and clear away objections people have that hinder their trust in Christ.

. . . we dedicate ourselves to finding evidence that we're acceptable and worthwhile. Whatever our particular outward style, from self-disparaging or fawning to arrogant or angry, we live as if we were defendants in a trial. The jury is composed of all of the people whose opinions we think are important; they're the ones we've got to convince. Unsettled by our insecurities, we await their judgement. But the jury members never come back with a final verdict. They forever hold us in suspense. Every hour or so, it seems, the foreman of the jury returns with a demand for more evidence. So we try again to win the jury's favor or at least to be found acceptable in their eyes, but nothing we can do will satisfy them once and for all. Why? Because from their individual points of view, THEY are the ones on trial. They are as concerned to have us validate their self-image as we are to have them validate ours. WE sit on THEIR jury. Therefore what they want from us is not evidence that will establish our acceptability but evidence that will establish theirs. They can't give us their final stamp of approval because they never fell completely approved of themselves.

Apologetics is not listed as a spiritual gift for teachers, preachers, or evangelists, as though only some ought to become apologists. Rather, all Christians are called to be ready with an answer (1 Peter 3:15; Jude 3). We all make a case for Christianity in some fashion or another—but are we doing it well?

Influential theologian J. Gresham Machen perhaps said it best: False ideas are the greatest obstacles to the reception of the Gospel. We may preach with all the fervor of a reformer and yet succeed only in winning a straggler here and there, if we permit the whole collective thought of the nation to be controlled by ideas which prevent Christianity from being regarded as anything more than a harmless delusion. (Machen, CC, 7)

Este Jesús de Nazareth sin dinero ni armas, conquistó a más millones que Alejandro, César, Mahoma y Napoleón; sin ciencia y sin erudición derramó más luz sobre las cosas divinas y humanas que todos los filósofos y eruditos combinados; sin la elocuencia de las escuelas, habló tales palabras de vida como nunca antes o después fueron dichas, y produjo efectos que yacen más allá del alcance del orador o poeta; sin escribir ni una sola línea, y proporcionó temas para más sermones, oraciones, discusiones, volúmenes de erudición, obras de arte , y cánticos de alabanza que él ejercito completo de grandes hombres de los tiempos antiguos y modernos”.

In the words of Bernard Ramm: "Statistically speaking, the Gospels are the greatest literature ever written. They are read by more people, quoted by more authors, translated into more tongues, represented in more art, set to more music, than any other book or books written by any man in any century in any land. But the words of Christ are not great on the grounds that they have such a statistical edge over anybody else*s words. They are read more, quoted more, loved more, believed more, and translated more because they are the greatest words ever spoken. And where is their greatness? Their greatness lies in the pure, lucid spirituality in dealing clearly, definitively, and authoritatively with the greatest problems that throb in the human breast; namely, Who is God? Does He love Me? What should I do to please Him? How does He look at my sin? How can I be forgiven? Where will I go when I die? How must I treat others? No other man's words have the appeal of Jesus' words because no other man can answer these fundamental human questions as Jesus answered them. They are the kind of words and the kind of answers we would expect God to give, and we who believe in Jesus' deity have no problem as to why these words came from His mouth.

Again from Napoleon: "The nature of Christ's existence is mysterious, I admit; but this mystery meets the wants of man — reject it and the world is an inexplicable riddle; believe it, and the history of our race is satisfactorily explained.

Napoleon said: "Christ alone has succeeded in so raising the mind of man towards the unseen that it becomes insensible to the barriers of time and space. Across the chasm of eighteen hundred years Jesus Christ makes a demand which is beyond all others difficult to satisfy. He asks for that which a philosophy may often seek in vain at the hands of his friends, or a father of his children, or a bride of her spouse, or a man of his brother. He asks for the human heart; He will have it entirely to Himself; He demands it unconditionally, and forthwith His demand is granted. Its powers and faculties become an annexation to the empire of Christ. All who sincerely believe in Him experience that supernatural love towards Him. This phenomenon is unaccountable, it is altogether beyond the scope of man's creative powers. Time, the great destroyer, can neither exhaust its strength nor put a limit to its range.

It is true that there have been other religions with millions of adherents, but it is also true that the existence and progress of the Church is something unique in history to say nothing of the fact that Christianity has attracted to itself the profoundest thinkers of the human race, and is in no way hindered by the ever-advancing tide of human knowledge." G. Thomas

The most marvelous and astonishing thing in nineteen centuries of history is the power of His life over the members of the Christian Church." 50/104 George Bancroft said: "I find the name of Jesus Christ written on the top of every page of modern history.

The sages and heroes of history are receding from us, and history contracts the record of their deeds into a narrower and narrower page. But time has no power over the name and deeds and words of Jesus Christ.

Concerning the boast of Voltaire on the extinction of Christianity and the Bible in 100 years, Geisler and Nix point out that "only fifty years after his death the Geneva Bible Society used his press and house to produce stacks of Bibles." 32/ 123,124 WHAT AN IRONY OF HISTORY!

The Christian faith is an objective faith; therefore, it must have an object that is worthy of faith. Salvation comes not from the strength of our beliefs, but from the object of our beliefs. Yes, salvation comes through faith (Eph. 2:8, 9; John 6:29), but the merit of faith depends upon the object believed (not the faith itself).

I bought his Evidence That Demands a Verdict,

Yahweh Elohim retreated with his divine council to deliberate the verdict. When he returned, he announced to the lawyers at the bar, “I declare the defense righteous in standing. The Accuser has failed to provide proof of his charges against Yahweh’s right to eminent domain, and his use of Israel as his instruments of justice.” “Your honor,” spouted the Accuser, “I demand a court order for a stay of execution. This is a capital trial and I think we need to reexamine the evidence in light of the extreme sentence.” “Motion denied,” said Yahweh Elohim. “The iniquity of the Amorites is complete. Canaan has filled up the measure of its guilt. Israel shall commence its possession of the land immediately. Court is dismissed.

A man walked into a Christian bookstore in an Arabic-speaking country. “I want your best book on the defense of Christianity.” The bookstore manager handed him Evidence That Demands A Verdict in Arabic. As the man left he exclaimed, “I’m doing my dissertation on destroying Christianity.” Six months later the storeowner baptized the student who had become a believer.

You can laugh at Christianity. You can mock and ridicule it. But it works. If you trust Christ, start watching your attitudes and actions—Jesus Christ is in the business of changing lives.

May it not be charged against them!” First Peter 3:15 uses the word defense in a way that denotes the kind of defense one would make to a legal inquiry, asking, “Why are you a Christian?” A believer ought to give an adequate answer to this question. The command to be ready with an answer is directed toward every follower of Jesus—not just pastors, teachers, and leaders.

Evangelism is focused on presenting the gospel; apologetics is focused on defending and commending it. There

Religion is humans trying to work their way to God through good works. Christianity is God coming to men and women through Jesus Christ.

The Bible is the book of God for the people of God. It reveals and conceals, is clear yet complex, open to all but impossible to master. Its message clearly reflects the cultural settings of the authors. . . . It tells of God’s acts but also reports some events that either may or may not have happened or have been significantly reshaped and transformed by centuries of tradition. It presents us with portraits of God . . . that at times comfort and confirm our faith while at other times challenge and stretch our faith to the breaking point. This is the Bible we have, the Bible God gave us. (Enns, IHD, 83)

Only when people genuinely disagree does tolerance become necessary. Claiming that someone is wrong for holding a different viewpoint, then, isn’t itself intolerant; the attitude that accompanies the claim may, however, be intolerant.

Christianity is not exclusive at all, but is the most inclusive religion. Christ invites all unto himself.

We need to ask ourselves some tough questions: Have I failed to live as Jesus taught me to? How responsible am I for the negative perceptions many have of the church?

Biblical archaeology is defined as the investigation of ancient material cultures with a view to illuminating the cultural milieus of biblical narratives.

Never did the Speaker seem to stand more utterly alone than when He uttered this majestic utterance. Never did it seem more improbable that it should be fulfilled. But as we look across the centuries we see how it has been realized. His words have passed into law, they have passed into doctrines, they have passed into proverbs, they have passed into consolations, but they have never 'passed away.' What human teacher ever dared to claim an eternity for his words?" G.F. Maclean

No revolution that has ever taken place in society can be compared to that which has been produced by the words of Jesus Christ

The famous essay, "One Solitary Life," states: "Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty, and then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put his foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself.... While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executers gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth — his coat When He was dead, He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. "Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is the centerpiece of the human race and the leader of the column of progress. I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever were built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.

Imagínese estar contemplando a un campesino arar un campo. Usted advierte que en la próxima vuelta que dé el campesino va a destruir un hormiguero. Puesto que usted es un amante de las hormigas, corre hasta donde se halla el hormiguero para advertirlas. Primeramente usted les avisa a gritos del peligro inmediatamente, pero ellas continúan en su trabajo. A continuación usted trata con el lenguaje de los signos, y finalmente recurre a cuanto le es posible imaginar, pero nada resulta. ¿Por qué? Porque usted no ha logrado comunicarse con ellas. ¿Cuál es el mejor modo de comunicarse con ellas? Unicamente por medio de convertirse en una hormiga usted podría comunicarse con ellas de modo que le entendieran. Ahora, si Dios deseaba comunicarse con nosotros, ¿cuál sería el modo mejor de conseguirlo? Veamos que con el fin de comunicarse con nosotros a él le era imprescindible convertirse en hombre y así, alcanzarnos directamente.

not all survivors hide their outer critic. Fight types and subtypes can take the passive out of passive-aggressive and become quite aggressive. The survivor who is polarized to the outer critic often develops a specious belief that his subjectively derived standards of correctness are objective truth. When triggered, he can use the critic’s combined detective-lawyer-judge function to prosecute the other for betrayal with little or no evidence. Imagined slights, insignificant peccadilloes, misread facial expressions, and inaccurate “psychic” perceptions can be used to put relationships on trial. In the proceedings, the outer critic typically refuses to admit positive evidence. Extenuating circumstances will not be considered in this kangaroo court. Moreover any relational disappointment can render a guilty verdict that sentences the relationship to capital punishment. This is also the process by which jealousy can become toxic and run riot. On another level, the outer critic is skilled at building a case to justify occupying a higher moral ground. From this lofty position, the critic then claims the right to micromanage others. Typically this is rationalized as being for the other’s own good. This control, however, is usually wielded on an unconscious level to protect the survivor from any reenactment of early parental abuse or neglect. Micromanagement of others also devolves into a host of controlling behaviors. Fight types treat others like captive audiences, give them unsolicited performance evaluations, make unreasonable demands for improvement, and control their time schedules, social calendars and food and clothing choices. In worse case scenarios, they dramatically act out their jealousy, often without cause. At its absolute worst, outer critic relating looks like taking prisoners, not making friends.