An Unexpected Invitation
A couple of Saturdays ago my neighbor invited me and my wife over to his home for lunch. But, from the second we stepped through the door we realized this was going to be way, way, way more than just lunch.
I expected to see a spread of delicious Southeast Asian food but instead when I walked through the door I saw a spread of Southeast Asian statues. Buddha, next to Buddha, next to Buddha, next to Buddha.
I stepped inside the door, some guy handed me a Bud Light, a bunch of women came over to me dipping fresh flowers into paint. They started to paint my face in symbols I did not understand. Another woman approached me and was putting things on my cheeks, doing the same to my wife. I’m standing there, a white guy with a beer and a painted face having zero idea what’s happening. I’m in a room with Southeast Asian people and then my neighbor begins a very ancient Buddhist ritual.
He explains, we’re about to scoop up this holy water and pour it on the statues of these Buddhas so that we will be cleansed of our past sins and that we can be assured of a better life in the future.
Now why did he believe this?
He went on to explain the story. “Because many, many years ago,” he said, “there was once a poor beggar who ended up becoming an emperor and then turned into a god. This poor beggar has nothing to offer the Buddha in his day, he didn’t have gold, or silver, or precious jewels so he took the only thing that he had, simple water. And in an act of reverence and devotion he poured that water out on the Buddhas – day, after day, after day. And, apparently it was so good for his karma, it was such a good thing in the eyes of the Buddha that many lifetimes later he was reincarnated not as some poor beggar but as a powerful emperor. And then the emperor kept up his devotion with humility pouring out water on the Buddha. And when he was reincarnated in a later life, he was no longer a human emperor, he had become a divine god.
“And in the same way,” my neighbor said, “we pour out the water on the Buddha to cleanse ourselves of the sins and mistakes of the past, and to have hope for a better life in the life, or lives, to come. So, let’s form a line,” my neighbor said, “and pour out the water.”
I looked at my wife, beer in hand, her face painted, wondering what my face looked like and I said, “You know, as Christians we have a different view of how sins are washed away and forgiven. We have a different view of how to have a better life after death finally arrives.”
So, we stepped back and just respectfully observed this Buddhist ceremony we did not know that we would be a part of. I pull out my phone like many people in the room did. I captured a little glimpse of what happened that day and I’m going show it to you right here.
After the ceremony was done, they spread out an amazing lunch of Southeast Asian food, it was incredible. And two hours later my wife and I walk home, we step through the door and there’s our teenage daughter on the couch with her iPad and she looks up at her parents.
“What happened?”
I said, “I don’t really know.”
Wrestling With the Question: Is Christianity True?
You know, I had a chance to observe, like, what’s my neighbor believed. I learned a lot about Buddhism that day, but I was left the question, why did my neighbor believe this? What was the origin of this story? What was the roots of it? Was it historical? Was it reasonable? Was it true? Or was it just another myth and legend like many religions have in their religion?
You know, it dawned on me that the way that I felt standing there with a Bud Light and a painted face in my neighbor’s home might be how some of you feel when you step into a Christian church.
You know, a friend invited you here, they shared the link and you’re watching online, and you’re starting to understand, like, what Christians believe, that Jesus wasn’t just a good guy or teacher but he is God and he’s a God that’s so full of love that he gave his life on the cross to wash away our sins. And to prove that it’s all true he rose three days later on Easter morning.
You might be understanding what Christianity is, getting right with God not by being a good person but just by believing and receiving the goodness of what Jesus already did for you. You might understand the “what” but perhaps some of you still wonder about the why.
Why do Christians believe that? Just because it makes us feel not guilty about the past. Just because it makes us feel less afraid about the future. What’s the historical, reasonable basis, if anything? Or is this just another thing that people believe because it works for them?
Now, I’m not sure if you or someone you love is in that boat. You have doubts about Christianity, intellectual objections to Christianity. Or maybe you think it’s fine if other people do it and your sister or your son or someone you love is passionate about it. But to you there’s nothing just rock solid and substantial enough to believe it.
This is a question that I want to wrestle with today. If you’re taking notes in your program, it’s this big question, when it comes to Christianity, is it true? Not, is it helpful or is it good, or does it give some people peace and joy, but is it true? Is there anything about it that we can say, not with blind faith but with intellectual ascent, yeah, that’s actually how it was?
Why This Question Matters
It’s a huge question for three groups of people.
Number one, there might be some of you here today who are not Christians, and you have these serious doubts about the Christian faith, I want to speak directly to you today.
I also want to speak especially to the younger people who are watching at home or listening on the radio or podcasting this or here today. Sometimes we grow up with like a childlike faith just because we’ve never seen a Buddhist neighbor or a Muslim friend or someone who doesn’t follow the path of Jesus. We just didn’t know there were other options.
And as you get older, you’re going to start to ask these questions, not, “What do I believe?” But, “Why do I believe it?” “My family historically has been Christian, but why would I be a Christian?” Some of you are going to have to wrestle within a year with that huge question, “Is it true?”
And finally, I want you to think about someone that you love that isn’t here, that’s not listening, that’s not watching and the reason why is because they’re just not sure that this actually happened.
You’ve been around our church for a while, you might know that every Christmas and Easter, I try to wrestle with this question. I throw in a little line or two or paragraph or point. Is it true? Is it intellectual?
But today what I want to do is spend my entire message trying to answer that question. I want to give evidence after evidence, proof after proof, argument after argument, so that if you doubt, or when you doubt, or when you think of someone that doubts you can find the link, you can go back to this episode, you can go on YouTube, or wherever you podcast and just find a rather comprehensive case.
Why do Christians believe what they believe? Is it blind faith or is it something much more?
Thomas the Doubter
That’s the question we’re going to wrestle with today as we look at one of the Bible’s most famous doubters, a friend of Jesus named Thomas.
Here’s what the Bible says in John 20:
“Now Thomas, also known as Didymus, one of the 12, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So, the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’”
Maybe he’s just stubborn. I tend to think that Thomas was traumatized because of the cross, that he had such hope in Jesus and when it catastrophically ended so fast, he didn’t know what to think.
If you’ve ever been through trauma, you know that it can mess with your ability to trust people even when they tell you the truth. And I think he just did not want to have his heart decimated again. And says, “Unless there is so much proof I cannot and I will not believe it.”
Jesus Meets Thomas in His Doubt
But then Jesus gave him the proof he needed. Verse 26, “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 finger 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!’ And Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.'”
4 Arguments for the Resurrection
But enough about Thomas, let’s talk about you. Now obviously we can’t do the exact same thing that Jesus did 2,000 years ago. Jesus stayed for 40 days here on this earth, not 2,000 years so we can’t rely on the same proof that Thomas received. But did you know that many Christians love thinking intellectually about Easter because there’s so much about the Easter story that’s not conjecture, or myth, or legend, but reasonable, factual, historical proof? Today I want to try to overwhelm you with four of the strongest arguments that I know that lead intellectual people to nod their head and say, “Oh, okay. This isn’t a guess, this isn’t a leap of faith, this isn’t blind anything. This is reasonable and it’s true.” So, I hope your brain is turned up. I hope you got a pen, if you’re at home. We’re going to talk fast, you’ve got to listen fast, you’ve got to write fast. We’re going to cover a lot of ground, about 15 minutes, four arguments for the resurrection of Jesus. Here it goes.
Argument #1: The Historical Evidence
The first one is the historical argument. That we can track back historical documents nearly to the exact day when it happened. You know, something interesting happened to me after my Buddhist neighbor invited me over. I wanted to know, where did this come from, this beggar who became an emperor and then turned into a god? And I found the answer. According to some Buddhist writings there actually was a famous Buddhist emperor named Ashoka, I believe is how you pronounce it, who lived about 300 years before Jesus did. He was very devout, historical writings attest to him. But there’s nothing in the lifetime of Ashoka that talks about him being this beggar who was devout with a water ceremony.
In fact, the first mention of that being connected, this poor beggar who became an emperor, it didn’t happen during Ashoka’s lifetime, or a generation after, or two or three. The first documented evidence comes about 400 years after that emperor lived, which doesn’t make it impossible, but it just leads historical people to say, “Wow, if the eyewitnesses were dead, and the children of the eyewitnesses were dead, and the grandchildren of the grandchildren of the eyewitnesses were dead, well, then it’s kind of possible that there would be the story, this myth, this legend that would arise.”
Now, compare that to what happened with Easter. Do you know the first documented writings about Jesus of Nazareth being risen from the dead? They’re not 400 years after it happened or 300, or 200, or 100, or 90, 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, or 30, or 20, or 10, or 8, or 6, or 5, or 4. Did you know that some scholars think we have documented evidence within 18 months of the resurrection of Jesus?
Classic passage, 1 Corinthians 15. Look what it says. The apostle Paul’s writing to some Christians in the Greek city of Corinth and he says, “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,” AKA Peter, “and then to the 12. After that he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the Apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.”
Did you know that there are some non-Christian scholars, some pretty atheist ones, that will admit that this song about Jesus that I just read to you was written, probably, 18 months to three years after the event that had happened? And it’s filled, you might have noticed, with names: Peter, Cephas, James, 500 people. And, I love what Paul says about it. “Some who are still living.” In other words, compared to the Buddhist legend, 400 years later that you cannot verify, when Paul wrote these words he would say, “Tons of these eyewitnesses are still around, talk to them, interview them. This is not blind faith; they saw it with their own eyes. People like Thomas touched Jesus with their own hands.”
Argument #2: The Logical Evidence
Isn’t that amazing? We know historically that something happened that changed the world. And, it wasn’t an explosion based off of some centuries old legend, it was an explosion in the middle of the first century that changed things forever. So, we have this historical argument then add to that number two, I like this one, the logical argument. So, if we know that there’s this very, very, very early story about Easter, we have to ask ourselves, “If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, where did that story come from?”
Can you think of a reasonable, logical, persuasive answer that’s not Jesus conquered death? Let me share some leading candidates which I find very unreasonable. Some people will say, “Maybe Jesus really didn’t die on the cross. Maybe he kind of passed out because of the pain, they thought he was dead, they buried him in the tomb and he kind of woke up one day and said, ‘Where am I?’ And he took the bandages off, he came out and they’re like, ‘He’s alive, he conquered death.’ But he never really died, there was no resurrection.” Is that reasonable?
The Romans were good at killing people. Jesus was tortured, dying on a cross. Do you remember they were breaking the legs of the guys to his right and his left and they drove a spear through his side. He could not have survived that. If you’re a Roman soldier and you let someone get away without death they would have killed you. You did your job very carefully. And even if by some chance the Roman soldier missed it, they wrapped Jesus in ointment-soaked bandages, 75 pounds of it, and laid him in a tomb. Any of you nurses think that someone could endure that trauma, just be put there without food or drink and survive? I don’t.
And then when he supposedly appeared to people, if he hadn’t died, but he had been traumatized and tortured, you think he would like look so strong that they would say, “He’s conquered death.” I mean, he would be barely crawling in the dirt. That Jesus didn’t die is just not a reasonable argument, which is why other people say, “Okay, maybe, maybe he did die, but maybe the women found the wrong tomb. Jesus is buried in tomb A, they mistakenly go to tomb B. There’s no Jesus inside so they say, “He’s gone, he’s risen.”
But that doesn’t work because the original disciples actually didn’t believe the women in the first place. It wasn’t their report that changed their mind, but it was seeing Jesus with their very own eyes, like Thomas. Which is why some people say, “Well, maybe they made up the story. People lie all the time.” Religious people have 6 lied a lot of the time. Maybe Peter and James and John got together, and they made up some stories so they could be the founders of this new religion called Christianity.
Interesting. Let me ask you this. Why do people lie? The answer is very easy, selfinterest. Did you hit your brother? Self-interest. Do you know how fast you were driving, sir? Self-interest. How much did you make in cash as a waiter? Self-interest. The reason people lie is to get something they want or avoid a punishment that they don’t want.
So, think about the Apostles. Imagine them getting together and they make up this story. “Okay, we all know Jesus is dead but I want to be famous. Do you want to be famous? I want to be famous. Well, let’s say he rose from the dead! Yes, yes, yes, let’s spread that message.” Do you know what happened to Thomas and to Peter and to James and to John? Read the book of Acts. They were persecuted for their faith. They were tortured for their faith.
Church history says that Peter was crucified upside down on a cross, that James lost his head, that John was exiled and put in a vat of boiling oil, that Thomas made it to India where he was stabbed with spears. Do you think as you were being crucified, tortured, or about to be thrown into a pot of boiling oil you would have said, “I made it up!” If the goal of the lie was self-interest, why would you hold on to a lie that would cost you everything? It does not make sense.
And if they were making up a story, as I shared with you on Easter, why would they make up a story that had women as the first witnesses when women were not respected in Jewish courts of that culture, unfortunately? Why would they make up a story about a resurrection from the dead when the Greeks thought a resurrection was laughable and many Jews, like the Sadducees, didn’t believe in it anyway? How do you explain this, like, history changing movement that was based on a lie? It just doesn’t fit together.
No, as miraculous as it is, what makes the most sense is that Jesus actually conquered death and it was so paradigm shifting that these people said, “I saw it. I cannot deny what I’ve seen and experienced and you can hate me, you can persecute me, you can kill me, but my Jesus died for my sins and he conquered death and I’m sticking with him no matter what.”
That makes the most sense of the historical events. That’s why the Apostle Paul in Acts 26 when he got to share his faith said this to a skeptical audience, “What I’m saying is true and reasonable because it was not done in a corner.” There were eyewitnesses. I’m going to level with you; I’m going to reason with you. It’s not just trust me because, no, let me share the evidence that has persuaded my heart and can persuade yours.”
Argument #3: The Archaeological Evidence
So good, isn’t it? The historical plus the logical. Now, number three, oh man, I wish I had like an hour of your time, the archaeological arguments. Who here loves biblical archaeology? Next time, we’ll get there. Let me tell you one of my favorite archaeological stories.
As they’ve continued to discover pieces of ancient papyri and inscriptions on really old stones, they have found so many things that point back to exactly what the Bible says happened. These are my favorite stories. Let me show you a picture of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. That’s Jerusalem, modern-day, and the building with the two big gray domes is an ancient, ancient church that supposedly was built right over the spot where Jesus died and was buried.
There was a Pagan emperor named Hadrian who hated Christians and decided to build a temple to his gods right on top of the tomb of Jesus. He wanted to cover it up, put his big statues there. And for 200 years the temple stood. Until the 300s AD when a Roman emperor named Constantine was converted to Christianity, his mother wanted to go back and see all the things that happened with Jesus. Where was he born? Where did he die? Where did he rise? And when they found out that underneath that Pagan temple was the tomb of Jesus, Constantine had the temple demolished. What did they find beneath? They found a first century tomb. Now, let’s fast forward to the 21st century. In 2017, you can look this up, National Geographic did a study. There was some water damage inside the ancient tomb, which means they had to mess with this very ancient sacred space. And they very carefully documented as these archaeologists lifted up this marble slab that supposedly covered the tomb of Jesus. It hadn’t been touched or moved in 200 years. When they lifted it up, they saw these ancient stones and like mortar beneath. And so, they tested it, like scientists love to do, and they found that the mortar that was part of this original church dated back to… the years of Constantine.
And then they tested the limestone that the mortar was around, the original cave, and it dated back to… the days of? Of Jesus. Exactly like the Bible said. Gets even better. In early 2025, they had some floor renovation that they needed to do and an excavation team from Rome discovered beneath, like the modern floor, evidence of grapevines, of olive trees and seeds and pollen. They realized that before this church was built, there was a garden in that location. And I read that and I said, “Oh, let’s go. Let’s go.” You know why? This what your Bible says in John 19, “At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden, a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid.”
Argument #4: The Spiritual Evidence
Oh, my goodness. And if you needed more than that, I don’t know why you would want more than that, but add up the historical, add up the logical, add the archaeological and let’s put this last on our list, let’s talk about the spiritual arguments. I want to confess there’s a little bit more heart than head, but it strikes me that compared to all other beliefs and religions, all the things that you could think about God or spiritual things, that what Jesus is saying is what your heart actually craves more than anything.
Why did my neighbor have this ceremony that would somehow wash away the past? I think because every human being has something in their past that they want to wash away. You too. You think about the blow up and the argument, you think about that choice, you think about the path of addiction, you think about the times when you didn’t do anything terribly wrong, but you just forgot about God.
You know, Jesus said in John 6, “Don’t work for food that spoils.” No, instead of work for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man,” that’s Jesus, “will give you.” Jesus wants to give you eternal life. He wants to give you forgiveness. The reason he spent so much time giving proof for your head is because he wants this peace of forgiveness to get to your heart.
Why do you want unconditional love, even though you can’t find it in any earthly relationship? Because you were made for God and his love. Why do we crave things not falling apart after so many years, but just enduring? Because your soul was made for God. And as Saint Augustine said 1,700 years ago, “God, our hearts were made for you, and we will be restless until we rest in you.”
It’s a spiritual argument, but what you want Jesus is offering: life, forgiveness, grace, acceptance, family, eternal friendship, food for your soul. And you put it all together. Historically, 1 Corinthians 15 dating the resurrection to early days. Logically, what makes sense? A Jesus who didn’t die, the wrong tomb? Guys who made up something that would cost them their life? You add it on top of the archaeology, they found a garden in the very place where Christians said Jesus died and rose. And you think of what your heart craves so, so deeply. I want to know I’m good with God. I’m going to struggle to make the right choices today for the glory of God, but I never want to wonder if I’m good with God. I want that to be set and secure, which is exactly what Jesus is offering.
Putting the Evidence Together
You put it all together and I hope that you can say, as Thomas said so long ago, “My Lord and my God.” I don’t have to doubt anymore; I can just believe what my Jesus has told me. Friends, I believe it too. Do you?
Let’s pray. Oh God, thank you so much for being generous with the evidence. You’re God, you had every right to say, “Because I said so,” but instead you gave us eyewitnesses, and you gave us a Jesus who left many convincing proofs. You don’t make us rely on millennia old legends, instead you have these eyewitness accounts that we get to read and study and come to this amazing conclusion that you really are Lord, and you are God.
A Prayer for Doubters
Thank you, God, for grabbing doubters by the hand and walking them to confidence. I pray anyone who’s here today, who’s watching or listening at home, that you would overcome their doubts. It’s a beautiful spiritual place to be when you don’t have to cross your arms and wonder and analyze, but when you can just trust. And that’s where you want to bring all of us today.
So, thank you God, for getting us one step closer. For anyone here who needs to take a step, whether that’s researching more or passing on this information to someone who doesn’t know it or believe it just yet, I pray that you would give us energy to follow through because we’re going to get to that point where we believe John 3:16, that you’re a God who so loved us and the world that you gave your only son, Jesus, that whoever believes in him would never die, never decay, never end up with loss, but instead would have eternal life.
We pray all these things in gratitude today, and we ask them in Jesus’ name. And all God’s people said, amen.
