- Well welcome to the 700 Club.
Today Christians around the world
are commemorating Good Friday.
But 2,000 years after the crucifixion,
others are asking isJesus real and is he God?
- Recently CBN's Paul Strand talked
with four top defenders of the faith
about these questions and all
of them reached the same conclusion
in very different ways.
(whooshing)
- [Paul] Although believersand evidence exist,
there remains the question is there a God?
Detective Jay Warner Wallacehas pursued the question
applying the same proceduresused to solve cold cases.
Starting this investigationas an atheist he had
to accept something beyond the natural
because he believed theuniverse had a beginning
before space and time.
- It began from nothing.
Didn't exist prior to the Big Bang.
That means we're looking for a cause
that is no-spatial,nontemporal, and non-material
because those things are not available
until the Big Bang.
So you're already looking for something
that's extra-natural.
- [Paul] Astronomer HughRoss who heads up Reasons
to Believe sees God inthe universe's birth.
- It has a beginning,which implies there must
be a beginner that was responsible
for bringing the universe into existence.
- [Paul] And there is such precise design.
- We have fine-tuningin the universe which
is finely tuned thatthe smallest variation
in the universal constants,
you wouldn't even have a universe
in which we have life at all.
Now what are the odds ofthat happening on it's own?
- [Paul] And just howfinely tuned is it for life?
- If you were to addthe weight of one dime
to the universe or subtract the weight
of one dime from the observable universe
that would be enough to upset the balance
to make life not possible.
How can we escape the conclusion,
there must be a mindwith supernatural power
that designed it justright so we could be here?
- [Paul] But what about Jesus Christ,
his resurrection, and deity?
- If there's a being out there
that could create all space,time, and matter from nothing,
I'm guessing he couldprobably rise from the dead.
I'm guessing he probably walk on water.
I'm guessing those are probably
small potato miraclescompared to Genesis One.
- Some people say they'llnever believe Jesus Christ
is God because all theproof for it is in the Bible
and they just don't believe the Bible.
As an atheist Josh McDowell set out
to disprove Christianity and the Bible
but found so much evidenceit changed his life.
The result was his bookEvidence that Demands a Verdict,
and he found much proof forChrist outside the Bible.
- In this book Evidence I give 20 some
totally extra-Biblical sources
that you could recapture from
it almost everything about Christ.
That he was from the dead.
He fulfilled the prophecy etcetera, et cetera, et cetera
from non-biblical sources.
- [Paul] Alex McFarland putson conferences nationwide.
Like this one in NorthCarolina to arm Christians
with proof their God and faith are real.
He points out what one
of America's top 20th centuryhistorians Will Durant,
a non-believer had to say.
- Durant when he was not a Christian said
that the four biographies Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John their historicitywas quote indisputable.
- [Paul] Some claim the NewTestament was written hundreds
of years after Jesus's time soall the supernatural details
about Christ could have been added
in long after his death.
But as witnesses theearliest disciples memorized,
sang, and wrote down statementsof Christ's miraculous life
starting right after his resurrection.
- Deity, death, resurrection.
Son of God, paid for oursins, rose from the dead.
These doctrinal formula if you will,
these statements of belief come
to us within not years, not months,
but weeks after the crucifixion.
- [Paul] And these disciples said
not only were they eyewitnesses to Christ's miracles
but so were their opponentsthere in Jerusalem.
- They would constantlyappeal to the knowledge
of hostile witnesses of thetruth that they're saying.
They're saying you knowwhat I'm talking about.
You were there you saw him dothis, you heard him do this.
- But you may feel none of thishas anything to do with you,
and you shouldn't have to think about it.
But what if there is an eternity
and what you believe about Jesus Christ
will determine where you spend it.?
Wallace says if you'rea total non-believer
for your own sake consider the idea
there's a miracle working savior.
With this one caveat.
- You can't begin bysaying I don't believe
in the supernatural.
That's the thing you'retrying to investigate.
If you start off bydenying the supernatural
you'll never get to whether
or not there's anything supernatural
you've already decided there isn't.
- [Paul] McFarland mentionswhat's known as Pascal's wager.
- If we live as if there is God,
and it turns out therewasn't we've lost nothing,
plus we've lived a goodlife and been happy.
But if you the atheist live this
as if there's not a Godand it turns out there is,
you've lost everything.
So the wise man would wagerthat there might be a God.
- Paul Strand CBN News reporting
from Greensboro, North Carolina.
- Ah the wise men mightwager that there is a God.
The Bible says, "The fool says
in his heart there is no God."
When you examine how do youcreate something out of nothing?
How does that happen?
Well then you come to a conclusion,
well there must be a creator.
