Worth your soul.

“I am just too busy with life to do the research Jesus guy.” That’s ultimately what I thought would be the biggest reason why people have not looked into the scientific, historical, and reasonable proof for Jesus that exists everywhere. That would make sense to me. If you live in America, you’re probably working the typical 9 to 5, involved with hiking with your friends on the weekends, preparing for an upcoming marathon, expanding your consulting business on the side, oh, and how could I forget? At some point, you have to find the time to take care of your basic human needs. So, I do get busyness being the reason as to why you would not want to look into this Jesus guy.

When I went on a quest to determine what I believe, I had two questions I wanted to answer. 1) Is there more reliable evidence that proves or disproves the existence of God? 2) If God exists, which religion got it right? I was pleasantly surprised it did not take nearly as long to find answers as one would assume. You can easily gain access to The Dead Sea Scrolls, the reference to Jesus in Tacitus’s Annals, and see the reports written about why the swoon theory obviously fails. If you want to talk about the Internet filtering your searches, it is much more difficult to find recent scientific and historical pieces that further prove the Bible because why on earth would we ever want Christianity to be true?

But my point is, it does not nearly take as long as you may think and there is a good amount of evidence even if the more recent findings are well-hidden. Since it does not take long, that’s also why I push diving into this research. Let me emphasize too that I want you to find objective evidence. There is no agenda. This is not me trying to only push Bible-affirming pieces of proof down your way. Though I deeply hope you find what I found and that we come to the same conclusion, this is about seeking truth. If there is a God and the most important question you will have to answer is Who is God and what do you think about Him?

Christians, even you, do you really want to answer that by saying, “Jesus is Lord who died for my sins and rose from the dead because that’s what my parents believe and so, that’s what I believe I guess.? As I continue to look into the research that exists, the start of the universe is actually one of the greatest reasons as to why I believe there is a God who exists. Biology and DNA are actually more on your side than you think, Christians. The same is true for logic and math. You actually cannot properly define good or evil without God. Seek the moral law argument.

Yet as I’ve more recently thought about it, maybe people do not want to seek objective truth because they do not want to know if Christianity is true. It’s worth it to stay ignorant. It’s much more comfortable living in a way that does not have to answer to God. Maybe that is what is stopping people. I’ve listened to several atheistic perspectives and I’ve noticed some scholars will go to whatever extent they need to just to ensure that logic, morality, or anything else cannot point to a God, including justifying cannibalism.

The Christian God does not force you to love Him or else that would not be love. God is clear about salvation and we see through evidence that He has made Himself known throughout generations. God allows you to make your choice about what you think about Him. You have the choice to examine the evidence that exists so shoving facts, numbers, and philosophy down your throat would be pointless. That said, I still stand by what I say and I highly encourage you to look at what is out there. This is not like choosing between Pepsi and diet Pepsi, but this is choosing between water and poison. Truly I tell you, this is a matter of life or death especially if one of these religions got it right. That’s why this matters. Your life matters.

Lovingly I ask you, is it worth your soul? If your reasoning for staying ignorant is because you do not want to answer to God, I think you’re missing the whole point of Christianity and I would invite you to read the Bible. Well, I know you’re busy, so maybe listen to the Bible on your commute to work. Give Jesus a chance. If your reasoning for staying ignorant is because you think following God inevitably creates a life without fun, I would say you’re missing the point. If you’re reasoning for not following God is because either you’re already living in an earthy hell or earthy heaven, you’re also missing the point. This is not what Christianity is about. Be careful not to rule out Christianity just because you do not have enough information about it. Be careful not to rule out Christianity just because you read one verse rather than the whole text. Be careful not to rule out Christianity just because schools have hidden the evidence that points to Jesus.

I openly admitted to a friend that I was suffering from something that was destroying me. I was hurt when the response I received was, “Yeah, I’ve known the whole time, but I did not want to tell you.” Hiding me from the painful truth seemed like the better decision in her eyes because she did not want to come off as rude. I’m not solely picking on her as I do the same thing and maybe so do you. It’s almost better to stay silent and let someone figure it out themselves even if it takes forever.

Though we all, or maybe just I, need to do a much better job at being slow to speak and quick to listen, there are times where we need to speak up. It’s not loving for me to shield you from the truth to protect our friendship. I do not have forever and neither do you. If this Jesus guy is who He claimed to be, it’s time to repent and give your life to Christ. It is not worth eternal damnation to protect the temporary happiness you will face during this time on earth. It’s not worth it. Your soul is irrevocably more valuable than that. All I encourage is for you to face what evidence may be out there because who is God and what do you think about Him matters.

Admittedly if Christianity is true, the scariest part to it is there is an eternal hell that exists. I’m not going to hide that from you. The Bible clearly says that we have all committed sins and the wages of our sins is death (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23), but the story does not end there. If Christianity is true that means all sixty-six books of the Bible are true. This means Jesus died for the sins of this world. If we believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose again and we believe that Jesus is Lord, we will be saved (Romans 10:9). For it is not by our works nor what we do that gets us into Heaven, but our faith alone. If Jesus is who He claimed to be, we can taste what true freedom actually looks like. If Christianity is true though that means God’s wrath is real, so is His grace. If Christianity is true that means you know exactly what you need to do to receive His free gift of salvation. That’s why this matters.

My greatest hope is that you come to know Christ but truthfully more than that is I want you to know what evidence exists. I want you to see what proves and disproves different belief systems. I want you to read the Bible, not just that one controversial passage. I want you to explore the evidence that may have been hidden from you in school. It is worth your soul to find out what you believe and why you believe it. If one of these religions turns out to be true, it matters.