Opinion
By Chuck Norris, World Net Daily
12-30-23
Last week in Part 1, I began the column to tell you how the original Christmas story in the Bible is being intentionally whitewashed and left behind by our secular progressive society and agendas.
An Ipsos national poll revealed that “three-quarters agree that most Americans have forgotten the real meaning of Christmas.” The Pew Research Center further reported that “a declining majority of Americans believe the biblical Christmas story reflects historical events.”
To reveal the historical truths behind Christmas, one must consider the work of Yale Law School-educated, Chicago Tribune investigative journalist and once-atheist Lee Strobel, in his excellent little book, “The Case for Christmas,” which is full of big evidence for the rationale or reason in the reason in the season.
In Part 1, I gave snapshots from scholars Strobel interviewed in answering two of four critical questions to decipher fact from fantasy in the Christmas story:
- Can the biographies of Jesus (in the Bible) be trusted?
- Does archeology confirm or contradict Jesus’ biographies?
- Did Jesus fulfill the attributes of God?
- Did Jesus match the identity of the Messiah?
Let me now convey how scholars answered Strobel’s latter two questions.
Did Jesus fulfill the attributes of God?
For this question, Strobel interviewed an author and editor of 40 books, Dr. D.A. Carson, who got his doctorate at Cambridge University and is research professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He’s also a Greek scholar.
Dr. Carson explained evidence from Christ’s deity and incarnation to his atonement and miracles, with his resurrection being “the ultimate vindication of his identity” (p. 57). Dr. Carson noted how Christ repeatedly attributed to himself qualities or attributes reserved only for God, especially the act of being able to forgive sin. He wasn’t merely claiming to be a good moral man or teacher, but the Son of God – the very essence of God in human flesh. To differ with that claim is not merely to disagree with mainstream scholarship consensus, but Jesus himself. This puts him head and tail above all the other religious leaders in human history.
In fact, Dr. Edwin Yamauchi, professor emeritus of History for over 40 years at Miami University, concluded: “To argue each of these [world religious] leaders is equivalent is to argue not from tolerance, but from ignorance. … In comparing Jesus with Zoroaster, Buddha, Socrates and Muhammad, we discover a number of unique features in Jesus’ life and ministry: (1) Only Jesus came out of a culture that was already monotheistic; (2) His death by crucifixion; (3) Excluding later legend in other religious leaders, early accounts attribute miracles only to Jesus; (4) Only Jesus spoke on his own unquestioned authority; (5) Only Jesus predicted he would be resurrected after his death, and only his followers rest their faith on such an event; (6) Only Jesus claimed equality with a sole, supreme deity.”
From Jesus’ miracles to acts of forgiveness, Jesus stands on a shelf all alone, set apart as one of the most influential – if not the most influential – life ever lived in human history. His influence has shaped nearly everything in Western civilization, including art, literature, architecture, governments, culture, countries and even our very calendar (B.C. for “Before Christ” and A.D. for the Latin, Anno Domini – “In the year of our Lord”). And he continues to change the hearts and minds of millions of his followers who are called Christians, including my wife, Gena, and me.
Did Jesus match the identity of the Messiah?
To understand if Jesus was the awaited Messiah expected by Judaism, Strobel turned to someone who was raised in a Jewish home, attended a Jewish synagogue and personally wrestled through the claims of Christ. Louis Lapides earned two master’s degrees in Old Testament and Semitics from Talbot Theological Seminary and is the former president of a national network of 15 messianic congregations.
Early into Lapides’ inquiries into Jesus, he was startled to find aspects about his life and ministry that matched Old Testament verses foretelling the coming of One greater than Moses hundreds of years before Jesus was even born. Scholars call those messianic prophecies.
Though hundreds of such predictions exist in the Jewish Scriptures, Lapides was stunned by how Jesus fulfilled more than four dozen major predictions. They included things one couldn’t fabricate or orchestrate, such as a virgin birth in Bethlehem, originating from the lineage of the tribe of Judah and house of David, performing many miracles, being betrayed, killed by piercing in the hands and feed (despite crucifixion wasn’t a form of death penalty at the time), and whose body would see no decay (resurrection), etc. (p. 77).
Strobel’s notes that, “As Lapides progressed through the Scriptures, he was stopped cold by Isaiah 53” about God’s suffering servant. He added, “Instantly Lapides recognized the portrait: this was Jesus of Nazareth!” (p. 76).
Lapides went on to explain that the odds of just eight messianic prophecies being fulfilled in Jesus were astronomical. Strobel concurred, recollecting his own research as an atheist when he discovered the same statistical analysis by mathematician Peter W. Stoner, who “estimated that the probability of fulfilling 48 prophecies was one chance in a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion!” (p. 82).
It’s no surprise that C.S. Lewis – the great Oxford scholar, writer of the Narnia series and someone who was also once an avid atheist – wrote in his now timeless classic “Mere Christianity”: “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a good moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great moral teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
And for those who might think religious belief is obsolete in our modern era, Lewis also had a good word and reminder: “We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.”
Jesus proved who He was to give us assurance that what the shepherds experienced 2,000 years ago on the Bethlehem hills was true. In this scripture passage, they were watching sheep in their pastures when an angel appeared to them. As many people in the Bible reacted when angels showed up, the shepherds were frightened, so the angel said, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:10-12).
As you turn into a new year, remember that there are no greater resolutions we can make than spiritual ones. If you have questions about how to take the steps to peace with God, please go online to http://peacewithgod.org.
And if you want to read more about Christmas evidence, I encourage you to start by picking up Lee Strobel’s “The Case for Christmas,” or you can watch Strobel himself detail the proofs in a CCN public speech he gave posted here on YouTube.
Speaking of inspirational videos, I can’t complete this Christmas column without recommending you also view a timeless Christmas classic: President Reagan back in 1981 giving his Christmas address from the Oval Office. It is among his best orations on faith and Christmas – one we may never hear again unless we elect another leader in his legacy.
From my wife, Gena, myself and our whole household, we wish you the merriest of Christmases and the happiest of New Years with the greatest of God’s blessings!
Link to World Net Daily: The case for Christmas, Part 2 (wnd.com)
The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida.
