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Roll the Bones

Ever been talking to someone about your faith in Christ when suddenly he or she throws a stumper question at you?

"How did Noah get all those animals on the boat?"

"Isn't the Bible just a bunch of stories?"

"Don't all religions basically teach the same thing?"

Then you are faced with a choice: either follow doubting Thomas down the Bible trivia bunny trail, or try and keep the main thing the main thing.

What is the main thing?

Jesus. J-E-S-U-S. Alpha and Omega. Beginning and End.

Aren't those other questions important? Sure, but there's plenty of time later for stuff like that. Many times those questions are just a convicted soul running interference anyway.

So what if they ask a question about the main thing? Something like- "How do you know Jesus even exists?"

That, my friend, is not a bunny trail. That is not only a question, but the question. If Christ never existed, then (obviously) He never died and rose from the dead. If that never happened, we are the stupidest folks who ever got out of bed in the morning.

But we don't need to worry about that: because He did exist, live a perfect life, die a sacrificial death, and rise victorious over sin to provide a way back to God. Listen to the words of a man who died for believing in these real claims:

And if Christ was not raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your trust in God is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God, for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave, but that can't be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless, and you are still under condemnation for your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ have perished! And if we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world. (I Corinthians 15:14-19)

Paul's whole case rested on the faith and facts, not faith alone. If Jesus really lived and did what the Bible said, then that trumps all other religious claims. The problem is that not everyone is aware of that, or they have been lied to by parents and/or a perverted public education about the real story of Jesus.

Well here's the good news folks- this past month secular science has unearthed what might be the most important Biblical archaeological find in all of history! I won't bore you too much with the details, but here is a summary:

When people in Jesus' time period died, they would often put their bones in a box and write their name on it. This past month, there was a particular box dug up that had this on it:

"James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus."

So what? Well, the long and short of it is that with the combination of these three names on one box coming from that time period, there is pretty much no doubt that a man named Jesus lived, and must have been pretty famous to get His name on his brother's bone box.

To me this means two things:

  1. If and when you have doubts about your faith, stand firm! This is just another validation that our faith rests in solid historical proof, even though people have been trying to disprove it for 2000 years! The deeper we dig into the dirt of history, the more proof of Christianity will rise to the surface. Remember that the foundation of your faith is built on facts, not feelings.
  2. Get the news out! This is a big story folks, so if you are looking for a way to bring up the subject of the gospel- you might as well give this one a try! At the very least you may get people thinking about what is truly important.

So who would have thought that a 20" bone box would rock the world 2000 years later? And who also would have thought that God could use simple people like us to get the good news out?

Questions:

  1. What impact does this discovery have on your view of Christ/Christianity?
  2. What impact do you think will it have on your unsaved friends and family?
  3. How do you think the unsaved world will try to kill and 'bury' this story?