Why Believe in Jesus Christ?

“EVEN many people who are not Christians believe that He was a great and wise teacher. He was certainly one of the most influential people who ever lived.” (The World Book Encyclopedia) Who is “He”? Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity.

In spite of what the encyclopedia says, however, to hundreds of millions of people in the Orient and elsewhere, Jesus Christ is a stranger, just a name they may remember from high-school textbooks. Even in the churches of Christendom, there are theologians and clergymen who say that we really do not know Jesus and cast doubt on the genuineness of the four extant accounts of his life (the Gospels) found in the Bible.

Could the Gospel writers have forged the life story of Jesus? Not at all! The well-known historian Will Durant, after analyzing those Gospel accounts, wrote: “That a few simple men should in one generation have invented so powerful and appealing a personality, so lofty an ethic and so inspiring a vision of human brotherhood, would be a miracle far more incredible than any recorded in the Gospels. After two centuries of Higher Criticism the outlines of the life, character, and teaching of Christ, remain reasonably clear, and constitute the most fascinating feature in the history of Western man.”

Still, there are those who would dismiss Jesus Christ as unworthy of their attention because of what his professed followers have done. ‘They dropped an atom bomb on Nagasaki,’ some in Japan would say. ‘And Nagasaki had more Christians than most cities in Japan.’ But can you blame a physician for a patient’s illness if the patient fails to follow the doctor’s guidance? Most people claiming to be Christians have long ignored Jesus’ prescription for overcoming mankind’s ills. Yet, Jesus gave the remedy for our day-to-day problems as well as for the afflictions of mankind worldwide. That is why we invite you to read the following article and see for yourself what kind of man he was.