This section should take about 8 to 10 minutes when played without stopping. Topic Continued. Why Should I Believe in Jesus. Part 2. The Evidence of Impact on Other Religions: Several major world religions made a place for Jesus in their set of beliefs after Christianity became popular. It is not necessarily the Jesus portrayed in the Bible, but it indicates Jesus had an impact. Hinduism became inclusive of Jesus by changing His theological persona to fit with existing Hindu theology and religion. Hindus accept Jesus as a real being, who existed on earth as an avatar of divine origin and meaning. They have great respect for Jesus in this context, though it is obviously far from the biblical Christian way of thinking. Islam depicts Jesus as their coming messiah and a great prophet. Again, it is not the Jesus of the biblical Trinity, but a lesser Jesus contrived humanly, just as the Quran's stories of His birth were creatively altered from the original accounts. However, Islam recognizes Jesus was born of a virgin, performed miracles, had twelve disciples, and was raised into heaven. Perhaps Mohammed had a great respect for Jesus and understood a form of Christianity, but wanted to create a religion for his special culture. To me it is sad Mohammed left out the very center of the good news that Jesus died on the cross to save us from sin and give eternal life to each person who believes in Him as their personal Savior. I point out the differences not to engender strife, but to underline the impact of Jesus on the world, even on the second and third largest religious groups. Let's take a quick detour, and return momentarily to show mathematically, how the majority of people on earth, believe Jesus exists. I am not naive to the negative aspects, in which satan can manipulate counterfeit teachings, to lead people away from the truth, and can even stir up jihadists to persecute Christians in mass numbers. However, not enough Christians see the future positives, in which God may have moved in other religions, to include some endearing aspects about Jesus. It is not out of the question when I look at this as potentially, God providing an opportunity to impact the adherents of these religions bringing them closer to openness about a truer understanding of our Savior. To group the inclusion of a positive view of Jesus in other religions to add to our evidence, we could add 3.2 billion to the 2.4 billion I mentioned for Jesus followers, summing to 5.6 billion. In other words, that is a lot of people who believe that Jesus exists. It is the majority of people on earth. Would a person be blind not to admit that Jesus has made a big splash in history and world culture? It is evidence of why people should believe in Him, the real Jesus of the Bible. I must I must show some respect to the major world religions, knowing that some of the ways of including Jesus involved sincerity for different mindsets to embrace Jesus as they saw Him fitting with their cultures. Of course, they were remiss in stripping out the central and crucial messages of salvation by faith in Jesus, His atoning work on the cross, and His resurrection. Evidence in Historical Documentation of the Existence of Jesus Much history related evidence points to the reality of Jesus. An example of an, historical proof, is that of Flavius Joe Seefuss, spelled j o s e p h u s:. He was a foremost historian of the first century, and was not a follower of Jesus. His writing, that was most considered to validate, the historicity of Jesus, is when he wrote:. "Festus, was now dead, and Albinus, was but upon the road; so he assembled the Sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them, the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others:. And when he had formed an accusation against them, as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned:. but as for those who seemed the most equitable of the citizens, and such as were the most uneasy, at the breach of the laws, they disliked what, was done. They also sent to the king, [Agrippa], desiring him to send to Ananus, that he should act so, no more:. for that what he had already done, was not to be justified;":. The source of this quote is found in Joe Seefuss Antiquities 20.9.1; It was written about James, the brother of Jesus, on His mother's side. James wrote the book of James in the New Testament. This passage is the earliest, non Christian, historical documentation, of Jesus "called Christ", appearing authentic too scholars. It is considered to have been written in 93 to 94 AD. Joe Seefuss also recorded other accounts, coinciding with the New Testament. For example, here is his account of King Herod and John the Baptist, both contemporaries of Jesus and New Testament figures: "Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army, came from God, as a just punishment of what Herod had done against John, who was called the Baptist. For Herod had killed this good man, who had commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God. For only thus, in John's opinion, would the baptism he administered, be acceptable to God, namely, if they used it to obtain, not pardon for some sins, but rather the cleansing of their bodies, inasmuch as it was taken for granted, that their souls had already been purified, by justice. Now the Jews thought that the destruction of his army was sent as a punishment upon Herod, and a mark of God's displeasure with him.'' - Joe Seefuss Antiquities 18.116-119. These accounts by Joe Seefuss correlate historically with Bible passages. Joe Seefuss added insight about the political aspects and Herod's suspicious temper. These additions, are from Joe Seefuss's own interpretation of the occurences. They may have been true, while not not reflecting the biblical insight about John's imprisonment and death. However, they support the New Testament accounts that John the Baptist was truly an historical figure, a preacher of righteousness, imprisoned, and put to death in the time frame biblically depicted. Original disciples of Jesus were still alive at the time Joe Seefuss wrote. Personally, I am sure New Testament writers like Luke, an historian himself and a doctor, are just as credible, and wrote their history earlier than Joe Seefuss. Mathew, Mark, and John wrote first hand accounts. Bible writers James and Jude are both traditionally considered the half brothers of Jesus because Jesus was born by a virgin impregnated miraculously by God, the Holy Spirit. Joe Seefuss was the earliest and most respected non Christian historian validating the presence of Jesus, his followers, and his influence on earth. More historians, archeologists, and scholars later added creedence to the historicity of Jesus. The Evidence of Apologetics Since the time of Jesus until now, much has been learned and written showing evidence and persuasive cases for becoming a born again Christian by believing in Jesus as your Savior. In fact, a whole genre of writing is devoted to it, and is called ''Christian apologetics''. It has no relation to our word ''apology'' in modern terms. ''Apology'', in ancient times, meant a case to support a fact. For example, a lawyer's case on behalf of his client was called an apology. If you do a search for ''Christian Apologetics'' in your favorite book sales website, you should find many to choose from of the popular variety, and a number that border on scholarly apologetics. More serious scholarly books are found in the libraries and bookstores of Christian theological seminaries and universities. In books on apologetics, you will find a seemingly endless array of evidence and persuasive ideas leading an engaged reader toward acceptance of Jesus. What Are Not Good Reasons for Believing? So many good reasons exist to believe in Jesus. We can focus on all of them. In fact, that is what I am hoping people will try to do. Even though there are less than good reasons to believe in Jesus, sometimes God's grace can cut through to show us that even though a decision to believe might seem foolish or negative, it wasn't all bad if it worked! For instance, my most immediate reason for believing in Jesus, was so that I could play guitar when the Christian band took a break. It was at Corona Del Mar beach in Southern California. I was in my own band at sixteen years old, named Pegasus, and the band members had been invited to go to a concert at the beach. The band we saw was named Agape, an evangelistic Christian hard rock group. When they took a break, I had an idea. Talking to my band members, I told them I could ask the band's manager if we could jam during the intermission if they were interested. They agreed. Some other people were listening on the beach as we talked. One was a singer we'd never met, and he volunteered as well. So I approached the manager, and asked if we could jam with the group's instruments. He asked me if I had asked Jesus into my heart. At that split second, I said Yes! Simultaneously I was asking Jesus into my heart. Were my motives pure? Three days before, I had attended a young person's ''Christian Party'' at a home near the park I frequented. When I entered, there were perhaps twenty five young people sitting around chatting, mostly about Jesus. The place had a sweet feeling in the air. The lady who lived there asked me, ''Have you received Jesus Christ into your heart as your personal Lord and Savior? The room quieted. I responded with something like, ''I didn't know I could do that''. Then people started telling me about Jesus. I felt like the focal point of their activities for the rest of the night, and some of it was quite unpleasant as people started arguing with me. As the party came to a close, one of the young men asked if I needed a ride home. I was thankful because I had walked there. We got in his Volkswagen Beetle and drove the two miles to my place. Before I got out, he handed me a small pamphlet and asked me to reed it. I thanked him for the ride, went inside and red the pamphlet. It was called ''This Was Your Life.'' It was quite gripping, and at the end it quoted Jesus saying, ''Behold I stand at the door and knock: if anyone hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me.'' At that moment, I felt Jesus as an intense energy beaming into my chest, as if to say ''I am at the door of your heart. Will you let me in? It was a little scary. For selfish reasons, I ignored it and went to bed. So three days later at the beach, it felt like I was being asked the same question that had recently been asked twice before. This time I said yes, and I meant it, but my decision was in the split second when I had time to respond. The manager asked me to make sure we sing about Jesus. So my group, along with the volunteer vocalist, took the instruments and played extemporaneously for about fifteen minutes, singing about Jesus. Then the band was done with their break. They came back and played their next set. At the end, their manager got up and gave an exhilarated message about accepting Jesus as personal Lord and Savior. He then asked everyone to bow their heads and pray as he led us through the prayer to become saved. This time, I took my time and sincerely asked Jesus into my heart for good. I saw a short vision of the face of Jesus as I did. When the prayer was over, I knew I was born again. Then as I talked to my band members, I found out one of them, our bass player, had also became a believer. He had come to the party three days before as well, if I recall correctly, but arrived after I left. Both of us are still born again and walking with Jesus after all the decades. I think God used my passion for guitar and the fun of playing in front of people, to finish the process He started the previous Wednesday night. It had been subtly returning to my mind for three days. I'm certain God's motives were pure. I'm just not so sure about mine, but on the beach in Coronal Del Mar, my sins were forgiven and washed away. I was a new person. Getting back to the question of this sub section, ''What Are Not Good Reasons for Believing?'', the answer is this. Any reason, no matter how questionable, that results in starting a life long loving relationship with Jesus as Savior, is a good reason. When it comes to telling people why they should believe in Jesus as their Savior, it is pointless to resort to negativity, such as scaring them about Hell, brow beating them, imposing peer pressure, arguing with them out of anger, hard sales tactics, or threatening to cut off their allowance (if they are your kids). The gospel of Jesus Christ is 100% positive. We will soil it if we resort to anything less. Website Theme: All You Need to Do To Be Saved is Believe in Jesus Christ as Your Savior. He Has Already Done the Work to Earn Your Entry into Heaven. To continue to the next Topic, Who is Jesus Christ as related to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, please click the link below.