I am a Christian, which means that I believe that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way a person can get to heaven. Since we live in a pluralistic society, that seems like a rather elitist statement to make. People who disagree with that statement typically have three questions:

1. How_do_we_know_there_even_is_a_God?
2. What_makes_the_Bible_different from any other religious book, such as the Koran, the Hindu Vedas, etc.?
3. Why_should_we_believe_Jesus’ opinion on how to get to heaven over anyone else’s, such as Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius, etc.?

These are all good questions, and in this next section, I will do my best to answer them.

Many people who have answered this question use a philosophical approach. Some are better than others. For those who want to read an easy-to-understand philosophical argument on this subject, I recommend the book Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. I want to take a different approach. In my opinion, the proof that God exists can be summarised in one word: ISRAEL.

In Genesis 12:2 and 17:7, God promised Abraham that He would make of him "a great nation" through a covenant that would be "everlasting." Clearly, this meant that the people of that nation would endure forever as a people. We know, of course, that the people in question were the Jewish people, who settled in the land of Israel.

The history of the Jews is truly unique and completely without parallel in human history. Consider the following brief history:

• Around 1400 BC, the Jews conquered the land of Israel and occupied it.
• Between 722 BC and 586 BC, they were conquered and taken into captivity, first by the Assyrians, then by the Babylonians.
• Starting in 516 BC, many of the Jews returned from captivity and reoccupied the land. However, they continued to be subjected to foreign oppression by the Greeks, then later through such tyrants as Antiochus Epiphanes, and finally were ruled by the Romans.
• In 70 AD, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, and in 135 AD, the Jews were completely driven out of their homeland and scattered across the face of the earth.
• For nearly 1,800 years, the Jews had no land to call their own and were scattered in countries all across the globe. Yet during all this time, they managed to avoid assimilation and endure as a distinct people with their own language, religion, and heritage.
• Starting with the Zionist movement of the late 1800s and culminating with the UN partition in 1948, the Jews eventually returned to the VERY SAME land they had occupied TWO MILLENNIA ago, and were reborn as a sovereign nation! Since then, they have fought three major wars (1948 War for Independence, 1967 Six Day War, 1973 Yom Kippur War) and have defeated their enemies against the most impossible military odds.

Is there any other ethnic group in the annals of human history that has been conquered by foreign empires, driven out of its homeland, been isolated for nearly 2,000 years, and has still survived as a distinct people and then RETURNED to its original land? There is not one! All other civilisations that have ever been conquered—the Aztecs, the Incas, the Assyrians, the Philistines—have either become assimilated into the culture of their conquerors or have completely vanished. Only the Jews have survived all these adversities and have miraculously remained intact as a people. Surely, there must be a God who is keeping His promise to Abraham!

As if this weren’t incredible enough, we also find that many of the Old Testament prophets actually prophesied that Israel would one day return to its homeland. Consider just two such prophecies:

Isaiah 11:11—"In that day the Lord will reach out His hand a SECOND TIME to reclaim the remnant that is left of His people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea."

At the time Isaiah wrote this in the mid-700s BC, Israel hadn’t even been driven out the FIRST TIME under the Assyrian and Babylonian conquests. How could he possibly have known that Israel would be scattered across all those nations a SECOND TIME and would then be "RECLAIMED?" He could only have known this if God revealed it to him.

Jeremiah 30:3,10-11—"‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity and RESTORE THEM TO THE LAND I gave their forefathers to possess,’ says the Lord. ‘So do not fear, O Jacob my servant; do not be dismayed, O Israel,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile…Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you.’"

Again, Jeremiah wrote this in the 600s BC. How could he possibly have seen more than 2,500 years into the future and known that his people would return to their homeland unless God had revealed this to him? We have powerful proof indeed that God does exist.

OK, so maybe there is a God. So what? Why should I believe the Bible’s version of God? Why not believe in Islam’s version, or Hinduism or Buddhism, for that matter? What’s so special about the Bible?

Again, this is a valid question. The Bible claims that only it contains the true revelation of God, and that other revelations are false. Furthermore, it says that it is a book divinely inspired by God. Other sacred writings, by contrast, say that they are just one of many paths to truth, and you can pick and choose from all of them if you want to. Some of them, like the Koran, also claim to be divinely inspired, but not as forcefully as the Bible does. Clearly, then, the Bible is making a very audacious claim, and it better have a really good way to prove such a claim. Guess what? It does!

There is one thing that sets the Bible apart from all other books of sacred writings. It is the only book that is filled with detailed prophecies of future events, and these prophecies have been precisely fulfilled. None of the other sacred writings—the Koran, the Vedas, etc.—ever even attempted to prophesy events far into the future. The Bible is completely unique in this regard. We just looked at two prophecies in Isaiah and Jeremiah concerning the nation of Israel that were written more than TWO MILLENNIA ahead of their fulfilment. But perhaps the most amazing prophecies of future events are found in the book of Daniel.

Daniel was a prophet who lived most of his life during the Babylonian captivity, from 605 BC to 536 BC. In the mid-500s BC, he wrote a prophecy that was absolutely astonishing in its glimpse into the future. Daniel prophesied that there would be four major world empires: Babylon, Media/Persia, Greece, and Rome. He prophesied that these four empires would rise and fall as follows (see Daniel Chapter 8):

• Babylon would be conquered by Media/Persia
• Media/Persia and the rest of the world would be conquered by a great military leader from the Greek empire
• Following the death of this great military leader, his empire would be divided into four parts
• Eventually, the fourfold Greek empire would be conquered by Rome, and Rome would rule the entire world

From history, we now know that Daniel was absolutely right about all of these things:

• Around 538 BC, Babylon was indeed conquered by Media/Persia under the reign of King Cyrus.
• We now know that the great military leader from the Greek empire was none other than Alexander the Great, who conquered the world in 332 BC.
• After Alexander died, his empire did indeed split up into four parts. His four chief military generals—Ptolemy, Lysimachus, Cassander, and Seleucus—each ruled one part of this kingdom.
• Eventually, the Greek Empire declined, and Rome became the dominant empire under the line of the Caesars.

Keep in mind that Daniel wrote all of this in the mid-500s BC. How could he possibly have known these things in such precise detail as much as 400 years before the events took place? Humanly, it is impossible! No one can know the future in such amazing detail. God had to have told these things to Daniel by divine revelation.

Not only do we have this amazing prophecy, we also have the multitude of prophecies pertaining to Jesus Himself. The Old Testament prophets prophesied hundreds of things pertaining to Jesus’ earthly ministry. Here are just a few:

• He would be born of a virgin (prophesied in Isaiah 7:14, fulfilled in Matthew 1:18-23)
• He would be born in Bethlehem (prophesied in Micah 5:2, fulfilled in Luke 2:1-7)
• He would enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey (prophesied in Zechariah 9:9, fulfilled in Matthew 21:1-5, Mark 11:1-7, Luke 19:28-36, and John 12:14-15)
• He would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, and this silver would be cast onto the floor of the temple and used to buy a potter’s field (prophesied in Zechariah 11:11-13, fulfilled in Matthew 26:14-15 and 27:3-10)
• He would not suffer any broken bones during His crucifixion (prophesied in Psalm 34:20, fulfilled in John 19:31-36)
• The soldiers who crucified Him would claim His clothes as souvenirs and collect money for them (prophesied in Psalm 22:18, fulfilled in Matthew 27:35)

A professor of math and statistics, Peter W. Stoner, has calculated what the odds would be for the Old Testament prophets to prophesy all these things by coincidence and for Jesus to fulfil all the prophecies by coincidence (see More than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell). The odds would be roughly equal to filling the entire state of Texas with silver dollar coins to a depth of two feet and then asking a blindfolded person to pick out, on the first attempt, the one coin that had been specially marked! The prophets could not possibly have made up all of these predictions about Christ just by guessing about what might happen and hope that all of these prophecies would be fulfilled. Nor could Jesus have manipulated the circumstances to fulfil these prophecies. He had no control over where He would be born, how much He would be betrayed for, or how He would be physically treated during His crucifixion. God had to have told the prophets these things by divine revelation. Clearly, the Bible shows every indication of genuinely being a divinely inspired book. This makes it completely unique from all other religious writings, and suggests that if we are going to give credence to any religious book, we should choose the Bible over all the others.

OK, so you’ve proved that there is a God, and the Bible is unique from other religious writings. But why should I believe in Jesus as opposed to Mohammed or Confucius or Buddha? Why should I believe that He is the only way to get to heaven after I die? And besides, how do I know there even is a heaven or hell? Maybe after I die, that’s the end, and there is nothing after that.

This is probably the easiest of the three questions to answer. First of all, I think it is fair to say that there are no scientific tools by which we can either prove or disprove the existence of heaven and hell. Since no other human being has ever come back from the other side of death, we cannot use the ordinary tools of science or logic to confirm or refute this question. Therefore, we must rely on the testimony of Someone who is in a position to know such a thing. (This is comparable to the fact that when we study historical events, such as the American Revolutionary War, we rely on the testimony of those who were there at the time the events took place.)

So, how do we know there is a heaven or hell? Because Jesus said there was. Why should we believe Jesus over any other religious leader? All other religious leaders have one thing in common—they’re dead, and you can visit their graves! Jesus is the only person in history who ever died and then came back to life. Thus, He has done something nobody else has ever done: spent three days on the other side of death and come back to tell us what is there. If someone claims to be the only way to get to heaven and PROVES such a claim by being the ONLY person in history to resurrect Himself after He dies, I think we should pay attention to such a person.

At this stage, the sceptic may still have one final objection. How do we know that Jesus really did rise from the dead? How do we know that this part of Christianity isn’t fiction? Below, I list some of the common arguments against the resurrection, as well as evidence for the resurrection, but let me preface that by saying this: If the account of the resurrection is indeed a lie or a hoax, does it not seem very odd and contradictory that Christianity—which places more emphasis than any other religion on truth, honesty, and integrity—would have as the bedrock of its beliefs the biggest lie, the greatest fraud ever perpetrated in human history? Hence, in assessing the veracity of the resurrection account, there are really only two positions one can take concerning it. One option is to conclude that it is a hoax that the early church concocted in order to gain influence. That seems highly unlikely, given what we know about the moral character of Christianity. The other option is to conclude that it is a true account of actual events. If that is the case, then as I said before, this one fact sets Christianity apart from all other religions that have ever existed in the world and lends greater weight to its claims. So then, let us consider the evidence pertaining to this very important question: did Jesus rise from the dead?

I. Jesus did not rise from the dead at all; the disciples made up the story.

1. The first gospel (Matthew) was written about 20 years after the events transpired. If this story were not true, too many people would still be alive who could refute such an outrageous claim.
2. Most of the apostles died as martyrs for preaching the resurrection. It is highly improbable that anyone would die as a martyr for a deliberate hoax that he himself had fabricated.
3. This explanation is unlikely. Reject this theory.

II. The disciples stole the body from the grave and claimed it was empty

1. The tomb of Jesus was guarded by the Roman army (Matthew 27:62-66). History tells us that it was common practice in Rome to appoint a sentry of soldiers to guard the tombs of people executed as treasonous criminals, so that the followers of such an individual could not take the body and venerate it.
2. The disciples were so afraid after the crucifixion, they were hiding in a room behind locked doors in fear of the Jewish leaders (John 20:19).
3. This theory asks us to believe that such cowardly disciples suddenly found enough courage and strength to take on AND VANQUISH the Roman army, then roll away a stone weighing over three tons.
4. These events are improbable. Reject this theory.

III. Jesus did not really die on the cross; he fainted, resuscitated in the tomb, and escaped.

1. When the soldier thrust a sword through Jesus, blood flowed mixed with water (John 19:34). Only recently has medical science shown that this can only happen in a state of death. It occurs when the heart cavity ruptures and collapses. Such scientific information was not known in the first century. Thus, by including this detail, John has unknowingly provided medical evidence that Jesus truly died.
2. Even if the first part of the theory is true, the second part then asks us to believe that a man who had been flogged, beaten, dehydrated, and crucified suddenly had enough strength to roll away such a heavy stone from INSIDE the tomb, vanquish the Roman army, and escape.
3. This theory is absurd in the highest degree and should be rejected.

IV. The women and disciples went to the wrong tomb and claimed it was empty.

1. This is impossible. Jesus was not buried in a public cemetery, but in a private tomb in a private garden (John 19:41).
2. In any case, the Jewish leaders would have wasted no time in finding the right tomb and producing the body.
3. The Jewish leaders’ failure to do so suggests this theory is also wrong.

I. Circumstantial Evidence

1. The first person Jesus appeared to was Mary Magdalene, a former prostitute and demon-possessed woman (Mark 16:9). Also, the disciples did not believe the testimony of Mary and the other women when they told them of the resurrection.
2. The Four Gospels were written in a patriarchal culture. If the writers had wished to invent the story, they would have made it more plausible by having Jesus appear to the men first, and by portraying the men as instantly believing. It would have been outright offensive in that culture to show Jesus as appearing first to a former prostitute, and it was very embarrassing for the disciples to be portrayed as not believing what had happened.
3. The fact that the narrative is recorded this way in spite of the cultural prejudices to the contrary and personal embarrassment to the disciples only makes sense if this is what really happened.

II. Physical Evidence

1. After His resurrection, Jesus did not immediately return to heaven.
2. Jesus remained on the earth for 40 days after the resurrection (Acts 1:3) and was seen by more than 500 people (I Corinthians 15:6)!
3. Such a massive amount of eyewitness testimony would constitute proof beyond a reasonable doubt in ANY court of law.

III. Independent Secondary Attestation

1. Appearances of Jesus’ resurrection are not recorded only in the Gospels.
2. Accounts of His appearance are also recorded by contemporaneous Roman historians including Josephus, Tacitus, Pliny the Elder, and others.

Indeed, we have overwhelming proof that Jesus rose from the dead. That being the case, we should pay attention to His claim that He is the only way to get to heaven.

OK, I admit that the claims of Christianity are true. But I’m afraid that if I become a Christian, I will have to live by a whole bunch of rules in order to please God, and that God sits there ready to zap me anytime I mess up. Besides, how can God, sitting in heaven, know what it is like for us as humans to have to live in this world of suffering?

Here again, Christianity is unique from all other religions. In fact, it is not really accurate to call Christianity a religion; it is more accurate to call it a relationship with Jesus. A religion is man’s attempt to please God by his own efforts. All other religions—Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism—try to control people’s outward behaviour by imposing their respective lists of 1000 do’s and don’ts. But if all you do is impose a lengthy list of rules, you can never change a person on the inside. Christianity recognises that to change a person genuinely, you must change his heart on the inside. Thus, Christianity dispenses with a lengthy list of rules and replaces it with just two commandments:

Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength

Love your neighbours as yourself

Isn’t that amazing? The entire "Code of Conduct" for Christianity is captured in just 15 words! That’s half the length of the Pledge of Allegiance we all learned in school. In fact, those two sentences really aren’t rules at all; they are attitudes. While this may sound very simplistic, the reality is that if you can truly master what it means to live by these two principles, it will have such a profound effect on your life that you will automatically engage in the kinds of behaviour that other religions try to create by their many rules. The secret to mastering these two principles is developing a close relationship with Christ. That is why Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship.

As for the issue of whether God sits there waiting to "zap" us when we mess up, I’ll let Him speak for Himself on this subject. To borrow the title of a book that was written a few years ago, the kingdom of heaven is a party, and this well-known story from Luke 15 shows exactly what God’s attitude toward us is when we mess up:

Now you see why I said that the kingdom of heaven is a party. As Jesus Himself said, "There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

What about the objection that God, sitting in heaven, doesn’t know what it is like for us as humans to live in this world? Ah, but He does! That is the beauty of Christianity; God became one of us and lived as a human being for 33 years! Thus, He knows very well all the struggles and hardships that we humans face. That is why the Bible says, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus experienced all the struggles that we face, and with His help, we can face life’s struggles and overcome them. Now that’s the kind of God that I can relate to!

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