Evidence that Demands a Verdict I. [antikvár]

FOREWORD Is Christianity credible? Is there an intellectual basis for faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of Ck)d? Scholars throughout the centuries, as well as millions of students and older adults, would answer such questions with a resounding, "Yes!" That is what Evidence That Demands a Verdict, by Josh McDowell, is all about. Since 1964, Josh has served as a traveling representative with Campus Crusade for Christ International. Five million students and professors on more than 539 campuses in 53 countries have been enlightened, encouraged, helped and challenged by the inspired witness of Josh McDowell. His experience in speaking to student gatherings — large rallies and small, plus classroom lectures and hundreds of counseling sessions, plus a magna cum laude degree from Talbot Theological Seminary and his extensive research on the historical evidences of the Christian faith — have qualified Josh to speak and write with authority on the credibility of Christianity. A lawyer once asked Jesus: "Sir, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?" To which He replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. This is the first and greatest commandment." God created man with the ability to think, to acquire knowledge and to discern truth. God wants us to use our minds. The apostle Peter admonishes, "Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to every one who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you. For this reason, the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ has always given a special emphasis to training Christians how to experience and share the abundant, exciting life which is available to all who place their trust in Jesus Christ Leadership Training Institutes, Lay Institutes for Evangelism, Institutes of Biblical Studies and other training programs have helped hundreds of thousands be prepared to give valid, convincing, historical, documented reasons for their faith in Jesus Christ In my own experience of more than 28 years of sharing the good news of the Savior with the academic world, I personally have never heard a single individual — who has honestly considered the evidence — deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of men. The evidence confirming the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ is overwhelmingly conclusive to any honest, objective seeker after truth. However, not all — not even the majority — of those to whom I have spoken have accepted Him as their Savior and Lord. This is not because they were unable to believe — they were simply unwilling to believe! For example, a brilliant but confused psychiatrist who came to Arrowhead Springs for counsel frankly confessed to me that he had never been willing to consider honestly the claims of Christ in his own life for fear that he would be convinced and, as a result, would have to change his way of life. Other well-known professing atheists, including Aldous Huxley and Bertrand Russell, have refused to come to intellectual grips with the basic historical facts concerning the birth, life, teachings, miracles, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Those who have, such as C. S. Lewis and C. E. M. Joad, have found the evidence so convincing that they have accepted the verdict that Jesus Christ truly is who He claimed to be — and who others have believed Him to be — the Son of God and their own Savior and Lord.