About Christian Belief

If you've got questions about what the Bible says, evidence for Jesus, or what makes someone a Christian, here are some useful resources.

DID JESUS REALLY RISE FROM THE DEAD?

The Bible claims that Jesus was a real person, who lived the life of a normal person of his time, and at about 30 years of age gathered a small group of people around him, and went on the road with some radical teaching about God.  This is where it gets interesting:  Jesus' teaching was backed up with extraordinary miracles, like curing paralysis and lifelong blindness, feeding thousands of people from one small packed lunch, and instantly healing incurable diseases. But Christianity survives or fails over one claim:  that when Jesus was executed as a traitor, he rose to life again - as he predicted he would.  If he didn't, and it was all a hoax maintained by his followers, he was just another guru, albeit one who has had an extraordinary impact on the world history.  But if he did rise again, then we have to take ALL his claims seriously - including his claim that he is God himself. 

JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS - WHAT'S THAT ABOUT? 

It's about forgiveness. Michelle Tepper explains that forgiveness is always costly.  If I can say, I forgive you, and there's no cost to me, then I didn't have much to forgive you for.  But if you hurt me, steal from me, wreck my health, break up my relationship, injure my child... and I can say to you, 'I forgive you', then what is happening is that I am absorbing the cost of what you've done to me, I am not insisting that you pay - not in money, not in guilt, not by being hurt back.  That's what forgiveness is.  When Jesus, who is God, died on the cross, God was absorbing the cost of human rebellion and sin.

THE BIBLE PROJECT

The Bible Project is a non-profit animation studio that produces short-form, fully animated videos to make the biblical story accessible to everyone, everywhere.  Their short videos include introductions to a lot of books of the Bible, explanations of some of the key terms and concepts in the Bible and Christian faith, and more.

How can a good god permit suffering?

Christians claim that God is good, all knowing, all powerful and just.  How is it that we live in a world where injustice and suffering exist?  These are couple of takes on this knotty topic.