Three Minute Drill Extended--RAMP
Sometimes we get an extended version of the three minute drill discussed earlier. This may not be suitable to a final death bed scenario, but we often face people for the last time. Make good use of very opportunity.
A second answer may be that they think that they will get a second chance after they die. That, again is quickly answered with the same logic. The Bible says that there is no second chance. If I, and the Bible are wrong, and there is a second chance, both of us are again in the same boat, but for good this time. I will not need the second chance, and you can make it. But, if you are wrong, and there is no second chance, then this is the only chance we have. Why risk it? If you choose now, you win either way.
The answer of not believing in God (Jesus) or the Bible can be answered fairly quickly in more extended circumstances than our three minute drill. “I don’t believe in God, or Jesus, or the Bible. There is no reason to do so.”
The final statement is crucial in the argumentative process. If they simply refuse to believe, period, there is no reason to debate. They are adamant and at this point, it is probably not possible to “alienate” them. I have a test to determine that state.
(Not quotes from here on, but it is the argument.) You do not believe in God. Is that because you do not know the evidence for the existence of God, or you do know it and refuse to accept it? In other words, are you ignorant or stupid? (This is the extreme end of the argument. Smile when you say it, and go on the explanation quickly.)
IF you don’t know the evidence, are ignorant of it, I can provide a four prong argument in a few minutes to prove that God, and Jesus exist and the Bible is true. If you refuse to accept the evidence after it is presented, then you are refusing truth or fact or reality. That is not a smart position for a rational, thinking person.
May I go on? There are four phases of this argument for God. They are explained by the word, RAMP. R is for resurrection. A is for archaeology. M is for manuscripts. And P is for prophesy. These four combine to produce a compelling case to believe.
R is for resurrection. Only one belief system in the world hinges on the death and resurrection of its major teacher or leader. In fact all of the leaders have died, except for some new ones springing up. But their leader will also die and join the parade of dead leaders. Except for one.
Jesus came to earth, lived and died, and came back to life. He even predicted that He would do so. That singular incident in history sets Him apart from every other belief concept. All of the others celebrate the tomb of their dear departed leader. None of them claim that he is alive, in any other sense than a spiritual one. Jesus is alive and that is the distinctive that no other sect or belief even approaches.
The proof or documentation of this is critical and foundational in any consideration of the God, Jesus, and Bible question. Some claim that the resurrection of Jesus was fabricated or is merely a myth perpetrated to transform Him into a deity. Nothing persuades like evidence.
First, there were eye witnesses to His being alive after being dead. (Incidentally, let’s just spike the gun that “he swooned and recovered.” The Romans were adept killers. The final thrust through the side punctured the heart and death was demonstrated by the effluvium from the wound. Medically, a critically injured body subjected to the conditions of the tomb would get worse and result in lingering, inevitable death. A sedative may have been administered surreptitiously to mimic death, but the spear thrust into the heart circumvented that attempt to cheat the cross.)
We will discuss the documentation later, but for now will consider the witnesses. (This is apocryphal from Jim. You can skip down three paragraphs to “The Marys” if you want to stick with Biblical facts.) I think the soldiers saw Him first. The fact that they went to the religious leaders instead of or before going to their commander makes me think that they knew something extraordinary, even supernatural, had occurred.
Jesus did not need the stone to be removed. It was moved so that the witnesses could get into the tomb. The earthquake may have accompanied the angel moving the stone. Roman soldiers did not sleep on duty. But even if they did, imagine the dim light of dawn breaking and they see “something.”
Think Jesus greeted them? “Top o the morning to ya, boys!” He would not have ignored them. He had good news! They took off like the proverbial bats out of a hot spot (not free internet access) and went to the only logical place to get an explanation. The temple. I think that the four (probably) of them saw Jesus.
The Marys saw the empty tomb. Peter and John did too. Mary M talked to Jesus. The two guys on the road to Emmaus did too. (Luke 24) They started to eat dinner with Him before recognizing Him.
Then they hightailed it back to Jerusalem to the ten remaining disciples (since Thomas was gone). Then Jesus met them there. Paul clears it up for us in 1 Corinthians 15. He included a group of 500 who saw Him simultaneously.
Now before you trot out the “eye witnesses are notoriously fallible” objection, notice the extreme number. There were at least 515 eye witnesses. Not much chance for mass hallucination there.
In fact, one commentator suggested that the resurrection of Jesus was the best documented event in ancient history. Others have extended that comparison up to at least the 1700's but let’s not get greedy. We will address the documentation later, but suffice it to say, that the proof that Jesus rose from the dead is more believable than that Pilate ever lived. Or even Julius Caesar. If you deny Jesus is alive, you cannot logically or reasonably accept the inferior proof of any other event in history until at least the end of the middle ages.
And out of those witnesses, particularly the disciples, none ever recanted their story. Now it is possible for someone who THINKS something is true to die for it. But for someone who KNOWS something is false, to die for it is pretty far fetched. And for a large number of these knowing false witnesses, even just 12 if we restrict it to the apostles and Paul, to maintain the fabrication in the face of persecution and death is unbelievable.
All of them except John died for their participation in the story. And John did suffer tremendously, even though short of death. Yet in the AD 90's, when he would have been at least 80 years old, he was still pretty convinced that what he saw was true. Read the three Johns and Revelation. The chance of false doctrines creeping into these records is virtually impossible. The record is compelling. Jesus did rise from the dead.
R–Resurrection. A is for archaeology. We will focus on Biblical archaeology and pinpoint the manuscript evidence for Jesus in the M discussion.
Archaeology has unearthed literally millions of artifacts that verify the Biblical account of events and personnel from Genesis on. An archaeologist named William F. Albright was determined to prove the Bible wrong and was one of the first professionals to begin searching Biblical archaeology. Much to his surprise, and our benefit, everything that he uncovered verified the Biblical accounts. He became a believer.
And since the early 1900's enormous amounts of time and resources have been directed to excavating Biblical sites. And every one, every one of the discoveries has verified the Bible. There has not been one verified contradiction. Here are a couple of easy ones.
One I like best, is the argument, probably long forgotten now, that Moses could not have written the first five books of the Bible, because the Egyptian culture of that time did not have a written language. Boom! Did that argument ever blow up in someone’s face.
I also like Darius, the Mede. There is still some controversy about him, but even the fact of his existence was doubted, despite the fact that Daniel named him. Archaeological evidence confirmed that there WAS a Darius the Mede during Daniel’s time. We just do not know exactly who he was. The name was possibly a title, like Pharaoh, instead of his given name. Don’t confuse him with the Darius who was ruling during the time of Ezra. But I digress.
Archaeology has not uncovered one item that contradicts the Bible. But has literally produced train loads of confirmation for events and people.
Manuscripts give us the M. This will also support some of the earlier comments. Manuscripts are important, because we do not have an original copy of any ancient historical work. So how far from the original is the copy that we have? Or how many times has it been copied, with a chance to introduce variations?
Many arguments about the veracity of the accounts of Jesus being alive, the miracles He preformed, and the things He said are based upon this “drift” in the manuscript theory. This is true for the major ancient writers. Copies of Plato’s works are dated over 1200 years after he wrote them. Aristotle is over 1400 years. Julius Caesar has a 900 year gap. For all we know, Julie C was a household slave who wrote fanciful, imaginary novels about himself and they got interpreted into history. (Probably not, but you get the point.)
But the manuscripts about Jesus, mainly the four Gospels, are separated by only decades in some cases from the originals. No full manuscripts exist that early, but fragments do, and the earliest full manuscripts are from about AD 130-150. And these are copies, so the originals had to predate them. It is quite possible that some of the original witnesses had communicated to their descendants these stories and the manuscripts verified them.
For instance, assume someone claims that John F. Kennedy survived and recovered from his wounds in Dallas. JFK wrote a memoir and added the chapter to his “Profiles in Courage.” I would object to this because I was here in 1963 and he did not survive. I did not personally examine his body, but I have heard witnesses who did. He did not get out of Dallas alive. Anyone who claims that would be contradicted immediately, vigorously, and consistently.
First, some theories claim that the stories were handed down for hundreds of years and “grew.” The originals were not written hundreds of years later but between about AD 50-60 (Mark/Peter) up to AD 90-95 (John).
If the Jesus stories were fabricated “later” they would have had a very small window of time in which to complete that action. That would have had to happen between the time of the eyewitnesses, and the writing of the originals and the over 500 witnesses had to died and their testimony been forgotten and our first fragments. Otherwise there would be contradictions to the stories that arose later. Oops, no window or a lot of “drift” had to happen. It would have had to have been in 20 or 30 years. And the manuscripts remained essentially unchanged since.
All of the documents are consistent. The oldest ones confirm that the newer ones still say the same thing. The proximity to the originals and the sheer volume of manuscripts confirm that the stories are accurate. (Note: There are over 24,000 New Testament manuscripts and 5600 are actually in the Greek of the New Testament. The agreement is above 90% and none of the variants are critical. They might use “the Lord” instead of “Jesus.” No change in meaning of key issues exists in any of the 24,000 manuscripts.)
Even the Old Testament accounts are confirmed by later discoveries. The Dead Sea Scrolls confirm the contents of several Old Testament books, especially Isaiah. The reliability of these messages is beyond rational dispute.
The Manuscripts confirm the validity of the New Testament and indeed the entire Bible. That leaves P–Prophesy. God claimed that He could and would tell things that would happen before they did. He did.
These prophesies are specific, detailed pre-statements of events in the future. The Scripture is filled with them. Start with Isaiah 46:9, 10
For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;
The Scripture is filled with examples of the Lord predicting that something would happen before it did. There are over 353 prophesies about Jesus alone and over two thousand others that have been fulfilled in minute, intricate detail. And there are a lot more “just waiting.” But I digress.
God announced that He would predict history and He has done so, and in fact continues to do so. The return of Israel to their land is one that has happened in our slice of history. The “prophesy” plank of the ramp completes a compelling argument for the Bible.
These four major areas produce overwhelming proof that there is a God; Jesus did what He claimed; and the Bible is a reliable account of these actions and ideas. Now, understanding what we have just covered, is there any reason that you should not commit your life to Christ now?
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