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Christians have solid support for their confidence that theirs is the true way to God and eternal life in three allies: logic, ethics, and history. As we have already shown, any religion that denies itself by positing contradictory claims fails in the test of logic. This proves it to be false if thinking is a part of relating to God at all. All thought that professes to lead to knowledge must retain logic as its friend. Otherwise, there is no point to thinking or talking. Understanding cannot occur without logic.
Secondly, Christians alone in the world have a God who not only requires a high ethical standard, but who also adheres to one Himself. Of all the religions in the world, only Christianity claims a God who entered history to demonstrate a totally selfless love, the highest ethical demand possible in a logical universe. Many religions posit gods who demand ethical behavior. Christianity has the only God who lives by what He demands of others.
Thirdly, Christians have great confidence because of all the religions in the world, Christianity is the only one that stands solidly in the stream of verifiable history, with prophecy that precedes it. Logically, if one can find a God who prophesies with specific details, one has found the Omniscient One. Prophecy can only be done by one who is omniscient (all-knowing), or by one who has contact with one who is omniscient. The prophets claimed to speak for the true God, and their prophecies stood the test of history. For example, in Isaiah 53 the Christ was prophesied to die a death of a malefactor, yet be identified with the wealthy. Jesus was put to death as an evildoer, but a rich man buried him in his own tomb. In Psalm 22:11-18 the Christ was predicted to die in a way that his joints would come out of joint, his hands and feet would be pierced, and his tormentors would gamble for his clothes. A thousand years later, in history, Jesus died that way. Prophecy, confirmed by history, makes Christianity the Truth.
Christianity is the only call from the God of Heaven that can stand the test of history. Many religions abound which call for faith, but most require the recipient of the call to take a blind leap into the darkness and never have any sure basis for the truthfulness of the doctrines held by that religion. Christianity never has been afraid of history. The messages of the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament claim that the events transpired in history so that skeptics could go check it out. We don't have as good an opportunity today because of the passing of two millennia, but the apostles were clearly unafraid that history would debunk the doctrine.
Beginning with the next article, we are going to pursue this prophecy/history connection as it relates to the Feasts of Israel and the salvation of the Church. I hope you will find these articles informative and helpful.