We’re back again, continuing our series on the character of God. To cap it off, I am answering the last 7 questions from Stoa Apologetics’ worksheet questions on the character and being of God.

In last week’s post, I answered the first seven, mainly talking about the importance of God’s power and how it plays out into our lives. Today, the questions begin to extend further into the realm of Jesus’ existence and the proof found therein. Hang tight; it may be a bumpy ride.

8: What evidence is there for the existence of God in our physical universe?

To begin, I would respond with the question I have continually used in response to this: what evidence is there against His existence? There is none. It is impossible to disprove the existence of something, and while this logic can be used in the evolution debate, when applied here, it remains true. There is absolutely no evidence against the existence of God.

While some point to the evil in the world, claiming “A just and loving God wouldn’t allow such evil”, I know that God has complete knowledge and wisdom, and when He chooses to allow evil to remain in the world, it is for a reason and it will work out for good (Romans 8:28).

Others respond to this claim with a question like this: “If this is the case, then why would a just and loving God allow bad things to happen to good people?”

There are no good people, no, not even one (Romans 3:10-12). Every single human being on this cursed planet has sinned against God, making them evil in His sight. There has only been one good man, and He, Jesus, was crucified. It isn’t fair that something bad happened to the only good man, but He received the worst pain possible so that we might be made good in the eyes of God.

Finally, to complete the question of the existence of God, simply look around you. Look at the sun: a massive burning ball of fire 1.3 million times the volume of the Earth. It produces light rays that shoot across the galaxy at 186,000 miles per second, enough to circle the Earth 7.5 times in a second. Human beings, capable of creating skyscrapers and airplanes, are the most complicated beings in the galaxy, and you expect me to believe we simply evolved into that status, capable of loving, hating, hurting, crying, and inventing?

The only answer to an unbiased man is God. Only a being with infinite knowledge and power would be able to create such a wondrous galaxy.

9: What does it mean that Jesus Christ is the Messiah? Why is this important?

“Messiah” is a Hebrew word, roughly translated to “the chosen One”. Chosen by God for the singular purpose of saving humanity from their own sin, Jesus became the Christ (Christ is the Greek equivalent of Messiah), savior of humanity.

This is important because the term “Messiah” encompasses Jesus’ role as savior of Earth. To call him the “Messiah” or the “Christ” is to acknowledge His absolute sacrifice and love.

10: Is there historical evidence for the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus? Why is it important?

There is more evidence for the existence of Jesus then there is for the existence of George Washington. But, before we dive into that, something must be said- it is utterly impossible to prove that something happened more than fifty years ago since video cameras were not used until the mid-1980s. Since there is no video evidence for anything before the 1900s, we cannot completely prove anything happening before that period in time.

So, with that in mind, we explore the evidence for Christ’s existence. Within mere years of His death, He is mentioned in writings by hundreds of eyewitnesses, including some of the Roman commanders who presided over His death. Within 80 years of His death, Christianity was so widespread that it became a concern within the Roman empire, further emphasized by the fact that there were still, at the time, eyewitnesses to Jesus’ death and resurrection.

In his compelling article “The Case for Christ’s Resurrection”, Chris Lang perfectly writes about the historical accuracy of the Bible, utterly annihilating any argument against the complete accuracy of the Bible.

Many facts recorded in the Bible have been challenged with the same result, later archeology confirms the reliability of the biblical records down to the smallest detail. A respected Jewish archaeologist has claimed that “It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference” (Shelly, p. 103). This is a strong statement for any archaeologist to make because if it were not true, he would quickly be condemned in his own field.

The conclusion that one draws from this material is that the Bible is a reliable historical document. Its accuracy has been proved numerous times. Its historical inaccuracy has never been demonstrated. So that when we approach the Bible, we do so with a good amount of confidence that what it records actually happened. If this is true, then we need to come to terms about what the Bible claims. We cannot dismiss it out of hand because we were not there, regardless of the difficulty of what is said.

Many atheists, often in an accidentally arrogant way, claim that the Bible has been disproved, failing to realize that this statement is simply passed down from atheist teacher to student, without any actual disproving of the Bible. The brainwashing technique demonstrated there is a perfect example of the failure for Atheists to legitimately argue against the Bible, yet they continue to attack that which they hate, completely lacking any understanding of their position and yet ready to strike at a moment’s notice.

For the complete article on the historical accuracy of the Bible and the events described therein, read Chris’ article by clicking here.

11: Why is it important that Jesus Christ be both fully God and fully man?

Being 100% God, Jesus took on the fullness of humanity, becoming 100% man and, in being 100% man, attaining the possibility of representing mankind as a perfect, fulfilled Adam. While a sinless man could die for a single, sinful man, it took a perfect God becoming a perfect representative of man to die for the entire race, and that is exactly what He did.

Humanity is not, however, sinless, and the only sinless human in history is Jesus himself. Being the first and only human being to live a full, sinless life, He fulfilled what Adam failed; defeating sin, death, and Satan.

“While a sinless man could die for a single, sinful man, it took a perfect God becoming a perfect representative of man to die for the entire race, and that is exactly what He did.”

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12: What is the fruit of the Holy Spirit? Why is this important?

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

The fruits of the Spirit are just that- fruits of faith. As Christians grow and mature, the Spirit blesses us with these fruits, growing our testimony through our responses and reactions in these gifts.

13: What is the role of the Holy Spirit? Why is this important?

The Holy Spirit is a key aspect of the triune nature of God. Being one of the Trinity, its biggest role is to dwell within the hearts of believers, filling them with the fruits of the Spirit.

Furthermore, it is a seal in the lives of believers, completely showing their faith and belief and endowing them with spiritual gifts, as I personally believe.

14: What does it mean that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?

This plays into what was mentioned previously- that the Holy Spirit dwells within the hearts of believers. While in the past, the Holy Spirit dwelt within a literal temple, it now dwells within the temple of the believer, further showing Christ as the greater fulfillment of the Old Testament.

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And that concludes the Q&A on the topic of God’s character. Please understand that while constructive comments are welcome, debating/divisive ones are not, and comments like these will be deleted accordingly.

Anyway, thanks so much for reading, and I hope you have a fantastic day!

-Elisha McFarland

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Related post: Monday Q&A 1-7: The Character of God

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