This is the chapter 3 of Bahram Khozairy’s
first published book, “Jeet Kune
Do to San Jieh Dao, From Darkness To Light”, released in 1995.
Why
Christianity?
By: Bahram Khozairy
Copyright © 1995 by Bahram Khozairy. All Rights Reserved.
It has often been mentioned during the previous sections that the standard we ought to use to test everything with, is the Bible. And many times it has been expressed that Christianity is the avenue through which the Creator of the universe has designated for mankind to come to Him. Why not by Zen, Taoism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Baha'ism, Hinduism, Existentialism, Relativism, Secular Humanism, New Age movement and other non-Christian philosophies?
Why not through Scientology, Mormonism, Jehovah Witness, Christian Science, Unity, Unitarianism, Mind Sciences, Children of God or the Family of Love, Unification Church, and other non Christian religions? Why not by the methods of Witchcraft, Astrology, black and so‑called white magic, psychic healing, basic occultic meditations, metaphysics, chanting, Yoga, and other occultic practices and philosophies?
Why only through one narrow path? Why can't there be many paths and many ways to God? Why can't we choose our own methods, paths or ways to God? Do human beings have a freedom and prerogative to choose any path they wish?
Surely,
every one of us at one time or another have come across these inquiries; have
even given them some serious consideration, or perhaps brushed them off our
mind, perhaps because of the non-availability of solutions.
To
give an ample reply to all these questions is not an easy task; it would take
many books and documentations, which are beyond the scope of our study;
however, Christians should not take any of these challenges lightly, because
they are all legitimate and reasonable propositions. Our aim is not to brush them off with a sweep
of a pen and to give a casual answer; instead we will try to uncover a common
denominator in order to draw a categorical solution.
POINT NO. 1
Can we prove the existence of God?
In
order to argue from the theistic point of view, first we need to prove the
existence of God. There are two ways to
approach this. One is to prove the
existence of the Creator. Second is to
disprove His non-existence. If we can
logically disprove the non-existence of God, we have then succeeded to prove
His existence.
We can also evaluate this subject by examining the origin or the source of our universe. There are basically four logical, scientific and rational explanations for the existence of our universe.
1) The universe is an illusion and therefore does not exist.
Deductively speaking, this type of proposition is an absurdity at best and insanity at worst. It is irrational simply because of the predictability of the events in the universe. We can predict through scientific devices the sun eclipse, moon eclipse, comets, storms, etc. We can hear, touch, smell, taste, feel and see objects via our five senses. We comprehend, that if we stand in the middle of a highway where vehicles are passing through, we will get killed. We understand that we can cut our skin with a sharp knife by simply stirring the sharp blade over and on our skin. Since we can predict, foreknow and experience and verify the existence of certain events pragmatically and empirically, we can then be assured that those events take place. We can safely conclude, that we are not living in an illusory or transitory world, but rather in a real and existing plain of reality.
2) The universe exists, but it emerged out of nothingness.
From the basic scientific laws, specifically the first law of thermodynamics, we logically can affirm, "from nothing, nothing arrives." Nothing can ever be formed, created or even thought of, if the source of that nothing is nothingness itself. Thus, we need to have something independent (a cause) in the beginning in order to produce other dependent or contingent things (an effect).
3) The universe exists, but it has always existed, therefore is
eternal.
This argument
asserts that since the universe exists in a steady state mode and is eternal
and uncaused, the needlessness for a transcendent Creator is then established.
This case may sound rational at first, but observing the universe from the
second scientific law of thermodynamics, we recognize that universe is losing
energy. The result of our tangible
universe is maximum entropy, which
means, since the universe is losing energy it is therefore cooling down and
thus, transient. Transient is the
condition of non-steady state. If the
universe is in a non-steady state and is cooling down, it must have had a
beginning, a climax or a peak.
Conclusion, universe did not exist eternally. Eternal universe requires
an eternal, steady state condition and not transient. As a result, based on the
second law of thermodynamics, we can assuredly conclude that the universe is
not eternal.
4) Something (a non-personal force or energy), or someone (a personal
being) has brought this universe into its existence.
Following
the first three arguments, we safely narrow our options to this last one; that
some higher force, energy, power, or being has caused our existing universe
into existence. Consequently, the main
point that we have derived in order to answer point no. 1, is that something
greater than our finite universe exists.
And, that something is itself uncaused. Based on the laws of logic, every contingent
thing or being needs a cause. Since the
universe is contingent, caused and finite, and everything that is caused by
definition is not eternal, therefore that uncaused something has to be
"eternal." Most of today's
non-theistic cosmological scientists, are accepting this fact. The important
point is to narrow down our options as to determine the identity of the nature
of that something. Since the word God, by itself is too generalized and
vague and needs to be defined in a specific context, we can use it safely at
this juncture, as an identification for that uncaused something.
POINT NO. 2
God exist, but He does not get involve with His creation, and therefore is devoid of miracles.
This is a basic deistic position. It is also a view, which naturalist and pantheists holds. This belief tries to reduce God to an impersonal being. A person, who holds to deism as an ultimate answer in life, would fall into most of the non-Christian beliefs, according to Norman Geisler, one of the greatest Christian scholars. Deism believe in the existence of a Creator,
"...but that this creator does not interfere in the universe. Deists reject any supernatural intervention by God into the natural world once he had made it. God is to the world what a master mechanic is to his machine."1
Now,
the very fact of the existence of the universe is a proof for miracles. Since we have seen that universe came into
existence by that something which we
labeled as God, then universe is a result of a miracle. Miracle by definition is, "a
supernatural happening."2 There have been numerous individuals
trying to refute and disprove miracles such as, Sir Julian Huxley, Thomas
Hobbes, Benedict de Spinoza, John Dewey, Immanuel Kant, and the most famous of
all of them is the late Scottish philosopher and skeptic David Hume. We should
note here, that according to the late great scholar, Dr. Walter R. Martin,
David Hume never disproved miracles, but simply defined the term miracle out of its context or
existence. And again, according to Dr.
Martin, "Defining something out of existence is no proof that something
did not exist." Many people, as
well as Mr. Hume, are against the laws of science, and since the laws and
orders of the nature cannot be broken, they affirm miracles are not
possible.
As was concluded earlier, since God exists, is eternal and caused the universe into existence, miracles are possible. Secondly, a German scientist by the name of Werner Heisenberg discovered an interesting phenomena relating to the cause and effect in 1927, called the "uncertainty or indeterminacy principle."
"UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE, or INDETERMINACY PRINCIPLE, in quantum mechanics (q.v.), theory stating that it is impossible to specify simultaneously the position and momentum of a particle, such as an electron, with precision."3
In
another words, Heisenberg's principle proves, that the position of an electron
can be altered at anytime and is therefore uncertain. And, since the position of an electron, which
is the main essence of everything in nature, is alterable, then the systematic
structures of the substance of the things in nature are alterable as well.
Consequently,
based on Heisenberg scientific discoveries of uncertainty, miracles are
possible; and, since the miracles are possible, then God can get involve with His creation, and the deistic and naturalistic
belief can be concluded to be an absurdity.
POINT NO. 3
What if there exist many gods, and not just one God?
This
is a position of Polytheism, which is
a belief, that there exists more than one god.
Hinduism, New Age movements, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, and others in
one way or another subscribe to polytheism
as the basis for their theology. It must be noted here that polytheists' gods
are not eternal but finite. There cannot exist
simultaneously multiple eternal Gods, because it disdains the definition for
the eternal Deity.
We
have already established that God
(singular with a capital G) is
eternal and that He is uncaused. There
can only exists one uncaused being, because any secondary being that is classified as
"god" has to be caused by the first uncaused being. So, since God is one, eternal and uncaused,
there cannot exist any other gods
(plural with small g),
simultaneously. A person must either subscribe to the existence of "one
eternal infinite God," or many "non-eternal finite gods." As we have already demonstrated in point No.
1 that there needs to be one eternal uncaused God to create our universe, the
idea of existence of many gods can be nullified and rejected at this juncture.
POINT NO. 4
Even if God exists and performs miracles, humans should have their own ways and paths of reaching to God. After all, there are many ways and paths, which lead to God.
This is a view and position of the Relativist and the Universalist. Since we have already authenticated the facts and responded to this query in the earlier part of this book, "JEET KUNE DO BEYOND PHYSICAL," I would like to only add the following rejoinder.
We provided logical reasons, why relativism is absurd in the realm of spiritual philosophy, and since demonstrated before, that relativism and universalism are endless loops, lacking any absolute and objective truth, we can consequently conclude the path to God can only be one. In no other philosophy, religion, or faith has this truth been demonstrated so strongly as in the person of Jesus Christ (John 14:6, 3:36, Matthew 7:13,14). Again to stress upon the fact that there is only one God and not millions of gods, we can be assured that God's message would be consistent throughout the ages.
To cite a similar illustration as of Dr. Walter Martin's, we can test the relativist's philosophy in a practical application: Supposing you had gone to the hospital to have an operation done on your mouth. The surgeon put you out for surgery and finished the operation. After you regained your consciousness, you had expected to have a fixed mouth, but instead, you discovered that you had no biological tools to see with! You immediately called your doctor and made an inquiry as to what happened to your eyes. You asserted that your mouth is still disjoined but both of your eyes have been gauged out of their sockets. Your so-called respectable doctor very calmly replied to you that "well, my truth is good for me and your truth is good for you, a pair of eyeballs to you means mouth to me"!!
In
the world of philosophy, this type of relativistic epistemology denies the
existence of absolutes in life and
constantly affirms that truth is relative to its
adhere. Imagine, what kind of
ramification this type of philosophy would have on your life, and how dangerous
life would be to you and to virtually every human being, who lives life with
this kind of reasoning approach and philosophy.
POINT NO. 5
Since God is one, what then is His identity, and what is the path that leads to Him?
As I mentioned in the previous reply to point number 4, in no other religion, faith or philosophy has this questioned been answered so definitively as in the historical person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. If we examine all of the proclaimed holy books, enlightened beliefs and philosophies of the world, we would fail to locate any one individual who has claimed and empirically demonstrated the following, accept Jesus Christ of Nazareth:
(a) To be
the creator of the universe and everything that exists.
(b) To be
the only way and path designated for humans to reach, know and have
relationship with the only true and eternal God.
(c) Bodily and physically raising Himself from the grave thus proved to be the eternal God incarnate.
If a
person ever dared to assert such claims, one should at least be willing to
examine those claims with an open mind, without any presupposition or
prejudices.
Any man can reject a historical figure such as Napoleon Bonaparte, William Shakespeare or even their own ancestors, but their rejection will neither alter the true identity of those personages, nor disprove their existence. One must try to search through the evidences and resources that are available, for the purpose of disproving or authenticating such facts. As C.S. Lewis, Josh McDowell, Dr. John Warwick Montgomery and other scholars and apologists have safely concluded, there are only four possible options regarding the identity of Jesus of Nazareth. They are:
I.
Jesus is not a historical figure has never existed and is only a
mythical character.
II. Jesus existed, but was a fraud,
a deceiver, and involved in deception.
III. Jesus was merely a good prophet
and only a messenger from God.
IV. Jesus was more than a prophet, and was who He claimed He was, God Almighty incarnate, and the only savior of mankind.
Let's analyze each option separately.
Option I.
Apart from the Biblical New Testament Scriptures, there exist numerous other manuscripts and documents (external & internal evidences), where the name of Jesus of Nazareth is mentioned, sometimes in great detail. Some of these are:
Irenaeus, quotes from the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke,
Acts, etc. in his letters.4
Ignatius
of Antioch, born in A.D. 70 wrote seven letters to the churches of Rome, and in
his epistles he stressed a great deal on quotations from the books of John and
Matthew, and some other epistles, such as I Corinthians, I & II
Thessalonians, etc.5
Clement of
Alexandria, born in A.D. 150 has about 2400 quotations from the New Testament.6
Polycarp, born in A.D. 70 was a bishop of Smyrna. He was a disciple of the apostle John, and mentioned Jesus in almost all the letters he composed.
There are many other early church fathers, such as: Eusebius, Justin Martyr, Iraneus, Tertullian and others who have mentioned Jesus in their epistles as defense during the first and early second centuries.
There
also exist many non-Christian sources, which contain numerous references
concerning Jesus' life, death and resurrection, such as:
Cornelius
Tacitus, born in A.D. 53, a Roman historian who wrote,
"...Christus, the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, Procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius; but the pernicious superstition, repressed for a time broke out again, not only through Judea, where the mischief originated, but through the city of Rome also." 7
Lucian
of Samosata, born in the second century wrote of
Jesus as,
"...the man who was crucified in Palestine because he introduced this new cult into the world..." 8
Flavius
Josephus, born in A.D. 37, a great Jewish historian wrote,
"Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man.... He was the Christ, and when Pilate, condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians so named from him is not extinct at this day." 9
As a result of the great amount of testimonies and data, we can confidently infer, that Jesus is not a mythical figure, but a person of history.
Option II.
If Jesus was a fraud and in pursuit of deception, He would have failed to substantiate His words and claims with His physical miracles. For example, where Jesus said to Martha,
"Your brother shall rise again" (John 11:23), meaning Lazarus, He literally fulfilled this prophecy by raising Lazarus from the grave. Jesus articulated, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies" (John 11:25) and, "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes." (John 5:21)
Was Jesus playing a game of semantic with the Jews, or intending to fool any of His followers? No, because the Jews at that time would have held him accountable for His authoritative claims; thus, He would have lost His credibility right at the beginning of His ministry. Jesus demonstrated and proved His claims by deeds and actions. A deceiver, scandal or, and a fraud will never be consistent, whether in words or actions, and would never be able to communicate,
"Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, otherwise believe on account of the works themselves...the works that I do in My Father's name, these bear witness of Me." (John 14:11, 9:25b)
If Jesus was an abnormal man, we would have been able to detect some type of irrationality in his teachings, His ministry, His love, His message, His mission and His fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies (more than 300 prophecies were foretold in the Old Testament concerning Jesus' virgin birth, His teachings and miracles, His execution on the cross and His rising from the grave after 3 days).
The word lunatic is a synonym term for mad or demented. It would require a demented mind to conclude that Jesus was insane or a deceiver. The word deceiver means, a cheat, imposter or a person who practices any kind of fraud. Again, if Jesus was an imposter, He would have had to cheat and convince the people in believing that He was the Messiah, and at the same time, escape the Messianic responsibilities, including death as a sacrifice on the cross, which no imposter or deceiver would be willing to do for anyone. Jesus even washed his disciples' feet (John 13:3-20), and did not authorize His disciples to fight or kill for Him even at the time of His arrest (John 18:10,11,36). Just realizing, that Jesus sacrificed Himself (who was without sin) on the cross is enough to rule out the possibility of Him being a psychopath or a perilous fabricator. As the Jews had charged Him at that time, stating that He had a demon in Himself, and that is how He could cast demons out of men, Jesus responded,
"Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a house divided against itself fall ... But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then kingdom of God has come upon you." (Luke 11:17,20)
So, if anyone claims that Jesus' purpose was to mislead and defraud people, his argument will collapse, based on the presented logic in the above passages. If the above passages (Luke 11:17,20) were false, Jesus' ministry would not have lasted any longer than when he encountered and rebuked the devil for the first time in Luke chapter 4. Therefore, we can most assuredly rule out option-b concerning Jesus' identity.
Option III.
No
prophet in the past has ever claimed to be anything
more than a prophet, and no man has ever claimed to be "the only way and the truth," except Jesus (John 14:6).
Jesus' claims are astonishing upon the fact that they were not merely coming
out of a good moral teacher or prophet, but from someone who was speaking with
such an authority as God Himself.
In the Old Testament, every time a prophet spoke the words of God, He would always start off by saying, "Thus says the LORD." We not only see Jesus refraining from statements, "Thus says the LORD," but instead many times He would say, "But I say to you." (Look at Matthew chapter 5 verses, 21 through 48) In addition, no prophet in the past ever dared to use the titles of Jehovah, God Almighty for himself, except Jesus. Some of His titles and claims are:
Creator
(Isaiah 40:28; John 1:3),
Savior
(Isaiah 43:11; John 4:42),
Judge
(Psalms 98:9; John 5:27),
I
AM (Exodus 3:14; John 8:58),
First
and Last (Isaiah 41:4 & 44:6; Revelations 1:17 & 2:8),
Forgiver
of sins (Jeremiah 31:34; Mark 2:7, 10),
Worshiped
by Angels (Psalm 148:2; Hebrew 1:6),
Worshiped by men (Deuteronomy 6:13, 14; John 9:35-39, Matthew 14:33)
Jesus claimed to be God and the Jews at that time had full apprehension of His claims and many times reached for the stones to kill Him (John 10:30-33). The principle reason why the Jews condemned Jesus to be killed was not because Jesus merely claimed to be a prophet, but God Himself (John 8:58, 59).
John 19:7 reads,
"The Jews answered Him, we have a law and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God."
They
knew when Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, He in fact was placing Himself to
be one and equal with God (John 10:30).
Moreover, there has never been any prophet who lived a sinless life except Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). Why? Because, a prophet is only a human, and all men according to the Scriptures are declared sinners (Roman 3:23) only God who is without sin appeared in the person of Jesus of Nazareth (John 1:1,14, 1 Peter 1:19, 1 Peter 2:22).
Jesus Christ never claimed to be only a prophet, and He never gave anybody that option either. Based on the above arguments, we conclude that Jesus was more than a good moral teacher or prophet.
Option IV.
The single greatest evidence that points to and proves Jesus Christ's Deity, is His physical bodily resurrection from the dead. No skeptic or unbeliever on the face of the earth has ever been able to explain away the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And there are enormous amounts of evidence testifying to this powerful and important historical event. The proof of Jesus' resurrection lies within the eyewitnesses' testimonies. Matthew 28:9,10, Luke 24:34, John 21:1-23 are just a few passages which deal with eyewitnesses who met Jesus after He rose from the dead. As the apostle Peter recounts his experience, he composed under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the statement,
"For
we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power
and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty." (2 Peter 1:16)
"... appeared to Cephas, then to the
twelve. After that He appeared to more
than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some
have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and
last of all, as it were to one untimely born, He appeared to me also."
(1 Corinthians 15: 5-8)
What
should our attitude as Christians be, and what are we to deduce, when we see
such distinct passages as Luke 24:37-39,
"But they were startled and frightened and thought they were seeing a spirit and He said to them, why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have."
Are
we to believe that this was some kind of joke or a hocus-pocus game that Jesus
was playing with His disciples? Or are we to embrace insane speculations such
as the "swoon theory,"
which states that though Jesus was nailed to the cross, he never died and
therefore was recovered from His injuries in the comfortable environment of His
tomb; He regained His health in just a matter of hours and was able to show
Himself alive and well after three days! Or, what about the "hallucination theory," which
professes that people who saw Jesus after his death were not really seeing Him
but were merely hallucinating! It suffices to point out, that it would be
very difficult for 500 people to be hallucinating all at once, while they all experiencing the same event.
Incidentally,
every theory that was ever produced against the resurrection event,
has been refuted by such men as W.J. Sparrow-Simpson, Professor J.N.D.
Anderson, Professor F. Godef, John Chrysostom of
Antioch, C.S. Lewis and others.
It would be beyond the scope
of this book to go through all of those theories and their refutations. The disciples who were cowards to the point
of denying Jesus before His crucifixion, turned into bold lions without the
fear of facing death. Why? BBecause, of their encounter with their risen Master, and
thus, the promise of the ONLY God in human flesh was forever sealed in their
hearts which was,
"...Because
I live you shall live also." (John 14:19)
AAs G.B. Hardy so emphatically pronounced,
"Confucius'
tomb -- occupied, Buddha's tomb -- occupied, Muhammad's tomb -- occupied,
Jesus' tomb -- EMPTY" 10
And, as the apostle Paul wrote again so truthfully,
"...and
if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith is
worthless; you are still in your sins. If we have hoped in Christ in this life
only, we are of all men most to be pitied."
(1 Corinthians 15:14a, 17b, and 19)
Non-Christian historians and others have attested to the historicity of Christ's resurrection, such as the ones that were mentioned in the option-I analysis.
Since, Jesus did rise from the dead, all the theories, arguments, religions, philosophies, beliefs and doctrines that deny Jesus Christ as the God-Man are illogical, irrational and nonsense. It is up to the skeptic and the unbeliever to put his or her prejudices and prides away, and to investigate the available information and data. Christianity, which is not a religion but a relationship, is not based on fairy tales, or good moral stories. Christianity is based on facts and evidence, and is the only faith in the world that is willing to offer so much evidence as proofs for the claims it makes. Unfortunately, it is not that human beings cannot believe or understand the truth about Christ, but that they choose not to believe.
Jesus Christ not only demonstrated to be "The God" that every man is seeking to find; He also demonstrated to be the "Only Path" to that God. Jesus uttered,
"He
who has seen Me has seen the Father. I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no
one comes to the Father, but through Me." (John
14:9b, 6)
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, as mentioned before, Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship between man and his Creator and Savior. A religion, whatever it may be attempts to reach God through a set of do's and don'ts and through a set of pre-determined works and regiments. Christianity is not a set of dos and don’ts; rather it is a relationship that is based on love and faith; faith, which is founded on facts. Christians obey and love their Lord not because they are compelled to, but because they have been shown love and mercy from God in the first place. Invariably, they return the love back to Jesus Christ through an intimate, powerful and everlasting relationship. One must understand that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross was purely out of the love of God for the sinful men. Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross resembles a father that sacrifices his life for his son or daughter in order for them to continue living. And those individuals who position their trusts in Jesus Christ to be regenerated from within (internal) gain eternal life in order to continue to live forever. A true and genuine love relationship between a man and a woman who are about to be married is not based on pressure from either side. Their love is internal, which generates from their hearts and souls. They must accept each other for who they are and not what they subjectively project each other to be. In the same sense, a true relationship between man and God (the true God of the Bible) is not based on God's compulsion or man's coercion, nor is it based on man's works (external), for the purpose of obtaining that relationship. Rather, it is based on accepting the objective truth, the true triune God for who He is and not what man subjectively wishes Him to be. And those who can accept God for who He is and what He has done, will receive (grace) an eternal life.
The difference between all of the philosophies, faiths and religions of the world and Christianity is that they all hold to the concept, that man can reach his own subjective brand of god by what man is able to perform (man's works). In reverse, Christianity is that avenue and relationship, through which, the only true God has designated for mankind to reach God; once again, not by the works of man, but by what God has already done (God's grace). Because man's finite attempt is not sufficient to reach to the infinite God, God’s infinite attributes, on the other hand, allows Him to reach down to the finite man. Thus, Christian philosophy sets itself apart, as a reversal of all other philosophies.
Through the relationship (Christianity), man can truly express himself, but as was mentioned before, within the objective realm, the boundary or the circle of that relationship. Christianity for man is freedom and liberation from the bandages and grips of sins; it emancipates man from his attempts, his works and methodologies, which can never succeed in closing an immense gap that exists between man and his Creator. And surely, those who come to the only true God, Jesus Christ the God-Man, must come to Him and establish that relationship based on whom He is and what He has done.
"Do you not know that those
who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way
that you may win. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in
such a way, as not beating the air; but I buffet my body and make it my slave,
lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be
disqualified."
1 Corinthians 9:24, 26 – 27
1. Norman Geisler,
FALSE GODS OF OUR TIME (Eugene, OR.: Harvest House Publishers, 1985), pp.
33-34.
2. The New Merriam-Webster Dictionary
(Springfield, Ma.: Merriam-Webster Inc., 1989), p. 239.
3. Funk &
Wagnall's
New Encyclopedia (New York: Funk & Wagnall's,
Inc.), Vol. 23, p. 398.
4. Josh McDowell, EVIDENCE THAT DEMANDS A VERDICT
(San Bernardino, Ca.: Here's Life Publishers, Inc., 1972), Vol. 1, p. 51.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid., p. 82.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. G. B. Hardy is quoted by Josh McDowell,
EVIDENCE THAT DEMANDS A VERDICT, p. 259.