A Humble Graphic, A Bold Claim
Humor me as I share this humble graphic of celestial artistry. Joke as I might about this, it truly represents the way I understand my faith, and no matter how strong my doubts may get, I have nowhere else to go.
Let me explain.
The Problem With Religious Beginnings
When you think about how religions begin, one thing becomes criminally clear: they all always start all by their lonesome. In other words, they’re based on events or ideas that happened in private. It might be a dream someone had, a vision they claimed to see, or a personal idea about God. These experiences are inherently unverifiable—no one else was there, no one else saw it happen. The entire religion depends on the word of one person convincing others to trust their story. I’m not saying they didn’t believe it happened. I’m just saying no one else can responsibly devote their lives to the same.
Private Origins of Major Religions
Think about it. Islam begins with Muhammad claiming to have received revelations from the angel Gabriel in a cave. Buddhism starts with ol’ Prince Siddhartha Gautama sitting under a tree, looking into the abyss of evil, finally achieving enlightenment (Bodhi), and teaching what he discovered. Mormonism began with Joseph Smith’s supposed private revelation from God and Jesus, secretly informing him that all Christian traditions were wrong. Then the angel Moroni gave him golden plates that supposedly corrected everything. No one else saw any of those.
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Even ancient religions begin with philosophers or mystics who had a private vision or idea they shared. Across the board, they rely on private revelations.
Christianity: Public From the Start
Now compare that to Christianity. What other religion starts with public—historic—events witnessed by the public? Christianity begins not with a dream, a vision, or a private encounter, but with events that happened in broad daylight, seen and experienced by crowds.
Jesus Christ didn’t work in secret—He had a public ministry. He performed miracles, preached to thousands, and openly challenged the religious authorities of His time. His death was a public execution on a Roman cross, witnessed by a multitude in Jerusalem.
And most importantly, His resurrection wasn’t revealed to just one person. Jesus appeared to over 500 people after rising from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:6). After His resurrection, He stayed on the earth for 40 days offering “many convincing proofs” that He had returned from the dead (Acts 1:3). Those who witnessed this were the foundation of Christianity, and their testimony spread the message of the gospel across the world.
A Falsifiable Faith
This is why Christianity stands apart. It’s not rooted in private dreams or philosophical ideas; it’s rooted in history. When God works in Christianity, He leaves a big footprint—undeniable evidence of His presence and power.
Here’s a way to put it that might raise some eyebrows: Christianity is a falsifiable belief. In other words, it set itself up for failure. If Christianity weren’t true, it could have been disproven right out of the gate.
That’s the thing about falsifiability—it’s what we naturally look for. Humans are wired to verify stuff. If someone says, “I was president of the United States,” we’re like, “Okay, let me check the records.” If they say, “I built this building in 1942,” we’re asking, “Does the building exist? Who built it with you? Show me some proof.” Falsifiable claims can be checked, and they’re either true or false.
Why Other Religions Avoid Details
Now, if you’re making something up, there’s one major rule everyone knows: don’t give details that can be verified! You don’t include things people can disprove. That’s why other religions stick to private visions, dreams, or vague ideas. Nobody can check those. Heck, you might even fool yourself into believing it.
Christianity’s Bold Risk
But Christianity? It’s the opposite of safe. It’s based on public, historical events. Jesus didn’t come quietly. He showed up in one of the biggest cities, during one of the most turbulent times, and caused one of the biggest commotions in history. He was executed in the most public way possible by the most powerful government on earth.
Then He rose—and didn’t just quietly slip away to heaven. He could’ve moseyed off the scene in secret (honestly, that’s what I would’ve made up). But in this story, He starts showing up to everybody. For 40 days, He appeared to people. And then His followers—whose religion wasn’t even expecting this—went around saying He was alive and they’d seen Him, all while the tomb, the people, and the witnesses were still there for anyone to investigate.
A Message Nobody Wanted
Seriously, if you were making up a religion, would you ever do it like this? The Jews wouldn’t have accepted it because—well, let’s be honest—cursed is the one who hangs on a tree. That’s straight out of their Torah (Deuteronomy 21:23). No way are they going to say, “Oh yeah, that guy hanging on the cross, the one who looks totally cursed by God—that’s our Messiah. And as it turns out, our Messiah is God in the flesh.”
And what about the Greeks? Forget it. They hated the physical. They were dualists. To them, the body was this abhorrent, necessary evil. The idea of God taking on flesh? Not a chance. A resurrected body? A thousand times worse! That’s literally the last thing you’d try to sell to the Greeks.
The Unstoppable Truth
So, if Christianity wasn’t true, it wouldn’t have survived a week, let alone two thousand years. The claims are just too public, too risky, too easy to disprove.
But here’s the thing—it did survive. Why? Because it happened. The advent of Christ was no small thing. People knew He was there. His life, death, and resurrection left a footprint so big it couldn’t be ignored.
If someone made it all up, they’d have to be the worst PR person on the planet. Honestly, who would choose this story? And yet, here we are. Not because it was a clever idea by a good Public Representative, but because it was true, and history bears this out.
So, What’s Stopping You?
Okay, I’m done. Now go follow Christ. It’s all true. Now you have nowhere else to go.
