Series Overview
If you were to guess who we have more reliable accounts of – Jesus or Julius Caesar – who would you guess? Nope, it is not the guy with his own salad dressing. In fact, we have more accounts dated closer to Jesus’ actual lifetime than we have for all the events of the Roman Empire during that time. The truth is that even our history books are written on very little evidence. There are widely accepted facts that are credited to a single source, dated hundreds of years after the event. Yet somehow the Bible is the document that is so widely criticized for its accuracy. The truth is that Jesus is the most well-documented person in ancient history. For the next two weeks, we want our students to know that what the Bible says can be taken as truth. We want them to learn to believe in what the Bible says “Beyond a shadow of a doubt.”
Week 1 (November 25, 2012)
Jesus was a real person. This sounds like an obvious statement, but for many people, including many students, it can be a real question. We are constantly inundated with stories of people that blend together fact and fiction, and this can often cause us to doubt the legitimacy of the Bible. We want our students to know that having questions is not a bad thing. We want them to ask questions, and we want them to understand and believe that Jesus was a real person. The disciples were willing to suffer and die for their belief in Jesus. This is some of the most compelling evidence we have about the life of Christ. Today, we want to discuss the evidence that we have that Jesus was a real person and he needs to be a part of our life.
Talk to your student about the link between doubt and faith. Ask you student what part of the story of Jesus do the find the hardest to believe.
Week 2 (December 2, 2012)
The Bible is one of the most scrutinized books in the world. However, it has been shown to be accurate time after time. The most common frustration people have with the Bible is not about the people and places, but the miraculous events. We want to know how some of these things could have happened. Ultimately, we are left with the option to believe the Bible is true or be skeptical. What we want our students to know is that the Bible is the inspired word of God. It is not our job to try and explain how miracles happen, but to know that they do happen. We need to approach the Bible with the right attitude that everything is written so that we might believe.
Talk to your student about the importance of believing the Bible to be true. Ask your student what they find the hardest to believe about the Bible.
Redstone Students 