Christianity—Truth or Interpretative Possibility?
By S. Michael Durham
May 15, 2009

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life——the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us——that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (1 John 1:1-3).

The Apostle John in the introduction of his first epistle established an apologetic that is one of the most significant for the historicity, honesty and defense of Christianity. It is unassailable. He declares that he is an eyewitness of Jesus. He heard Him, saw Him and touched Him.

The significance of this can be explained by one question, “Will men die for something they believe?” The answer is yes. It happens all the time. The willingness for a man to die for what he believes may be admirable, but it isn’t a proof of the validity of what he believes. It only proves that he believes it. It may be true and it may not. For example, today radical Islamic men will strap bombs to their bodies and walk into a crowded street or building and blow themselves up, killing innocent bystanders because they believe if they give their lives for Allah, killing the “infidels,” they will automatically enter paradise where they will be greatly rewarded. This was a foundational belief to our 9/11 tragedy. The men that guided those planes into buildings believed their cause and doctrine dogmatically.

So, it is accurate to say that men will die for things they believe to be true. But will a man die for something he believes to be untrue? And the answer is no. Not even a delusional person will die for something he does not believe is real. In the case of the delusional individual, he does not believe reality to be real, and therefore lives according to the “reality” his mind creates. He believes his psychotic imaginations to be real.

Therefore, God designed and built within the storyline of the gospel compelling and logical evidences for faith to rest upon. He chose 12 men, who would see, hear and touch the gospel, Jesus Christ, before and after His death and resurrection. God would not build His kingdom on construable or interpretive possibilities. In other words, something that could possibly be true if the interpretation of the storyline is accurate. In the case of history, there is very little objective evidence with which to test theories and possibilities. You can’t put historic possibilities into a test tube and do experiments. The only way you can verify reports from history is from the accounts of eyewitnesses. Do the accounts have enough similarity to say the event actually happened?

Let’s use a test case—Joseph Smith and his claim that an angel gave him a golden tablet. Here we have an interpretive possibility. You can interpret Smith’s claim (he is the only supposedly eyewitness of this supposed event) one of four ways:

1. An angel from God did give him a golden tablet.
2. A demonic spirit gave him a golden tablet.
3. He lied.
4. He was delusional.

It is possible that the first theory—an angel did give Joseph Smith a golden table—is correct, but there is no way to verify it. Thus, it remains a construable possibility. One can believe Mormonism is true, but his faith must leap into the dark without any evidence. Christianity is not this way. God would not have any of His children to leap into the dark, but rather into the light as He is in the light. Biblical faith is an evidential faith and not an interpretive possibility. We have the eyewitness account of twelve men who saw the risen Lord Jesus whose testimonies agree, and they all died knowing what they had seen, heard, and handled was true.

Chuck Colson, former Chief Counsel for President Nixon, tells how that Watergate proves the reports of the apostles’ accounts of the resurrection. Colson declares that when all the parties of the Watergate break-in found out that White House Counsel John Dean had hired an attorney and was cooperating with federal prosecutors, they all hired attorneys and began to back away from the lies and deception of the cover-up. His point was that none of them were willing to suffer on behalf of a lie. They would suffer to protect their reputations or the reputation of another, but they were not willing to go to prison for something they knew was not true.

It goes against human psychology that the apostles would have gladly died for something they knew not to be true if Christ had not risen from the dead. One may counter and say that the apostles were not purposefully and willfully lying but they were delusional and thus willing to die for what they believed to be true even though in reality it wasn’t. But in the providence of God this argument cannot prevail, for God so designed the events of the gospel that even the apostles did not believe the first reports of the resurrection; they did not show signs of gullibility. The first eyewitnesses of the resurrection were not the 12, but women. In the culture of the first century, women were never credible witnesses. In fact, Jewish law prohibited women as witnesses. Yet, these were the first witnesses—an interesting way to start a new religion in a world that does not accept women as credible witnesses. You would think that if Christianity was the invention of men they would not have done so. However, the apostles were not so easily deluded. They refused to believe the report of the women.

Two disciples associated with Jesus reported to the eleven apostles that they saw Jesus, but they were not believed either because when the two men were explaining what happened, Jesus appeared to all of them in the room and they refused to believe their own eyes. They thought what they were seeing was an apparition of some sort. Jesus had to prove to them He was physically alive from the dead by eating a piece of broiled fish. So if they were so mentally disturbed and depressed, grasping at straws to believe anything good, why not believe the reports or their own eyes, for that matter? It seems they were just the opposite, attempting to be empirical in their conclusions.

In God’s infinite wisdom, He had one of the twelve absent from the upper room when He appeared the night of the resurrection. Thomas was not there. When he returned the others told him what had happened. His reaction was to not believe the testimony of his own comrades. He said, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe” (John 20:25). Again, if these men were subject to mental instability because of the trauma they had undergone, it would seem that they would want to believe that Jesus did in fact rise from the dead. But as the accounts testify that was not the case. It took the hardest of evidence to convince them—the resurrected Christ Himself. Thomas’ doubt is a proof for the faith of others. He was not in the room that night to show that he, nor the other apostles were neither gullible nor psychotic. They were very rational men, doubting even the very validity of credible witnesses. But in the end they all did believe and died for what they believed. Why? Was it because they believed the testimonies of what others saw? No, it was because they saw for themselves. They as John says, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life.”

This leads us to a final point—that these men had to die for our faith to have credibility in the historicity of Christianity. It was the seal of their belief in what they, not only believed, but witnessed to be true. Amazing isn’t it that all of the original apostles died for their testimonies as eyewitnesses of the resurrected Savior? When Jesus said that if they were to follow Him they would have to deny themselves and pick up a cross, He really meant it. After Judas hanged himself, being the traitor of Christ, six of the remaining eleven men who heard Jesus say, “pick up your cross and come after Me,” did so. They, too, were crucified. All of them died martyrs’ deaths for proclaiming that they had seen Jesus alive after witnessing His death. God so loved us that not only gave us His Son to die for our salvation, but also gave 12 men to die for our faith. They did not die simply believing something to be true, but knowing it firsthand.

Twelve men had to die for our faith to not be an interpretative possibility. How must I die so that the faith of another is not an interpretative possibility? How can my life be a link in the chain back to the evidential and historical truth of Jesus Christ? “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain” (John 12:24).

The Purpose and Mission of Real Truth Matters
By S. Michael Durham
February 6, 2009

Real Truth Matters exists to pursue the recovery of New Testament Christianity by promoting the pursuit of Christ as the Gospel.

An assessment of much of current American Christianity is that it has been diluted, if not perverted. It has been modified, if not altogether changed, leaving many to believe a false gospel. Our nation has not kept within its borders this distortion of truth. We have transported it by sea and land to pollute a good portion of the world’s Christian population. It should remind us of the infamous garbage barge that traveled all the way from New York City to Central America and back trying to find a place to dispose the garbage. American Christendom has dumped its theological garbage all over the world.

It is the mission of Real Truth Matters to work for the recovery of primitive Christianity without trying to recreate first century culture. Many have attempted to recover New Testament Christianity thinking the secret is returning to a resemblance of first century Judean culture. Others think we need to revive the early church climate and recreate their structure and practice. However, it is unnecessary to duplicate the cultural practices of the first century in order to revive Christianity. The gospel is transcultural, meaning, it will work in any culture. The answer to the recovery of the gospel is not cultural.

Another attempt to rediscover biblical Christianity recommends new methodology. It is suggested that if we can find better methods of communication or better contextualize the message we would advance the cause of Christ. Surely improvement in communication or contextualization is a worthy goal. But, if not careful, the goal becomes more important than the gospel and the gospel is compromised. Most efforts to better share the message has led to changing the message. And most enterprises to more cleverly blend Christianity into the present culture have resulted in a more worldly Christianity.

RTM’s mission is not methodology driven, but theologically driven. The answer is not in something new and improved but tried and true. It is the rediscovery and proclamation of the same gospel that the apostles of Christ proclaimed. In many circles the old gospel will sound very new. But its novelty is in the telling and hearing not in its longevity.

The above purpose statement is a theologically driven mission. The following outline is an explanation of this sentence and our ministry.

A. Christo-Centric—Apostolic Gospel

1. Christ is the gospel. The gospel is not about Christ, it is Christ.

The gospel is not just about the death and resurrection of Christ. It is Jesus. It is Jesus, His person as the Son of God and the Son of Man. It is all about what He is and has done in the redemption of sinners.

This constitutes a major portion of the problem of modernized Christianity. It fails to recognize Christ, Himself. Even though Jesus is the subject of its gospel, He is not the gospel to most professing Christians. Their gospel is what Jesus has done for them. But the New Testament does not tell men to believe in only what He has done. It tells them to believe upon Him and in Him.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:40).

For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame (Romans 10:11).

Why is this significant? Because the gospel is not just believing certain facts about Christ. It is the reality of the person of Christ in the believer. Biblical Christianity is the life of Christ in the soul of man. Christ, in believers, also means more than having a companion. The life of Christ is the power from which the believer lives.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10).

When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory (Colossians 3:4).

This does not minimize faith in our Lord’s sacrificial death and in His triumphal resurrection. But His death would not have been effectual to the salvation of men had He not been who He is. Nor would He have risen from the dead. It is His person and all that He is and has done that is the good news.

How do we present Christ as the gospel? Usually the gospel is thought to be about Christ and what He did, not Christ Himself. The way to answer the “how” question is by returning to the New Testament and examining the preaching of the apostles. The remainder of this post is the continuation of our last post and it is not an in-depth answer but it provides the salient points that will be later discussed in future posts.

2. The gospel’s presentation must be based upon the preaching and teaching of the apostles of Christ.

But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:8).

Our message must be the same as the apostles from whom we should have received the gospel. Perhaps modern methods of evangelism may differ from theirs. It is not the custom of gospel preachers to come to a city and first go to the local Jewish synagogue to preach the gospel. But the doctrinal content must be the same. The following are a few of the things that the apostles preached that have been lost to many.

a. Faith is more than mental assent, it is the treasuring and trusting of Christ Jesus.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love (Galatians 5:6).

b. Repentance is not a onetime act, but a life of pursuing Christ in all areas of life.

Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent (Revelation 3:19).

But declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance (Acts 26:20.)

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:11-13).

c. The apostles preached a fascination with Christ that translated into a lifelong pursuit of Christ.

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:7-14).

d. This fascination should involve the mind, heart and will. In too many cases fascination involves one or two of the three, but seldom all three. But the mind, heart, and will must all be engaged! Our pursuit of Christ should not be academic alone, emotion alone, or action alone.

Jesus said to him, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).

e. The reality of Jesus Christ in the believer is by the Holy Spirit. He is to be experienced.

And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).

He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him (John 14:21).

But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me (John 15:26).

It is Real Truth Matters’ prayer and genuine desire to be used by the Christ, who is the gospel, to stir men and women to pursue the Savior. Our passion is our aim. RTM will employ new methods to promote this passion, as long as the method will aid the message, not change it. RTM will use technology, innovation, and whatever the Lord puts in our hands to use. But the message will not change even if the medium does. The goal is as already stated, to bring others to a recovery of New Testament Christianity. In the final analysis, the recovery is not the truth, since Jesus Christ is the truth. He suffers no loss and therefore needs no recovery. The recovery is men and women who have yet to discover that the Real Truth does matter.