The Historical Stability of Christianity
At any moment a Christian leader can fail morally and it becomes public.
And even though there are many good churches...
...a church can fail
...a church can be abusive
...a church can be harmful.
People who attend a church can fail morally.
These failures can shake the faith of many people, causing them to reject Christianity.
When these failures occur, we must know that Christianity does not rise and fall based upon Christian leaders, Christian people, or churches.
Christianity rises on Jesus.
The first six letters of Christianity is Christ.
Christ means the specific one sent by God to be the world's Savior and King.
This one is Jesus.
Jesus is real.
He really was born in Bethlehem.
He really lived in Israel.
He really was crucified outside of Jerusalem.
He really rose from the dead.
The Bible tells us that he appeared to over 500 people following his resurrection.
Some claim to be eyewitnesses of his resurrection.
Peter, John, Matthew, and Paul all wrote that they were eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Jesus.
Their writings are collected in the Bible.
The Bible is a collection of real historical writings by real historical people telling a consistent narrative about Jesus.
The manuscripts of the Bible validate its reliability.
Archeological discoveries validate the Bible's reliability.
Historical sites validate the Bible's reliability.
In the Bible is where we first read about Christians.
The term Christian was used to describe those who believed in Jesus (Acts 11:25).
Later, Christianity became the term to refer to the set of beliefs about the Christ - Jesus.
In the first century, Christianity and Christians changed the world in wonderful ways.
Since the first century, Christianity and Christians have continued to change the world for good.
Christianity and Christians have been the single-most powerful impact on the world for good.
Christianity consists of people who believe in Jesus.
They are called Christians - those who believe that Jesus is the Christ.
However...
Some Christian leaders fail.
Some churches (a local assembly of Christians) fail.
Some Christians fail.
When they fail, Christianity doesn't fail.
Christianity doesn't suddenly lose it's credibility because of their failures.
The stability of Christianity is founded on the historical truth of Jesus...his birth, life, death, and resurrection.
We must keep the historical stability of Christianity before us so that when Christian leaders, Christians, and churches fail, our faith will not be shaken.
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