Hard Evidence

Are you a fan of the crime genre TV shows? As the name suggests, it’s a category of shows (fiction and non-fiction) dealing with crime-solving and bringing lawbreakers to justice. With all those in the news going unpunished for blatant legal infractions, it’s nice to watch for an hour or follow multiple episodes, knowing that in the end, there is justice. If you know me or have heard a handful of my sermons, you know I’m a fan.

Crucial to solving the crimes and bringing the criminals to justice is evidence. If those investigating the case have a suspicion but no evidence, no one is held accountable. The case goes cold. There is an increasing number of shows featuring actual cases that have gone unsolved for years or decades. Then, something changes; they find evidence. In the best instances, it is DNA evidence. That kind of evidence can be irrefutable. It is hard evidence; it often proves guilt or innocence.

Honest juries respond well to hard evidence. Before DNA, at the top of the list for proof were verification by fingerprints and eyewitness testimony. It’s no coincidence that this is the level of evidence offered for the reliability of Jesus’ life, ministry, teaching, death and resurrection in the Bible.

In Luke 1:1-3, Luke’s historical account consists of things that “were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.” Like a detective, he has “investigated everything carefully from the beginning.” Then, Dr. Luke made his case “in consecutive order.”  He lays out the timeline and substantiates it step-by-step, just like the best crime-solver!

Another Gospel writer who demonstrated the value of hard evidence was John. In his first epistle, he offers his and the other apostles’ eyewitness experience as irrefutable testimony to the truth of their claims. Oddly enough, this was not for the sake of convincing non-Christian skeptics. John was writing to believers. But they were believers who needed reminding why what they initially believed was true. So, it’s also vital that we remember the solid evidence for our faith.

John includes his appeal to evidence in the prologue of his letter, setting the foundation for what follows. Such proof forms the basis for a call to return to fellowship with them and God. This irrefutable proof of Christ’s life and claims is foundational to the following exhortations in John’s letter: resist the world’s allure and deception, live in obedience, and love one another.           

 Ultimately, we walk by faith and not just evidence (2 Corinthians 5:7). But God has provided us with ample support to trust the reliability of what we believe. He has made us rational beings who can become irrational without facts to back up what we believe. In the absence of facts, we tend to default to the imagined to make sense of the world. Even in the early church, Paul had to instruct young pastor Timothy to warn doubters not to “teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation” (1 Timothy 1:3-4).

We have a reliable faith. We have the hard evidence to back it up. It is far beyond any reasonable doubt. Are you able to make the case? 

“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