{"id":35107,"date":"2021-05-05T11:59:46","date_gmt":"2021-05-05T16:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=35107"},"modified":"2021-05-05T11:59:46","modified_gmt":"2021-05-05T16:59:46","slug":"believing-the-unbelievable-story-of-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/believing-the-unbelievable-story-of-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"Believing the Unbelievable Story of Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by Don Bunting<\/p>\n<p>God intends for people to come to Him by faith.\u00a0 Undoubtedly God could reveal Himself to humanity in a powerful, material, undeniable way.\u00a0 Still, God says:\u00a0\u00a0<em>&#8220;But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him&#8221;\u00a0<\/em>(Hebrews 11:6).\u00a0 So, we are called to believe things that are not seen.<\/p>\n<p>Because Jesus is\u00a0<em>supernatural<\/em>, living outside of the material realm, His life on earth exhibits divine power.\u00a0 How can we believe all the unbelievable things?\u00a0 No single event can convince a skeptical individual, but the cumulative effect of the evidence in varied locations, among multitudes of all kinds of people, in varied circumstances, provides a strong case for faith. One specific event can illustrate how the four gospels all cooperate to make the incredible story of Jesus credible.<\/p>\n<p>Note the story of the wise men who visit the young child Jesus in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1-12).\u00a0 This curious story is recorded only in Matthew&#8217;s gospel.\u00a0 If there is no God, no spiritual powers at work, this story cannot be explained or believed.\u00a0 However, if we accept the possibility of the existence of God, the incredible story becomes believable.\u00a0 Consider some questions.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How did the wise men know of the birth of Jesus?<\/li>\n<li>Why did these Gentile officials even care about the birth of a Jewish king?<\/li>\n<li>How did they know he was so worthy of their worship that they made this long trip?<\/li>\n<li>How did they know where to find him?<\/li>\n<li>When they were close, they asked Herod for help.\u00a0 Why did Herod believe them?<\/li>\n<li>Where did Herod and his advisors turn to find out where this child would be?<\/li>\n<li>How could Herod tell them where to find Jesus?<\/li>\n<li>Why did Herod feel the need to kill Jesus if he did not believe this story?<\/li>\n<li>How did the wise men know not to report back to Herod who said he wanted to worship?<\/li>\n<li>Why was Herod willing to suffer the fall-out of the mass murder of children to kill Jesus?<\/li>\n<li>Why did Joseph take his family to Egypt?\u00a0 How did he know about Herod&#8217;s evil plan?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Each part of the story confirms the rest!\u00a0 This is not an event in some unknown place in some unknown time.\u00a0 These\u00a0public, historical events were confirmed by multitudes of people including government officials and religious leaders.\u00a0 These are things prophesied and recorded centuries before they occurred.\u00a0 This is an unbelievable story made credible.\u00a0 That is the nature of the entire life of Christ.\u00a0 Believe!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Don Bunting God intends for people to come to Him by faith.\u00a0 Undoubtedly God could reveal Himself to humanity in a powerful, material, undeniable way.\u00a0 Still, God says:\u00a0\u00a0&#8220;But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[139,49,73],"class_list":["post-35107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-belief","tag-faith","tag-jesus"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40801,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-wouldnt-believe-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":35107,"position":0},"title":"You Wouldn&#8217;t Believe It","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer \"Look, you scoffers, marvel and vanish away, because I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will never believe, even if someone were to explain it to you\" (Acts 13:41). Paul quoted this from Habakkuk 1:5. In Habakkuk's context, the sins of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/surprise-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":91311,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-paradoxes-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":35107,"position":1},"title":"The Paradoxes of God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Floyd Chappalear via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 18 No. 1, 31 March 1992 A paradox is that which seems contradictory in fact or experience; hence, unbelievable. There are some profound paradoxes associated with God. For instance, God is sovereign, yet man has free will. Jesus was human, while remaining Deity. Man\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48719,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-more-than-faith-required\/","url_meta":{"origin":35107,"position":2},"title":"Why is more than faith required?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm a bit confused about what Jesus is saying about how one gets to heaven. In John 3:16 he says that we just need to believe in God and we will be saved. And that there is no judgment for those who believe in Jesus. Yet, in Mathew 7:21\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68821,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-case-of-the-philippian-jailor\/","url_meta":{"origin":35107,"position":3},"title":"The Case of the Philippian Jailor","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 15, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton He wanted to know, \"What shall I do to be saved?\" (Acts 16:30). The simple answer: \"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ\u2026and you will be saved\" (Acts 16:31). The details of why believe in Jesus, what to believe about Jesus, and how to express faith in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5153,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-too-simple-to-say-we-are-to-believe-and-we-will-be-saved-by-gods-grace\/","url_meta":{"origin":35107,"position":4},"title":"Is it too simple to say we are to believe and we will be saved by God&#8217;s grace?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 4, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm concerned that purgatory does not exist in the Bible. I believe that imaginary doctrine can be changed, as has the belief of Limbo, with innocent newborn babies, who have died prior to baptism, no longer going to Limbo. I always thought that God has told us to believe\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24750,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-faith-mean-you-never-doubt\/","url_meta":{"origin":35107,"position":5},"title":"Does faith mean you never doubt?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does faith mean that you'll never ever doubt something? I've been sad lately because there are things in the Bible that I don't understand and these things have caused me to doubt Jesus. But when I doubted, I get sad because I think, \"I'm not saved because I'm not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}