by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
The faith we are to have in Jesus is based on testimonial evidence that has stood the test of time since it was first scrutinized in the first century. Each gospel writer (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) was quite aware of the scrutiny they were under when they wrote.<\/p>\n
John starts his gospel with the proposition that Jesus was God, that the Word came in the flesh, and then offers eye-witnessed miracles to prove the proposition. He closes by saying that there were many other miracles Jesus performed that he did not include in the presentation of evidence, but says, “these are written that you may believe<\/em>…” (John 20:30-31) In other words, faith in Jesus was rational and evidence-based.<\/p>\n They were never hesitant to present the evidence and grant the hearers the right to be rational or irrational about it. The implication, of course, is that belief in Jesus is rational, and unbelief is irrational when the evidence is considered fairly.<\/p>\n The product that comes from believing in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, is “you may have life in His name<\/em>.” With an offer like that, based on evidence like that, what is the rational response? Take any of the four gospels and show they were not rational with the available evidence! Your eyes may be opened then if they have not already been opened!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton The faith we are to have in Jesus is based on testimonial evidence that has stood the test of time since it was first scrutinized in the first century. Each gospel writer (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) was quite aware of the scrutiny they were under when they wrote. John starts…<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-84663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-faith"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":89080,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/johns-proposition-and-proof\/","url_meta":{"origin":84663,"position":0},"title":"John’s Proposition and Proof","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The gospel of John is very unique in that it sets forth a proposition as in a debate, and then seeks to present evidence to prove the proposition is true. The proposition is stated in the first 18 verses that Jesus was actually God with God\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66279,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/reasoning\/","url_meta":{"origin":84663,"position":1},"title":"Reasoning","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The exercise of thought upon ideas to sort the true from the false, the stronger idea from the weaker idea. It is thinking through the available evidence to reach a conclusion. The book of John sets forth a propositional statement that says God came in human\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61360,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/examining-christianity\/","url_meta":{"origin":84663,"position":2},"title":"Examining Christianity","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 12, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: II Corinthians 13:1-8 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Most religions in the world surround themselves in mysteries \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Followers are asked to accept things without full knowledge \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Only a select few are granted special insight \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But God\u2019s teachings are not like these religions \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0God challenges us to reason about the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39659,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-faith-be-based-on-what-we-see\/","url_meta":{"origin":84663,"position":3},"title":"Should faith be based on what we see?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day Sir, Someone once told me that her faith has grown more through the things she has witnessed (miraculous healing, prophecies, people delivered from demons, etc.). Can this be true since prophecy has ceased? Further, should faith be based on what we see? If not on what should\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":83783,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/propaganda-wars-unbelief-based-on-propaganda\/","url_meta":{"origin":84663,"position":4},"title":"Propaganda Wars: Unbelief Based on Propaganda","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The Bible talks about a god that never existed and a Jesus who never existed, modern atheists and humanists tell us. Is that fact (truth) or propaganda? Our president laid his hand on a fiction book and swore by fiction to uphold the Constitution: \"So help\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89856,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/external-evidence-of-jesus-miracles\/","url_meta":{"origin":84663,"position":5},"title":"External Evidence of Jesus’ Miracles","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Do secular and Jewish writings mention or explain the miracles and powers of Jesus? Secular and Jewish sources from antiquity do not mention or explain Jesus' miracles in a manner that supports them. Still, they do provide external acknowledgment that he had a reputation as a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84663","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=84663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84663\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}