Burden of Proof

Pentecost 2021  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Burden of Proof

Burden of Proof:
Is the amount of evidence needed to believe something to be true
Court Room setting
The prosecutor who is accusing someone of a crime must supply a burden of proof in order for the jury to believe the accusation
Marketing industry
In order to sell anything they must reach a burden of proof about their product in order for the buyer to commit, believing it is the right product for them.
Science:
Scientific articles and research aim to gather enough evidence (burden of proof) in order to influence belief and practice.
Worldview
Each worldview must supply a sufficient ‘burden of proof’ to support their belief system and faith.
Every individual has a unique threshold for the burden of proof they need in order to change parts of their life.
Ex. Distant individual
Lunch
Challenged them in their lifestyle choices and pursuits
Response: “If God clearly spoke to me and told me what I needed to change, then I would change...”
Burden of Proof: “Need to clearly hear God speaking to me like the prophets...”
Jesus was fully away that coming in the form of Man would need to meet an appropriate burden of proof for people to believe He was also the Son of God
John 1:10–11 NASB95
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.
Why? For some of the Jews, Jesus had not met the ‘burden of proof’ to be the messiah...
In the same vein, Society and Science has looked at the Christian faith and laid a ‘burden of proof’ on it....
Has it been met or is the burden too high and not equivalent to other disciplines
This idea is captured by the gospel of today
John 12:37 NASB95
37 But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him.
The question to wrestle with is whether Christianity has met the burden and if so what does that mean personally for us?

Has Christianity met the burden?

Key declaration of the Christian Faith:
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages…Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and of the Virgin Mary, and became Man. And He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried, and on the third day He rose from the dead according to the scriptures.
Key Source: Gospels
4 eyewitness accounts
Matthew and John were disciples
Mark heard it from Peter
Luke, as an apostle, research and spoke to eyewitness of Christ
They are all unique and different but all 4 accounts agree on the essential facts of Jesus Christ
Accuracy of the NT
No other historical book has more copies than the NT
the more copies (AKA Manuscripts) the more you can cross reference in order to reach what was originally written.
Not only does the NT has the greatest number of copies from different languages and geographic locations but the earliest copy are only 30-40 years after the completion of the new testament…UNMATCHED BY ANY OTHER HISTORICAL DOCUMENT
Outside evidence supporting the life of Christ
1st and 2nd century non-christian historian and historical figures attesting to both Jesus Christ and early believers
With enough evidence supporting the accuracy of the NT and recorded life of Christ. We now have to look at Jesus and His claim to be the son of God
Fulfillment of the prophecies.
the chances of just 8 prophecies (like these) coming true by sheer chance is 1 in 10x17 (100,000,000,000,000,000)
for a total of 16 prophecies, the odds would be 1 x 10x28 x 10x17 or 1 in 10x45
There are many areas to talk about but these are a few simple talking points to exemplify that per historical and scientific standards, Jesus Christ, NT, and the Christian faith meet and exceed at time the burden of proof.
Admittedly there are areas where Christianity has been challenged and satisfactory answers are hard to find...
it doesn’t warrant or justify disbelief in the faith

Is it really about the burden of proof

While history and science play a part in the struggles that people have with the faith, their un-belief or struggle is more personal.
John 12:42–43 NASB95
42 Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.
A life lived with Christ will come with a sacrifice of sorts…The question is are we willing to sacrifice it...
luxuries
pride
greed
indulgences
pleasures
‘freedom’
More often than not we are not willing to give up something, which is why we can set our personal burden of proof to be so high...
Conclusion
Story of distant individual...
I wondered that even if Christ were to clearly speak to this individual, it would come down to a question of his will....would he be willing to sacrifice his desires for obedience.
Final sentence
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