Why This Resource Guide?

Why This

Resource Guide?

This guide was created to share with others evidences for the claims of Christianity, and to provide resources so that you can further study the subjects presented. I've presented the information in the way that was instrumental to me as I was coming to the conclusions I've indicated here. It is my hope that both Christians and non-Christians will benefit from the information contained within this guide.

If you are a Christian, this guide will enable you to learn many of the verifiable evidences for the truths of Christianity, as well, learn how to answer to many of the common questions and challenges to those truths. The warning on the second page confirms that most Christian students lack not only the knowledge of actual evidences for Christianity, but also how to answer challenges to Christianity. And I believe that many adult Christians are similar in their lack or knowledge of evidences or answers. They believe despite the challenges, not because of the evidence. Again, the quote from the main page:

“People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.”

Blaise Pascal

If you are a non-Christian and you are willing to honestly consider the evidences for Christianity, this is a resource which will provide answers to a number of the questions many have had, I have had, and which you might have also. There are also answers to challenges raised against Christianity in the Challenging Statements sections, and these answers show the contradictions within many of the challenges.

As this is a resource guide, it is not necessary to read it through from start to finish as you might read a novel. You can go to any section you would like to learn, or learn more about. It would be impossible to absorb all the information it contains with only a single reading. The saying mentioned in the introduction section applies here too:

“It’s like trying to take a drink of water from a fire hose”

While you can go to any section you would like to learn about, my purpose in placing the sections in the order they are is that there is a logical progression to the subjects. Similar to learning Math, having a knowledge of previous sections will often give greater insight into later sections.

For this reason, if you don’t initially read through the subjects in the order they are listed, I recommend that at some point you do go through all of the main sections so that you can see the logical flow of the information.

I believe this is particularly true if you are new to studying the truths of Christianity. Many Christians are new to a study of evidences for Christianity. If you feel that you are in this category, I think for a first time reading of the information that you go through the sections in the order they are presented. I believe you will get the most out of this guide using this method. Still, don’t hesitate to go to any section that is of interest to you, or that you are looking for answers in that subject area.

When I first thought to create something like this guide more than a few years back, my desire was to provide a resource for high school students at the church my family attends, Grace Chapel (www.gclancaster.com). I wanted to put together kind of an All-In-One resource for the students. Working with high school students for the last 20+ years, I've come to realize that time and schedule obligations students are under really impact their ability to attend a multi-part instruction extending over multiple weeks. As well, most of us will not retain most of the information we see in a presentation. If you find that this describes you, this guide will allow you to more fully investigate the topics included here according to your schedule, at your pace, and also keep you from feeling that you’ve missed important information due to the limitation of your schedule.

I have included an extensive number of Internet links throughout the sections in this guide and a large categorized section of links in the last section. This will provide you with additional sites for greater depth of study of the topics in this guide. This way you will not only be able to learn much more about the subjects, but also become more familiar with the persons and organizations providing information on these subjects.

This resource guide originally started out the size of a business card with only a list of websites on the categories of Truth, God, The Bible, and Jesus. I wanted to provide a quick handout for anyone to be able to research information about these subjects through the sites listed on the card. I realized after creating it that I needed to provide a context for the subjects rather than just listing sites on a card, so it grew into a small handout with the additional information. After a number of additional revisions to add content and clarify sections, it grew to 24 pages, then 42 pages, and before transferring the information to this website, grew to almost 500 pages. I've invested 100’s of hours of time assembling the information, and I hope that you find value in it for important decisions in your life.

When I first learned of the many different pieces of information and the evidences included in this guide, I was impressed at how effectively they answered many of the questions and challenges presented against Christianity. I then realized that others might benefit from this information too, especially Christian students facing these challenges, and eventually Christians of all ages who don't yet know of the information. This way, more Christians would learn about the evidences for what they believe and be able to answer the questions and challenges raised against Christianity. if, and those not currently accepting Christianity as true would have valid reasons to consider the truths of Christianity.

The information in this guide has been assembled from various articles, books, web sites, as well as audio and video recordings. I have included links to as many of these sources of information as I can find so that you can access them with a simple mouse click. I highly recommend reading, listening to, and viewing as much of the material at these links as you can. The reason for this is that many of the links contain much more content than what is included here. As well, these authors are much more effective at presenting their information than I am, so I want you to have as close to the primary sources of the information as possible.

I am sure there are more websites I’ve not discovered providing evidences for Christianity than the ones included in this guide. If you know of others which you feel would be of value, please email me at the address on the cover.

While my original intent was to create a resource for Christian high school students, I realized that individuals of other ages, as well as non-Christian students and Christian and non-Christian adults might find the information useful as well. It is my goal that if you are a Christian, you will find the information useful for gaining confidence in the truths of Christianity and your ability to share those truths. If you do not consider yourself a Christian, it is my goal that you will find the information useful for honestly considering the evidences for the truths of Christianity. And if those evidences prove Christianity true beyond a reasonable doubt, the implications of that truth to you, as well as options to consider.

I believe these evidences provide significant confirmation to the truths of Christianity and prove Christianity to be based on Objective Truths. And since Objective Truths apply everywhere, these truths apply not only to those who consider themselves Christians, but to everyone. And since these truths have implications, these implications apply to everyone as well. It is because of my concern about these implications and what they mean for each person’s eternity, that I feel so strongly about sharing this information with others.

If you are a Christian high school student planning on attending college, the initial 70% WARNING should be a wake-up call. Of course, whether or not you attend college, your beliefs will be challenged. The challenges to our beliefs are subtle before high school, not so subtle during our high school years, and can sometimes be quite confrontational after high school - especially in college. If you are a Christian student, I believe these resources will answer questions you may have and eventually will have, and hopefully provide answers to challenges you might be faced with. I wish I had known this information when I was a student. Unfortunately, the Internet wasn’t available when I was in high school, nor the extensive resources that are so available now.

If you are not a Christian, thank you for your time in reading this and being willing to consider the information and evidences. If this information is true, which I believe can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, there are eternal implications to consider. Ignoring these implications will not make them go away.

The many websites listed within this guide will provide you with the resources to investigate each topic in greater depth. They were all active at the time of this writing. If you find a link down, please use the email address on the title page to let me know so that I can update the guide. If you do find a link down, you may be able to locate the resource by performing a search on that site, a web search using key-words, or web search using the title from that link or article. The content may have been moved to a new location on that site. As well, the content may also be available on one or more other sites.

Ultimately, any belief system should be believed or not believed because of the evidence. This is true for the belief system of Christianity as well. A belief system shouldn’t be believed because someone wants it to be true, or not believed because someone wants it to be false for that matter either. If Christianity were put on trial, what would the evidence prove “beyond a reasonable doubt”? That is what we will consider here.

I am indebted to the pastors, teachers, and philosophers listed throughout this guide, who have made many of their resources available for free on their website and the sites of others, and are also listed throughout this guide. Their resources have provided a tremendous self-education opportunity in all of the topics included here, both for myself and for so many others. I hope you take advantage of them.

If you find the resources of these ministries to be a benefit to you, I encourage you to contribute to them. They have made an eternal impact on many, and are educating others to be able to make an eternal impact as well. This resource guide would not have been possible without the information they and others have generously provided, much for free, through their websites and through the websites of others.

One specific area which many of these resources have provided numerous evidences for is the Bible. These evidences have effectively disproved many claims you might have heard. Claims that the Bible is an ancient document full of myths, that it contradicts science, and that it cannot be trusted. What is proven well beyond a reasonable doubt is that the Bible is amazingly accurate, and has been confirmed by science, archaeology, and prophesy.

Through these confirmations, and especially that it is 100% accurate on very detailed prophesies and also indicates scientific principals in some cases thousands of years before they would ever be confirmed by modern science, it is also the only work demonstrating that it could have only come through God. And since the Bible is foundational to Christianity, it confirms the truth of Christianity. If you have had doubts or have questions about the trustworthiness of the Bible, I encourage you to read the section on the Bible to see just a few of the evidences proving its truth and origin.

This guide to a great degree is a compilation of information from the individuals and ministries indicated. They have generously provided so much information freely to us. I’ve created it in PDF format, and now as a website, enabling the links to be clickable as well as enabling the easy emailing to others of the guide or website address.

If you have any suggestions of additional content and/or suggestions to better clarify the information and make it more informative and readable, please email your suggestions to the email address on the title page. Please also let me know if you have any questions which are not answered by the current content, and if this guide has been helpful to you in your quest for the truth about Christianity.

Thank you,

Hugo Schraer

My apologies for any grammar and punctuation mistakes you find. I've read and re-read through this guide multiple times, but as I do not have a degree in English nor Literature, I’m sure that I've missed a number of them. If this had been written by my sisters, the grammar and punctuation would be almost perfect!

My primary desires have been to provide the information included here so that it will provide Christians with evidences for the foundation to their convictions, correct many of the common errors believed about Christianity, (by both Christians and non-Christians), and provide non-Christians evidences showing that Christianity is worth giving serious consideration.

Thank you for looking past any grammar and punctuation errors you find and focusing on the content. Thankfully, the validity of the information isn't determined by grammar errors I have or haven’t caught yet. Still, I hope these mistakes are not too distracting.

Thank you again!

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