Incredible stories

Bob writes incredible science-fiction stories. He knows how to capture the reader’s attention with intriguing characters and surprising plots. Let’s imagine that Bob told these two stories.

The first story

Last night, while my wife and I were watching TV, a UFO landed in our back yard. A green alien got out of the UFO and asked us to join him. So my wife and I got into his UFO, and he took us to his home planet, Jupiter. There he showed us around his home city. We had dinner with his family. Afterward, we got into the UFO and returned to earth. But when we got back, because of the space-time continuum, we went through a time portal, and only one second of earth time had passed.

The second story

Two thousand years ago, God sent us his Son, Jesus. This man Jesus was 100% God and 100% human at the same time. He was born from a virgin! While he was on earth, he healed sick people and raised dead people back to life. And then he died on a cross. If you believe this, he will take away all your sins and forgive you. But he didn’t stay dead. He rose again to life and is now in heaven. If you trust in him, God’s Spirit lives in you right now. When you die, your soul will leave your dead body to be with Jesus in heaven. And one day (the rapture) he will resurrect your dead body to be reunited with your soul. After this you will return with Jesus at his second advent when he comes to set up a kingdom on earth.

The difference

What’s the difference be these two stories? They are both incredible. Will the first story be told in 2,000 years time? Probably not. Will it change people’s lives? Probably not. Will people be willing to die for it? Probably not.

But the second story has been told for  about 2,000 years. It has changed people’s lives. And people are still willing to die for it (Phil. 1:20-23).

Whether or not we believe a story, is influenced by our community (family and friends), our experience and the evidence. Our community is a major influence because it also shapes how we interpret our experiences and how we interpret the evidence. So our community has a powerful role in forming our beliefs. Different communities with the same experiences will interpret them in different ways. And different communities with the same facts, evidence and data will interpret them in different ways. People will find a story more believable if more people in the community (family and friends) also believe the story. For example, the fact that over 500 people saw Jesus alive makes His resurrection more believable (1 Cor. 15:3-8).

Lessons for us

All stories are not the same. Although they may be interesting and entertaining, most stories won’t endure like the story of Jesus.

A Christian’s beliefs are supported if they attend a church (which becomes part of their community). And if they attend a small church it’s good to attend a larger gathering of Christians (like conferences) sometimes so they can experience a larger Christian community.

Evangelism (telling others about Jesus) is more effective if it includes a group of Christians than if it is done by a solo Christian.

Acknowledgement:
This blogpost was sourced from the following book,
Chan S (2018) “Evangelism in a skeptical world”, Zondervan, p. 40-43.

Written, November 2018