Maura Saccuro types in the following there at YouTube Live, Tim: "How do we know Christianity
is the correct belief when there's a sea of religions throughout history since before
even Jesus was born?"
Right, that is a great question.
You know, that was a question that I asked, Cy, many years ago as a young skeptic.
I don't know if I've ever shared this with you, but I claimed atheism for a brief time
in my teen years.
I did not know that.
I think I was more of an agnostic, but I claimed atheism.
I think it's because I just wanted to sin a lot, but, you know.
That does make it easier.
It does.
But no, I really was.
And my search for truth was kinda haphazard, you know, cause I was more interested in drinking
Budweiser than really searching for truth.
But from time to time, I had Jehovah's Witnesses come to the door, I--even in school, I was
always interested, and so were my brothers, who by the way are all Catholic now, we were
always interested in religious things.
So I looked into Buddhism, I looked into Hinduism, I looked into a few of the world religions;
and Jehovah's Witnesses, my brother Ted and I really got into it for a while, and then
we kind of dropped out of everything.
But then later, when I started getting more serious, I started studying more seriously.
And what I found, for our--what's her name, that wrote in the question?
I'm surprised you didn't remember it, it's such an easy name.
I'm just kidding.
Maura Saccuro.
Okay.
Maura Saccuro, what you find, as a matter of history, is that there is one person that
sticks out like a sore thumb, and his name is Jesus Christ.
He is the pivotal person in history.
And of course a lot of the world religions, you know, Hinduism for example, you have Hindus
that accept him as one of their avatars, right, they have something like 125,000 avatars,
right, or "divine manifestations," he's one of them.
Islam accepts him as a prophet.
A lot of Jews today you'll find, "He was a confused rabbi," or "A good guy who was a
misguided rabbi."
I mean, everybody has to deal with this person because there's so much--and this gets to
the heart of your question: there is so much historical evidence for Jesus Christ.
Great book, by the way, by Lee Strobel, they're making a movie about it right now, called
"The Case For Christ."
He's not Catholic, he should be, but he's not Catholic.
But it's a great book, "The Case For Christ," where you look at this person as a matter
of history and it is incredible.
He's attested to by non-Christian sources, as well as, of course, in the Gospels, which
are incredibly accurate historical pieces--just from a historical standpoint.
I mean, you have guys like Sir William Ramsay, for example, the late 19th-century Scottish
archaeologist who set out to study Luke and Acts as a skeptic.
He was gonna blow holes in it, and he ends up becoming Christian in the process.
I mean, I wasn't as intelligent as Sir William Ramsay, but I had a little bit of that in
my own honesty.
You end up discovering--another great book, "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis, Maura Saccuro,
if I'm getting that right, C.S. Lewis, he puts it, basically, this way: when you look
at the life of Christ as a matter of history, I mean, read Will Durant's history, right,
or the Encyclopedia Britannica, you know, these are secular histories, and you find
Jesus Christ, and the write-up there is: I mean, he claimed to be God, performed miracles,
fulfilled prophecies and such to demonstrate that he was, I mean, these are all historical
realities.
This is why the Catechism of the Catholic Church will say in paragraph 643 that the
resurrection of Jesus Christ cannot be known by anything other than an historical fact.
It's a historical fact.
Ultimately, that's why I'm Christian: because Jesus Christ fulfilled scores of prophecies
that are inexplicable, humanly speaking; performed miracles that were attested to by believers
and unbelievers; established a Church that still exists--and he prophesied that it would,
because, you know, he not only fulfilled prophecy, but he also proclaimed prophecies that came
to pass, like the establishment of the Church, and here we are, 2,000 years later, and the
Church he established is still here, the one holy Catholic and apostolic Church.
There is just no human explanation for that.
And then you have the miracles!
And not just--oh my goodness, I get a little excited on this one.
You know why, Cy?
Because this is one Catholics don't talk about enough.
Jesus performed miracles himself, but he also prophesied.
He said in Mark 16:17, "These signs shall follow them that believe: they will lay hands
on the sick and they will be healed."
They'll perform signs!
These signs!
The Catholic Church has documented, documentable miracles in every generation for 2,000 years.
I have personally seen them.
My wife and I have traveled around this world.
We've seen, for example, the Miracle of Lanciano, the Miracle of Orvieto, these are Eucharistic
miracles.
Also we have the miracles of incorruptibles.
We have unexplained healings that are incredible.
I encourage you, get ahold of two awesome books--I'll give you three books, I know we
gotta go.
One is "The Incorruptibles" by Joan Carroll Cruz.
Great book!
It's been around a while, like from the '70s or something.
It has.
Tan Books.
She documents all these incorruptibles like St. Bernadette of Lourdes, where they die
and their bodies remain perfectly intact.
Phenomenal!
These are living miracles--well, they're not alive.
But they're living miracles in the sense that they're miracles that are there for us right
now.
You can see them and experience them.
And then the other is called "Eucharistic Miracles" by the same Joan Carroll Cruz.
Phenomenal miracles, some of which still exist, like I mentioned the Miracle of Lanciano.
This miracle is 1,317 years old.
I have seen it, twice, with my own eyes, and it's phenomenal.
It's a Eucharistic host that miraculously, 1,317 years ago a priest was saying mass,
and the accidents of bread and wine were transformed into those of real flesh, real blood, still
exists today, and it's been documented on four different occasions, scientifically examined,
it's phenomenal.
These are miracles that point to the truth of our Catholic faith.
The miracles of Padre Pio, the miracles of Lourdes, the healings and such.
All of this and more that we could talk about are the reasons that I am Christian; and not
just Christian, but Catholic.