Evidence for Jesus’ Existence
- 1. If Jesus was a historical figure, why isn’t He mentioned more prominently in non-Christian ancient texts?
- 2. Why do some historians argue that Jesus' story parallels earlier myths of dying and rising gods?
- 3. How reliable are the Gospel accounts when they were written decades after Jesus' life?
- 4. Why would an omnipotent God choose to reveal Himself in a small, obscure region of the ancient world?
- 5. How do archaeological findings support or contradict the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ life?
- 6. If Jesus performed miracles, why don’t we see more contemporary records of them?
- 7. Could Jesus’ teachings have been influenced by the cultural and philosophical ideas of His time?
- 8. Why does Christianity claim exclusivity when other religions also teach love and morality?
The Divinity of Christ
- 9. How can Jesus be both fully human and fully divine without contradiction?
- 10. If Jesus was divine, why did He need to pray to the Father?
- 11. Why didn’t Jesus openly and unambiguously declare, “I am God” during His ministry?
- 12. Why did Jesus express ignorance about the timing of the end times if He is all-knowing?
- 13. How can Jesus be God if He explicitly refers to the Father as greater than Himself in the Bible?
- 14. How do Christians reconcile the Trinity with the monotheistic foundation of the Old Testament?
- 15. If Jesus is divine, why did He experience human limitations, such as hunger and fatigue?
- 16. Why would God need to become human to save humanity instead of directly forgiving sins?
- 17. How does the Orthodox doctrine of the Incarnation explain the union of divine and human natures?
- 18. Why would an eternal God enter into time and space as a finite human being?
- 19. How does Jesus’ claim, “Before Abraham was, I am,” reflect His divine nature in the context of Jewish theology?
- 20. How does Jesus’ claim to divinity set Him apart from other religious leaders?
- 21. Why aren’t Jesus’ miracles verifiable by modern historical methods?
- 22. Couldn’t the miracle accounts in the Bible be exaggerations or later additions by His followers?
- 23. How do we differentiate Jesus’ miracles from mythological stories of other figures performing wonders?
- 24. Why do miracles seem absent or rare in the modern age if Jesus is still active through the Holy Spirit?
- 25. How does the Orthodox Church view miracles as signs of Christ’s divinity rather than mere displays of power?
- 26. If miracles require faith to be believed, how can they serve as objective proof of Jesus’ divinity?
The Fulfillment of Prophecies
- 27. How do we know Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies rather than the Gospel writers shaping His story to fit them?
- 28. Why do some Jewish interpretations of messianic prophecies reject Jesus as the Messiah?
- 29. Couldn’t Jesus’ actions have been deliberately orchestrated to fulfill prophecies He was aware of?
- 30. How does the Orthodox understanding of prophecy show the unity of Scripture?
The Resurrection as the Ultimate Evidence
- 31. How can the Resurrection be proven if the accounts rely on the testimony of Jesus’ followers?
- 32. Why didn’t Jesus appear to more people, including skeptics, after His Resurrection?
- 33. Could the Resurrection stories have been invented by the disciples to maintain their movement?
- 34. How does the Orthodox understanding of the Resurrection emphasize victory over sin and death?
- 35. Why does the Bible emphasize faith in the Resurrection rather than empirical evidence?
- 36. Did Jesus really resurrect?
- 37. Was Jesus a mythological figure?
- 38. Was Jesus just a man?
- 39. Did Jesus’s followers make it all up?
- 40. Were the witnesses unreliable?
- 41. Did the eyewitnesses hallucinate?
- 42. Did Jesus really die on the cross?
- 43. Was Jesus’s body stolen?
- 44. Did everyone go to the wrong tomb?
- 45. How does evidence counter objections to Jesus’s resurrection?
- 46. Why is the Resurrection important?
- 47. How does the Resurrection of Jesus affirm His divinity?
- 48. Why did the women discover the empty tomb first, and what does that say about the credibility of the account?
- 49. How did the early Church’s willingness to suffer and die support the truth of the Resurrection?
- 50. Why were Jesus’ enemies unable to produce His body to disprove the Resurrection?
- 51. Why do some argue that the Resurrection was a hoax, and how does history refute this claim?
- 52. How did Jesus’ Resurrection transform the lives of His disciples from fear to boldness?
- 53. What is the significance of the Resurrection in Orthodox theology?
- 54. Why did the Jewish and Roman authorities fail to prevent belief in the Resurrection?
- 55. How does the Resurrection validate Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God?
The Role of Christ in Salvation
- 56. Why would God require a sacrificial death to forgive sins rather than simply granting forgiveness?
- 57. How does Jesus’ crucifixion fulfill the requirements of justice and mercy simultaneously?
- 58. Why is salvation through Jesus exclusive if God desires all people to be saved?
- 59. How does the Orthodox Church understand salvation as a process rather than a one-time event?
- 60. Why was Jesus’ sacrifice necessary if God could have chosen another means of redemption?
- 61. How is Jesus different from other moral or religious teachers, like Buddha or Confucius?
- 62. Why should Jesus’ teachings be considered absolute truth rather than one perspective among many?
The Trinity
- 63. How can the concept of the Trinity be true if the word (Trinity) is not explicitly mentioned in the Bible?
- 64. How can God be one and three at the same time without it being a logical contradiction??
- 65. Why does the Trinity seem so difficult to explain, even for theologians?
- 66. If Jesus is God, why does He pray to the Father and refer to Him as greater?
- 68. Why did it take the Church centuries to formally define the doctrine of the Trinity?
- 69. How does Orthodox theology reconcile the equality and distinct roles of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
- 70. Why should non-Christians accept a doctrine as complex as the Trinity if simpler monotheistic views exist?
- 71. How does the Trinity reflect God’s nature as love and community?
- 72. Why is the Trinity essential to understanding Christ’s divinity and salvation?
- 73. How do Orthodox Christians respond to accusations that the Trinity is polytheistic?
- 74. Why does the Trinity matter for Christian worship and prayer?