How can we know what is true? Should we be bothered.
To hear some people speak you would think that what is true is subjective – that is it all depends on your viewpoint. Sometimes this is true, of course. If you ask me if it is a good thing that LiverpoolFC won last weekend I will say yes but you might well say know – especially if you were a fan of the opposition. But some things are not subjective; for instance it really is not up to us whether 2+2=4. Such is the truth (or otherwise) of the existence of people and also of God. There is also a truth about Jesus that is not open to opinion: either Jesus is the son of God, as he claimed to be, or he is not; either he was God incarnate or he was not. These are important truths that need to be decided upon.
So how do we make a choice as to what is true or what is false?
There are all kinds of evidence we can look to for help but we will never find the physical evidence that some people claim we need to make the choice. But you will struggle to find the equivalent demanded physical evidence available for much that is important in our history. All that is available is historical evidence (testimony comes in here) and revelation (what we might believe God has told us about Jesus).
The value of testimony depends on the person who first relates it (as well as any who pass it on). We must decide if we are willing to trust the gospel authors. For my part, after considering the evidence for this I am convinced that they are worth trusting.
The value of revelation is more complicated. It is similar to testimony but you have to first accept that God does want to reveal himself. To believe this is complex but I think there is plenty of evidence to believe this is true – including Jesus himself who believed in revelation. We can consider the evidence but ultimately it will be a matter of faith: you must decide if you want to believe it or not. In the old testament there is plenty of revelation, recorded in the books of the prophets. Prophets who so often talk about Christ.
So ultimately we have to decide what we are going to think about Jesus. There has to be one thing that is true – not everything can be. What does the testimony and revelation say to you about Jesus?