Personal Preface

Thank you for your desire to better understand the foundations on which the Christian faith rests. In this book we will discuss extensive evidence from a wide range of scientific and historical sources and disciplines.  Through these, God has provided help for us to better comprehend and appreciate the basis of Christian belief.

Before I became a Christian myself, I was at best indifferent to religion. Although raised in a Roman Catholic  family, later in school and college I was taught “the fact” of evolution. The more educated I became, the more I believed God and Jesus Christ were mere myths, nothing more than invented stories. Modern science – evolution – explained our existence, so, any need for God?  If the Bible began with a fairy-tale creation and its “Garden of Eden,” the rest of the book could hardly be any different.  After all, it told of a worldwide flood and people more than 900 years old, of one man parting an entire sea with only a word and prophets performing astounding miracles, of a savior born of a virgin and dying on a cross only to return from the dead.

No, I was “smarter” than that and church was for the gullible, you know, uneducated people. My ambition was to start a successful business and to make money, lots of money. I was no atheist, because in the back of my mind I still believed in God.  Religion itself became unimportant, and I was indifferent.

In 1999 – when I was 40 years old – I was ready to retire. Life had been good to me. Riding the crest of peak success, the company I had joined 15 years earlier had grown from a local Dutch organization with 300 employees to a worldwide consulting business, in 30 countries with 20,000 employees. This growth spawned numerous opportunities. One of these brought my family to settle in the US in the mid 1990s.

Around the time of my retirement, my wife started to attend a church close by. As a good husband, I had to go – at least occasionally –with her on Sunday. To my surprise, people there were quite nice, and they engaged in thought provoking discussions.  Before long, I began to become interested. I wondered, What if this is true? It seemed most unlikely, as I recalled the stories from my childhood, but still, suppose it was. I had to know for sure, so I decided to launch my own personal investigation into the facts behind the Christian claims.

From the start I researched whatever I could find; some tried to prove, others tried to disprove Christianity. I thought I would need to read only a few books, but my project quickly turned into a full-time study, stretching over six months and taking me through hundreds of books and articles. As I struggled with the evidence, a mountain of facts emerged, coming from many disciplines, each objectively pointing to the truth of Christianity. I was taken aback by both the quantity and quality of this evidence.  Especially amazing to me was how modern day science reveals more and more about God.  In time, my position became clear;  I had no choice but to face the facts, and once cornered by the evidence, I obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I noticed during my research that church-going Christians seemed to have little knowledge of the proofs for their belief. I had asked myself questions such as, Why should I believe in God? Was there really a flood? How do we know Moses wrote Genesis? What does archaeology say about the Bible? Were the gospels written by Jesus’ disciples or by others? Are the accounts of the miracles of Jesus exaggerated, or could such really happen? How can we know for certain that the resurrection is a historical event? I found very good answers to these questions, but to my surprise I had to find these answers in books.  Most people could not give me any answers. Some claimed their personal experience with God needed no answers. Others, believers all their lives, simply had not thought about it. Still others never had the time to look for answers, and most of them were not even sure what to believe.  Before long, men and women were telling me that they wanted to know these answers too and they asked to share with them my findings.

Much that was published about these evidences seemed to focus on single issues such as the uniqueness of the earth, or archaeological evidences for the Bible, or the prophecies that were fulfilled by Jesus. However, I did not find in one book, a comprehensive source, which would give an overview of all the evidences.

This triggered me to share a summary of my findings, all of them. Over the last several years I’ve shared this information in seminars and churches, in schools and home groups.  Now this material is ready for a book.

The information here comes from hundreds of sources. No, I make no claim to be an expert on the topics, but I have done lots and lots of legwork, sifting through huge amounts of available material about the multi-faceted evidence for our faith. And I have tried to structure this information logically so that it will be more accessible for those interested. The vast amount of information compelled me to trade in-depth detail for comprehensive overview, so I have been able to spend hardly more than a few pages of text on various topics. However I have supplied numerous sources for additional information for the interested and energetic reader.

This book is more than just a book for me. It is the path of my personal search for the truth. I am compelled to share this information, with the hope and prayer that it will help anyone willing to read this material to make a more informed and more committed decision about his or her personal commitment to God and Jesus Christ.

Read more about the Structure or Apologetics and Truth.