J.C. Ryle on Christianity's Unexplainable Facts (1 of 4)

"When skeptics and infidels have said all they can, we must not forget that there are three great broad facts which they have never explained away, and I am convinced they never can, and never will.  Let me tell you briefly what they are.  They are very simple facts, and any plain man can understand them.

"The first fact is Jesus Christ Himself.  If Christianity is a mere invention of man, and the Bible is not from God, how can infidels explain Jesus Christ?  His existence in history they cannot deny.  How is it that without force or bribery, without arms or money, He has made such an immensely deep mark on the world as He certainly has?  Who was He?  What was He?  Where did He come from?  How is it that there never has been one like Him, neither before nor after, since the beginning of historical times?  They cannot explain it.  Nothing can explain it but the great foundation principle of revealed religion, that Jesus Christ is God, and His gospel is all true" (J.C. Ryle, Holiness).