Amazing Stat

I have been reading "A Case For Christ" for the second time and was just taken back by a stat I read yesterday. There is a section of the book that deals with Jesus and how he fulfilled prophecies. Some people believe that Jesus merely fulfilled the prophecies by . Some believe that Jesus was one of many through out history who coincidentally fit the prophetic fingerprint.

Louis S. Lapides, M.Div., TH.M. who earned a Bachelor's degree in theology from Dallas Baptist University as well as a master of divinity and master of theology degree in Old Testament and Semitics from Talbot Theological Seminary is a man with an incredible background and testimony. Louis served for a decade with Chosen People Ministries, talking about Jesus to Jewish college students. He has taught in the Bible department of Biola University and worked for seven years as an instructor for Walk Through the Bible seminars. He is also former president of a national network of fifteen messianic congregations.

While being interviewed by Strobel, Louis was asked about the topic mentioned in the first paragraph. The question once again was--is it possible that Jesus merely fulfilled the prophecies by . Here is what Lapides said.

"Not a chance," came his response. "The odds are so astronomical that they rule that out. Someone did the math and figured out that the probability of just eight prophecies being fulfilled is one chance in one hundred million billion. That number is millions of times greater than the total number of people who've ever walked the planet!
"He calculated that if you took this number of silver dollars, they would cover the state of Texas to a depth of two feet. If you marked one silver dollar among them and then had a blindfolded person wander the whole state and bend down to pick up one coin, what would be the odds he'd choose the one that had been marked?"
With that he answered his own question: "The same odds that anybody in history could have fulfilled just eight of the prophecies."

This same statistical analysis was done by mathematician Peter W. Stoner. Stoner also computed that the probability of fulfilling forty-eight prophecies was one chance in a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion!

Our minds can't comprehend a number that big. This is a staggering stat that's equal to the number of minuscule atoms in a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, billion universes the size of our universe!

Lapides then says, "The odds alone say it would be impossible for anyone to fulfill the Old Testament propheices." Then Lapides concluded, "Yet Jesus-and ony Jesus throughout all of history-managed to do it."

To me that is amazing. If you don't believe in Christ that has got to make you think. What do you think? Let me know.

Late.