Why I Believe

Recently I've noticed a few blog articles that deal with the subject of defining Christianity in various ways. The Evangelical Outpost has an interesting article, Fundies, Holy Rollers, and Born-agains: Defining Religious Labels and there's a hostile article purporting to be A Primer on Fundamentalism.

Ultimately, the whole definition thing gets to be pretty confusing. As a result, I thought I would skip beyond that and just give my own reasoning behind my religious faith and leave the definitions to someone else.

The convincing reasons for my faith aren't necessarily scientific or even meant to be. They may not convince anyone. If you're looking hard enough for holes in them, you're likely to find them. If you're looking for something airtight, you'd be better off reading one of the classic works of aplogetics by someone like CS Lewis or a compendium of arguments like this one, or by just reading the Bible for yourself.

My beliefs can best be summed up by this statement but the reasons why I believe are as follows:

1. The Illogical Nature of Evil
   There are the common criminal acts done every day like murder, stealing, etc. For most of these there's a logical reason behind them. They were either "crimes of passion" or motivated by greed or envy or any number of (more or less) rational reasons. I'm not talking about those types of acts. The illogical acts of evil I'm referring to are ones like the Holocaust where millions of people were killed for no apparent reason. Evolutionary theory can't explain the cause of the holocaust. There is no rational reason to explain such an event aside from acknowledging an Evil Entity that exists outside our normal human experience. The existence of such an entity then argues for the existence of a corresponding Good entity for without one the other would, by definition, not exist.
   
2. The Testimony of The Saints
   
   Many great men and women of faith have preceded me, some of whom I've known and others known only by history. They range from the incredibly intelligent to the most humble. They literally bet their lives on Christianity. I admire them all. Am I so arrogant as to assume that there is some kernel of truth that they missed in considering where to place their faith? They made a calculated risk in choosing to follow a certain path. Am I so different from them? Of course not. Therefore, I choose to follow the same path.
   
3. The Veracity of The Word
   
   The Bible contains some difficult concepts. At times, it seems to contradict itself. There are things that I don't understand and even a few things that I find almost unbelievable. It doesn't fit together perfectly, but as a whole it makes sense. If I were to invent a religion I would make sure everything fit together exactly. I would make it simple. The Bible is none of those things and that's part of what convinces me of it's authenticity. It can be understood within the context of itself but it doesn't fit together perfectly like something invented by man. There are more complex reasons why I believe in the veracity of the Bible but they ultimately boil down to the fact that it seems genuine and convincing to me, not concocted.
   
4. The Lack of Realistic Alternatives
   There is no alternative worldview that satisfies me. All of them require much more faith than Christianity.
   
5. Personal Experience
   I've personally experienced God's love, comfort and blessing in a way that convinces me experientially that he is for real.

There are two further points that I'd like to make.

• Legitimate Christianity is all or nothing
  I'm constantly amused by people that say Jesus was a great prophet but couldn't possibly be God. Judging by the things He said, either he was God or he was evil. If he wasn't God then at the very least he was misleading his followers to their deaths for the sake of a lie. If he wasn't God, then he was a traitor to his people because he failed to use his considerable skill in the fight against the Roman occupation. If he wasn't God, then he must've been hallucinating and/or mentally ill to make statements about rebuilding the temple or being able to cure people. There is no halfway point. Either he is what he claims or he is a lunatic.
  
• Some People Will Never Understand
  Some people seem incapable of believing the Christian faith. There may be many causes for this spiritual blindness but ultimately it makes no difference. They will never see.

I don't know that my reasons for believing convince anyone, but they convince me. They provide comfort and hope for me in the midst of doubt. It ultimately doesn't matter how I'm defined in terms of Christianity; whether I'm considered a fundamentalist or evangelical. The only thing that matters is that I've examined everything and have placed my faith where it is most warranted.