Five Reasons To Investigate Christianity

In the book, Five Sacred Crossings, author Craig Hazen weaves a philosophical argument through a fictional story. His argument is that a thoughtful person, one who is open to exploring all the religious options available, would obviously start their exploration with Christianity.[1]  Why would Dr. Hazen make such a claim?  He gives five reasons why you should begin your search by investigating the Christian Faith.

Reason #1 - Christianity is testable.

The strangest passage in all of religious literature is 1 Corinthians 15: 12-19.  Paul says that if it isn’t reasonable that Jesus rose from the dead, then you should reject Christianity!  Paul is not alone in his claim that Christianity can be tested – in fact many of the biblical authors encourage the use of evidence! 1 Thessalonians 5:21 tells us to test everything; 1 Peter 3:15 tells us to give reasons and make a defense. In Acts 2:14-41 Peter recounts all the physical evidence in his defense of the risen Christ, while in Acts 17:16-34 Paul is found explaining, proving, and reasoning. Even Jesus provided tangible, physical evidence to show who he was.[2] The Bible teaches that we are to use reason, look for proof, test our ideas, and find ways to explain Christ to others; never are we required to believe without evidence! The gospel of John is an argument with physical evidence, which ends like this, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ…”[3] The entire faith is based on evidence and is rooted in history.  Most of the authors, especially Luke, painstakingly put historical cross-hairs on all their claims!  If you want a religion that is spiritual and unfalsifiable, then Christianity is not for you. As Craig Hazen writes, “… Jesus parts company with other religious people who make untestable spiritual claims.”[4]

Reason #2 - Salvation is free.

Hinduism requires that we deliver ourselves from the world through devotion, works, and knowledge. Buddhism requires us to stop having desires. Islam requires obedience to the law.  All of these require our own human effort without assurance that we have done enough. The kind of grace that is described in Romans 3:20-24 and Ephesians 2:8-9 is unique: salvation given freely simply for trusting in a God that cared enough to provide a way for us to be in a right relationship with Him.  The father in the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 is a great picture of the Christian God saving us without requiring us to do anything other than to trust in Him and accept what He freely gives us.

Reason #3 - With Christianity you get a tremendous world-view fit. 

Christianity makes sense of the way the world actually works.  Evil, pain, and suffering quite often are used as a “proof” that Christianity can’t be true.  As it turns out, Christianity rationally explains why evil exists and is the only religion that deals with it head on!  Eastern religions call evil an illusion. New Age religions say that you control your own life, that you are your own god and when you are fully “illuminated” you will no longer struggle.  Neither of these views match well with our actual real-world experience. Instead of pretending that evil doesn’t exist, Christianity acknowledges evil and suffering and then steps up to face them.  Christians have been the main people group throughout history that have continuously tried to ease the suffering of people in need and Christian doctrine contends that God is working to bring an eventual end to evil, pain, and suffering.

Science also fits very neatly into Christianity.  God, according to Christianity, is rational and created a neat and ordered universe; science began because of this belief!  Science and Christianity have historically complemented each other. Christians see God as a Lawgiver, as a rational mind, and as the Creator. Because of this, the world must be rational, must follow prescribed laws, and must have a reason for its existence. Science is the way we study the world, the laws, and the reasons. Christian theology also teaches that man was created in the image of God, so we also have the ability to comprehend God’s laws and reasons. Therefore, science arose only once: In Christian Western Europe in the 17^th century.

Reason #4 - In Christianity, you get to live a non-compartmentalized life.

Christians get to use reason, along with their minds and their rationality in their worship. Naturalists must take anything spiritual and remove it from their rational mind to an “upper story” of thought that can’t be discussed or rationalized with physical evidence. For Eastern religions, reason is actually thought of as an impediment to spiritual progress; our everyday reasoning cannot cross over into religion for the Hindu and Buddhist. “Christianity provides a solid basis for human rationality, while these other positions [of naturalism, postmodernism, and pantheistic monism] struggle to make sense of human cognitive faculties.”[5]

Reason #5 - Christianity has Jesus at the center and every major religion co-opts Jesus into their system! 

J. Warner Wallace summarizes:

Jews believe Jesus was Mary’s son, was a teacher (Rabbi), had many disciples, was respected, performed miracles, claimed to be the Messiah and was crucified on the cross. They also acknowledge His followers reported Jesus was raised from the dead.

Muslims believe Jesus was born of a virgin, is to be revered and respected, was a prophet, a wise teacher who worked miracles, ascended to heaven, and will come again.

Ahmadiyya Muslims believe Jesus may have been born of a virgin, was a prophet and wise teacher, worked miracles, and was crucified on a cross.

Bahá’í believe Jesus came from God, was a wise teacher who had a divine and human nature, worked miracles, and was crucified and resurrected as an atonement for humanity.

Hindus believe Jesus was a holy man, a wise teacher, and is a ‘god’.

Buddhists believe Jesus was an enlightened man and a wise teacher.

New Age believers maintain Jesus was a wise moral teacher.[6]

Jesus is the greatest universal religious figure in history; no other leader/founder of a religion is co-opted into every other religion!

A thoughtful person would begin their exploration of religion by investigating the claims of Christianity.  It is testable, it is free, it fits well with our everyday experiences, it explains reason and rationality, and the founder of the religion is part of every other major world religion!

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[1] Craig J. Hazen, Five Sacred Crossings, Harvest House Publishers, 2008

[2] Luke 24:38-43 and Mark 2:1-12

[3] John 20:30-31

[4] Hazen, Five Sacred Crossings, pages 69-70

[5] Kenneth Richard Samples, A World of Difference, Baker Books, 2007

[6] J. Warner Wallace, Cold Case Christianity, http://coldcasechristianity.com/2014/who-is-jesus-according-to-other-religions/

If I Made Up A Religion

If I made up a religion, I would make sure that my scripture was only written by me.  You can’t count on others to keep a secret when conspiring to invent a story and pass it off as truth, so if I made up a religion, I would say that “god” spoke only to me revealing to just me what the “true” religion should be.  Christianity is the exact opposite of what I would do if I were going to make up a story.  Christian Scriptures consist of 66 different books, written by 40 different authors from different backgrounds, education levels & occupations over a 1500 year time period; all telling the same story of the creation, fall, and redemption of people through Jesus.

In addition to many authors, the New Testament books read like eye-witness accounts.  In Acts and the other New Testament books, the written accounts of the miraculous are not embellished or written with fanfare; they are recorded as history right along with all the other accounts.  New Testament historical accounts read like eye-witness testimony – including the recordings of the miracles. J. Warner Wallace, in his book Cold Case Christianity explains that eye-witness accounts inevitably differ and inconsistencies are expected from one eye-witness account to the next. It is when witnesses are allowed to compare stories that you then get one harmonized version of what happened.  There would be a problem if the gospel accounts were all identical; it is because the gospel accounts vary that they can be believed.  As a homicide detective for many years, Mr. Wallace makes it clear that the Gospels contain all the important details that are necessary to conclude that they are reliable as eye-witness accounts.[1]

If I made up a religion, I would make mine so general and spiritual that there would be no way for anyone to check out if what I was saying was the truth.  Again, I might just say that “god” or maybe some angels told only me. Or that I might pretend to spiritually interpret some ancient writing that no one else could understand.  That way I could be the only spokesman and leader and no one could check out if what I was saying was true. I might even make it one of my doctrines that my spiritual writings could not be questioned. Again, this is the opposite of what Christianity does.

The Bible is the most scrutinized book in history; something the New Testament writers (NTW) would welcome.  They actually challenge readers to check out verifiable facts, even facts about miracles. Paul very clearly says that if it isn’t reasonable that Jesus rose from the dead, then you should reject Christianity![2]  Paul is not alone in his claim that Christianity should be tested; many of the biblical authors encourage investigation and the use of evidence. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 tells us to test everything; 1 Peter 3:15 tells us to give reasons and make a defense. In Acts 2:14-41 Peter recounts all the physical evidence in his defense of the risen Christ, while in Acts 17:16-34 Paul is found explaining, proving, and reasoning. Even Jesus provided tangible, physical evidence to show who he was.[3] The Bible teaches that we are to use reason, look for proof and test our ideas; never are we required to believe without evidence! The gospel of John is an argument with physical evidence, which ends like this, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ…”[4] The entire faith is based on evidence and is rooted in history.  Most of the authors, especially Luke, painstakingly put historical cross-hairs on all their claims by including specific names of people and places.  If you want a religion that is spiritual and unfalsifiable, then Christianity is not for you. As Craig Hazen writes, “… Jesus parts company with other religious people who make untestable spiritual claims.”[5] If I made up a religion, I would never include historical facts and specific people that could be researched and checked out!

If I made up a religion, I would make myself or any other leaders sound very spiritual and perfect!  There is no way I could get anyone to follow me if I was honest about my faults.  This again is the opposite of what Christianity does!

The NTW included embarrassing details about themselves and their leaders.  If you were making up a religion and wanted to gain power as a leader, would you include details about you being dim-witted, uncaring, theologically wrong, a coward, and a doubter?  If you were making up a religion, would you record that your leader, Jesus, is considered “out of his mind”, is not believed by his own family, is thought to be a deceiver, is deserted by many of his followers, makes Jews who had believed and followed him at first want to stone him, is called a “drunkard”, is called “demon-possessed and a madman, has his feet wiped with the hair of a prostitute, and is crucified?[6] None of these things would make people want to follow you.  Of course, the only reason you would include them is if you were recording what actually happened!

What would motivate [the NTW] to lie, embellish, or exaggerate anyway? What did they possibly have to gain? They only gained persecution and death for testifying as they did.  In other words, the [NTW] had every motive to deny the New Testament events, not to invent, embellish, or exaggerate them. Again, it wasn’t as if they needed a new religion! When Jesus arrived, most of the [NTW] were devout Jews who thought Judaism was the one true religion and they were God’s chosen people.  Something dramatic must have happened to jolt them out of their dogmatic slumbers into a new belief system the promised them nothing but earthly trouble.[7]

The NTW had absolutely nothing to gain and everything to lose. There is nothing in history to support the idea that the NTW thought they would gain power, prestige, or money as they preached about the resurrected Christ. No one would make up and continue to teach a lie when perpetuating that lie would alienate them from their community and result in their torture and death!  Paul was beheaded, Peter was crucified, James was stoned; eleven out of the 12 disciples were martyred. All they had to do to save themselves was to recant their story!  While many people will die for a lie that they think is the truth, no one will die for what they know to be a lie! The only reasonable explanation for all of them persisting is that they were telling the truth.

If I made up a religion, I would make sure that I was powerful enough to remain the leader.  I might even get some bodyguards and some soldiers to enforce my religion’s rules.  I certainly wouldn’t tell people to be peaceful and self-sacrificing and that they are going to suffer because they follow me!

Now, one can understand why a religion spreads when it takes over militarily.  But why does a religion spread when its adherents are persecuted, tortured, and killed during its first 280 years?  (Those are not good selling points.) Perhaps there’s some very reliable testimony about miraculous events that prove the religion is true.  How else can you explain why scared, scattered, skeptical cowards suddenly become the most dedicated, self-sacrificing, and peaceful missionary force the world has ever known?[8]

The writers of the New Testament documents had nothing to gain and everything to lose.  Their writings have all the characteristics of true eye-witness accounts, they included embarrassing details about themselves and their leader, and they provided names of specific people and places in history.  Finally, they valued physical evidence and even encouraged people to check out what they said! It is therefore reasonable to conclude that they were telling the truth.

In previous blogs I have shown that it is reasonable to believe that New Testament writings are reliable because they are dated early, have outside corroboration, and are accurate copies of the originals.  Since it is also reasonable to believe that they were telling the truth and not making up a story, it is more than reasonable to believe that what the New Testament says is the true.

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[1] J. Warner Wallace, Cold Case Christianity, David C. Cook, 2013

[2] 1^st Corinthians 15: 12-19

[3] Luke 24:38-43 and Mark 2:1-12

[4] John 20:30-31

[5] Craig J. Hazen, Five Sacred Crossings, Harvest House Publishing, 2008, pages 69-70

[6] Frank Turek and Norman L. Geisler, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be An Atheist, Crossway Books, 2004, pages 275-293

[7] ibid, page 297

[8] ibid, page 296