Section 1: A CONVERSATION

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” – 1 Peter 3:15

My friend and I lived several miles away from each other. For fun, he and I met one Saturday morning at a pistol range half-way between where we each lived. After we shot off a couple hundred rounds, he mentioned he might come to church with me on Sunday morning.

Well, that startled me because even though my friend had made a profession of faith in Jesus when he was a teenager, he hadn’t been to church for a long time. As well, he never really wanted to talk about church.

I told him I'd love to have him come with me. But then my mouth got ahead of my brain; I said, "I thought you didn't believe in Christianity anymore." Ever wanted to take something back as soon as you said it? I could tell I had offended him.

To figure out where he was coming from, it occurred to me that I could ask him some questions I had learned from Bill Faye in his book Share Jesus Without Fear. Mr. Faye recommends asking five basic fact-finding questions. The questions are:

• Do you have any kind of spiritual belief?
  
• Who do you think Jesus is?
  
• Do you believe there is a heaven and a hell?
  
• If you died right now, where would you go? If heaven, why?
  
• If what you believed were not true, would you want to know it?

So I said to my friend, “It’s been a long time since we’ve talked about spiritual things. Tell me, what are your spiritual beliefs?”

My friend glanced down then looked me in the eye. He said, “I don’t have any spiritual beliefs.”

I knew about his previous profession of faith, but I asked, “To you, who is Jesus?”

“A fictional character,” he replied, with a hint of a shrugged shoulder. He seemed to be leveling with me at honestly stating what he felt was true.

Nodding my head I went on, “So do you believe in heaven or hell?”

“Nope,” he said flatly.

“If you were to die, what do you think would happen to you?” I prodded, not sticking to the questions.

He grinned, “Just dead, worm food.”

I laughed at his pragmatic answer. Skipping one of Mr. Faye’s recommended questions, I caught my friend’s eye and we held our gaze; I asked seriously, “If you were wrong, would you want to know?”

You could tell he was thinking as he nodded his head slowly. He then said, “Yea, I really would want to know.”

Since I was feeling hungry and figured he was too, I suggested, “Let’s go get some lunch and talk.”

Over lunch my friend talked some more while I listened. It took a couple of restarts when I couldn’t keep quiet and let him talk. But when it was my turn to talk, I opened my Bible to the New Testament book of John, chapter 3, verse 16 (also written “John 3:16”). I asked him to read that verse aloud. (Bill Faye recommends reading aloud since scripture says, “faith come by hearing”. I like people reading aloud because I know where they are in the text.)

He read aloud, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

When he stopped, I looked at him and I asked, “So what does that verse mean to you?”

“It doesn’t mean anything to me since I don’t believe God exists.”

After reading some other verses it became clear that God wasn’t real to him and my friend wasn’t accepting the Bible. At the time I had to consider where my friend was spiritually and thought: If God isn’t real for him, if to him God is non-existent, then he can’t accept the Bible as the word of a non-existent being. If a person believes the bible is just made up, then could that person believe in Jesus? Whether God exists is a reasonable question and requires a reasonable answer. We discussed this briefly.

The verse in 1 Peter 3:15 came to mind; it is the foundational verse to this book. I wanted to provide to my friend a reasonable explanation about why the Christian belief is better than any other belief. I wanted him to not just know and have faith in Jesus Christ as the Truth, I wanted his faith well grounded in truth. So my friend and I started with the basics. This blog represents that conversation, with a little extra included for you who may have friends or acquaintances who might ask some different questions.

Getting Started
Each of us wants to believe in what is true, so we ask ourselves, “Why do I believe what I believe?” That’s a good question. Perhaps Christians were, and are, misled. Perhaps Christians do in fact believe in myths and fairy tales as some people claim. There are a lot of claims different than Christian claims; can we know which claims are true?

What I hope to provide in this blog are answers to the claims and questions that raise doubt about the Christian faith. This book should prepare you to provide reasons, to yourself and sometimes to others, why the Christian faith is true. I’m not talking about claims, but reasons. A reason, that is – a statement supported with rational, analytical, and logical thought.

People want and deserve reasoned answers to tough questions: What did Jesus teach? Who was Jesus really? We quote a verse from the Bible with the assumption that the words we have today are the words originally given by the author. People believe the words of the Bible come with the authority of God; and this is based on the assumption is that God exists. If we can show that everything originated from random events, do we even need a god? For that matter, this would require there to be such a thing as truth; forget about asking whether or not God exists; does truth exist? Where can we start discovering where to start?

At one time, I wondered if anyone ever came up with sound reasons why Christianity should be believed. I found out that minds much more gifted than mine have pondered and prayed about the hard questions. Some of these people began as hardened skeptics; but, after intense study of the evidence, they became Christians themselves. Many intelligent people have recorded their reasoned thoughts on these matters, and I've tried to consolidate and summarize a few of those thoughts within this book.

Self-Evident Truth
As a place to begin, let me suggest a well-known, but often poorly-remembered document that uses the term self-evident. Included within that document is the sentence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

These of course are the words of the second sentence of the unanimous Declaration of Independence of the thirteen united States of America. This sentence grounds that declaration in self-evident truth; it provides us a good example in our quest to determine whether the Christian faith is reasonable. We too will begin with self-evident truth. We will then let each truth build upon the last. Please consider a map of the United States as a reminder of this Declaration and the use of self-evident truth.

Other truths are split into several basic categories in this blog including philosophical truths, truths about our origins, truths about God, truths about Scripture, truths about Jesus, and truths about salvation. Along the way, I’ll see which non-Christian beliefs we can reasonably eliminate. Of course, if there is something that you specifically want to read about now, you'll have to wait until it is posted; but once posted, just find a similar question in the table of contents and turn to that section.

Quick Review
On the front cover (well, whereever I figure out the right way/place to post the picture) are pictures of a map of the United States of America and six cups of coins.

The Founding Fathers of the United States of America wrote a declaration of independence in which they refer to truth as “self-evident”. We too, can start with self-evident truth.

Let us always be ready with our answer as we are so told: “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” – 1 Peter 3:15

Recommended Readers

There are a few people I think would benefit from a blog like this, they are:

To the Christian who came to Christ as a young child, know that what you accepted as a child is still valid as an adult. Remember, we are all to come to the LORD “as a little child” (Mark 10:15 and Luke 18:17). This blog is provided so you may know there is reason behind your faith.

If you’re a young Christian preparing to leave home or who has recently left home, understand that when you think there are valid arguments against your faith, you can know those non-Christian arguments are built on shifting sand. Do the work to find the truth. “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” (Colossians 2:8).

To those who came to Christ in a time of trouble, know that what you trusted in crisis is what is trusted in our daily, sometimes comparatively humdrum lives. An emotional response or a sense of self-preservation may have drawn you to Christ, and sound reason can help draw you closer as you realize how truly awesome the Eternal and Almighty God is in reality.

For the Christian who came to Christ as an adult, use reason to build your confidence in Christianity. Pray for those who cannot understand your beliefs and who now think incorrectly that you believe in fairy tales and myths.

Brand new Christians: No book can replace prayer, reading God’s word in the Bible, or obedience to God. But if you’re having specific doubts because you are hearing things that cause you to doubt your new-found faith, I hope this book will help.

To all my brothers and sisters in Christ – saving souls while loving God and people is what it is all about and this might help for we must remember what we are told in James: “Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one converts him; Let him know, that he which converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19-20)

Skeptics: Even though this book is addressed to the Christian, I hope this book will perhaps help you find the way, the truth, and the light. However, know that salvation is not found in my reasoned answers, but salvation is by the grace of God through faith. It is written: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8) If you wonder about grace and faith, think of grace as “unmerited favor” there is absolutely nothing that you can do, and faith as “Forsaking All, I Trust Him”.


“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour”– 1 Peter 5:8

Introduction

Do you ever have doubts about Christianity? Perhaps you wonder how anyone can know – really know – that Christianity is right. It may be that others have asked you, or you have asked Christians, this type of question. People want reasonable answers. So whether you have questions or what to answer a question use this study as a reference; I hope you will find the answers you need.
Who am I? My pastor described himself using a D.T. Niles[1] quote, “…as one beggar telling another beggar where to find the bread.” I like that idea. I’m just another beggar who might be able to give you a little useful information; no one special. More specifically though, my parents raised me to go to church each week where I was provided with plenty of training concerning Holy Scripture. But when I was sixteen, I started working on days when I should have been with fellow believers. It’s not that I went to meetings every now and then, or that I tried other days. I just plain old stopped going to church. Hebrews 10:25 tells us to not stop meeting together, as is the habit of some. But not meeting with fellow believers did in fact become my habit. For me, that habit lasted for many years. While I might have visited a church during that time, I became very good at “just visiting”.
During those years I met many people who didn’t share my beliefs and who seemed to have wonderful claims about their beliefs. Some of them even offered what sounded like reasonable arguments to support their beliefs. What I didn’t know were the reasons that supported Christian beliefs; but while listening to non-Christians and their claims of reason I found it hard to believe that my God expected me to believe everything that I was taught without reason. It was time for me to study.
Over the years I started to list my beliefs and identify my assumptions. I then started to determine what had already been proven, or in some cases, to prove those assumptions myself as best as I could. In some cases, I would start with the facts and see where reasoned thought took me. My arguments were crude. People I spoke with would point out my errors in logic. I was accused of, and actually was, completely ignorant when it came to a working knowledge of reasoned thought. But I knew I had a God-given sound mind that included common sense and an ability to learn; so I studied more.
Most people today don’t have a lot of time that is not already committed to something they feel is important. Using their time to research each specific topic concerning the Christian’s reason for hope is considered a luxury. Some just say they only need their faith, and while that may do for them, some like me really do want to know if Christianity is reasonable. Since I found out that Christianity is reasonable, and to save people time, I try to simply state in this book the Christian’s reasoned perspective concerning our hope. I do this because I want every Christian to know the truth; I want every Christian prepared when they hear wrong statements or lies about Christianity.
But the benefit isn’t just for the Christian to “build their faith”. By knowing this information, Christians can answer others who have questions about eternal things. If a Christian knows the Christian reason for hope in life after death, then a Christian can defend Christianity with reasonable answers when challenged with tough questions. Therefore, the title is drawn directly from 1 Peter 3:15 to, “…give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason for the hope that is in you…” As well, my hope is that with this information you too can, “earnestly contend for the faith,” as we are exhorted to do in verse 3 of Jude.
This book is separated into several basic sections, addressing: self-evident truth, philosophy, our origins, God, the Bible, Jesus, and salvation. Each section contains questions people ask that are related to the topic, follow-up questions, the Christian answer to the question, and the associated Christian reason behind the answer. Although each section builds upon the previous section, you don’t have to read this book from the beginning before jumping to the topic you think is more important. Instead, use the table of contents to find the question you want answered or to remind you of a similar question you had in the past, then skip to the given page and begin reading.
I thank my Lord, the Eternal One, my God, for the opportunity to complete this study.
May God bless you with a full knowledge of Him.

Your friend in Christ,
Jerry


[1] D.T. Niles: Sri Lankan theologian and former president of the Methodist Church in Sri Lanka.