Monday 2 June 2014

Empirical Faith

I find it strange that some people claim that religious faith is "irrational", "blind", or that there is "no evidence" to support religious belief. For Christianity, such statements are simply wrong. I have previously listed evidence that supports theism, the belief that God exists. Here I want to show that Christianity is an empirical faith, and that anyone seeking with an open mind can come to faith by means of rational inquiry.

I am not thinking about logical "proofs" for God's existence, nor philosophical arguments and deductions, however meaningful they may be. Neither am I thinking of "Pascal's wager". Rather, I am considering evidence that can be evaluated by anyone, and an "experimental" approach to finding out for yourself whether God is real. Numerous people started out as agnostics or atheists, but became Christians after investigating the evidence. C. S. Lewis, Lee Strobel, Nicky Gumbel, Mortimer Adler, Malcolm Muggeridge, Francis Collins, Alan Sandage are a few of the more famous converts.

The first and more obvious approach to finding out whether Christianity is true or not is to collect, study and assess the evidence, setting aside any preconceptions you may have, and comparing Christianity to the alternatives. There are numerous books available and web sites on "apologetics" (systematic argumentative discourse in defense) to present the evidence and walk you through this process. To avoid a biased study, you should also, of course, check out atheist books, web sites and their arguments against theism. Note that every pro and con argument has a rebuttal, so do not take anything at face value. I never said this would be a simple or easy exercise, but surely knowing the truth about whether God exists and who Jesus was is worth the effort. After all, what could be more important than your eternal destination, or lack of same?

The Bible contains most of the historical evidence for the person of Jesus and the beginnings of Christianity, developing from Judaism. Of course the Bible has been attacked and defended from all angles by numerous authors over the centuries, so again, you will have to dig through the pros and cons to make up your own mind. Similarly, there is a mountain of literature about the development of Christianity over the past two millennia, including the formulation of various creeds and doctrines, but that study should probably wait until you are convinced that God exists and has revealed himself to us in the Bible.

At some point in your searching you will doubtless come across statements to the effect that, "Christians do awful things therefore their faith cannot be true". This in its various forms is essentially an ad hominem attack on Christianity; i.e. reject the teaching because the teachers often do not follow it. One of the basic beliefs of Christianity is that all people are sinful (do bad things), and that becoming a Christian does not instantly make you perfect. Thus, it would be strange if Christians, as forgiven sinners, never did anything bad. Christians can make wrong decisions, get confused, be conned or pressed into evil, just the same as anyone else.  

Fairly considered, I think that Christianity provides the best model to explain all aspects of reality: the physical universe, the world around us, abundant life, spiritual mysteries, and especially our complicated and bewildering human nature. But of course, I am biased, so you will have to do this investigation yourself. There are other world views that may be considered: Buddhist and Hindu religions, atheistic materialism, postmodernism, animist, Islam religion, etc. These can be compared in various ways, such as: explaining origins, authenticity of their writings, their effect on adherents and mankind in general, the hope or future they offer, how well they explain human behaviour, their view of human rights, our sexual difference, relationships with the world and people, the nature of reality, and so on.

As described above, determining the truth about faith and Christianity is a huge undertaking. It will take a lot of work to do a proper job of it. Indeed some people have been searching agnostics for many years. That is probably why most people do not bother, but merely accept someone else's views. If you are at all inclined to belief, however, there are some shortcuts you can take. I recommend C. S. Lewis' Mere Christianity, which is a collection of common-sense observations and arguments delving into the basics of the Christian faith. There are lots of other books, videos, etc. as well. Lee Strobel has a series of apologetics books that present the pro-God, pro-faith, pro-Christ evidence in an easy-to-read format. These can be found at on-line bookstores.

If you don't like scholarly investigation or logical expounding about Christianity, there is another approach -- a more personal and private way to seek the truth  -- the experimental method. If you are a sincere seeker after the truth about God, then take your search to him! Put aside your doubts, fears, logical arguments, presuppositions, and with an open mind, quietly pray to God, asking Him to reveal himself to you in some way. Clear you mind and, in your thoughts, say something like, "God, I don't know whether you exist, but I want to find out. Please give me some sort of sign that you are real and that you revealed yourself to mankind in the Bible. I don't know what or whether to believe, but I am open to you, so please let me know if you are real". Use your own words and express your search and deep interest.

To make sure this is not a trivial request and to be sincere about it, you should probably think about and repeat this prayer over several days. Meanwhile you could open the Bible to the book of Mark in the New Testament, and read parts of it each day, asking God to help you understand it. Jesus said "seek and you will find", so if you are truly seeking, then God, through his Spirit, will open your heart to him and help you find him. Each day you should watch for some indication that God is answering your heartfelt prayer. This could take any form; e.g. a dream, a sudden feeling that what you are reading is true, contact out of the blue with a helpful Christian, a reassurance in your spirit that someone is listening and cares about you, a feeling of awe about some event or situation in your life, a change in your attitude or circumstances. Whatever it is, it should be special and important to you.

There is no telling how God will respond to your fervent prayer; many have found that he does respond, not necessarily quickly or in an expected way. But asking God to reveal himself is one tried method of seeking the truth about Christianity and faith. On the other hand, if after prolonged and honest seeking, searching and prayer, you get no discernible response, then you can tentatively conclude that God is not for you or that he isn't real after all. For unknown reasons, not everyone becomes a believer. Faith is ultimately a gift from God, and not everyone receives it.

So there you have it; some ways to investigate faith claims, or to seek the truth about God and Christianity. Many people have used these or similar methods to convince themselves. While some doubt may remain (few things are 100% certain), you should be able to find enough evidence or personal assurance to allow you to start believing. In so doing, you will find that the so called "leap of faith" is really a series of quite reasonable steps.