In Christianity Reason And Faith Are Both Important

There is compelling evidence for the existence of God.  And there is compelling evidence for the truth and authenticity of Christianity.  I have read the stories of intelligent, educated men and women who have come to faith in Christ, in part, because they made an intentional effort to examine the evidence and found it to be compelling and persuasive.  For example, Lee Strobel, Holly Ordway, Greg Viehman, Rosaria Butterfield, Francis Collins, Josh McDowell, J. Warner Wallace… and there are many others.  (Most of the people I just mentioned have PhD.s. One is a medical doctor. One, Francis Collins, was the head of the Human Genome Project.)

I understand it was not just factual evidence and cold hard reasoning that brought these people to faith. There was also a supernatural act of God’s Holy Spirit. However according to their own writings intellect, evidence and reasoning played a significant role in their faith journeys.

So it should not be surprising that we are instructed in the Bible to be prepared to defend our faith from the standpoint of reason. Check out this verse from 1Peter chapter 3:

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” 1 Peter 3:15

Nevertheless, it is still true that Christianity is rooted in faith.  It is a reasonable faith, not a blind faith.  But it is God’s desire that we come to Him in faith.  “And without faith it is impossible to please God…” Hebrews 11:6

An Intellectual Journey

In my early adult life I began to wonder about God and Christianity.  And I began to ask myself questions along these lines:

Is this Christian faith—that I say I believe—something I really do believe?  Or, is it something I’ve just accepted because it is what my parents have handed to me?

Can the Christian faith hold up to hard questions and intellectual scrutiny?  Or, is it simply a blind leap in the dark?

This began a process that has prompted much thinking, questioning, searching, self-reflection and study.  I am not a brilliant person.  But I have enough intellectual capability to think and reason and investigate.  And this has led me to discover and read authors such as:  Paul Little, Ravi Zacharias, G.K. Chesterton, Josh McDowell, Philip Johnson, William Lane Craig, C.S. Lewis, James Sire, Norman Geisler, Frances Schaeffer, Os Guinness, J.P. Moreland, Charles Colson, Paul Copan, N.T. Wright, Lee Strobel and many others.

I have discovered that the Christian faith has an incredibly deep and rich intellectual heritage.  It turns out the hard questions have actually been asked and wrestled with for a long time.  In fact, I found that questions I would have never even thought to ask have been grappled with for many centuries.

Have all my questions been answered?  No!

But I realize, now, that no worldview, philosophy, or scientific approach can answer all the questions.  There are simply things we do not know.

It’s almost like “life” says to all of us, “There are things you don’t get to know.  Get used to it!”

Do I still have faith in Christ at this point in the process?  Yes.  I still believe.  My heart still tells me that He is the way, the truth and life.  I cannot walk away from that conviction.  This may sound strange to those who do not share my convictions, but the truth of Jesus seems as true to me as the fact that I breathe.  But now my intellect is satisfied that it is a reasonable faith based on truth that is supported by credible evidence.

Dan Marler

Oak Lawn, IL

Is There Good Evidence For The Resurrection?

“Even the once-doubting Sir Lionel Luckhoo, identified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most successful attorney in the world, was forced to conclude after an exhaustive analysis of the evidence, ‘I say unequivocally that the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so overwhelming that it compels acceptance by proof which leaves absolutely no room for doubt.’” – Lee Strobel