In the last blog, we discussed how our Christian upbringing can impact our walk with God. Specifically our upbringing can determine how we interpret the Bible. [1] For me, this issue has been resolved but what I still wrestle with is how my upbringing has impacted my belief system. If I was raised in another culture and religion, would I investigate the claims of Christianity and if I did would I find the evidence for Christianity sufficiently compelling to change?
This issue is illustrated by a Good Friday Uber ride Sophia Lee took. The driver was a Muslim and he soon was talking about his religion. Lee stated: “It was a tough conversation—we were both fully committed to our faiths, and strangely enough, both of us were trying to save each other’s soul”. [1]
So who was right? Can we Christians prove our faith is the one and only true religion? The fact is no one has proof the validity of their religion and the reason is because God made us finite. Now, everyone acknowledges that we are finite; that is obvious every day when we realize there are things about our world that we just do not know and understand (see Job 38 and 39). The problem is that few of us Christians are willing to discuss the implications of this fact.
One implication is that our ability to know what is true is limited; we must deal with probabilities. John Warwick Montgomery in History, Law, and Christianity states that probability is the only method we have in deciding to follow Jesus but we must realize that we use probabilities daily in deciding what to do. [2] Alister E. McGrath in Intellectuals Don’t Need God & Other Modern Myths states that while Christianity makes sense, it ultimately depends upon a leap of faith. [3] He also notes that essentially all human knowledge is uncertain including our apologetics. [4] Any Christian who is intellectually honest would admit the same.
The problem is our Christian faith asserts we must believe that Jesus died and was resurrected for our sins if we want to go to heaven but God has made us finite which means we do not have proof for what Jesus accomplished. Why would God expect us to do something we cannot do? So how can God send people to hell because they did not believe in Jesus?
Ignoring this question does not make it go away.
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[1] Sophia Lee, “A Good Friday ride”, World Magazine, June 26, 2021, p. 46.
[2] John Warwick Montgomery, History, Law, and Christianity (Edmonton, AB, Canada: Canadian Institute for Law, Theology, and Public Policy, Inc., 2002), pp. 91-93.
[3] Alister E. McGrath in Intellectuals Don’t Need God & Other Modern Myths (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1993), pp. 59-60.
[4] Ibid., p. 155.
