Why I Believe
My account and reasoning for choosing Christianity.
To start, ever since I have been able to choose, I have always been a christian, always gone to church and always believed in God and the bible, so my personal story isn't one with a huge turn around and lots of drama but nontheless, a path is not any less of a path if there are less obstacles in the way.
Growing up as a christian meant that I grew up taking a lot of things for granted, a strong tightly-knit family, defined morals and a respect for God. And this was something I didnt think too much about until my teenage years. I attended a christian concert event with my youth group, and at one point during this they asked us to stand up (in front of the hundreds of people there) if we hadn't declared our faith in Jesus yet and we would go to a seperate room where someone would pray for us. This was the first concious decision I made to choose him on my own, and since then I dedicated more critical thinking to my religion, asking lots of questions and learning as much as possible.
I am grateful for my upbringing, I consider myself to be one of the most fortunate person on the planet. I never had to face the problems in the household that so many of my friends had and it has given me a the chance to become well educated. I have seen and heard many stories of other people coming to faith from difficult backgrounds, single parent households, drug and alcohol abuse and crime. And i have watched Jesus make real change to these people in real time. However, even in the face of all my personal experiences, I believe that Christianity is the rationally best choice, and studying it leads to convicing that it is the truth. Whatever i reserach, i am determined to find the truth, whether it means i am right or wrong in my points. I believe that the truth is objectively good. So here is my case for why Christianity is correct:
- • Early dating of New Testament manuscripts
- • Multiple independent sources for Jesus' existence
- • Historical evidence for the resurrection
- • Rapid spread of Christianity despite persecution
- • 66,779 cross references between 66 books written by 40 different authors over 1500 years on 3 different continents
- • Fulfilled prophecies about Jesus and the Old Testament
- • The cosmological argument (first cause)
- • Fine-tuning of the universe for life
- • The argument for objective morality
- • The problem of evil addressed
- • Answered prayers
- • Peace, purpose and comfort found in relationship with God
- • Community and love within the church
- • Sense of forgiveness and redemption
- • Noticeable difference between those who have been saved and those who haven't
- • Nasa confirming an eclipse on both the day of Jesus death as well as the day in the old testament where the "sun stood still" for a day.
- • Confirmed findings of Sodom and Gomorrah as well as sulfur deposits in the area.
- • Places like Shiloh, Jericho, and Capernaum being found from Biblical accounts.
- • Dead Sea Scrolls found
- • Locations of worship found proving that Jesus was declared as God in early Christianity.
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:38-39
"What about other religions?"
I have studied other religions; monotheistic, polytheistic, spiritualistic and more. In my experience they fail to meet satisfying criteria such as seeming rationally feasible, being consistent in both beliefs and teachings, or having any evidence to back them up.
"What about suffering and evil?"
The world is undoubtedly full of evil and suffering. But that itself is evidence we do not live in a universe of just matter and energy, where it is the survival of the fittest. We recognise unfairness. And i believe that death is not the end, especially not for those who have suffered unfairly.
"What about science?"
Exactly. What ABOUT science? We wouldn't have the vast majority of modern science if it wasnt for christians, who believed God made the world with rules in place. If there was no intelligence behind the universe, then we couldnt possibly expect it to be comprehensible. Yet as even Einstein said "The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible." Science doesn't contradict Christianity, but it is simply how God's creation operates.
Where I Stand Today
On the ground, usually wearing shoes. The same can be said with my faith in christianity, my feet are firmly grounded in what I know to be real, and what keeps me anchored to reality. I continue to dedicate myself to learning more, and I don't shy away from the difficult converastions or objections.