Do You Know Why?

In earlier blogs I have written about Christians showing love and letting God deal with the heart, well sometimes it is not a heart issue it is a mind issue and we have to be prepared to deal with that as well.

One of the topics brought up in my discussion with my 4 friends was that one of them had a hard time accepting Christianity, and his decision to walk away from all religions had more to with a changing world view and the realization that one’s faith is normally predicated by their geographic location or the culture they are raised in. So, in essence, if Christianity and the Bible are true then being born into a practicing Christian family would be like winning the faith lottery. When we look at it in that light it may seem unfair that some are born into this faith and are raised learning about it and reading the Bible and others will be indoctrinated into other religions long before they ever hear about Jesus.

First let me say that digging into the answer to that question is something that will be for another day and another blog. Today, I want to focus on an area that leads into this where the Church can tend to be lacking. Sometimes we send our young adults out into the world with nothing more than a “The Bible Told Me So” Faith. Without using the words "Because the Bible says so" can you explain why you believe what you believe. Is it more than being born into it or being raised in a church? Can you really explain to someone struggling with their own walk of faith why Jesus is the answer? Hopefully they can see it through your actions and your attitude as I John 3:18 says "Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth". For some, however, that will not be enough. We have to go deeper.

For example the more historical copies of a text we have the more reliable we believe it to be. Most if not all, historians would agree with that statement. Now, Homer’s Iliad has less than 2,000 ancient fragments in existence and we consider today’s translations to be correct because they match those transcripts. Do you know that most Christians do not even realize that there are over 24,000 ancient fragments and manuscripts of the New Testament in existence? (1)

So when we are faced with the argument or discussion that the Bible is not reliable, we actually have historical evidence that says that it may be one of the most reliable historical text ever written. Now, I understand that historically reliable does not mean factual. When it comes to factual there is also evidence that points towards the Bible being factually reliable. However, we are not teaching these facts to our children and young adults. We are sending them into battle unarmed. As I said earlier, this is not a blog to convince anyone of Christianity but to highlight that the Church may be failing to properly prepare young adults to enter into the world where they are leaving the church in massive numbers.

As Christians we must stand ready to defend our faith as we are called to do but that does not mean we should engage in banter and childish arguments. We can present our case and no matter what some will continue to choose not to hear it and that is okay.

Sharing your witness to others and identifying yourself as a Christian means that there may come a time when you have to defend your faith. In order to do so I feel we have to be able to at a basic level be able to help answer the following questions:

1. Is the Bible Historically Accurate?

2. Is the Bible Factually Accurate?

3. Is Jesus Who He Said He Was?

There is a lot to examine in those three questions and over time I hope to get into some of that as I continue to write but I also want to keep on with the idea of changing the mindset of how we address the world because the mindset is the first thing that must change.

I am not sure I can expertly explain or even begin to understand why I was born into a family that lived right beside a church and why I was raised reading the Bible and others were not. I know that God tells us that His ways are so far above our ways that even if we could see them we would never understand them. I also know that the Bible says that all will have a chance to know Him and I trust that to be true just as I trust that our greatest mission in life as Christians should be to ensure that happens. We should be looking for those that have never heard about God or who were raised without God and try to let them see God’s love through us.

It is alarming to note that Christianity is the fastest declining religious group in America and I think this is in large part due to a lack of education inside our churches. More and more young adults are leaving the Christian church and never looking back. We have to expand on our Biblical education if we truly want to be able to take a stand for our faith and that may require us to devote time outside of the church to learning more of these historical facts and making them accessible to our congregations.

No matter what, sending our kids out into the world with their only weapon being “because the bible says so” is no longer good enough. It is an easy argument to defeat and if we are going to stand up for Christ we need to arm ourselves to do so.

1. http://coldcasechristianity.com/2016/when-it-comes-to-ancient-texts-the-more-copies-we-have-the-more-confidence-we-have/