What is true? (cont.)

If you have come to the place where you believe that there is such a thing as absolute truth, and thus Someone who determines and sets the standards, your striving needs to be to find out what the truth is.  If we say, “yes, there is such a thing as right and wrong which decides how we are meant to live,” but then do not try to find out the right and the wrong, then you will not know how you are meant to live: you will be purposeless, and that is a miserable thought.  So you can see that it is fundamentally important for us to search for this Absolute Being, this God, if you will.  In my search, I have found that the God of Christianity and His Word, the Bible, are true.  I don’t claim to have all the answers about this religion, much less others; I have, however, explored Christianity in my search for truth, and in my explorations I have come to believe that it is completely true.  My reasons for believing this could be divided into a few major categories: historical reasons, logical reasons, and personal reasons.  My following explanation will be divided into these three groups.

Historical reasons to accept Christianity as true (condensed version)
One of the chief tenets of Christian belief is that the Bible is true.  It is on this subject, primarily, that I will dwell in this section.  Ever since the European Enlightenment, the Bible has been open to criticism as a literary work, and many who would have preferred to see Christianity obliterated it have, indeed, heaped heavy criticisms on it, namely, classifying it as a myth and as a bunch of copies which have been changed over time (like a game of telephone by the scribes who were copying it).  I shall deal with the latter first.  The Bible’s accuracy to its original text is actually amazingly good.  Our first copies of books from the New Testament have been traced back to within 5-20 years of their first having been written… within the timeframe that their authors would still have been living, mostly.  This is hardly enough time for major errors to have been made, and even if they were, there would have been too many witnesses to Jesus’ ministry and to the apostles’ teachings for any errors to be accepted.  Most accepted texts from the ancient time period, History of the Peloponnesian War, Republic, etc. have a difference between our earliest copy and their writing of hundreds of years!  It does not make sense that these should be accepted and the Bible should not.  As to the Old Testament, one of the greatest discoveries to show its accuracy is the Dead Sea Scrolls, which show a section of the book of Isaiah… word for word what we have now.  As to the Bible’s being a myth, and not the divine Word of God, if it had been false, then people who lived in the area and in the timeframe of the miracles which the Bible speaks of would never have accepted it.  However, we see just the contrary: one of the most rapid growths in converts which the world has ever seen.  It simply does not make sense to think that people who lived in, for instance, Cana, where Jesus turned the water into wine, would hear about Him doing that and believe it if it had not happened.  It would be like a person sitting inside of a building, and hearing someone say, “the building has disappeared” and believing it.  It doesn’t make sense.  I wish I had more time and space to continue on this subject, but as it is, I shall continue on to my next point.

Logical reasons to accept Christianity as true (in brief)
If the Bible and Christianity are true, then they ought to make sense.  Thus, they should be able to stand up to logical scrutiny.  C. S. Lewis, I think, put it well when he said that it all comes down to who Jesus was.  If Christianity is true, then Jesus is God.  Likewise, if Jesus is God, then Christianity is true.  If Jesus is not God, then Christianity is a fraud.  So, who did Jesus say He was?  He said that He was God.  He did this both indirectly and directly.  He claimed to forgive sins, all sins, sins which were not directly committed against Him, and He could not do that if He were not God.  He called Himself the Son of God, and He did not stop others from calling Him that.  The Jewish priests thought He claimed to be God, or they would not have had Him killed.  He claimed to be God.  Therefore, He has to be one of three things: God, a liar, or a madman.  He was not mad, because people cannot be conditionally mad.  That is, lunacy is not localized.  It shows up in their general behavior, and Jesus’ behavior had no signs of lunacy.  He engaged in intellectual debates, moved thousands with His oratory, etc.  So He was not crazy.  Thus, He is either a liar or He is God.  When you look at His behavior, you very quickly see that He is not a habitual liar.  He paid His taxes, He spoke about integrity, and the things which He said would happen did happen.  Now, you may say that a person does not have to be a habitual liar to tell a lie, and you would be correct.  It is quite easy for any person to slip into a “white lie” now and again.  However, there is a difference between telling your mother that you only had one cookie when, in fact, you had two, and claiming to be God.  One is a slip-up.  The other is the work of a habitual, egotistical liar.  When you look at Jesus, you do not see a habitual egotistical liar.  So He is not a lunatic.  He is not a liar.  There is only one logical option left.

My personal reasons to accept Christianity as true (or at least some of them)
It would probably not come as a surprise to you to learn that I have grown up in a Christian family.  I have a wonderful family: loving parents and grandparents who trained me well when I was a kid.  They are all the kind of people who anyone would want to be.  They are happy, they do the right things at the right times, they make the people around them happy.  I look at them, and can immediately tell that they must be doing something right.  So what distinguishes them?  A solid, devoted, active, all-out faith in Christ and servants’ hearts.  If Christianity makes people like that, then I want to be a Christian.  Then, I look at myself.  I accepted Christianity as true.  If it is, then I should see a change in myself, because that is what the Bible says will happen.  And I do.  I have peace and joy; I have a Daddy in heaven that I actively interact with; the people around me get some of the spill-over of my happiness; my heart is being completely renovated into the heart of a servant, and I find happiness, an extreme happiness in helping others which I did not have before.  For me, there is no scientific discovery which could shake my faith, because I have experienced my God.  So many scientific discoveries and “laws” have passed away (e.g. the world is flat and the sun revolves around the earth).  God, on the other hand has never changed Himself, but He changed me.  That is why I believe that Christianity is true.