Archives

An Honest Studied Faith

   Written by on May 1, 2015 at 11:12 am

Rather arrogantly the student told me, “I’m an atheist.”

“That so?” I responded. “Then may I ask you a few questions?”

“Sure,” he agreed.

logo-crotts-stephen“How much of all knowable about the universe does the human race know?”

“Wow, so much yet to be discovered. Just to put a figure on the table let’s say one percent.”

I continued to press him. “And how much of that 1% of human knowledge do you know?”

He grinned and said, “Less than one percent.”

“So I asked him, “On the basis of less than 1% of 1% knowledge of the universe, how can you claim to be an atheist saying definitively there is no God? Is it not possible that God exists, but He does so outside your experience and knowledge so far? And wouldn’t it be more intellectually honest to say, if there is a God, I have not yet met Him? Thus you’re open to God’s existence. You are simply agnostic, still searching for God and the knowledge of Him.”

“You touched on an honest point,” he agreed.

The science of knowledge is called epistemology. This discipline teaches there are four ways we can know something is true:

1. Experience: I know that fire burns because I touched it.

2. Reason: 2+2=4, or If snow is falling, the temperature must be near freezing. It’s snowing. Therefore the thermometer must be registering near the 32 degree mark.

3.  Authority. Man walked on the moon in 1969. I know because the news told me so. So did the government, the military, scientists, and historians.

4.  Revelation, sometimes called conscience or the study of metaphysics. The idea is that an infinite God self-discloses Himself to ignorant mankind. In dreams. Through prophets, by natural order, in history, and via other avenues.

The interesting thing about Christianity is this: it is verifiable through all four venues.

1. Reason. The wisdom from above is open to reason. We have a longstanding and detailed theology. The authority of the Bible, the Resurrection, and the uniqueness of Christ can be reasoned or  defended via apologetics. (Acts 17:2, 17:17, 18:4 and 1 Peter 3:15).

2.  Experience. John’s gospel tells of a blind man Jesus healed. When pressed to explain away his miraculous experience, the newly sighted man defended himself, saying, “This one thing I know. Once I was blind, but now I see.” (John 9:25).

3. Authority. The gospel of Jesus and His church, including the Scripture,  stand on the authority of thousands of years of history, eyewitnesses, learned men, poets, hymn writers, musicians, painters, authors, and more.

4. Revelation. In John 14 the disciples said, “Lord, show us the Father.”  And Jesus said, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.” God, we believe, incarnated Himself in Jesus Christ.

My challenge to you is to reject atheism as claiming to know too much.

Start as an agnostic. Pray, “God, I do not know you. But I am willing to meet You if You exist.”

Then begin to read of the evidence for Christ, for the resurrection, and Bible. Your local Christian bookstore can help you.

Worship with other Christians and experience the mystery, the love and meaning of God.

Read the Scriptures. Start with the Gospel of John, Romans, the Psalms.

Be open to your conscience, to divine revelation, to a move of the Spirit in your life.

You may find that in looking for God, He’s been looking for you. In calling His name, He’s been calling yours. And that He is there disclosing Himself, calling you to trust Him, to know His love.

About Stephen Crotts

The Reverend Stephen Crotts is pastor of Village Presbyterian Church in Charlotte Court House, VA. He is also the director of the Carolina Study Center, Inc., a campus ministry, located in Chapel Hill, NC. Pastor Crotts may be reached at carolinastudycenter@msn.com.

Connect

View all Posts

Leave a Reply