Christian Theism: Only Two Logical Options

Historic, biblical Christianity, by its very nature, is an all-or-nothing proposition. It can only exist if the Scriptures are true. Anything short of that would be something other than biblical Christianity.

What is the best approach to choosing the right option? Perhaps the best way is to approach it just like any other issue in which you have two options, both of which have important implications for your life.

To begin with, in a strictly logical sense, if the methodology for arriving at a given conclusion is defective, it does not necessarily mean that the conclusion is incorrect. It only means that the conclusion is not supported by the methodology, and hence, from a strictly logical point of view, the question remains open. If the methodology for arriving at a given conclusion is sound, however, and the starting premises are correct, we have no reason to doubt the conclusion.

Next, we need to ask, "What makes Christianity unique?" In the Scriptures we have accounts of multiple eyewitnesses to historic events, and the most unique event is surely the resurrection. How pivotal is this event? As the apostle Paul states, ". . . if Christ is not risen . . . we are of all men the most pitiable (I Corinthians 15:16-20). For if Jesus was resurrected, then the only rational option is that He is who He said He is, and by extension we are duty-bound to understand, believe, and submit to the teachings of His apostles. Conversely, in a strictly logical sense, if Jesus was not resurrected, the teachings of the apostles would not simply be non-authoritative, but those who preach them would be guilty of giving people a false hope and perpetuating a lie. (Of course, in a logical sense, if the atheists are correct, no one would have a basis for saying anything is right or wrong, and such a world view easily accommodates a "might makes right" approach to things.)

Finally, if Christian theism is correct, which would necessarily mean that apostolic teaching is absolutely authoritative, since the biblical record of apostolic teaching does not address every issue in explicit detail, it is still possible to arrive at many incorrect conclusions regarding what the apostles taught due to the use of defective methodology. Therefore, the burden of proof would be on those who promote any teaching which is not unambiguously and explicitly stated in the biblical record of apostolic teaching. Even if such teaching could be clearly shown to accurately reflect apostolic teaching, it certainly would not belong in the same category as that of the inspired text of Scripture.

Testimony of Rachel Barkey

To watch a video in which Rachel Barkey, diagnosed with terminal cancer, explains why the Bible is important for everyone, click here.

Ignorance is Not a Virtue

Suppose the God who is revealed in Scripture actually exists, and that everything the Scriptures say about Him is true. Would believing that make a difference in your life, especially since the Scriptures say that God will hold us accountable for knowing what they say?

"But wait--", you may say, "don't I get a 'pass', since I'm very ignorant of what the Scriptures say, and surely God will not hold someone like me accountable for knowing what is in His word?" The fact is, however, that this is exactly what the Scriptures say He will do. "But what about all those people in various parts of the world who do not have access to the Scriptures?", you may ask. If you knew what the Scriptures say, however, you would know that this apparent problem is resolvable, and that it is not an excuse for those who do have access to the Scriptures for being ignorant of them.

"What about all the people involved in other religions", you may ask. After all, if you are to accept the Bible as true, it means not only that they are wasting their time, but that they're in fact increasing their own guilt. "How can that be the case, when so many deserving people are involved in other religions?", or "How can that be fair when so many people don't have the same opportunity?", you may ask. If you knew what the Scriptures say, however, you would know that they do provide an explanation.

"Even if I were to get serious about knowing what the Scriptures say, what hope would I have of making any sense out of them if so many churches and denominations have different interpretations of what they say about important issues?", you may ask. You may then claim this is justification for you to refuse to even show any interest in what the Scriptures say. Again, if you knew what the Scriptures say, however, you would know that this apparent problem is resolvable. To give you a hint, historically all major Christian traditions have agreed on certain major teachings of the Scriptures, and where differences exist regarding certain issues, the choices are very limited and are well documented. If you keep in mind that the Scriptures do not instruct people to belong to a particular church or denomination or tradition, and that instead we are called to believe what the Scriptures say and to learn from them how we can be reconciled to God and have fellowship with Him, I submit to you that the existence of many churches, denominations, and traditions does not pose an insurmountable problem. The question is, are you willing to do the work?

Of course, you may have in the back of your mind that if you embrace certain truth claims, you will incur the disdain of the world around you, a world which you may want to always love you and give you it's approval. It may be too unbearable for you to countenance the thought of falling out of the world's favor and to no longer be invited to it's parties. Maybe you're willing to sacrifice your eternal well-being in exchange for being in the world's favor. Maybe you've thoroughly convinced yourself that keeping yourself as ignorant as a brick about ultimate issues will allow you to experience a nice, warm, friendly relationship with the world, as well as allow you to avoid accountability for your shortcomings, and by default give you a guarantee that you will have a blissful existence in eternity if in fact some kind of afterlife exists.

This approach will not solve anything for you, of course. The only things it will accomplish is prevent you from discovering what your greatest need is, how it can be met, and what life is all about. You will have no basis for comfort in life or in death other than yourself, and you will be forced to keep yourself distracted from thinking about any kind of ultimate meaning. And if you live in an industrialized society, you may have a huge selection of entertaining pursuits that can easily take up all of your time and energy and thus enable you to succeed.

No Excuse

If people do not even want to consider what the Scriptures say or the mountain of evidence which corroborates them as a whole, how can they possibly have an excuse for not knowing exactly what is in store for them on the Last Day? The fact that they may have churches or religions is irrelevant in such cases. Furthermore, I submit that people who think they are more informed, more sophisticated, or superior to those who take the Scriptures seriously, including all that they say regarding our greatest need (as summarized in the Heidelberg Catechism, for example), could not be more mistaken. They have a fundamental flaw in their concept of ultimate reality which exacts a terrible price when carried to completion.

Reasons Why People are Ignorant

To read A Critique of Ten Reasons Given for Why People are Ignorant of What the Scriptures Say about the Most Important Issues in Life, click here. Feel free to post your comments below.

Just a Note

Feel free to add a comment to any of the posts in this blog. For a more complete presentation of Bible issues, click here.

The Origin of Scriptures

If you believe anything at all about the origin of the Scriptures, you believe something extraordinary. This is because many of the writers of Scripture said they were eyewitnesses of various miraculous events about which they wrote. If they were all involved in a conspiracy to propagate falsehoods, they seemed to have pulled it off without a hitch. What an amazing feat considering the public nature of some of the events! If they were all misled or deluded, how amazing it is that their stories are all consistent with each other and they got all of their verifiable facts straight! Of course, if their accounts of what happened are accurate, they are extraordinary in that we don't see many of those things happening today.