Many non-believers and even many believers think Christianity is simply a matter of faith. I’ve given quite a number of blogs here on the evidences for the truth of Christianity. But, still I hear many say “Religion is just a belief. There is nothing reasonable about it.” I think they’re wrong.
In Isa. 1:18, Isaiah asks people to reason with him. In 1 Peter 3:15, we’re told to have a reason for what we believe and a defense for that belief. Jude 3 tells us to earnestly contend for our faith.
There are certain words used in reasoning logically. “So”, and “therefore,” are words that indicate a logical conclusion. “Since” indicates a logical premise. Let me give an old example:
Since every man is mortal
And Aristotle is a man
Therefore, Aristotle is mortal.
“Since” is used in 196 verses of Scripture. “Therefore” is used a whopping 798 times. The Scriptures are certainly not without logical conclusions.
In Acts 17:17, we’re told Paul “reasoned” with the Jews in the synagogue at Athens. The word for “reasoned” here means to hold an intelligent discourse, a debate. A little further in that chapter, Paul stands in the Aeropagus in the midst of a number of Greek philosophers and logically walked through a series of arguments for the Christian Creator God using the evidence easily available to the Athenians.
Just before this episode, Paul had been preaching in a synagogue in Berea. The Bereans listened to Paul then checked to see if what he said was so. They were called noble for this.
Throughout the New Testament we are told not to hold our faith blindly:
Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. (1 Thess. 5:20-21)
Looks look at 1 Peter 3:15:
15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
The word translated “defense” is apologia and is a legal term. It means to be able to defend your faith at the level of a legal defense in a court of law. This presupposes there is enough reason behind such a defense to be victorious.
Historically, Christianity has been represented by some of the finest minds ever to put pen to paper. Origen of Alexandria is a good example of a Christian genius. He was so brilliant his bishop employed several scribes to follow him around and write down all that he had to say. Fortunately (and maybe unfortunately) we have a lot of that today.
Origen wasn’t 100% in his theology, but he was extremely instrumental in bringing Christianity center stage in the theater of ideas. Christianity was never reasonably assumed to be a blind faith. Since Origen, such great minds as Augustine, Ambrose, Jerome, Francis, Anselm, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther and many others have stood firmly before critics and have prevailed.
Why is this important?
We as Christians have no reason to bow our heads in the presence of intellectual persecution. There is good historical evidence for Jesus of Nazareth being Who He said He was. Eyewitnesses recorded His miracles. Lives were changed then and now.
Over the years, I’ve had people approach me saying we can’t believe the gospels because they are biased. After all, they were written by Christians. I try to keep my composure and point out they would be more suspect if eyewitnesses had seen the miracles they recorded and did not become Christians.
We rightly hold a strong position in the marketplace of ideas. Ours is not a blind faith but a faith founded on fact and reason. Don’t let anyone try and convince you otherwise.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 