How Confident are You That What You Believe is True?

12 Nov How Confident are You That What You Believe is True?

There was a time when I was a Christian, but I wasn’t rock-solid in my confidence that what I believed was true.

I became a Christian in college during a time of intense personal crisis. In the midst of my trouble, like a man drowning at sea, I grabbed at the first thing I thought would hold me up: Christianity. I had gone to a church as a child, I believed in God, but I had never actually become a Christian. 

My newfound faith stabilized me for the time-being, but later as I wrestled with the greatest objections to Christianity – objections that I had never really thought through – I began to lose confidence in my faith. I began to wonder if Christianity was really true, or perhaps if it was one of the things that was true, but not the only thing.

I made a conscious effort to defect from the faith. I went looking for another worldview that didn’t have some of the problems that Christianity had with it. I seriously investigated other religions, as well as atheism. Eventually, I came back to my faith much stronger than when I left it.

 Faith on the other side of doubt is stronger than faith on this side of doubt. 

I have never doubted since. As I get older, more mature, hopefully wiser and more perceptive, the challenges to Christianity seem even more formidable than they did when I was young. However, the answers to those challenges seem even more convincing than they did when I was young.

Having a greater knowledge and understanding of the answers to the most serious objections to Christianity has done several things for me.

1.  It has made me more settled in my faith, more assured that what I believe is true, more at peace with the worldview that I have committed my eternal destiny to.
2. It has given me a greater intimacy with God. Having a clearer perception of reality, a clearer perception of who God is, a clearer perception of His goodness and love, I am more comfortable in my relationship with God. I’m in a better place when I pray, when I read the Scriptures, when I wrestle with the problems around me.
3. It has given me a greater readiness and capacity to share my faith, and its truth, with others. In a culture which is increasingly hostile to the Christian faith, we are rarely prepared to stick our neck out for Christ if we aren’t fully assured of who He is and the truth He offers us.

As we move deeper and deeper into hostile spiritual territory in the 21^st century, the spiritual needs of those around us are going to become more and more apparent. As we become more and more capable of sharing our faith with others, we will be more and more inclined to do so, enabling us to be used in a greater way by God.

 Studying the answers to objections to Christianity is a discipline called apologetics.  The word “apologetics” comes from the Greek word “apologia” which means to make a defense. It has come to mean defense of the faith.

So, for the next few weeks, I want to share with you some of the most convincing and reassuring apologetic truth that has helped stabilize and strengthen my faith over the years.  I hope and pray that it will have the same three-fold benefit for you:

1. Deepen and strengthen your faith.
2. Enrich your relationship with God.
3. Make you more able and more inclined to share your faith with others.

I look forward to beginning this exploration with you next week.

Have you been looking for a way to strengthen your own understanding of the foundational teachings of the Bible? In addition to these blog posts, I have created a systematic and comprehensive video-based resource that can get you grounded in the essentials of the faith, faster, easier and with less expense than any other way I know of. Go here to learn more! 

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