What are some questions that a skeptic of Christianity might ask?
1. “How do we know God exists?”
2. “Why does a good God allow evil to exist?”
3. “Is Jesus really the only way?”
4. “Why is Jesus the only way?”
5. “Why should I believe that Jesus is the Son of God?”
6. “If Christianity is so great, why are there so few Christians?
7. “Don’t all religions basically teach all the same stuff?”
8. “Haven’t Christians done some really awful things in the past?”
These are all really good questions – we all have these questions to a certain degree – some more than others – And that’s ok!
A spiritual journey is a part of life - whether we realize it or not - we are all on one.
Trying to understand the spiritual aspect of our human nature does not come naturally, in fact, if you were to read 1 Corinthians 2:14 in the Bible we are told - "People who do not have God’s Spirit do not accept the things that come from his Spirit. They think these things are foolish. They cannot understand them, because they can only be understood with the Spirit’s help..."
For many, when we get to something difficult or something that may not fit into our normal way of life in our spiritual journey, we walk away instead of digging and really studying. We stop investigating and asking questions and seeking God. Many convince themselves it is just not worth the time and effort and not that important or that no one would care to help you figure it out, so many stop seeking and caring about their spiritual well being.
For those of you who may be new to this sight - my desire is for all to understand that one's physical, mental, emotional well being are all tied in with their spiritual well being. We were created as a one beautifully woven tapestry - and all areas are crucial to take care of.
QUESTION :
Have you ever been in a situation where you caught someone lying, or heard some gossip of a friend?
- Did it bother you?
- Did you try to find out if it was true so you could clear up the false gossip?
- How did you figure it out the lie or the truth about the gossip?
- Or would you even try to figure out if it was true or not?
It is important in your spiritual journey to ask questions to those who you trust that may know more than you in that area, do research on books to help you in your spiritual journey (outside of the Bible - though that is the best place to get to know the real God and His story.)
The Book, "Cold - Case Christianity" by J. Warner Wallace tells us there are four areas we need to look at when investigating Christianity.
https://www.amazon.com/Cold-Case-Christianity-Homicide-Detective-
1. Control your assumptions – Understand that you bring a lot of your own thoughts and beliefs into your spiritual quest for truth, so try not to think you know everything and be willing to listen.
2. Abducting reasoning – Understand the difference between what is possible and what is reasonable.
3. Direct Evidence – Investigating crimes involve talking to eye witnesses (we obviously cannot do this today as Jesus lived a couple thousand years ago - but we can read the testimonies of eye witnesses of His life, His death and His resurrection.
4. Circumstantial Evidence – The nature of cold cases are based old cases, so they have to use as
many pieces of evidence they can to build their case.
God desires a relationship with His creation. He desires us to truly know Him so He had 40 authors write the Bible over a period of 1,500 years. These Bible writers wrote as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit
Luke 1 “Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. 2 They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples. 3 Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write an accurate account for you, most honorable Theophilus, 4 so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught.”
2 Peter 1:16 “For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes”
Acts 17:11 tells us that we need to study and "receive the message with great eagerness" and "examine the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul (and all scripture) is true.
Why study? Why should you keep pursuing truth? Because it is written in our soul to find truth, purpose and our Creator- it is the longing of our heart and the place where ultimate peace will be found.
So, why might we all struggle to seek for truth about God ?
1. The struggle with absolute truth
2. What or who to believe with so many world views, religions and varying arguments for everyone’s "own truths," in our world today-
3. Past hurts and disappointments with religion and or God
4. Trusting those who say they are experts can be hard when there has been corruption, deception, abuse, and scandals within religions
5. Or maybe because we just don’t see enough Christians actually being Christ followers
1 John 4:20 says it best, "Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen."
Mark 12:30-31 tells us that to truly live like God calls us to live we need to understand loving Him is where true love will pour out from us so that we can better love others they way He first loved and invited us to have a relationship with Him.
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
If you are searching for the truth of Christianity - starting with Jesus is the best place. I would encourage you to not just look at Him as a teacher or the greatest humanitarian that ever lived, but to ask God to show you Himself in His Son Jesus, and how Jesus spoke about His Father God and the Holy Spirit and how they all are One and in a perfect unified relationship - a relationship God is inviting you to be a part of as well.
Here is a great video by J. Warner Wallace
"Why Every Spiritual Seeker Should Start with Jesus"