In Reply to: Re: Non family belief question posted by Question on March 06, 2005 at 06:12:18:
You make good points, Perry & Question. I would certainly not have chosen Joppa's overly-simple & basically poetic response to the question. I especially liked Perry's point that many Christians give the impression that you must 'shred reason' & make a jump into the dark, jump off the cliff & hope you'll fly. I don't go for that.
Remember in the Family that we were taught that 'faith is a gift of God' & there was a big argument that you can't even have faith on your own to believe in Jesus, that you can only have faith if God himself gives you a gift of faith? I don't buy that. I think faith is pretty much equal to trust & committment. You closely examine all the evidence of Christianity, you USE your intellectual facilities, & if you find the evidence compelling, you put your trust in it & commit yourself to Christ. If you don't find it compelling, you don't.
But it's more than just examining fulfilled prophecy down through history (of which there are many examples). You must also come to a realization at a point that Christ's claims to be the Son of God, indeed that there is a God, are true. If God is real & Jesus truly is his son, then we need to accept him & follow him to be saved.
Lawyers & scientists have examined Christ's claims & written some excellent books. For the evolution-creation debate (one that does NOT claim the earth is only 6,000 years old) read Philip E Johnson's 'Darwin on Trial.' Evolution basically falls apart on the microbiological level.
For an investigative journalists's look at the historical Jesus, read 'The Case for Christ' by Lee Strobel.
For a look at fulfilled prophecy down through the centuries, Josh McDowell has written an exhaustive volume called 'Evidence that Demands a Verdict.'
Please look these books up if you get a chance & examine what they have to say. They will challenge athiestic concepts & give far better answers than I could write out here.