I am fortunate in that I can listen to a lot of audio while I work. One particular show I listen to is the Don Johnson Radio Show (It’s now an internet radio and podcast. Click here for details). A few weeks ago Don and Brandon, the hosts, talked with an atheist caller in an excruciatingly painful display of irrationalism. Hat tip to Don and Brandon for their extreme patience. I recommend listening regularly—though that particular show might give you a headache.
Anyway, the caller used a phrase that’s all too common among atheists as a dismissal of religions. Simply, he says that “faith is belief in the absence of evidence.” Unfortunately, too many Christians accept this dichotomy as well, as do other religions. I know the LDS missionaries that I spent about 2 months talking with last year held that view. Their explanation for why we saw little or no evidence for the historical claims of Joseph Smith was because if they could prove it, there wouldn’t be need for faith.
This is not what Christianity means by faith. In the same show linked above, Brandon gives an excellent summary of the Christian faith. Faith, says Brandon, is trust in something because you have evidence for it. By way of analogy he notes his recent dental work, which began with the search for a dentist, subsequent consultations and the end result in trusting his choppers in the hands of his chosen dentist. Did he know with certainty that the dentist would produce good results? No. Did he have good reasons for trusting the dentist? Yes.
And Christians put their faith in Christ not because of a lack of evidence, but because there is good evidence. With Easter approaching, I thought it would be helpful to note the significance of Easter, and below I’ll link to some resources that might be helpful to anyone interested.
Simply: Easter is when Christians celebrate the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Jesus Christ, as God, took on humanity and lived and dwelt among us, living a blameless and perfect life, but was killed for crimes he was innocent of, taking the punishment of our sins on himself, for God decreed that the punishment for sin is death.
Imagine a boat full of sailors on a voyage across the Atlantic. Food rations are diminishing faster than anticipated and it’s suspected there is a thief on board. The captain decrees that the thief will be whipped, 50 lashes. Some days later a thief is indeed caught. The captain is called and he orders the crew to the top of the ship where they will all witness the punishment for theft.
The thief is a younger boy, skinny. Shaking. And the captain orders the sentence to be carried out. The boy is tied and the fiercest sailor to use a whip is put behind him. When he raises the whip, the captain reaches up and stays his hand. He walks forward and tears off his shirt and stands in front of the boy, bearing his back for the whip. And he orders that the sentence continue, taking the punishment on himself. And that’s what Jesus has done, taken the punishment from God’s own decree on himself so that we might be spared, by accepting his offer.
What would not have worked in that story would be if the captain had pulled aside the boy and looked to someone else, let’s say “Hank,” who was innocent and he said, “Boy, because I care for you, I am going to beat Hank senseless.” That would be doubly unjust. Instead the captain took the punishment himself, and so also Christ took the punishment on himself. And we know that he had the authority to do this because he claimed it of himself and then proved it by rising from the dead, clearly and with a final force showing his authority. And because he lives, we shall live also.
And as I mentioned above, this isn’t something that Christians need take (or should take) blindly. We have reasons to think that he was telling the truth. We have witness testimony, we have his miracles. And finally, we have his resurrection, which we have good reasons to trust in.
Here is a minuscule sampling of just some of the people that are doing great work in this area.
Articles:
- How Easter Killed My Faith in Atheism – Lee Strobel – WSJ
- Evidence for the Resurrection – Josh McDowell
- Scholarly Articles on the Historical Jesus – William Lane Craig
- Popular Articles on the Jesus of Nazareth – WLC
- Was Jesus Really Resurrected? – Please Convince Me
- Is There Evidence for the Resurrection of Christ – CRI
- Apologetics 315 Archives
Gary Habermas (Audio, video, text)
Video:
William Lane Craig Debates:
- Did Jesus Rise From The Dead? w/ Shabir Ally
- Bart Ehrman: Is There Historical Evidence For The Resurrection Of Jesus?
- John Shelby Spong: Did Jesus Rise From The Dead?
- LOADS of others here
Books:
Jesus Christ lived. He died. and he really, really rose from the dead. And we can know it!
Christians: Be strengthened. What you believe is true, and you can be confident in it.
Non-Christians: I implore you to rethink your worldview, to consider the evidence. Repent.
If you have questions, contact me or post here.
*Boat analogy loosely adapted from Greg Koukl (His was better.)
- photo credit – Jong Soo
Dear Rob;
Please send me your address. don’t have it and there are some things that I need to send you.
Done!