There is a song that was written some time ago that you may have heard if you worship the God of the Bible; it may be that you have even sung it yourself. It begins, "I serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today; I know that He is living, whatever men may say..." If you've chosen to follow Christ, then you surely believe that Jesus not only died, but that he rose again from the dead, never to die again. That's great! So many in the world haven't come to that conclusion yet! But if I were one of those who did not yet believe--let me ask you: how do you know He lives? What would you say? It might be that you would answer with the refrain of the song we mentioned. "You ask me how I know He lives: He lives within my heart."
Friend, it's good that there have been positive changes wrought in your heart and your life because you are trying to serve Christ; but the Christian has so much more that he can say--so much more that he ought to say! Think about it: if you asked someone an honest question about anything else in life, would the evidence, "I know it because I know it," be enough for you to believe what was said?
Sadly, there are many--even Christians--that are under the impression that Christianity is an unthinking faith; that to be a Christian, you must somehow leave your brain outside the building when you come to worship. This simply isn't the case! Christianity is a reasonable faith.
Turn to 1 Cor 1:18-21. There, we read that, "...the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, 'I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.' Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe." Looking at this passage, you might well ask, "Didn't Paul the Apostle teach against the wisdom of the world, against human reasoning?" Don't we "walk by faith and not by sight" (2 Cor 5:7) The fact of the matter is that when we're dealing with the things of God, reason alone--i.e., leaving His divine revelation out of the picture--is foolishness; but that doesn't mean that we are to abandon reason. You see, there are many things of God that we would not come to know apart from his revelation to us, e.g., the existence of Heaven and Hell, and His plan for salvation; but there are others that He expected for us to see by use of reason as well. This same Paul said in Romans 1:20, "...since the creation of the world [God's] invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made..." Paul asserted that we can see evidence of God through His handiwork--through nature. He expected that man should, by use of reason, see that God exists.
There are other passages, of course, that help us to realize that we are expected to fight for the truth--using reason as a tool. Peter, in 1 Peter 3:15, commanded, "...sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence." The word defense in this passage means the same as of a courtroom defense; and that implies a reasoned statement or argument. To defend our faith properly, we must be able to humbly provide reasonable evidence as to why we believe what we believe.
In fact, it was the apostle Paul who told the Thessalonians that they were to "...examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good" (1 Thess 5:21). To examine everything carefully requires the use of reason. The use of reason is not foreign to the scriptures.
It seems rather odd to me that many who profess to be Christians almost shy away from the idea of giving evidence and reasoning with others, when called upon to support their faith. I have seen some that at times seem almost proud that the only argument they were able to offer was, "I just know." The Lord Jesus didn't shy away from offering evidence. In Luke 24:39, we find that at one point in time after His death, Jesus appeared to the apostles. Now, they had a hard time believing it was actually Him in the flesh, and not a spirit; so Jesus reassured them, saying, "See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." As further proof, He ate a piece of broiled fish in their presence. We also read in Acts 1:3, that, "To these [His apostles] He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God."
Probably the most familiar account of Jesus providing personal evidence of His resurrection was that concerning the apostle we call "Doubting Thomas." In John 20: 25, Thomas said, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." Later, when He appeared to Thomas, in verse 27 Jesus said. "'Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.' Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord and my God!' Jesus said to him, Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.'" Now, you may say, didn't Jesus rebuke him then, for His unbelief? No; rather, He was pointing out that there would come a time when such direct evidence wouldn't be available. John finished this chapter by writing, "Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name." You see, the apostles would continue to provide evidence concerning Christ long after he ascended into Heaven--through the Bible.
Yes, the apostles offered the evidence of eyewitness testimony. In addition to the passage we read a moment ago, John referred to that fact in 1 Jn 1:1 when he wrote about, "What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life--" that is, concerning Jesus. They had been there with Jesus personally--and could offer their testimony as proof.
But they didn't stop there. They had been given the ability to perform miracles--which in itself was to be offered as proof that what they had to say was the truth; just as we read in Acts 14:3, "...the Lord... was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that signs and wonders be done by their hands." Once again, they were willing to do more than simply say, "just believe because I told you."
But the apostles didn't stop there, either. You see, God gave us the power of reasoning for a purpose--and it wasn't just to make a difference between us and the animals. For instance, turn to Acts 18:4. Here, we find Paul "...was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks." Earlier, in Acts 17:2,3 we find that it was not unusual for him to do this. We read, that "...according to Paul's custom, he went to them [i.e. the Jews], and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, 'This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.'"
In fact, we can see some outstanding examples of logic and reason used throughout scripture--for instance, in Peter's first recorded sermon, Acts 2; and particularly in the books of Romans and Hebrews.
Christianity is not an unthinking faith; it is a reasonable faith. The Christian has many evidences around him as well as in scripture to support his faith in the God of the Bible, and in His Son, Jesus the Christ. For example, there is a great deal of evidence to show that the Bibles we read from today are translated from an accurate copy of the original texts. We also have abundant archaeological evidence to support the historical accuracy of the Bible; and there is far more supporting evidence than this!
As I said, though, all this evidence can only support what God has revealed in scripture. In the end, it is true that we must accept by faith that Jesus is the Christ--the Son of God. The consequences are great: as Jesus himself said in John 8:24, "...unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins." Yet, it is a shame that so many Christians seem content to set aside one of the tools that God gave us to deal with the unbeliever--reason. In the words of God Almighty as recorded in Isa 1:18, "Come now, and let us reason together..."
