Logically defending Christianity?

Question

First off, I am not challenging the concept of Christianity, I'm only seeking to gain a better understanding of it. If you're only out to answer this question with a "It cannot be done" or "It doesn't exist", then this question was not intended for you, so please disregard the rest of this information and move along. Thank you!


My Question:

I would like for someone to logically defend why they believe in Christianity. I am not looking for answers like, "The Bible Says so" or "I was raised with it" or "Just because". I would realy like, and am in search of, people who can say that they, without a doubt/books aside, having been raised with it aside, believe.

If the Bible was found to have been made up (let's just imagine) and the history was found to have been altered, what would you have left in your beliefs?

Again, I'm earnestly seeking not trying to rile anyone up. Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

I can easily answer this logically. Although I was raised in the faith, that part of my life doesn't affect this answer.

I now believe that most, if not all the bible was made up. I also believe that the histories have been altered, and I am still a Christian. Well, maybe with a small "c" christian, would be better.

I am a christian because I am most comfortable worshipping in this manner. I do not condemn others for worshipping in ways with which they find comfort. I only dislike religions that call for the abuse or hatred of others, and abhor the adherents of any religion who use it to do the same.

But I still believe in the saving power of Christ. I am not so blind that I believe that only christians are saved (or that all of them are), nor do I believe that the spirit of Christ is limited to our understanding. I do, however, believe that all salvation comes through Christ, even if the person who is saved may call it The Law, Moses, Allah, Buddah, or any other of millions of names used through the millenia to describe deity.

I believe in Christianity, because Jesus, though not born of a virgin, nor perfect in life, loved those around him. It seems to be inate for him, though I doubt if this is so, just what was said after his death. He loved them enough to break all the rules. He talked with women, something considered a sin in his culture. He defended prostitutes and tax collectors. He was a true maverick... and he did it out of love for others.

That is, to me, true christianity. Not the big churches, not the bible thumpers... those who love their neighbors, who go out of their way to make those who are disposessed fit in.

If all who called themselves christian would do this but one time year, there would be no homelessness or starvation, the lonely would have friends, and the blind would have someone to read to them.

It is up to each of us to be christ for this world. So, logically, I must be a christian.

Answer 2

This question is a bit too beefy to be seriously answered on Yahoo Answers. A dialogue of sorts would be the only realistic way to discuss this sort of thing- therefore, I would advise you to get into a conversation about this with someone outside of the Q & A format.

Additionally, there are many apologetics books which seem to cover the subject amply. These can have a pretty impressive array of arguments, but honestly, I feel that people are more moved by personal contact and dialogue as opposed to reading facts and figures.

And for the record, I have always been a very skeptical individual, though willing to suspend disbelief for the sake of arguments and hypothetical explanations. Through a lot of earnest comparison and study, I've found myself as an assuredly convinced believer. Of course, I keep in mind that it's difficult for many people to understand the beliefs of certain individuals because we are taught in such a manner that we naturally lean towards disbelief in religion, when in actuality the two concepts cannot be compared in parallel terms; when they are, misunderstanding bursts forth.

Answer 3

Well, first, let me provide a little background information. I was raised in a Christian home, and I was even scared into becoming a "Christian" at the age of seven, by a hellfire and brimstone sermon. Problem was, I never really believed in any of it. The entire Bible seemed like it was made up. About the only thing that I believed was that Jesus's teachings were awesome. But I wasn't sure about the rest.

When I was thirteen, I went ahead and admitted where my faith was heading: Towards atheism. I found it harder and harder to pretend that I believed, and increasingly harder to pretend that I didn't think everyone in my church was a moron.

For a couple of years, until I was about sixteen, I didn't believe in God at ALL. I looked into mythology from ancient times, and I saw that Christianity would eventually head the same way. But something was missing. I had found that there WERE things in the world that couldn't be explained, things that weren't seen with our eyes, but with our minds.

So that got me looking again. I was Wiccan for a few years, but I didn't believe that God was divine; I believed that the earth and all its forces were gods and goddesses. Of sorts.

Long story short, I never stopped seeking. Finally there came a point when I stopped praying for God to come down and talk to me face to face if He was real, but to just show me, somehow someway, that He existed.

I needed good concrete evidence to believe. Well, I found it. I found it in science, and history, and archaeology. It would be much too long to put it all here, but basically what I found is that:
1. There's plenty of scientific evidence to suggest a Creator. For one thing, the fine-tuning of the Earth and the universe.
2. Historical writings actually do point out the existence of a man called Jesus of Nazareth, and that people believed He was divine.
3. Not one archaeological expedition has disproven the Bible. Not one.

So my faith is based on logic and reason. However, there's even more to it than that. I can't begin to describe the ways that God has touched my life since I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior eight months ago (almost to the day). I can't begin to describe how I feel when I pray, how close I feel to God, how it feels to stand in His presence. It is completely indescribable. It's also incredible how much God has given me, as far as reasons to believe. He has shown Himself to me, repeatedly, and continues to prove Himself every day.

In all truth, though, I'm only 98% certain. One percent is my doubt in the existence of God. The other one percent is my doubt about various stories in the Bible (Noah's ark, for example.). However, that 98% is HUGE, and makes me fairly certain.

I hope this answers your question. Sorry I didn't provide more details, but I could write books on the subject. As a matter of fact, that's exactly what I'm planning to do.

Answer 4

I'm 27 years old, and I didn't begin attending church until I was 17. I did not become a Christian until I was 19. My parents are not Christian and I was not raised into any particular faith. Until then, I considered myself a "searching agnostic". I felt that there could possibly be a God, but I didn't know how to go about finding him.

I had heard some about Christianity but had never really given it very much thought. I'd seen the same things that many atheists point out -- The Bible was written by man and has been translated over and over again, the world was obviously not created in 6 days, the story of Noah's ark has to be symbolic, the sun never remained in one position for an entire day's time. It wasn't until I attended services that focused on the gospels and Jesus himself that I became interested.

I remember reading about Jesus's commandments -- to love God with all your heart and to love your neighbors as yourselves. When I started learning about Jesus's parables and how he taught in symbolism, I started seeing parables and symbolism in the Old Testament as well. I still couldn't reconcile myself with some of the hatred found later in the New Testament -- the letters of Paul, the misogynistic words of Second Timothy ... so I started researching Christianity ... and I realized that those parts of The Bible were probably added to "counteract" the liberating words of Jesus. After all, there's no question that the Church (when it became organized) used its "monopoly on salvation" as a tool to control people.

When applying the commandments of Jesus to my everyday life, that's when I found the connection to God -- and to other people -- that I'd been searching for my entire life. Not everyone, even other Christians, understands my viewpoint on religion. But I'm not trapped in the dogma or doctrine. I follow Christ. Period.

Someone asked a question earlier along the lines of, "If Jesus never resurrected, what would you believe?" If, somehow, it was proven that Christ was not divine and did not resurrect from the dead, I would still be thankful for the changes that his teachings have made in my life.

Answer 5

Ok, here's my logic. I am a Christian as of 2001, so you will have a "newbie's" answer here.

I was not raised to believe in God, for no one around me seemed to have believed in God's existence. As Soviet Union broke down, there were more options, more outlets to my curiousity. Then I learned I was being raised my parents of different backgrounds-Christian and Jewish-and hence I started my quest. I got existed about Herbew and Jeudaism, and later on, learned about Islam as well (that was too before being baptized), yet, I'd have to say that I believed in Jesus even before I believed in God. He was such and inspiring figure to me, he spoke so much wisdom and truth, and it was soo simple, so the choice for me was evident. Plus, little by little Russia started getting back to its religious roots and before I left for the U.S., I did get a 'taste of' Christianity. So, upon my first trip back, I requested to be baptized.

True, it may seem like a "culture inspired" choice. But besides that, I always keep Jesus in my heart, as he is to me everything that is Godly and everything that is Love and Peace.

I have respect for other religions and would never want to challenge anyone's beliefs, albeit my avid curiousity. But I can not imagine myself changing mine. You ask what would I do if the Bible is found to be false and history-to have been made up. Well, I will always believe in God. That will never be altered.

Answer 6

I'm really stretching to be up to your requirements, but I'll try.

Life without hope of eternity is despairing. If we live this life only seeking material goods, we become greedy and obsessed. If we live this life seeking only pleasure we become jaded and uncaring. If we live this life seeking eternal goodness (God) we get wisdom, love and peace knowing there is perfection as the goal.

This world is not perfect but difficult to say the least. It is imperfect because of the human behavior in it. Attempting goodness on our own is failure. Try as we might, we are uncaring, unkind, even vicious sometimes. Ignoring that, we become divorced from reality. This divorce makes us even more uncaring, unkind and maybe vicious. It is not mature or realistic to see this only in others. We have become this ourselves. We become unable to "see" ourselves because we get into the routine of being this way. As children we sought the guidance, love and forgiveness of our parents in order to be "good" children.

When we leave our parents we still need this help. If we believe God is our Father and has love, power, forgiveness and is always with us, we can get help changing our ways. Christianity is an evolution for a person. A practicing Christian is constantly changing toward perfection or as we believe, Jesus Christ. He is always with us through His Spirit, guiding us, teaching us and changing us by His Church and the Sacraments.

As we change, the world changes. We influence others by love and kindness. Jesus returned goodness for evil. We are called to do that. A practicing Christian does that through outward behavior but mostly in prayer to God our Father. In the end, the world will be changed.

This is logical to me. Hope this helps you.

Grace

Answer 7

Excellently formed question, This. Your qualifiers are apt.
I became convinced of the authenticity of the Bible as the ACTUAL Word of God after studying it under an informed insructor. This way when I bumped up against what clearly, to me, appeared to be a discrepency or contradiction, my insructor explained it to my satisfaction. Some explainations had to be set aside until I learned my "alphabet". Then, as my understanding grew these problems cleared up just as they would with a child trying to understand human procreation. There are building blocks.
Anyway, personally, I became intrigued when, right away, Falsehoods were cleared up that are taken for granted by ALL (false) Christain teachings. Paramount was the TRUTH about the condition of the dead: All religions teach the immortality of the human soul, right? WRONG! According to their OWN Bible, the soul DIES! (Ezekl. 18: 4 and Eccl. 3: 19) Death is a condition of unconsciosness akin to sleep. ( Eccl. 9: 5,10 and John 11: 11-14 and Gen. 3: 19). Thus, the need for a resurrection of the dead.

This book, I've found, is reliable on many fronts and reveals itself to be far above any human capability in its historicity; logic; wisdom; prophecy; and where it touches on it, science. Many artifacts have been unearthed that confirm what scholars had long condemned as myth. Hezekiah's tunnel was just discovered in Jerusalem a few decades ago. "Authorities" insisted this historical structure, mentioned in scripture, was fanciful. Likewise, they insisted there was no Pontius Pilot. An old corner stone with his name and position clearly insribed upon it was unearthed less 20 years ago, proving his authority at the time of Christ. There are many places, people, and things that have 100% of the time proven the voracity of the Book as being God's Word. Cyrus the Persian, conqerer of Babylon, was fortold to have been the one to conquer this wold power, 200 years before he was even born! Babylon, a backwater at the time, wasn't even on the MAP! Forget its being any world power. There's a whole lot more of this.

Science: "The earth is hanging upon nothing", is stated far ahead of any knowledge of this fact. As is the "circle of the earth".
Quarentining of certain diseased ones and of those who had touched a dead body was insructed to ancient Israel, and was completely unheard of in ancient times. As was the "burying of human waste outside their camp". Outside nations marveled and were baffled at this resulting prosperity.

There were no jails in Israel. Perfect law arranged for a system of restitution to the victims plus interest for any lost services. a system of gleaning allowed for the down-trodden to provide for themselves while holding their heads high. Widows, and orphans were provided for and land remained within families through an indentured arrangement, when financial loss forced a sale. The land always returned and no undue burden befell society.

Family advice is unsurpassed. Millions can testify that when applied to the arrangement, harmony reigns in marriage and difficulties are overcome.

The hope in the stated purpose of all humanity, and the magnificent provisions to unify even the dead who were never aware of the true god, bespeak the supremecy of this sound document.

Answer 8

I lived quite a few years out and about before I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. I was into a lot of things and my life seemed like it was pretty good on the surface....nice home, new car, good job, etc. but the longer I went, the more of a void in my life I couldn't seem to fill. My mom had been a Christian for years but I wasn't raised in a Christian home. I really didn't want anything to do with God or religion for that matter. I wanted to do my own thing and make my own choices and not be told I was going to have to suffer for any sins. I just didn't want to hear it.
I saw God as being ready to crush me into powder if I made one mistake and I didn't want to believe in a God that would treat me like a second-class citizen and tell me I didn't have as much worth or value as a man does. I thought this way because that's how I was treated growing up. I didn't read the Bible or know what it said about anything. I just knew the God of Christianity must be just like my dad, abusive and neglectful.
Anyway, I went on for some time being angry at God and bitter at many people for mistreating me. During that time I began to search for something more than what I had because what I had and did wasn't working. The void felt like it was getting bigger and deeper.
The relationship I was in at the time, was ending and I just kept thinking that there had to be more to life than that. I felt a tugging on my heart. Finally, I called out to God and asked Him to show me the truth...to show me what was real and what wasn't. I humbled myself and asked Him to forgive me. I gave my life to Him right there on my bedroom floor and this huge burden lifted off me. I felt as light as a feather.
From that moment on, God has been faithful to show me and lead me to the truth of how He views women and specifically how He views me as His daughter. He's nothing like I ever thought He was. When I'm in His presense, there's nowhere else I'd rather be....His presense is so sweet and gentle and precious. I'm not the same person I used to be. I've changed quite a bit. When you have an encounter with Jesus Christ you can't help but change.
This is why I believe in Jesus Christ and Father God. I would never have believed for anyone else. I hated religion and the pride that goes with it. I had to have a real encounter in order to forgive and be able to let go of the past. The anxiety and depression I used to experience has been replaced with a piece and joy I never knew before. When you experience these things, you know it's real and no one can take that away from you.

Answer 9

Well, look at the alternatives. Atheists would have us believe that all matter and energy in the universe magically appeared in a big cloud and exploded outwards. It then settled into planets and stars. Billions of years later the surface cooled down and water came from someplace and filled the oceans. Then somehow a nonliving particle became alive and started to asexually reproduce. Millions of years later, the first multicellular organism. Then that organism somehow changed into all the species that now inhabit the Earth, and the extinct ones. The Christian version of events is much more plausible. There was a loving Creator behind all of the world. We sinned against Him, but He still loves us. Hmm, tough choice.

Answer 10

I use to be a drunk. I use to get mad very easy. I did not have much love for anyone. One night alone at my house I prayed to God and asked Him to guide my life. I said I could not do it anymore on my own. I have since recieved the Holy Spirirt which fills me full of joy and help. I do not hate but love. I gave up drinking. I do not get mad all the time anymore. For a fact I know Jesus is God and real. I have experecied Him personally as my Lord and Savior. I cannot live filled with this much joy and love without him. I will follow Jesus at any cost, even if it cost my life. If you have questions email me. I pray that God will show you the truth. He has to come to you first. All you have to do is repent (turn from) of your sins and believe.