- Apr 28, 2019
- 80
- 37
- 74
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Christian
- Marital Status
- Married
I think for me the real question is why did I remain a Christian. I became a Christian in college, but as a physics major who then went into geophysics in the oil industry where I saw geologic data that didn't match what my Christian friends were telling me about creation. That discrepancy between what I saw and what I was told was right sent me into a multi-year crisis of faith where I doubted everything I had believed about Christianity. The toughest question I faced was "If early Christians were as bad at observational data as are today's Christians, how can I believe the reports of the empty tomb?" Christianity, like it or not, is based upon the reports of the people who saw the empty tomb. There is nothing we can do to verify their report today.
I spent years discussing things with both atheists, conservative and liberal Christians. I even told my pastor son once that I was teetering on the edge of leaving Christianity. finally, I asked a prominent atheist professor, who prided himself on being able to convert Christians in his freshman class to atheism, to send me his best proof of atheism. He said he didn't have proof of atheism. I asked him what would make him change from atheist to Christian. Laughingly, he said, if he could see Jesus walked on the waters of Lake Cayuga (near his home) or parted those waters he would believe. That made me realize that if that happened, everyone would doubt his story and even after those events he himself would wonder if it had been a illusion/delusion and that made me realize even atheists live by faith.
This whole world is a moshpit of faith. The solipsistic view, that what we experience is always in the brain is a real philosophical problem that makes all of us live by faith that the external world is real. (as Alex Dumbledor said in the last Harry Potter movie "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?") Life, all lives are lived by faith. the real problem is what do we place our faith in? I put mine in Christ. Having read every major religion's founding book, there is no religion out there that explains this world and emphasizes faith like the Christian faith.
I spent years discussing things with both atheists, conservative and liberal Christians. I even told my pastor son once that I was teetering on the edge of leaving Christianity. finally, I asked a prominent atheist professor, who prided himself on being able to convert Christians in his freshman class to atheism, to send me his best proof of atheism. He said he didn't have proof of atheism. I asked him what would make him change from atheist to Christian. Laughingly, he said, if he could see Jesus walked on the waters of Lake Cayuga (near his home) or parted those waters he would believe. That made me realize that if that happened, everyone would doubt his story and even after those events he himself would wonder if it had been a illusion/delusion and that made me realize even atheists live by faith.
This whole world is a moshpit of faith. The solipsistic view, that what we experience is always in the brain is a real philosophical problem that makes all of us live by faith that the external world is real. (as Alex Dumbledor said in the last Harry Potter movie "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?") Life, all lives are lived by faith. the real problem is what do we place our faith in? I put mine in Christ. Having read every major religion's founding book, there is no religion out there that explains this world and emphasizes faith like the Christian faith.
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