Apologetics/Foundations

[Willtor]

I'm not going to bother making this thread a poll because this is the WRONG crowd to try to categorize.

But there's at least one category we've all placed ourselves in, and I'd like to know why people, here, have done so. Why God? Why Christianity? Why your particular denomination (if you subscribe to one)?

 

[Willtor]

I ask mainly because I suspect most of us are (at least moderately) existentialists. Of course, I could be mistaken, and this is what I'd like to know. I'd mainly like to know what you think about the so-called classical proofs of the existence of God, what causes you to identify Christ as God, and secondarily if this has had an impact on your respective denominations?

In spite of my desire not to bias the results: I don't think much of the proofs of the existence of God. Not that I think they're flawed, per se, but that they don't seem to say very much. In some sense, if I'm looking at a chair, and someone describes something vaguely chair-like to me, I will probably associate the description with what I'm looking at. But if I didn't have the chair in front of me, I might find that the description said too little for me to form a picture in my mind.

I naturally tend towards some sort of philosophical karmic view, and this is probably one of the reasons I find grace compelling. I don't think I can conclude grace from my sense and reason. But hearing that it is so, especially in its culmination on the cross of Christ, it's a faith I have adopted and my dogma tends to follow what is necessary to support its reality.

But I don't subscribe to a particular denomination. I don't really have good reason to do so.

 

[jereth]

Why am I a Christian? I think the reason is a sum total of several factors.

The claims and teachings of Jesus Christ.
The historical evidence for the resurrection.
The witness of the apostles.
The witness of the church.
The richness of Christian tradition (the creeds, the councils, the Reformers)
The depth and richness of the Scriptures.
The revelation of a gracious and righteous God.

To list just a few.

As a younger Christian I was a bit of an anti-traditionalist/restorationist, but in the last few years I have grown much more fond of Christian tradition and recognised its importance for the church. Thus, although I don't consider myself tied to any particular denomination, I will probably always gravitate towards churches with an emphasis on tradition. Eg. the Anglican church, which I currently attend. I don't like fad Christianity, which is one reason (among many!) why I am so strongly opposed to YECism.