The Best Arguments For Christianity

The best arguments for Christianity aren’t arguments at all.  For example, in this post here I even argue that pure, logical arguments, have a very limited value.  In fact, to really set the stage for my claims in this post, let me call attention to the fact that in the Scriptures, old testament and new, the question of God’s existence is rarely raised.  What was emphasized is the identity of the one, actual God.  There is a startling passage in the book of James that reads:

“You believe that here is one God.  Good!  Even the demons believe that- and shudder.” (James 2:17)

A lot of people, and certainly a lot of atheists, act as though the question of God’s existence is the only one that matters.  To be sure, it would seem that a precondition to being a Christian is that one believes in God.  As the James quote helps demonstrate, however, is that there are theists who are in rebellion.  Mere theism is not what the Scriptures is concerned about.

Indeed, even if one came to the belief that there is a God without reference to a revelation, we might struggle to ascertain what relevance the belief had.  It would seem that ideally, some sort of relationship with that deity is where the payoff is.  For that, merely believing he exists is not enough, just as I believe that people exist all over the place but I don’t know a thing about them, nor they about me.

This is the critical distinction in Christianity.  You have a man who said he was God.  If he is God, and he gives you sufficient reason to accept his claims to be God, then you have bypassed abstractions and you have your ‘argument.’  More importantly, you have begun to get a taste of the identity of this God, what his characteristics are, etc.   If Jesus says that God cares about the sparrow and so he’ll care about you, and you have good reason to think Jesus is God incarnate, then that is more potent then an Aristotelian syllogism.

I submit, therefore, that Christians who are engaged in debate with atheists, or simply discussion with other Christians, remember this passage from James and remember that the Scriptures itself do not attempt to make a case for mere theism.   Whether or not one has good cause to accept Jesus’ claims I’ll leave for another time but it is my contention that this is where our time is best spent.