Board index ‹ Faith and Knowledge

[Black Like Me]

1: What in the world still makes you have your faith? 2: What makes you believe in fantastical claims about the world through faith and not based on evidence 3: Is there even any evidence that things described from the Bible apart from someone like Jesus most likely existing are true?

[jimwalton]

> 1: What in the world still makes you have your faith?

I've examined the evidence and I'm convinced it's the truth. The weight of logic and evidence carries the case for me.

> 2: What makes you believe in fantastical claims about the world through faith and not based on evidence

I'm an evidentialist. As far as the "fantastical claims," it depends what you're talking about. Be more specific and I'd love to discuss it with you.

In the Bible, faith is always based on evidence. You'll notice in the Bible that evidence precedes faith. There is no "close your eyes and jump off a cliff" and good luck to ya! God appears to Moses in a burning bush before He expects him to believe. He gave signs to take back to Pharaoh and the Israelite people, so they could see the signs before they were expected to believe. So also through the whole OT. In the NT, Jesus started off with turning water into wine, healing some people, casting out demons, and then he taught them about faith. And they couldn't possibly understand the resurrection until there was some evidence to go on. Jesus could have just ascended to heaven, the disciples figured out that he had prophesied it, and went around telling people He rose. But that's not what happened. He walked around and let them touch him, talk to him, eat with him, and THEN he said, "Believe that I have risen from the dead." The same is true for my belief in the existence of God, my belief that the Bible is God's word, and my understanding of how life works.

> 3: Is there even any evidence that things described from the Bible apart from someone like Jesus most likely existing are true?

Of course. Christianity is a historical religion; it's based in historical events and God's work in them. Of course, one can never prove what part God played, but the Bible reliably describes many historical events that are corroborated by archaeology. There is no particular reason to perceive the writers of the Bible as lunatics or fabricators.