Is it a Matter of Evidence, or of Personal Worldview?

                When we look at different religions, and the various evidences for them, I would argue that Christianity has the most robust case in terms of historical and philosophical evidence. Given this, there are plenty of people who look at the evidence for the person of Christ and the claims of the Bible, and some are not convinced, and some wholeheartedly believe and give their lives to Jesus. We can look at the stories of many prominent Christians and Atheists, from multiple fields of study, and see that it is not a case of training or intellect, as the New Atheists try to push on religious people. We can see multiple examples of prominent scientists, philosophers, politicians, and just everyday people that we know on either side of the aisle. We as humans are generally pretty intelligent when we want to be, and we all have our own opinions about God and eternity. So what gives? Why, when confronted with the overwhelming evidence that confirms the historicity of the claims of scripture and the historical presence of Jesus of Nazareth, do people still reject him, and sometimes the idea of God entirely?

                I think there are a few reasons that people reject them. You have some people that have the wrong idea of God. I was listening to the Reasonable Faith podcast and Dr. Craig was talking about Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson’s comments on God. To paraphrase Dr. Tyson, he put up the problem of evil, as well as that he does not have sufficient evidence to believe in God. He later said that if he wound up “bumping into the old bearded man” in his studies, then he would believe. Dr. Craig responded wonderfully to the objections, but what I want to do today is to take a look at the reasoning behind why he poses these problems. To bring up the problem of evil is to bring up what I think it a moral question, but slightly misguided. Dr. Tyson specifically brings up natural disasters as “natural evil”. Dr. Tyson speaks as if the goal of this life is to be happy and comfortable here. As Dr. Craig brings up, the Christian would never argue this is the point of life, but to freely come into fellowship with God through Jesus’ gift of salvation so that we may spend eternity with him. There are also plenty of verses that say that we as Christians should expect trouble in this life, because it isn’t going to be a bed of roses. We can look at the book of James as a single example.

                For his second objection, regarding not having enough evidence, it’s almost irrational to expect to have all your questions answered, even in science. I have published quite a few papers where I think of other smaller questions that I wanted to answer in the study, but I still answered the big question of the study. I think this kind of idea, requiring all the questions to be answered, is a result of scientism, and could even be termed “rationalism” in a case like this. When I am talking about scientism, I mean the attitude that science can answer all questions, including those that aren’t scientific in nature.

                However much Dr. Tyson resists the evidence available for Christianity, he has admitted that if his requirements are met that he would believe. There are others still that would choose against the gospel even if we had perfect answers. These people will volitionally stay in their current worldview. They either have reasons to reject what they see philosophically, or will actively reject because of what the church has done. If it is because of what the church has done, I am sorry that my fellow believers did not act in the love of Christ.

                So when it comes down to Christianity, or any other question facing us today, we can see if it is the evidence, or our own worldview. If we are being intellectually honest, then Christianity does have an amazing case supporting it, and some people just choose to ignore the open hand of Christ. I choose, every day, to pick up my cross and follow Jesus, even if I stumble some days. I would hope that I am able to reach you on both a heart and mind level so that you could see the wonders of Jesus and His promises. God bless and have a good rest of your day.