How Can Christians Claim to Be Rational?

 by Josh Hickok

Isn’t Christianity just a barbaric holdover from the pre-scientific age?  How can you expect to be rational when your beliefs have a dead man rising from the dead?”

     Though very few skeptics will word their objection like this (due to politically correct restrictions), it is often maintained that Christianity holds way to many “far out” elements that will forever haunt it.  In light of the current “scientific age”, is Christianity any less of a scientifically plausible worldview than any other?  Consider the resurrection, for instance - science is forever mounting evidence for the inert nature of dead bodies.  Every day new ones are stuck in the ground, yet we never see them coming back to life.  However, if you are working within the Christian worldview you must believe that a body did just that - namely, the body of Christ.  But this is quite possible in a universe that was created by an almighty Deity.  The question, then, is not really about how fantastic any of those events are.  Rather, we must ask about the backdrop of these claims and then consider the events in question.  Of course, if you start out believing that no dead bodies will ever (or have ever) be raised from the dead, you will reject any claim the Bible could make about the subject.

     We recommend that anyone, whether skeptic or believer, consider and study the evidence and events that give you trouble.  You will probably find out that it is not so much the actual descriptions of the events you find so incredible, but it is a certain bias or prejudice against the theistic universe in general.  As soon as you allow God into the equation nearly everything else falls into place.

(02/07/06)

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