I am a Christian. But I was not always a Christian. I grew up in the church but I did not have a personal faith. In my mid-teens I left the church and became an atheist. In my early twenties I became a theist. A few years later I became a Christian. Why do I believe Christianity is true? Here are seven reasons.
1. I believe there is a God. Believing in God is not about blind faith. There are good reasons for believing in God. For me it was the cosmological argument and the argument from design. There are many other arguments and together they provide strong evidence that there is a God.
2. I believe in the Bible. I am not talking about inspiration or infallibility (although I believe in those). I mean that I believe that the Bible is accurate in what it teaches. I have spent half my life studying the Bible and my respect for this book has only grown.
3. I believe Jesus rose from the dead. I have looked at the historical evidence for the resurrection. I have looked at the alternatives to the resurrection. The best explanation for the evidence is the resurrection of Jesus.
4. I have experienced a personal transformation. I was pretty messed up in my mid-teens to early twenties. This includes, but is not limited to, some pretty heavy drinking. The drinking was only a symptom of the problems inside me. Becoming a Christian transformed my life and has made me a better person.
5. I know Christianity works. This by itself is not a proof for Christianity, but it is a part of it. Christianity explains both the good and the bad in the world. It is a world view that is coherent and makes sense. Those who embrace it experience hope and joy and a purpose.
6. I have experienced dramatic answers to prayer. I have gone through some very difficult situations. I looked at the resources at hand and saw no hope. I handed those situations over to God and witnessed some miraculous events. I can’t explain why some prayers are answered and some are not. I just know that many have been answered.
7. I have experienced God’s presence. As often as God has intervened in different situations, he has also simply been there with our family. Some situations were so hard that I thought I would fall apart. But God was there and held me together. Sometimes it was the little miracles that were reminders that he was still there. Sometimes it was God using other Christians to encourage me. Sometimes it was an increase in strength that I thought was not possible. All I know is that God is with me.
This list may not be as intellectual as some would like. Some of my points may seem too subjective. I would say that I take these all together. My experiential reasons are grounded in my biblical reasons. Besides this, these are my reasons for believing in the truth or Christianity and they happen to include my experiences with God.
- Experience
- Truth of Christianity
