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发帖数: 6300 | 1 Verifiability Is A Christian Distinctive
Christianity is unique among theistic worldviews. Some religious systems are
based purely on the doctrinal, proverbial statements of their founders. The
wisdom statements of Buddha, for example, lay the foundation for Buddhism.
In a similar way, the statements of L. Ron Hubbard form the basis of
Scientology. But in both these examples, the statements of these worldview
leaders exist independently of any event in history. In other words, these
systems rise or fall on the basis of ideas and concepts, rather than on
claims about a particular historical event. While Christianity makes its own
ideological and conceptual claims, these proposals are intimately connected
to a singular validating event: the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why
should you believe what Jesus said rather than the teaching of Buddha or
Hubbard? The authority of Jesus is grounded in more than the strength of an
idea; it’s established by the verifiability of an event. When Jesus rose
from the dead, He established His authority as God, and His Resurrection
provides us with an important Christian distinctive. Like other historical
events, the Resurrection can be examined for its reliability, and the
verifiability of Christianity separates it from every other religious system.
If I told you I had a vison from God yesterday in which He revealed a number
of important ideas and concepts, how could you ever verify (or falsify) my
claim? Personal visions and pietistic wisdom statements are difficult to
validate evidentially. You either have to accept my story or reject it, but
in either case you’ll have to do so without an evidential investigation.
What if, on the other hand, I told you I had been visited by God physically?
What if I told you God came to me in the form of a man and, in the presence
of my friends, worked several miracles? What if I told you He moved trees
and created a playhouse for my kids from thin air? These kinds of claims are
categorically different than claims about ideas and concepts. These claims
are locked into historical events occurring in my backyard in front of
witnesses. As such, they can be investigated forensically and historically.
They can be verified in a way conceptual claims cannot. This is the nature
of Christian claims. Christianity is established on the basis of an event in
history. We can investigate this event like any other event in history (
including cold-case murders). Verifiability is a Judeo-Christian distinctive.
You may be asking yourself, “Hey, wait a minute, Christianity isn’t the
only theistic system based on an historical event. What about systems like
Mormonism or Islam?” While Mormonism, for example, is also based on an
historical claim about the past (in this case, a claim about one thousand
years’ worth of events here on the North American continent), these claims
are demonstrably false. In fact, the same four step process I used in Cold-
Case Christianity to verify the New Testament Gospel accounts quickly
falsifies the claims of Mormonism. The distinctive attribute of Christianity
is not simply that it is verifiable, but also that an intense investigation
of its claims actually confirms its truth. Christianity is both verifiable
and verified. It is true. Mormonism is verifiable but false. It fails to
pass the test we might offer to establish its authenticity. While I am no
expert in Islam, my friends, Abdu Murray and Nabeel Qureshi both examined
Islam as I examined Mormonism and came to the same conclusion about its
historical claims. Christianity remains the one religious system (1) rooted
in an historical event and (2) verified by critical examination.
I’ve often said I am not a Christian because it works for me. There are
many days when the Christian life is the most difficult life I could choose
to lead. It requires me to think of others first, to remember my true
positon relative to a Holy God and deny my selfish desires. I’m also not a
Christian because I was raised in a Christian home. I wasn’t surrounded by
practicing Christians as a child. I’m not a Christian because I was trying
to fix a problem or because I was hoping for Heaven or afraid of Hell. None
of these things animated me. I had a great life before becoming a Christian.
I am a Christian today because I investigated the reliability of the Gospel
accounts and determined Christianity was true. It’s really that simple. I
’m a Christian for the same reasons I’m a not-Mormon. One system can be
verified, the other only falsified.
If evidential verifiability is truly a Christian distinctive, shouldn’t it
cause us to live differently than the adherents of other religious systems?
Shouldn’t we, as Christians, be the one group who knows why their beliefs
are true and the one group who is most willing to defend what they we
believe? Shouldn’t we be the one group most interested in making the case
for our metaphysical beliefs? Why then, are we often uninterested in the
evidence? It’s time for us to allow the distinctly evidential nature of
Christianity result in distinctly evidential believers. The nature of
Christianity, rooted in the Resurrection, allows us the chance to
investigate and defend its claims. As Christians, we ought to be uniquely
thoughtful, reasonable and evidential in our beliefs, because verifiability
is a Christian distinctive.
http://coldcasechristianity.com/2015/verifiability-is-a-christi |
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