3 Why I am (still) a Christian: The Irrefutable Proof for Christianity
Introduction
In my first blog post, I established that I am a Christian because the one and only self-existing Trinitarian God of Christianity demands in His self-attesting Bible that I must have faith in Jesus Christ. In my second blog post, I wrote that I am NOT a Christian because the Traditional Proofs convinced me.
Why? The Traditional Proofs set human beings in the judgment seat over God. God never proves His existence; He proclaims it. They assume sinful unbelievers have intellects unmarred by sin, that reason is somehow neutral. At best, the Traditional Proofs only prove the possibility that a "god" exists. They do not verify the Trinitarian God, who exists as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, nor do they prove Jesus Christ's deity.
Does This Mean God Doesn’t Exist?
Does this let the unbeliever off the hook? Does the failure of the Traditional Proofs mean that the God of the Bible doesn't exist? Does it allow for people to deny or question His existence? Are Atheists justified in their assertion that God does not exist or Agnostics to say they just don't know? Does this mean religion is up for grabs? That all religions stand on equal ground and that it doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you believe in something or not? Does this mean that the only thing we can know for sure is what the logicians and scientists tell us? Are they the only reliable truth-tellers of our world?
To each of these questions, I answer a resounding "Not at all!" The self-existing Trinitarian God of the Bible exists, and I can prove it. It is a beautiful proof, and it is based entirely on the authority of the self-attesting Bible, which is where I started in the first place.
What is this Proof?
Apart from the self-existing God who revealed Himself through the self-attesting Bible, you cannot prove anything.
This proof is different from the Traditional Proofs because it shows that the Trinitarian God of the Bible necessarily exists. If He does not exist as He revealed Himself in the Bible, then there is no basis for logic, rationality, science, ethics, faith, or meaning.
This proof excludes all other "gods" from all other religions and the distortions of the orthodox Christian faith by Gnostics, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Neo-Orthodox, Liberals, or any other "faith" that does not begin with the sole authority of the self-attesting Bible. Why? Because every other religion or faith has the Bible and something else. True Christianity begins and ends with Sola Scripture (The Bible alone). Every other worldview, philosophy, or religion does not.
Put On Your Thinking Cap
Before you continue, I must warn the reader that you are going to have to think and think hard. Thinking can be like exercising. We can get lazy and when challenged, want to quit. I encourage you to persevere through the end. It will be worth your time and effort.
Those who are not used to being challenged intellectually may be shaking their heads at this point and saying, "that's no proof at all." I'm glad you are saying that because you prove the proof when you doubt that it is no proof at all.
Doubting Proves The Proof
You see, doubt is only possible if there is Truth. So I ask you, dear skeptic, "What is Truth?" And, more than that, "How will you know Truth when you encounter it?" On what basis of Truth will you refute the proof that “Apart from the God of the Bible, you cannot prove anything”?
You have a serious problem on your hand. To deny this proof is to acknowledge Truth. To recognize Truth means you have assumed something that you haven’t proved, which is the existence of Truth itself. Without Truth, you cannot prove that my proof is false.
What Truth will you appeal to prove me wrong? Yourself? Your reason? Do you believe that not only do you know the Truth, but you are the Truth? If you are the source of the Truth, then you must be Truth itself. But that is absurd. You are not the Truth, and apart from the Truth revealed in the Bible, you have no way of knowing what Truth is.
Apart from Biblical Christianity, you cannot prove “proof.”
Jesus Is the Truth
The self-attesting Son of God and son of man, Jesus Christ, claims to be the Truth. He says in John 14:6:
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
He claims that the Bible is the Truth:
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. John 17:17
The Bible claims to be "the word of Truth":
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15
Biblical Christianity alone can answer the difficult philosophical and theological questions of life. The Bible says that in Christ are:
Hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:3
Apart from the God of the Bible, you cannot prove anything false.
The Necessity of an Objective Standard
To show that this proof is wrong, you have to have an objective standard of Truth, which you do not. But I have an objective standard of Truth. It proves all other worldviews, philosophies, theologies, and beliefs are wrong.
If someone denies or contradicts the Truth of God revealed in the Bible, they cannot prove anything because there is no objective standard; all is relativity.
The Meaninglessness of Atheism
Atheists cannot prove anything because atheism is meaningless. If atheists attempted to open their mouth to refute this proof, they would prove the proof because the basis of refutation assumes Truth, Meaning, Logic, Rationality, and so on. In other words, atheism must accept the Biblical Christian worldview to refute the Christian worldview. Atheism must borrow Truth, Meaning, Logic, Rationality, and so on from the Christian worldview in order to refute Christianity because atheism is completely bankrupt. Atheism cannot have Truth, Meaning, Logic, Rationality because it is founded upon absolutely nothing.
Without assuming Biblical Christianity, atheism cannot prove anything.
This goes for the humanist, the agnostic, and every other worldview, philosophy, or religion.
The Absolute Adequacy of Biblical Christianity
Reality
As a Bible-believing Christian, I can account for reality because the Bible states:
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1
Logic and Reason
I can account for reason and logic because the Christian God of the Bible reveals that He is reasonable:
Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Isaiah 1:18
Those who believe there is nothing beyond the material universe cannot explain the immaterial laws of logic or man's rationality. The Bible can and does. God made human beings in His image, so I can account for why human beings are reasonable and rational creatures:
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27
The Foundation of Science
As a Bible-believing Christian, I can tell you why and how science is possible. Foolish Christians think that science and faith are mutually exclusive. Biblical Christians know that science is not possible unless the God of the Bible exists. Otherwise, there is no way to explain nature's uniformity, that is "consistent cause and effect."
David Hume showed that, as an atheist, there is no reason (there's that word again) to assume that consistent cause and effect will necessarily happen in the future just because something happened in the past. As a Bible-believing Christian, I can tell you why specific results follow particular causes, why there are "laws" of physics, why observation and repeatability are possible. It is because of the God of the Bible who:
works all things according to the counsel of his will. Ephesians 1:11
Apart from Biblical Christianity, science is impossible.
Life, Motion, and Being
Only the Christian worldview can account for Life, Motion, and Being which pretty much covers the most important philosophical questions:
In Him we live and move and have our being. Acts 17:28
Apart from the God of the Bible, you cannot prove life, motion, or existence.
The Solution to the One and the Many
Apart from the Trinitarian God of the Bible, there is no way to reconcile the philosophical problem of the one and the many. Philosophers cannot explain how we can have particular facts and universal laws, how we can have a uni (one) verse (many), or how a specific object like "ball" can have an abstract characteristic such as "blue."
Only Biblical Christianity can explain all the mysteries surrounding unity and diversity because the Originator of all is both Three and One. We know this because God revealed this to us in the Bible, for example:
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Deuteronomy 6:2
But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. John 15:26
And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." Matthew 3:16-17
According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. 1 Peter 1:2
Apart from the Trinitarian God of the Bible, you cannot prove particulars and universals or whether a relationship exists between them.
No Christ, No Moral Law
Finally, there is no way to explain morality apart from the God of the Bible. If all there is in this universe is material, and human beings evolved in a random chance universe, how do you account for ethics, morality, and law?
You can't, but I can. Speaking about right and wrong and good and evil is nonsense in a materialistic, atheistic evolutionary world. The best they can do is have faith in a religion of "survival of the fittest" that results in a political system where "might makes right."
I can explain right and wrong because God revealed in the Bible that He is the standard of good and evil.
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Psalm 34:8
A legal system built upon human wisdom is foundationless, arbitrary, and ever-changing. Just compare the Ten Commandments to the 300,000+ Federal laws there are in the United States alone.
Apart from the God of the Bible, you cannot prove good and evil or right or wrong.
Salvation Through the Spirit of God
This proof will not convert my reader to Christianity. If you turn to Christianity, it will be because God has breathed His life into your soul and brought you forth from spiritual death. The last thing I want to show that this proof proves is, that apart from Him, you have no hope of forgiveness of sins, eternal life, or salvation in Christ.
How To Be Saved
If God has opened your eyes, repent before Him, trust in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, and ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit. The promise of the Bible is:
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved Romans 10:13
This includes you!
Note:
I am particularly indebted to Augustine, Dr. Cornelius Van Til, and Dr. Greg Bahnsen for showing us from Scripture the necessity of trusting in the self-existing Christ of Scripture.