03 – The crucial question

Ask a born-again Christian: “How do you know Jesus is the way back to God?” The answer almost always is: “Because Jesus changed my life.” But that only explains why you believe, not how you know. 

Your personal experience may cause you to believe, but it doesn’t prove anything to someone who doesn’t share your experience or whose experience contradicts yours. Why should others care that Jesus changed your life when Deepak Chopra or Dr. Phil changed theirs?

Just because Christianity works for you, doesn’t mean it’s true. Plenty of cult members will testify that their bizarre ritual gives them spiritual peace and enlightenment. The devil himself will work miracles for you – if it means he can keep you separated from God.

When a born-again Christian offers his personal experience as proof of Jesus’ deity, he gives up any claim to having real truth to offer a skeptical world. His “because Jesus changed my life” answer is rooted in a belief that truth is a matter of personal choice, not proven fact.

In the 1800s, the influential Christian philosopher Soren Kierkegaard came to the famous conclusion, “There is no truth, but truth for me.” In an age when people thought science had proven the world could be explained without God, Kierkegaard told them they could hold on to the truth of Christianity by basing it on a passionate personal choice of what to believe.

That philosophy is called existentialism, and its conquest of Christianity was so complete that today even many conservative Christians cannot see how anyone could claim they can prove the truth of Christianity. In fact, the idea of proving religious or moral truth seems arrogant to practically everyone.

This is even true among born-again Christians. According to one researcher, 96% of Americans believe in a “higher power,” 80% identify themselves as Christians, and 41% say they are born-again Christians. Yet 64% of all adults say truth is merely personal opinion; the number rises to 83% among teenagers.

One person’s experience, however, cannot be enough to prove the truth of his religion. Your testimony by itself doesn’t carry any more weight than someone else’s testimony. It offers no compelling evidence for anyone else and has nothing to say in reply to those who claim their personal experience contradicts yours.

If personal experience proves the truth of religion, then “evil” religions are just as valid as “good” ones. Christianity isn’t actually true, just true for Christians – and Satanism also is true for Satanists.

Religious and moral truth must be based on facts. If truth is to be anything more than personal opinion, it must be something you can prove to others. If your religion and morals are based only on your personal experience, then your religion and morals are – for all practical purposes – irrelevant to everyone but you.

If the truth of every person’s religion is merely a matter of personal opinion, then child-sacrificing pagans must be allowed to worship freely. If every person’s morals are merely a matter of personal opinion, then society owes an apology to every person ever imprisoned for disagreeing with society’s values.

Think about it!
Does the idea of proving the truth of religious and moral truth seem arrogant to you? Why or why not?

Get involved!
Ask a Christian friend, “How do you know Jesus is the way back to God?” Ask an unbelieving friend, “Who had the most influence on who you are as a spiritual person today?”

Next installment
04 – The deepening crisis

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