Sadly, many people today believe that the Christian faith is a blind leap in the dark. But as John Lennox insightfully commented: “Indeed, faith is a response to evidence, not a rejoicing in the absence of evidence.”1
And when it comes to this idea that we Christians have thrown away our minds by putting our faith in Christianity perhaps Craig Hazen said it best:
“We have got to start talking differently about ‘faith.’ Unfortunately, we have let the secular world and antagonists like Bill Maher define the term for us. What they mean by ‘faith’ is blind leaping. That is what they think our commitment to Christ and the Christian view of the world is all about. They think we have simply disengaged our minds and leapt blindly into the religious abyss. The biblical view of saving faith has never had anything to do with blind leaping. Jesus himself was fixed on the idea that we can know the truth—and not just in some spiritual or mystical way. Rather, he taught that we can know the truth about God, humans, and salvation objectively. That is, the very best forms of investigation, evidence, and careful reasoning will inevitably point to God and His great plans for us.”2
My friends, the Christian faith is build on solid evidence unlike the faith of other world religions. Let’s take a few minutes to examine a few of these areas.
Prophecy
According to Charlie Campbell: “No other book in the world is able to substantiate its claims with this kind of supernatural ability to rightly foretell future events. There are no fulfilled prophecies in the Quran, the Hindu Vedas, the Book of Mormon, or any other sacred religious writing. Not one. Fulfilled prophecy is something that sets the Bible apart from every other religious book.”3
Archaeology
Archaeological discoveries over the last 150 years have only served to strengthen our faith in the Scriptures. The following three quotes should help any doubting Christian get excited about their faith in the reliability of the Bible:4
“Archaeological work has unquestionably strengthened confidence in the reliability of the Scriptural record. More than one archaeologist has found his respect for the Bible increased by the experience of excavation in Palestine.” – Millar Burrows
“Again, and again throughout history, the archaeological evidence has supported the biblical record, not contradicted it. The evidence is clearly on the side of the Bible. Be wary of the latest news story claiming to debunk some key aspect of Christianity on the basis of recent findings that have yet to be studied in detail by qualified scholars.” – Robert Velarde
“It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries.” – Nelson Glueck
Again, when we look for archaeological evidence in other religions we find the record is dismal. For example, just listen to what The National Geographic Society had to say about the Book of Mormon: “Archaeologists and other scholars have long probed the hemisphere’s past, and the Society does not know of anything found so far that has substantiated the Book of Mormon.”5
History
The Bible is history. As we have already seen in several prior devotions, the Bible is a first-rate history book. So many of the biblical accounts have been proven from extra-biblical sources to be totally accurate that it really isn’t open to debate that the Bible is actual history. And when people say that Jesus wasn’t an actual historical person I ask then to consider the following quote by Josh McDowell: “If one believes in the existence of Socrates, Alexander the Great, or Julius Caesar, then one should definitely believe in Christ’s existence. If historicity is established by written records in multiple copies that date originally from near contemporaneous sources, there is far more historical evidence for Christ’s existence than for any of theirs. The historicity of Christ is attested not only by Christians but also by Greek, Roman, and Jewish Sources.”6
We could list other areas that show the Bible and the Christian faith to be based on solid evidence such as science, where the Bible tells us about scientific facts thousands of years before they have been discovered, to the transformed lives of millions of people from sinners to saints.
The Christian faith is rational, testable, and anything but blind. All other religions are truly based on blind faith since their sacred books and writings can’t be substantiated by outside records from history, science, archaeology, and prophecy like the Bible can.
Even the religion of Darwinian evolution, perhaps more than any other belief system, takes the ultimate leap of blind faith. I like what Charlie Campbell says here: “No one alive today would believe that the faces of Mount Rushmore came about by millions of years of erosion, wind, rain, and undirected random acts. And yet atheists believe that real-life human beings with 206 bones, about 700 muscles, and hearts that beat over 100,000 times a day are the product of a mindless, random series of accidents and mutations– mutations that have never been shown to add any information to the human genetic code. Well, I don’t have enough faith to believe that.”7
1 Charlie H. Campbell, Apologetics Quotes (Carlsbad, California: The Always Be Ready Apologetics Ministry, 2020), p. 12.
2 We have got to start talking differently about ‘faith’ – The Poached Egg Christian Worldview and Apologetics Network
3 Charlie H. Campbell, Apologetics Quotes (Carlsbad, California: The Always Be Ready Apologetics Ministry, 2020), p. 16.
4 The following three quotes are from: Charlie H. Campbell, Apologetics Quotes (Carlsbad, California: The Always Be Ready Apologetics Ministry, 2020).
5 Charlie H. Campbell, Apologetics Quotes (Carlsbad, California: The Always Be Ready Apologetics Ministry, 2020), p. 99.
6 Column: Mathew Vroman: Jesus did exist (7/8/21) | Standard Democrat (standard-democrat.com)
7 Charlie H. Campbell, Apologetics Quotes (Carlsbad, California: The Always Be Ready Apologetics Ministry, 2020), p. 20.