Bible Reading: John 8:31-36
You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8:32
THE PROFESSOR strokes his beard with an air of superiority. “So you’re a Christian, are you?” he says to the student standing in front of him.
Luis-a first-year college student-swallows hard.
“Tell me,” the professor continues, “can you prove with 100 percent certainty that Jesus rose from the dead?”
Luis’s answer comes out in a mousy squeak. “Umm, no.”
“You see?” the professor pronounces. “Blind faith. Ignorant, irrational, unreasonable faith.”
That professor has the idea that if you can’t prove something with 100 percent certainty, it’s useless or untrue. He also figures that the Christian faith is a blind faith since things like the Resurrection and Jesus’ deity can’t be proven with 100 percent certainty. That’s a myth. We live in a contingent universe. That means exceedingly few things can be proven with 100 percent certainty, except maybe in the field of mathematics.
Car manufacturers, for example, can’t totally prove that their new models are safe. But the evidence from tough, repeated safety tests is pretty conclusive. A jury can’t prove conclusively that a suspect committed a crime. Even if they possess a confession, there are contingencies. He may be lying to protect someone. He might have been forced to confess. But the jury will weigh the evidence to form a conclusion “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Similarly, neither the resurrection of Christ nor his deity can be proven with 100 percent certainty. But that doesn’t mean the Christian faith is a blind faith. The evidence for the Christian faith isn’t exhaustive, but it is adequate. The apostle John wrote, “Jesus’ disciples saw him do many other miraculous signs besides the ones recorded in this book” (John 20:30). He is saying that Jesus did many other things that confirmed him as the Son of God that weren’t recorded. The evidence John provides isn’t exhaustive. “But,” he writes in the next verse, “these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life” (verse 31).
Blaise Pascal-the French mathematician, philosopher, and scientist-said that there is enough evidence for the Christian faith to convince anyone not set against it. But there isn’t enough evidence to bring anyone into God’s kingdom who won’t come.
REFLECT: Why was the argument of Luis’s professor flawed?
PRAY: Ask God for opportunities to share with your friends what you know about Christ. Trust the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth to them.
