Why We Believe 2.0
This article contains the class notes from Scott Curtis on 5-5-24 during a class on belief, faith, and the Christian Worldview.
Welcome everyone to this new class that starts today. Mark Mayer and I taught a similar class a couple of years ago called Why We Believe in the other adult class. Since it has been a while, I thought it would be good to look at this again and I thought I would keep the title since we had a good turnout last time. If you attended the last class, this will not be the same class, we will be covering some different topics this time and won't be covering the science side in the detail that Mark did. That was his area of expertise, definitely not mine. I thought it was interesting in Matt's lesson two weeks ago how we talked about the Enlightenment period, when things started changing in the prominent cities in Europe. From a biblical-based truth or worldview to a human-based Worldview. Unfortunately, that’s where we find ourselves still here as our current culture maintains a human-based worldview.
So in light of our church’s focus on “be a disciple and make a disciple” I wanted to take a minute and talk about that. So how does knowing and studying the Bible, God, and Jesus in a Sunday school class fit into Cornerstone’s Vision? Or does it? I was reading an article in The Rock by Josh and he was describing what Discipleship is. He also preached on this subject a few weeks ago if you remember. He mentioned the phrase where Jesus asked the Disciples, and us, to follow him. What does that mean? Josh writes that “when we follow him we align our minds, and our worldview with that of Jesus.” What does Worldview mean? I believe it is our understanding of reality in this world. So we must make a decision to follow before we can actually follow. And he describes that this is the "Head" part of being a disciple of Jesus. Remember from Josh’s sermon, there is the head, the heart, and the hands. So what we do in Sunday school is really the first part of being a disciple. It’s the head. We need to know what and who we believe in. But what about why? Why do we believe what we believe?
Which brings us to this class today. So, why have a class called Why We Believe? Should it matter why we believe? Doesn’t it just matter what you believe in or who you believe in? Isn’t just having faith in God good enough? What do you think? Should we know why we believe? Is this relevant in our culture today? In the title Why We Believe, who do you think the "we" is? It's obvious that this question is referring to us! It also includes all Christians.
Shouldn’t that just be assumed that Christians know why they believe in God, Jesus, and the resurrection? A guy named Jay Warner Wallace, author of a really good book and website called Cold Case Christianity, was a cold case murder investigator who became a Christian after literally investigating Jesus and the claims of Christianity in the bible. He speaks all over the country now after going from an atheist to a Christian 25 years ago. He speaks to Churches about Why Christians Believe. And he always makes it a point to ask each audience he speaks to the same question each time and he takes an informal poll. And that question is "Why do you believe?" It's so interesting that he receives the same 3 answers everywhere he goes. So what answers does he get? Take a guess?
1. I was raised that way
2. God has changed me, I was a jerk and now I’m less of a jerk.
3. I had a personal experience with God.
But what's even more interesting is he also occasionally talks to Muslims about faith and what do you think are their top 3 reasons why they believe? That’s right, the same. He has step-siblings who are Mormons. What do you think are their top 3? Same answers. Nearly every follow of every religious worldview give these 3 reasons for why they believe. Now are these reasons necessarily bad reasons or wrong? No, of course not. But what kind of observations can be made based on these similar responses from these completely different worldviews? What jumps out at you when you think about these responses? Does any particular worldview stand out or seem more credible based on these answers? Do the people of these worldviews believe the same things? No, but yet they all make unique truth claims, correct? So when you hear people say, "Well all belief in God is pretty much the same and all roads lead to God," is that correct? No, it's impossible because the theology of each religion is so different. So do you see the problem with giving these three answers only, as to the reason why we believe? If each of these worldviews are so different, can each worldview be right?I'd like to argue the answer is no. Could each Worldview be wrong? Conversely, I would argue the answer is yes. Both are possibilities.
Let’s just look at the three Monotheistic faiths for a minute. Faiths that believe in one God. Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
So let's just look at what each faith claims Jesus to be? Christianty-God, Islam-prophet, Judaism- they really don’t acknowledge Jesus at all. Just another man claiming to be the messiah. Aside from Messianic Jews who believe in Jesus, They largely don’t believe the Messiah has come yet. Would you consider those big differences between each worldview? Yes. Can they all be right? No. Can they all be wrong? Yes.
So how do people decide which one to believe? Or why then, do we believe the things that we believe as Christians? Should we rely only on those 3 common answers that nearly all people give as to the reason they believe in any worldview? What do you think? Is that enough? If no, why not? So where do we put our faith and why would we do so? Now you hear a lot these days that “all religions are basically the same.” You hear that a lot for some reason. But it's not true. Why do you think we hear that all religions are similar? Why does our culture promote that? So everyone can be right? So no one is offended? So that everyone can believe in their own truth? Now is that based on the reality of this world as we know it? That everyone can have their own truth? Can you go to the bank and say, I know you say I only have $100.00 in my account, but my reality - my truth - is that I have $1000.00. And I think you need to respect my reality, my truth. How does that work out for us if we tried that? It wouldn’t. A worldview has to correspond with reality, with what’s real, and what’s true. If it doesn’t line up with reality then we're living in fantasy land or Candyland. It was fun to play as a kid but it really doesn't correspond to reality.
The word faith gets used a lot in worldview and religion-based conversations and structures. Let's talk about the word faith. Faith, belief, and trust are often interchangeable. So what is faith anyway? Just the word itself, not in any religious context. The first definition of faith in The Webster's College dictionary in my office states that faith is “confidence or trust in a person or thing.” So why do we have faith in anything? For a minute, aside from God, let's just consider what we put our faith in during our life every day? What or who do we put our trust in? What are some examples of people or things we put trust in? Examples may include: one's family, that our car will start in the morning, that a plane will fly, that doctors know what they are talking about, that a train will run on time, that your Uber drive will arrive, that your minister is not lying to you.
If you really think about it, we don’t do much of anything without demonstrating faith in someone or something do we? Ok, now we have established that we put faith in many things in this life. How much faith are we showing when we put our faith in these people or things? A little faith, some faith, or great faith Do we know the inter-workings of these machines we ride on, or the backgrounds of the people we put our faith in? Do we personally know them and their character? The pilot, the doctor, the Uber Driver? We don’t even know most of these people we entrust our lives to. So would you say that Christians and other religious believers are the only ones who show or demonstrate faith? No. So do atheists show faith? Do agnostics show faith? Sure, we all demonstrate faith in people and things many times a day, everyday. And I would argue a great deal of faith. Even the "risking your life" kind of faith. Why would any rational sane person do that? Doesn’t it seem a little crazy that anyone would put that kind of trust in a stranger or a vehicle or any machine?
That doesn’t seem smart. So I ask again, why? Why do we put faith in these people and things that we personally know nothing about? On your own, write down a list of reasons so you can clearly see your own line of thinking.
If you had to categorize this list of information, how would you describe the list? This is called "evidence." What is evidence? How would you describe it? The dictionary definition of evidence is: That which tends to prove or disprove something, ground for belief, proof. I don’t like the fact this dictionary uses the word proof in this definition. We think we live in a scientific world that everything can be proved 100%. That there is very little risk in the world anymore. Is this true? Can anyone really prove anything 100%? Is anything really guaranteed 100% in this life? (besides death and taxes) Are we guaranteed our plane won't crash when we take a flight to Florida? Is it guaranteed that the criminal will be found guilty or innocent based on the evidence presented? Is there really anything guaranteed or proveable 100%? No. Have you ever thought about that? That nothing in this life has 100% proof. So why then do we put our trust, our faith in the people & things that we do? The second definition of evidence is “Something that makes evident, an indication or sign. The third: data presented to a court to substantiate claims or allegations. I like these last two definitions better than the first. "Proof" isn’t mentioned in either one. But evidence substantiates claims or allegations. It supports them, not prove 100%. So evidence can substantiate truth claims. It provides support for the claim.
So a pilot tells you that this plane is safe. He might say, I have evidence. He might say that pilots are very well trained. He might show you a certificate showing he is qualified to fly this particular model of airplane. Most pilots have many hours of flying experience before transporting people. He might argue that airplanes are very well maintained and meticulous records are kept. The government requires very strict standards that must be adhered to. They also have multiple engines that can fly the plane independently. This is evidence. This is why most people don’t hesitate to put their lives in the hands of a pilot and an airplane. So why then do we risk our lives in a plane? It’s because we know the evidence behind the success of flying. What about the safety record of commercial jets, the experience of flight over the past 100 years? That’s why we do it. That’s why we believe in air travel. That’s why we have faith in this mode of transportation to the point of risking our very lives. You may think "ok Scott, you’ve made your point." I know it seems I have ran this into the ground. (No pun intended r.e. air travel.) But this is the point I’m trying to make.
Now do atheists or agnostics consider themselves people of faith? No. Would you disagree? I would. In fact I would argue that they believe in as many things as Christians do on an every day basis. They put confidence and trust in people and things just like we do every day. Now some of the objects of their faith may differ from us, but they believe, they have faith, they risk their lives because of their faith just like we do. So do all worldviews show a similar faith in regards to everyday living? Yes. So I ask again, why do we do this? So we have now established the most staunch atheist shows a great deal of faith every day of their life. (Putting Trust in someone or something) If that’s true, is it faith the atheist is actually against? Of course not.
So if non-believers in God are people of faith then why don’t they believe in God/Jesus? They demonstrate faith like we do, so why not in God? So when it comes to God, could they be thinking of a different definition of faith? What kind of faith do you think Non-Believers, atheists, and agnostics are thinking of? It can't be the first definition I read. Confidence or trust in a person or thing. Because clearly they do that. I think most non-believing people in the world believe that faith in God, Jesus, and the resurrection is a different kind of faith. The 2nd definition of faith in Webster's College Dictionary which is “Belief that is not based on proof.” or: “A strong belief in God or in the Doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof. What’s another name for that? Blind faith.
So I have another problem with this definition and I’m sure all of them are the same. They want to use the word proof every time. The better definition in my opinion would be evidence, not proof. We have already agreed that there is virtually nothing that can be proved. The Existence of God, or Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Neither can be proved 100% Now has any adult with a sound mind and body really demonstrated blind faith? There may be a few examples, but I would question the soundness of their minds. The most famous example is the Jim Jones cult when members drank the purple Kool-Aid that was poison. That phrase is still used to this day to describe someone who appears to be showing blind faith. "Oh, he drank the Kool-Aid." So blind faith is Faith without evidence. Think of a modern-day example of someone showing blind faith. An adult with a sound mind. Have you ever seen a sign at an athletic stadium about faith? What does it say? BELIEVE. What is their point? What are they believing in? Their team. Why do they believe in their team? Is it because there is evidence that their team will win the championship that year? Probably not. So what if there is little evidence that their team will win this particular game? What if they are down 38-0 and it’s the fourth quarter? Do they still have faith? What if that fan is still holding up their Believe sign. Is that blind faith? What evidence supports their faith in this team down 38-0? I think that could be considered blind faith. Faith without evidence or reason that their team will win.
So now we’ve established that most people don’t have blind faith. Most if not all will believe if there is sufficient evidence to support putting their trust or faith in something. Whether it’s a person or thing. Does everyone agree with that? So then why do people who look at Christians think that we have a blind faith in God? A faith without evidence or reason. When 99% of people never demonstrate a blind faith in any other area of their life? Why make the distinction just because it's Jesus they trust instead of their doctor or their pharmacist? Any ideas? Why trust your pilot more than Jesus? Any ideas?
So I ask you. When our culture and world of unbelievers out there hear a Christian talking about their faith, what kind of faith do they think we are showing? We've talked about different kinds but what kind are they thinking? I think they immediately think of blind faith (a purple Kool-Aid drinker). Now why do you think they believe we have a blind faith? Can you think of any reasons why the world believes our faith is blind?
Remember blind faith is not based on evidence, just blindly believing despite that lack of evidence. Why? Examples may include:
Christians not being able to defend their faith
people don't want our faith to be true or admit there is evidence to support a higher power
They themselves would have to change in accordance with a higher power.
Think again about that survey that J Warner Wallace takes at his meetings, those three answers that Christians give as why they believe. Could these answers contribute to the allegation that we have a blind faith? What do you think? If so, Why? Do those answers distinguish The Christian Worldview from the other worldviews?
No. Now remember those answers aren’t necessarily wrong, they could very well be true for an individual person, but they are very subjective. So the question I would ask is “Are there better reasons and evidence to give than these three common answers?” Yes. That’s the good news, and there is a mountain of it out there.
So next week, we are going to explore more of this question and tackle why we believe what we believe.