Why am I a Christian?

Some reasons that have convinced me to be a Christian

My aim is not to give one Ultimate Proof of the Truth of Christianity because in the strict philosophical sense of the word "proof" it is an impossible task to accomplish. An Absolute Proof of the truth of Christian beliefs cannot be given because God does not want that cold and abstract reasoning should necessitate and compel our choice. Rather there is some kind of uncertainty where we as free human beings in our actions can choose to believe or not, and as such we have an ability to show our love or indifference towards God. However, the philosophical impossibility to give some proof of the truth of Christian beliefs, which will result in an absolute certainty or knowledge that our Christian beliefs are true, does not rule out that it is possible to give reasonable grounds that our Christian beliefs are reliable. My above statement needs some explanations.

Reader should understand the philosophical notions of proof and knowledge (which are intimately related). The best way to explain this is to give you an example demonstrating the problematic nature of our knowledge in its generality. It sounds bizarre when we say that we cannot be sure that our external world, such as we experience it within our human perception, really exists. But if you think more about the problem you will realise that it is very difficult to prove that our external world exists independently of our minds; (this difficulty is what I call the Solipsistic Nightmare ). But equally it is true to say that from a pragmatic (or practical) point of view it is very reasonable to believe that our external world exists independently of us, and it would be madness to claim the opposite. We have reasonable grounds to believe so. Thus, our common sense of our ordinary beliefs is something that we cannot underestimate, and as such our ordinary beliefs are very reliable. In the same manner it is with our Christian beliefs. We have reasonable grounds that make our faith reliable.

There are various kinds of arguments for the Existence of God. Interesting and convincing arguments are the Ontological and Cosmological arguments for the existence of God. Nevertheless, these arguments are by some philosophers very questionable. Precisely because these arguments have a philosophical character they are subject to rigorous philosophical examinations. However, the problem is not in their validity. Even if these arguments are valid they are not proofs for the existence of the Christian God. These arguments are highly consistent with both Islam and Judaism. What we are more concern about is with the validity of Christian claims about God.

Christianity is not an esoteric religion based mainly on the believer's subjective experience, as in many New Age beliefs and philosophies. It is not one of mystic religions, like the Ancient Polytheistic Religions in Hellas or Egypt which are based on some mysteries (like the Eleusian mysteries in the Greek polytheistic religion). The Christian religion is a historic one. It claims that some historic events happened. Christians believe that those historic events have the same objectivity as historic events with Caesar or Cleopatra, and can be investigated with the same rigour through the methods employed in the science of history, e.g. evidence by archaeology, historic documents, etc. The peculiarity of Christian historical claims making them distinguished from other historical claims is that they pertain to the events where God intervenes and plays a special role. Because of the Divine participation, these events have a supernatural quality in the virtue of the transcendent nature of God, who is a non-contingent Being and the ultimate source of our human existence. Which historical events are under question? The historic events under question are those circling around one person, namely Jesus of Nazareth. He was born in Bethlehem and lived in Nazareth about 2000 years ago. He was brutally killed on the cross as a convicted criminal, in spite of his innocence.

Why are precisely those historical events important to consider? It is because of the Christian claim that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah (or Christ) expected by the Jews. The significance of the claim lies in the nature of the Messiah's Personhood described in the prophetic books of the Bible. Such person would be the incarnated God in human flesh. One of the signs of the Divine incarnation would be that He would be born of a virgin.

Another important Christian claim is that Jesus physically died on the cross but after three days He bodily resurrected from the death. It is this particular statement that made me convinced that Christianity offers one highly plausible alternative which should be chosen in preference to other religions and philosophies. How so did that make me convinced in the truth of Christianity? The problem is that the very statement about the resurrection of Jesus is under a big question, so how could this convinced me in the truth of the fundamental belief of Christianity? Is not that begging the question?

No, it is not. It is not problematic to believe that Jesus died on the cross. This historical event is hold as a fact even by atheistic historians. So, if Jesus was an incarnated God in human flesh then we should expect that He could conquer the physical death, i.e. that he was above the constraints of the physical laws. Thus, Christians are quite consistent with their claim that Jesus resurrected from the death if Jesus was God manifested in the human flesh. If they did not maintain this then I would not at all take Christianity seriously. Precisely because of their strong statement about Jesus resurrection I had to consider the truthfulness of Christianity in all considerations. There are two good reasons that Jesus was indeed the Messiah and as such resurrected Lord from the death.

1. The Testimony of Biblical Prophecies

2. The Testimony of the Early Christian Martyrs

These two reasons had made me truly convinced that Jesus was God manifested in human flesh, who died for my sins and after three days resurrected from the death. Please click on those two above links for more explanation. The above links are two introductory articles about Christian reasons for the historicity of the Resurrection of Christ. They will also further lead to other series of articles that dwell more on the issue of the Resurrection of Christ.

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