Jesus for Sceptics - Discovery Website

Jesus for Sceptics

The Son of God? The virgin birth? The resurrection? It's all nonsense, surely! A fairy tale! After all, science has completely disproved religion. So why do people still believe in it today?

Of course, the Christian faith cannot be proven in the science lab, and experiences of God are extremely difficult to put across. But then how would you explain something which appears completely obvious to you, but makes no sense whatsoever to someone else? Could you, for example, put over a set of difficult instructions to someone who speaks a different language? Could you explain the idea of ‘colour’ to someone who has been blind from birth, or describe music to someone who has never heard a sound?

Although many demand exact proof for ideas such as God, miracles or heaven, it is no more possible to ‘prove’ such things than to explain the taste of an apple pie using mathematics, or to demonstrate three dimensions to a creature who knows about only two dimensions alone.

But even when we do not have ‘proof’ in the normal sense of the word, Christians have definite knowledge of a hidden, supernatural dimension, even if they cannot explain it in everyday language. Although they may have been given just the briefest glimpse of it, they are certain enough that it exists to be able to apply it confidently in the situations they face. And, in the long term, this makes a big difference to the life that they lead and the choices that they make.

Is this really so strange? Do I need to understand the workings of a kettle or a radio or a microwave in order to make them work? Of course not - all I need is to be able to switch them on! Does knowing about the laws of gravity stop me from travelling in an aeroplane? No - because I am aware of laws of aerodynamics which, while not breaking the laws of gravity, can effectively overcome them, even if I may not fully understand how they work.

In the same way, the Bible shows how we can apply the laws of this 'parallel universe' of the supernatural, even if they don’t make total sense to us. The problem is that we cannot reach this hidden dimension through reason or logic, but through one thing alone - faith!

Faith, as the Bible explains it, is not a vague hope or wishful thinking, but knowing and trusting in something that is otherwise invisible to us. It is not something we can achieve for ourselves, but a gift that God himself gives to us, if we are open and willing enough to receive it from him.

That is why Jesus taught that only those who approach the kingdom of heaven like a child can find it. A child has no problem understanding spiritual truth because its mind is still open to different ways of thinking and feeling. By contrast, the adult mind tends to shut off certain ways of thinking as being pure stupidity. We are, in effect, blinded by our own ‘knowledge’.

Fact or Fiction?

Modern science provides us with a very attractive and apparently complete description of the Universe. But can we be so certain that there is not more? How often does yesterday’s ‘nonsense’ become tomorrow’s ‘proven fact’? How would the great scientists of the past such as Newton or Edison have grappled with such modern discoveries as relativity, quantum mechanics or chaos theory? Would such ideas not have seemed like fairy-tales to them? Can we really dismiss the experiences of millions throughout history of a living relationship with God merely as indoctrination or mass delusion? Is it not at least possible that ‘someone out there’ wants to make their presence known to us?

The Bible makes it clear that we do not have a God who is hiding himself, but one who clearly revealed himself in human form two thousand years ago, and who through his Spirit is wanting to show himself to each one of us today.  

So how should we respond? How serious we are about searching for him? ‘When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you’, God said through the prophet Jeremiah. Likewise, Jesus said, ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you’. Notice that he places the burden on us to do the asking, seeking and knocking, but he also assures us of God’s desire and willingness to respond.

Using faith is like learning to swim. It is not something I can learn simply by clinging to the bank of a river. At some stage I have to make the definite leap of faith that the water will support me - and let go! However unlikely it may seem to me as a doubter that mere water could hold me up, I am not dealing with an impossible challenge but one for which my body is surprisingly well designed!

I believe that Jesus wants to show himself clearly to each one of us, because, according to the Bible, the main reason for which we exist is to have a relationship with him. But do we really want that relationship, and are we ready to take the risk of finding it?  Are we willing at some stage to jump off the rock of certainty and plunge into the stream of faith?  It may seem much safer remaining safely on the bank, never learning to ‘swim’, but what happens if one day a storm comes and sweeps us away?

For each one of us, the clock of existence is ticking away. The one certain event in our lives is death, yet it is one to which few of us give any real thought. The Bible is clear - only those who have made the effort to know God in this life through finding a living relationship with Jesus Christ will be able to survive in his presence in heaven.

God has expressed himself not as a Creator who reveals himself in great splendor and glory, but as a naked man enduring agony and death for us on a wooden cross, pleading for each one of us to be restored into fellowship with him.  How will we respond? Are we really seeking for God daily with all of our heart? Or are we using clever arguments as a smokescreen to shut him out?  

Every choice we make now has everlasting consequences. It would be a tragedy if our limited human reason led us into missing the very purpose and goal for which we were created. God's greatest desire is for all of humanity to come into relationship with him - but the choice, and the consequences that follow from that choice - are ultimately ours. It will be with infinite sadness that God has one day to turn away those he so dearly loves who have never fully put their trust in him.

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|Jesus and Human Destiny|Jesus for Sceptics|Jesus: Debunking the Myths|

|Jesus and Other Religions|Jesus for the Despairing|A reflection and a prayer|