As a young kid I didn’t really think much about God and religion. I grew up in a house that was nominally Christian and I believed in God as a concept —the same way most people in the West do— but I didn’t really think much more about it. When I was in high school, my cousin invited me to see a band at a local church. I met some guys there who didn’t seem too bad, so I started going to their youth group.
Slowly I came to believe in God and Jesus, but my faith was never really challenged. That all changed in my early 20’s when my grandfather died.
To my knowledge, my grandfather did not believe in God and was an atheist when he died. I looked up to my grandfather and he influenced my life greatly; in fact, I thought he was a better man than most Christians. So how could it be true this man I admired so much wouldn’t be in heaven? How could this be fair?
I set about looking for holes in this faith I professed to have, trying to disprove it or find contradictions. I still believed, but if I was going to continue to hold to this faith, then it needed to stand up to some scrutiny.
I went looking for all the interviews and debates I could find. I wasn’t interested in the usual talking heads or uneducated opinionated people who always seem to have something to say. I wanted to hear from the smartest people on both sides, the scholars who believed and the ones who did not.
With the explosion of the Internet in the early 2000’s, I was able to find hours of content. For the next few years I listened to as much as I could. What I found was that every time a smart atheist brought up a good and reasonable objection or questions, an equally smart Christian had a good and reasonable answer.
Eventually I came to understand there are 4 historical facts about Jesus that are undisputed:
- A person named Jesus existed;
- Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist;
- Jesus was crucified by the Roman governor of Judaea, Pontius Pilate; and,
- after his crucifixion, Jesus’ followers grew in number claiming Jesus to be GOD and risen from the dead. This was the start of the Church we have today.
For me faith has to be based in truth —you can have all the feel good stories you want and you can have a religion that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, but if it isn’t true then it doesn’t really matter.
My faith is based on the truth of Jesus, that he did rise from the dead and that he is God. My grandfather’s choice not to believe in Jesus is still a great source of anguish, but I have chosen to follow Jesus because it is the truth.