As a Christian who enjoys explaining the historicity and scientific legitimacy of Christianity, sometimes Christians ask me: at which point do we not need factual evidence to believe the story of Jesus Christ? How much science and history can ever convince us that Jesus the Jewish Messiah created the world, is God, and saves us from our sin, and that we’re going to heaven? My answer is none. There’s simply no way that you can solidly prove any of those statements with purely physical fact.

However, as David Hume said (paraphrasing, of course), although we cannot ever arrive at any historical certainty about anything we ourselves have not encountered, we can through a series of testimonies and logical application arrive at some sort of historical probability, which allows us to live meaningfully. My take on the application of scholarly reason to Christianity is that if scripture is God-breathed as stated in the book of Second Timothy, then it must necessarily stand the tests of reason, science, and history. If it makes claims about history which didn’t actually happen, then it’s a fable, and Christians are no better than the ancient Greeks.

So when people ask me whether Jesus actually lived, or how I know He’s the promised Messiah, or how I know He is simultaneously both God and man, or whether or not He rose from the dead, my primary job is to reduce the amount of doubt they have with the facts I have available. If I do my job correctly, the facts will speak for themselves and overwhelmingly lend historic probability to the existence of Biblical truth, so that the person I’m talking to will have to face Jesus on a spiritual level instead of a physical one. When they come face-to-face with Him later, their choice of rejection will not have been due to failure on my part to correct physical misconceptions, but rather failure of their heart to respond to the Gospel itself.

Plus, 2,000 years have passed since Jesus’ arrival, and people are already questioning the physical evidence for the Holocaust after 50. Do we really think that physical evidence for the resurrection is unnecessary? If conviction of the resurrected Jesus was enough to turn the cowardly Peter into a martyr, perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to downplay the factual record surrounding the resurrection. Even Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 alludes to the 500 living (at the time) people who saw the resurrected Christ, implying that his doubting brothers and sisters should go and ask for themselves if they have doubts.

Of course, Christianity will absolutely penetrate beyond observable physical reality, which will cause many to question its veracity.  But we may also conclude that while it will make unusual historical and scientific statements, those statements will never be made without traces of evidence.  For this reason, after accepting the physical [1] reality of the resurrection and the [2] fulfillment of messianic prophecy and the [3] solid scientific evidence for God’s existence, we should expect to begin taking God’s hand and having Him lead us into the unknown.  It is at this point, after which enough credible evidence has been laid, at which faith oftentimes comes into play.  At this very point, I have personally been convinced that enough of the Bible is historical and scientific truth to begin taking leaps of faith based upon what it says, just like I trust a person whose word is consistently correct.

Of course, you can always choose to follow before introduction to mountains of physical evidence (many often rightly do), but if the Bible is the word of God Himself, then it must have happened exactly the way He said it did.  So why not prove Him right?

For those of you who are interested in evidence, I support an amazing Seattle-based think tank known as [4] The Discovery Institute.  If you’re interested in attending lectures that continue the intellectual legitimacy of Christianity/theism, or if you’re interested in sharing scientific videos with others, or even hosting a science/philosophy documentary night, contact me.  I’d love to introduce you to the cutting edge of Christian information.  And if you’re interested in supporting the Discovery Institute, you may sign up for a membership [5] here.  Believe me, they’re worth it.