Tuesday 12 August 2014

Blind faith

I had a really interesting and enjoyable chat on a plane a while ago with a young man, and I just want to pass on some of the details of the conversation.

We got to chatting and he told me about the degree he was doing at university, something to do with psychology if I remember right, and he asked me what I did. I told him that I tell people about the evidence for and relevance of the Christian message. I asked him had he any opinions or convictions on that topic. He told me he hadn't any real settled views but he just found the whole thing (about God etc.) really hard to believe.

I told him I could identify with that, because I found atheism really hard to believe - everything coming into existence from nothing by nothing, information from mindlessness, life from non-life, morality from molecules, consciousness from chemicals, etc. I asked him to make sure his scepticism wasn't biased towards a desired answer.

We got talking about how, if atheistic materialism is true, every thought, word and action is determined by the laws of physics and chemistry - we are not responsible or free. He saw there was no way out of that on an atheistic view.

I then presented the evidence of fulfilled prophecy and the resurrection. He was generous and genuine enough to admit the force of the arguments and that he had no answers to them, but he said he still isn't going to believe it. Then he said to me, It's funny that you're the one with the facts and evidence, and I'm the one exercising blind faith.

I told him he likely wouldn't be terribly impressed if he had presented all this evidence against Christianity and I said, Well, I'm just going to keep believing and not investigate any of that stuff. I encouraged him to let our conversation be the start not the end of his thoughts about these things, because if Christianity is true, then nothing is more important than finding out - your eternal destiny is at stake.