Consider the Alternatives!
The following is an article I came across that was written by one of my mentors, Raymond C. Kelcy. It appeared in the Firm Foundation. I know you will find it thought-provoking!
The Christian view involves faith.
We believe in realities which we cannot prove in an empirical fashion. We cannot point to God and prove his existence by sight or by touch. We cannot see the spirit of a man. We cannot prove the existence of angels in the laboratory. “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).
However, there is a sense in which every thinking person walks by faith. He must do so if he is to hold to any kind of world view, or if he is to adopt any sort of philosophy that is worthy of the name. Human beings must walk by faith unless they can succeed in keeping their minds completely void, an absolute vacuum.
Thought
In this study I wish to challenge you by urging you to consider the options you have left if you refuse to believe the Christian’s affirmations.
In other words, since you must believe, I am urging you to consider the alternatives when you reject the Christian faith. Is there an alternative which you can more easily believe? Is it more credible? Or does it require greater effort than the Christian way?
1. The historicity of Jesus of Nazareth: did he really live on earth as the Gospel writers affirm?
If you do not believe such a man lived than you must believe he did not, unless, as before stated, you are able to keep your mind in a constant state of vacuum. Regardless of what you think about Jesus, it is much easier to believe he lived than to believe he did not. There is so much evidence both in and out of the Bible that it seems unlikely that a rational man will believe there was no such character.
2. Who was Jesus?
The Christian believes he was the Son of God. If you do not believe that, what will you believe? You will have to believe one of two things: either that Jesus was a deliberate imposter or that he was a self-deceived visionary. When we read the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John we find it impossible to believe that here was one who deliberately lied, one who foisted a deception upon his followers. We likewise find it most difficult to get a picture of a visionary dreamer who imagined himself to be something other than what he was. The picture which emerges is not that of a fanatical crusader with grandiose schemes. I find the fact that he was the Son of God, just as he claimed, to be much easier to believe than any alternative open to me if I reject his Deity.
3. Was Christ really raised from the dead?
I believe he was. It may be that you believe he was not. Either route is one of faith. However, in view of the faith of the early disciples, those who saw him and walked with him, I find it easier to believe in the resurrection than to disavow belief in the event. There were not just a few who saw him after he was raised. There were hundreds. Surely, we cannot believe all of these were deceived visionaries. They were willing to die rather than renounce! How can we explain their faith and their conduct if we deny the resurrection?
4. What is the nature of Ultimate Reality?
When you go back as far as you can go in your thinking, what is the point you reach beyond which you cannot go? There were men of old who thought water was ultimate reality; others thought it was fire. They could think back to a point where only fire or water existed and they believed all things emerged from that element. Is Ultimate Reality mind and spirit? I believe so. If you do not believe this, what are your alternatives? What will you believe?
5. Is matter eternal or did it have a beginning?
Is it going to exist forever, or will it have an end? It would be impossible to find a scientist who would propose that matter is eternal. If the sun had always existed it would have burned out long ago. I can’t believe matter to be eternal. Can you? Well, if you can’t, what will your next step be in the reasoning process? If it has not always existed then it came into being. If it came into being then it was created, or else it sprang into existence spontaneously. I find it much easier to believe there was an intelligent cause back of it all. But consider what alternative you have when you deny this.
6. Did the orderly arrangement which is seen in the universe come about by intelligent creation?
One does not have to go far to see such orderliness and evidence of contrivance. He can see it in the human body. He can see it in the small snowflake, or in the far away galaxies. He does not have to look far to behold law and order. There is precision; there is adaptation; there is design. How shall we explain the instinct which resides in the animal world? How does a certain bird know how to build a certain type of nest? There are two possible nests: intelligent creation and chance. I accept the intelligent creation and find it much easier to accept than any possible alternative. How can you believe that it all just happened? Is design the result of accident? Can law and order be predicted upon chance? However, if you reject intelligent creation, then chance is your only alternative.
7. How did life come to be?
As far as man has been able to discover, life can come only from life. If it be true that life can come only from life then we must accept the conclusion that life has always been. This is what I accept—God, life-inherent, Ultimate Reality. Now, if you reject this, what shall you believe? And may I again observe that whatever you choose will and must involve the faith principle. No route is possible insofar as empirical demonstration is concerned. So, if you reject life coming only from life, then you will have to accept life arising from dead matter. Do you find this more easily believed? I find the Christian faith much easier to accept.
When Jesus’ contemporaries rejected his Deity, some of them said he was Elijah, others said he was John the Baptist, others said he was Jeremiah (Matthew 16:14). Elijah had departed from the earth long ago; John the Baptist and Jeremiah were both dead. These men who rejected Jesus accepted alternatives which, in reality, were harder to believe than the truth itself.
Conclusion
Let us examine the evidence and the alternatives and be certain that we are not committing the same blunder. Before you reject that which makes a solemn bid for your allegiance, be sure to ask yourself what the alternatives are.
Continue Reading
