Abdu Murray
Today, it is fashionable to say that knowing if the Gospel is true results only form our personal experiences with God. When most Christians are asked to explain why they feel that their faith in Christ is valid, they answer, “I feel it,” “The Holy Spirit confirmed it to me,” or “Christianity has changed my life.” Despite the validity of these experiences in some people, in large part, Christians rely on subjective spiritual experiences to validate what they believe is objective Truth. This prevailing view shuns intellectual inquiry into Christian history, doctrine, and philosophy as “academic” and somehow unspiritual.
But it was not always so. In decades past, rigorous teaching, study, and scrutinization were common to the Christian experience. Christians thoughtfully explored the historical, scientific, philosophical, and pragmatic aspects of Christianity and were superiorly equipped to convey the Gospel to the lost. In those days, it was to the Church that men and women would look for answers to life’s thorniest questions and challenges. Sadly, that is not the case today.
The shocking statistics from Barna Research show the result of our recent reliance on only subjective experience to validate our faith: only 9% of Christian youth believe in absolute Truth, only 4% of Christians have a Biblical worldview, and the vast majority of young Christians who go away to college return having rejected Christianity because they were unable to answer academic challenges to their faith. From the effects of subjectivism within the Church we turn to the effects without. After the September 11 attacks, non-believers flooded Christian churches wanting to know that God existed and that He had provided a way of salvation. Within only a few short months, however, those same people left the churches, having found only emotions, not answers.
Yet, somehow, the resistance to any intellectual study of the Gospel prevails as Christians hold to the belief that intellectual inquiry into the foundations of Christianity somehow is not of faith. The Apostles Paul and Peter would strongly disagree. Paul brilliantly engaged non-believers and instructed Christians, having become “all things to all people” that he might win some. One need only look to the first-rate argumentation in Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and his other letters to be assured of the fact that Paul used his intellect to communicate the Gospel. In 1 Corinthians 15:3, he appealed to evidence as the basis for the Gospel, not subjective feelings. Peter’s most brilliant sermons were characterized by testimony about the fact of Jesus’ resurrection, not how God had made his life better.
Though the Christian’s subjective experience may be valid, it is not validating. Nearly every devout Hindu will tell you that she is confident in Hinduism because of a guiding from “the Holy Spirit”. Mormons tell us that they know the Book of Mormon is God's word because they have experienced a “burning in the bosom” after having prayed about it. Though it may be more valid, Christian subjectivism is no more persuasive than these other experiences. As Doug Groothius points out: “In the wake of the Heaven’s Gate suicide, several major magazines such as Esquire, Newsweek, and US News and World Report claimed that the faith of those who ended their life in accordance with Marshall Applewhite’s science fiction religion were no stranger than Christians, who believe ridiculous things as well. Sadly, the behavior of some Christians gives impetus to such accusations.” How, then, is the all-too common Christian response that "I know Christianity is true because I feel it by the Holy Spirit" any more spiritual than giving someone solid, supported answers that show the validity of the Christian faith?
The fact is, intellectual inquiry into the basis of Christianity is not just an academic exercise. It is a revival of the 1st century evangelism that conquered a world hostile to the Gospel. Searching for the validity of Christianity is not unspiritual or a sign of weak faith; it is a sign of diligent and sincere love for the Truth.