Christianity is a faith. We openly admit this fact. However, it is not a blind faith. It is a faith based on hard evidence. God has revealed Himself to humanity and has given us persuasive rational proofs.

Here's a quick checklist of reasons to believe in the God of the Bible:

1) Experimental science arose in Christian Europe and nowhere else on earth. It is painfully ironic that secularists use the findings of experimental science to base their misguided attacks against the Christian faith. I've pointed out in several DTF articles that the Bible alone among holy books of the world's faiths gives the philosophical basis for the inductive principle. The inductive principle is also called the regularity principle and is the idea that the universe is consistent and based on physical laws that give predictable results from experiments. The Bible reveals God as a lawgiver who gave moral laws to mankind and God has also ordered the physical universe by consistent physical laws. Plato thought the universe was random. The Hindus believe the universe is "Maya" meaning illusion. No one wants to do experiments in a random universe or a universe that is an illusion. All of the founders of major branches of science (such as Newton, Bacon and Pascal) were Bible believing Christians or men reared in a Christian culture who operated from a Christian worldview.

2) Where Christianity has become the dominant religion, radical changes for better social justice have occurred. When Rome under Constantine adopted Christianity they immediately reformed the prisons to keep female inmates separate from male inmates. Many other reforms followed later including the abolition of gladiator games at the insistence of Christian clergy. In the medieval period Christian Europe was the first continent to abolish slavery. The lapses in social justice such as the Spanish inquisition occurred in defiance of Christian teaching not because of it. In the USA vices such as dueling, abortion and slavery were abolished under Christian leadership in the 19th century. Missionaries worked to abolish widow burning in India.

3) The Bible contains predictive prophecies that were fulfilled in history and some are being fulfilled in our own time. D. James Kennedy, a prominent Florida pastor, says that Jesus fulfilled no less than 333 predictive Bible prophecies during his life, death and resurrection from the dead. No other religious figure or philosopher or political leader has anything that remotely approaches this level of supernatural witness. These hundreds of prophecies were written in the Old Testament by Hebrew prophets centuries before Christ was born. In addition to the prophecies fulfilled in Christ are more than a thousand other Bible prophecies that have been fulfilled in history or are being fulfilled in our own time. Take out a fifty dollar bill and look at the watermarks on the paper that prove it is genuine. Predictive prophecies are like the watermarks on the Bible proving it is divinely inspired. Most holy books of other faiths have no predictive prophecies at all and the few that do have nowhere near the Bible's amazing record of fulfillment of prophecy!

4) Miracles performed in the name of Jesus prove the Bible true. The many examples of miracles that Jesus performed are too numerous to mention here. These miracles gave witness to the fact that Jesus is the promised Messiah of Israel. After the ascension of Christ the Bible records the many miracles performed by the apostles in Jesus' name. Down through history even to the present miracles continue to be performed in Jesus' name. In a previous DTF article I've given the example of Ralph Anderson being radically and instantly healed of severe cerebral palsy at a Christian healing service. There are many other examples of miraculous healings too numerous to mention.

5) UFO abductions have been stopped in the name of Jesus. UFOs are not metal spaceships from other star systems. Many of even the secular researchers are beginning to see that UFOs come not from another physical location but from another dimension. Christian UFO researchers believe UFOs come from the realm of spirit and are demonic. There are many testimonies of attempted UFO abductions that have been stopped by the person calling out the name of Jesus. (See Charisma magazine April 2001 page 46.) There are many recent books that explain UFOs from a Christian perspective.

6) The secular alternative to Christianity appears to be irrational. A document called the Humanist Manifesto signed by prominent secularists in 1933 says there are no moral absolutes. Secularism provides no basis for morality. Postmodernism is the embrace of moral relativism. Secularism has no real basis for purpose or meaning of life. Secularists claim that death brings the cessation of consciousness. This has led to the radical philosophical pessimism of Jean Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. Sartre said that a human being is "a useless passion."

About 90% of America's schoolkids attend public schools where evolution with its implicit atheism is taught. This has caused a secularization of American society. The situation in Europe is similar. Western civilization is largely secularized. Secularism is a faith. Secularism is faith in the ability of random collisions of atoms to form complex molecules that then collide and randomly form just the right proteins, DNA, RNA and every other biochemical and then coalesce to form a living cell and then multicellular life and then intelligent life. Mathematicians who run probability analyses of the above scenario tell us that to randomly form even just the proteins necessary for a living cell could not happen randomly in a trillion years if all the universe was primordial soup! Secularism is belief (faith) that this could happen contrary to the plain facts of science.

7) There is increasing scientific evidence showing that the earth is much younger than secularists claim. The recent find of dried blood and other soft tissue remnants in dinosaur bones shows that these bones cannot possibly be millions of years old as traditionally claimed. The decay of the earth's magnetic field occurs at a distinct measurable rate with no practical means of replenishment. This means that if the earth were millions of years old it's magnetic field would have dissipated eons ago. If the earth were even one million years old the oceans would be super saturated with salt and other minerals. The oceans are in fact nowhere near the saturation point. The earth is young. (See www.answersingenesis.org.) The Bible's timeline of an earth merely thousands of years old is accurate. The Bible can be trusted as a historical document and can be trusted for moral and spiritual guidance as well.

Christianity is a reasonable faith based on reasonable evidence. Christianity's rationality is in contrast to the secular, evolution based faith that is now imposing its culture of death. I urge you to make a decision for Christ today! Faith is a relationship word. Faith means to rely upon the ability of another. We rely on Jesus Christ who died for our sins. God sent Jesus to suffer the penalty that we deserved for our sins. We receive forgiveness when we turn to God through Christ.   

The Bible is scientifically accurate! Find the evidence at www.icr.org.  

Steps to salvation: Jesus said "Ye must be born again." (John 3:7)

1. Believe that God created you and loves you and sent the Messiah (Messiah is Hebrew for Christ) to redeem you.
2. Believe that Jesus the Messiah came in fulfillment of over 300 Bible prophecies to die for you to take upon Himself the penalty for your sins. (Isaiah 53:5-6, John 6:29, Romans 4:5, First Peter 3:18)
3. Turn from sin and call on the name of Jesus to receive forgiveness. (Romans 10:13)
4. Receive Jesus as Savior and experience the new birth. (John 1:12, Acts 2:38)
5. Follow Him as Lord. (John 14:21)

"Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13)

To receive the salvation that Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer:

"Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I am a sinner and I ask for your forgiveness on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen."

If you prayed that prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!

Bill Nugent, Overcomer Ministries of West Harrison, New York, USA

(C) 2009 William P. Nugent, permission granted to email or republish if credit given

DEFENDING THE FAITH APOLOGETIC ARTICLES Bill Nugent currently writes a series of articles called "Defending the Faith" which, as the title suggests, defend the Christian faith from the many attacks leveled against it in our postmodern world. The articles deal with such topics as evolution, UFOs, cults, modern/postmodern philosophy, liberal theology and popular culture. At the end of each article is an invitation to receive Christ as Savior and Lord. These articles are sent out over the Internet to several opt-in email lists. People who receive these articles are encouraged to resend them to their own lists and in this way reach their own unsaved relatives and friends with the Gospel. All Defending the Faith articles are © 2009 William P. Nugent, permission is granted to email or republish if credit given. To receive these articles which are sent out once per month fill in your email address below and click the SUBMIT button. *Security: Write the characters in the image above (Case sensitive)