I was once asked, and gently so, if it were not hubris to believe that my way of Christian belief was the right way – that we have this Bible and within it (and in itself) is the great truth of God. The thought was, “wouldn’t God choose to reach the people in his creation through multiple ways?” A kind of “meet them where they are” deal?
After initially thinking to myself, “why, no, it is not hubris to believe this way,” I left it there. But, having a long time to think it over, the reason finally came to me. It’s because I believe (and again, rightly so) that Christianity isn’t just some thing made up out of thin air. Christianity is a religion based upon real historical events. And in those events I see a cascading effect that leads me to my conclusions – if Jesus Christ really existed (and the overwhelming evidence shows that he did), and if he was executed by crucifixion (another fairly well-attested historical fact), and if he rose from his death (now we’re getting more circumstantial, but there is a great deal of supporting evidence to demonstrate this); then it follows that what he did, what he said, and what he believed holds a great deal of importance to all of humanity.
Now, most people can accept the first two historical facts I mention in the paragraph above. It would be quite unlikely that the entire course of humanity’s history would have altered course some two-thousand years ago based on the life of an entirely fictional character. And there is evidence both in and outside of the Bible that points to Jesus’s execution. But about that “rising from the dead” part – this is what often trips people up, and it is the foundation upon which the Christian faith really stands. Paul himself wrote that “without the resurrection, we are all the more to be pitied because our faith is in vain.”
So what about the resurrection? One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Acts 17:31, which says, “For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” This verse means what it says – that God will bring true justice to the world, and to back it up, he gives us an undeniable sign; something that only he could do. Something so otherwise impossible it could only mean what he says it means: my judgement is coming, and this is my sign.
There is a great deal of research on both sides of the resurrection – far too much for me to go through here (but I can point you to some great resources if you’re interested) – so I’ll just boil it down to one of my favorites: the actual actions of the apostles after Christ’s death. I like the story told by Chuck Colson (of Watergate fame). He said that if the resurrection was a lie concocted by the apostles after Jesus’s death, there’s no way they could have held together under the pressure. If 10 of Washington’s most powerful men couldn’t maintain their lie for two weeks, there’s no way the apostles could have gone 40 years – and most to gruesome deaths because of what they claimed – without cracking. These simple fishermen must have seen and experienced something incredible to make them give the rest of their lives for it.
The story of Jesus quite simply most closely reflects and explains the story of the reality which we now face. It accounts for the world’s (and our own) evils, and shows a way by which it all may be rectified – not here in the physical world, although we should always strive to make it so, but in our own spiritual lives. It’s not about what we can do for this God above (as is almost entirely the case in the world’s religions), but what he has done for us. It’s only natural that someone of such limited abilities as I – and on top of that, wholly unreliable in myself (none of us can claim to be sin-free) – would never be able to earn my way into good standing with such an incredible being as the creator of the world. I would call it hubris to think that I could.
Now, this all comes to mind because I have been confronted lately with a lot of this “take this part, but not that part” Christianity. The claims are pretty obvious that the point is to only believe that which one can stomach and explain through a man-centered lens, while discarding that which is difficult to comprehend or which outright declares that there is in fact some kind of hopelessness in our end state. The line of thinking for the common man is always this – we can do this ourselves; we don’t need some kind of ‘god’ telling us what to do. And, of course, that’s the problem. It’s built right into the ala carte Christianity of those who just pick and choose what they want out of the Bible.
But I said this before – if Jesus really is who he said he was (and, conveniently, the man-centered view claims that Jesus never said he was), and if he believed in the scriptures as they were written up to that time, and if the remainder of the Bible beyond him explains in great part who he is, then it does no good to pick and choose.
I’m banking on this – and the claims of the very Bible I’m defending back this up – that a God who set this all in motion would also be one to capture its meaning for us in a way that we could comprehend. Why would he give us a muddled word from which as many who read it could come up with as many various ways of getting its message? It really is all or none for this simple reason: if only some of it is true, then we cannot trust any of it to be true. And if you’re painting a picture of Jesus based on partial truths, then why would this Jesus be of any consequence at all? He would simply serve as a teacher on the plane of those who rose up in similar roles through the millennia – Buddha, Confucius, Gandhi, and the like.
I just wish these people would quit taking their beliefs, slapping on a Christian veneer and then calling it “Christianity.” They can go ahead and take the words and actions of Jesus and use them in their own private systems of belief, but they can’t make any claims whatsoever that what they believe is really the truth of the “Christian” life. They’ve baked that right out of their recipe when they made the claims that the very book from which they get your perspective of Jesus is filled with half-truths and outright foolishness.
I take my faith seriously. I examine the pitfalls and I study its history. I see clearly where men have gone off the rails and used their brand of Christianity for absolute evil purposes (and I expect this). Still, using it for “good” without truly understanding the overarching story, while seeming a step in the right direction, is also off the mark. The ultimate goal is not to make a bunch of nice people (although that is a benefit of living the truth). The ultimate goal is to bring people to a saving faith in Christ. That is, a faith that, no matter the circumstances of one’s earthly life, will produce an eternity in God’s presence for its believer. Yes, that faith fights for justice. That faith fights poverty and the ills of the world. That faith is gentle and peaceful and strives to be a manifestation of God’s love to others. But it is ultimately a faith that looks beyond this world and that cares for people not only because we all bear the same image of God, but also because we as Christians are concerned for their eternal destiny.
This is love – to truly want that others are not bound for an eternity as enemies of (and separated from) their creator. To want for them any other way – as “votes” for a political party, or as mere numbers in one’s mega-whatevers – is to use them. It is to misunderstand God’s ultimate purpose – that is, to bring glory upon himself, and it is as bad as the alternative.
Enough on that (for now – I’ll always come back to it though).
Just to be sure I understood what I was being told, I looked up “hubris.” It means “excessive pride or self-confidence,” and today I think I understood the disconnect. My Christian faith is not based on my own line of thinking. It’s not something that “works for me, but might not be your cup of tea.” I see it deeply rooted in reality, played out in the actual historical events of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus two-thousand years ago. It’s not real because of what I think. It’s real because it’s true whether I think it or not.
I hope that clears it up a little for you…