j*******7
发帖数: 6300 | 1 http://coldcasechristianity.com/2014/how-can-you-trust-christia
How Can You Trust Christianity Is True When There Are So Many Unanswered
Questions?
As a Christian, I have many unanswered questions. The more I study the
Christian worldview, the larger my list seems to grow. While essential
truths are easier to identify from scripture, there are many non-essential (
and more ambiguous) features of Christianity. The unfathomable aspects of
God’s nature typically leave us in awe and without adequate explanation. To
make matters worse, the ancient claims and historical details described in
the New Testament are sometimes too remote to accurately verify. As a result
, I’m often left with questions in places where I would rather have clarity
and evidential certainty. How can we trust Christianity is true when there
are so many unanswered questions?
After a long career as a cold-case detective, I’ve learned to get
comfortable with unanswered questions. In fact, I’ve never investigated or
presented a case to a jury that wasn’t plagued with a number of mysteries.
As much as I wish it wasn’t so, there is no such thing as a perfect case;
every case has unanswered questions. In fact, when we seat a jury for a
criminal trial, we often ask the prospective jurors if they are going to be
comfortable making a decision without complete information. If potential
jurors can’t envision themselves making a decision unless they can remove
every possible doubt (and answer every possible question), we’ll do our
best to make sure they don’t serve on our panel. Every case is imperfect;
there are no cases devoid of unanswered questions. Every juror is asked to
make a decision, even though the evidential case will be less than complete.
As detectives and prosecutors, we do our best to be thorough and present
enough evidence so jurors can arrive at the most reasonable inference. But,
if you need “beyond a possible doubt,” rather than “beyond a reasonable
doubt,” you’re not ready to sit on a jury. The standard of proof is “
beyond a reasonable doubt” for a good reason; no case is evidentially
complete; no case maker can eliminate every possible reservation.
Christians, like jurors, need to get comfortable with unanswered questions.
Every worldview has them. As an atheist, I struggled to answer a number of
critical questions from my materialistic, naturalistic worldview: How did
the universe originate? Why does the universe appear fine-tuned? How did
life begin in the universe? Why does biology appear designed? How did our
immaterial minds emerge from the material universe? How can I explain free
will and objective moral truth? As a philosophical naturalist, my answers to
these questions were little more than subjective speculation. My worldview
was incomplete at the most foundational level. I had many unanswered
questions, yet hung on to my atheistic perspective in spite of these
mysteries. Every one of us clings to a worldview for which we have less than
complete information. Every one of us has a series of unanswered questions.
As a theist and as a Christian, I am far more comfortable with my unanswered
questions than I used to be as an atheist. My questions are fewer and less
foundational. They are related more to non-essential issues than critical,
core claims. The evidence I have points me in a given direction, and the gap
between what I have and what I would like is much shorter than it used to
be. All of us have to step out from the end of an evidence trail to a place
of decision. That step across our unanswered questions is sometimes called a
“leap of faith”. As a Christian, I don’t have to leap blindly and jump
all that far. Yes, I still have questions, but I have more than enough
evidence to make a reasonable decision. I’ve come to trust Christianity is
true, even with a few unanswered questions.
J. Warner Wallace is a Cold-Case Detective, a Christian Case Maker, and the
author of Cold-Case Christianity and ALIVE | m****h
发帖数: 1672 | 2 生命本身就有很多unanswered 问题，但是并不能防止我们享受生命 | J*******g
发帖数: 8775 | 3 谢谢分享。
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【在 j*******7 的大作中提到】
: http://coldcasechristianity.com/2014/how-can-you-trust-christia
: How Can You Trust Christianity Is True When There Are So Many Unanswered
: Questions?
: As a Christian, I have many unanswered questions. The more I study the
: Christian worldview, the larger my list seems to grow. While essential
: truths are easier to identify from scripture, there are many non-essential (
: and more ambiguous) features of Christianity. The unfathomable aspects of
: God’s nature typically leave us in awe and without adequate explanation. To
: make matters worse, the ancient claims and historical details described in
: the New Testament are sometimes too remote to accurately verify. As a result
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