Faith - Not A Blind
Leap
Brad Harrub, PhD
The story could be repeated in just about any
congregation. A young man grows up in the church. Following his
baptism, he takes an active role in leading singing and waiting
on the Lord's Table. Everyone that is familiar with this young
man says the same thing: "He is a strong Christian."
And yet, within months after entering college, this "strong
Christian" is on the path to becoming an unbeliever. His
decision to leave the church was not sudden. Rather, it occurred
over several weeks, as this young man wrestled with questions
tossed out by his newfound friends.
The problem was this young man never developed
a foundation for his faith. In fact, a great deal of his belief
system was built around the beliefs of his parents. And to compound
the problem, on occasions when this young man sought out answers
on which to solidify his faith, he commonly received the same
answer: "Well son, we don't know the answer for everything.
Sometimes you just have to believe you have to take a blind leap
of faith." In other words, this young man "believed"
but he did not know why he believed. He was living an "inherited"
religion.
So picture an eighteen year-old who suddenly finds
his faith challenged. His friends (and professors) confront him
with questions and information that directly conflicts with his
belief in the God of the Bible. And sadly, all this young man
has to defend himself with is the notion that he had taken a "blind
leap." Having, therefore, no good reason to keep on believing,
when faced with tough questions, this young man falls headlong
into the trap set for him by the "roaring lion"our adversary,
the Devil (1 Pet. 5:8). Satan was successful in his task because
we failed in ours. How many souls have been forfeited as our
young people find themselves in a similar situation? They are
presented with problems or alleged Bible discrepancies, and due
to a lack of sufficient knowledge, they cast their entire belief
system aside and begin supporting and defending worldly views.
Unfortunately this young man was not the only one we have told
that faith is a "blind leap." Literally thousands have
not been trained "in the way he should go" (Proverbs.
22:6), because we did not show them the evidences upon which their
faith should have been based.
If we are ever going to break this cycle then
the first thing we must teach our young people is that faith is
not a blind leap. We have the evidences around us to support
our beliefs. We can prove the existence of God. We can prove the
Bible is the inspired Word of God. We can prove Jesus Christ's
deity. And we can show the foundation of Christ's church. But
it all starts with establishing the fact that the Christian religion
is not simply a "close my eyes and hope it's true" belief.
Only after we establish that primary principle will we have a
foundation strong enough upon which to build.
Peter stated that Christians should be "ready
always to give answer to every man that asketh you a reason concerning
the hope that is in you" (1 Peter 3:15). We are commanded
to "contend earnestly for the faith, once for all delivered
to the saints" (Jude 3). With an increasing number of people
doubting God's existence, Jesus' deity, and the inspiration of
the Bible, the Christian will find an increased demand upon him
to be able to defend these things. Paul stressed that we should
"prove all things," and then having done so, "hold
fast to that which is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21). It was
Paul's custom to teach the Gospel by presenting the evidences
documenting the truthfulness of Christianity (see Acts 17:2-3;
19:8). That is, in fact, how Peter preached the first Gospel sermonby
presenting the evidence in a defense of Christ's resurrection
(Acts 2).
Through a study of the evidences upon which Christianity
is based, Christians can come to see that Christianity is not
a "pie in the sky" or an "I hope so by and by"
kind of religion. On the contrary, Christianity is grounded in
historical fact. Its roots are deep and its precepts are provable.
Through a study of Christian evidences, we can show young people
that they can: (a) know God exists, (b) know Jesus
is God's Son; and (c) know the Bible is God's inspired,
inerrant, authoritative Word. In so doing, we can give young people
a clear view of their God, His Son, His church, and their future
home of heaven.
Truth does not shrink from exhaustive examination,
for it has nothing to fear. Rather, truth welcomes the searchlight
of the severest scrutiny, unfailingly confident that it cannot
be disproved. A religion that discourages logical examination
of its claims is tacitly admitting the doubtfulness of its position.
Christianity has no fear of submitting its beliefs to the critical
examination of skeptics. Nor does Christianity fear to have its
proponents study the claims of other religions (or no religion
at all). Truth will not bend or break beneath the onslaught. A
faith that cannot withstand a terse, critical examination is a
faith not worth having in the first place. As young people are
shown the manifold evidences that prove God's existence, Jesus'
Sonship, and the Bible's inspirationand as they examine other
claims (atheism, agnosticism, skepticism, denominationalism, etc.)
under the dissecting microscope of God's Wordeventually they will
come to accept, and be able to defend, the one true religion of
the one true God.
Let us, like Paul, never be ashamed of the Gospel,
recognizing that it is the "power of God unto that salvation"
(Rom. 1:16). Let us study diligently to learn it well, and then
in turn teach it to our children from the time we arise in the
morning until the time that we lie down to sleep at night (Deu.
11:18-21).
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