Part Nineteen: Two Foundational Principles for all Evidential Apologetics—Number Two.
The first principle (last week’s blog article) explained why Christians are justified in believing that the Bible is divine revelation; that is, information about God that we can get nowhere else except from God. Indeed, Christians are justified in claiming that Christianity is the only reasonable choice for someone searching for religious truth, for serious spiritual seekers. This can be stated as a second foundational apologetic principle:
No one can make a faith decision to receive Jesus Christ unaided by the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, if a person were to make a decision to choose a religion based solely on the evidence, and if he or she were intellectually honest, they would choose Christianity and reject all other religions. Only Christianity has been proven to be truthful and reliable to the highest level of certainty obtainable in the area of religious truth.
In application, there are different levels of proof or certainty that are relevant to specific areas of knowledge and not to others. When we attain the highest level of certainty possible in any one particular area of knowledge, we have realistically reached truth because we cannot demonstrate a higher level of certainty. For all practical purposes, in that we accept this same level of truth in everyday matters and make decisions accordingly, we have reached absolute certainty.
If this sounds confusing, look at it like this. We can’t expect one level of certainty (i.e. mathematical certainty) to apply to all areas of knowledge. There are areas of knowledge in which mathematical and logical inferences play no part and are not even applicable. What we accept as historically true, legally true, and scientifically true do not and cannot depend on absolute proof in the form of logical and mathematical certainty. They depend on probability—the highest level of certainty available in areas of knowledge outside mathematics and formal logic. Yet we accept historical, legal, and scientific truths without question. Why? Because the preponderance of evidence and our personal experiences have confirmed their dependability (truthfulness) beyond reasonable doubt. Almost all matters of fact rely on probability confirmation. We accept data that flows out of these three categories of truth in spite of the lack of absolute certainty.
Let me tie this to religious truth-claims. Christianity can provide the same degree of proof—that is, the highest level of certainty possible—for the deity and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the reliability and authenticity of the Bible, and other Christian truth-claims that is used to prove beyond doubt most other facts that we take for granted in our everyday lives. Furthermore, no other religion in the world offers this same level of certainty. This is why the second fundamental apologetic principle is valid—and why serious spiritual seekers will choose Christianity and reject all other religious worldviews.
Next week’s blog article will look further at the second fundamental principle of evidential apologetics. In particular, why only Christianity is the logical choice for people seeking religious truth and why other religions should be rejected.
This series of blog articles is adapted from my book The Christian Combat Manual: Helps for Defending Your Faith; A Handbook for Practical Apologetics, which can be purchased at most outlets. The Combat Manual gives the Christian position on this issue and evidence to support it.
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