An Appeal to Jon Steingard of Hawk Nelson
Jon – You and I don’t know each other, but I read your Instagram post where you declared that you no longer believe in God. While you gave reasons for your decision, you also said this:
I’m open to the idea that God is there. I’d prefer it if he was. I suspect if he is there, he is very different than I was taught. I know my parents pray that God reveals himself to me. If he’s there, I hope he does.
You and I both know that preferring and hoping something is real doesn’t make it so, but in this instance, there’s good news. I’ll do my best to explain why that’s the case and promise not to get preachy in the process.
To begin, since you’re doubting the whole of Christianity, I’d like for you to consider that – at least in your Instagram post – you’re not asking the right questions.
You mention quite a few things including the problem of evil, questionable actions of God in the Old Testament, biblical inerrancy, translations of the Bible from the original languages, and miscellaneous things like the role of women and hair braiding.[1] Have you considered that none of those things have any bearing whatsoever on whether Christianity is true?
If you’re going to call into question all of Christianity, then you need to examine the three foundational claims of the Christian faith which are:
- God exists
- Jesus exists
- Jesus rose from the dead
You must dismiss these three truth claims and concern yourself with nothing else (at least for now) if you want to walk away from Christianity. Let me quickly work through what I mean.
For example, just because you can’t square God and evil at the moment doesn’t mean that a transcendent Creator who brought everything that we know into being doesn’t exist. And this might be a shocker, but you don’t need to reference the Bible to have confidence in this fact.
You heard me right – you don’t need your Bible for this one.
Both science and general philosophy agree that the idea of a Creator makes sense. Without God, we need to answer how an impersonal, non-conscious, meaningless, purposeless, and amoral universe accidentally created personal, conscious, moral beings who are obsessed with meaning and purpose. I haven’t found anyone able to successfully do that yet.
Using the general scientific principle of cause and effect, you’ll find it’s highly probable and reasonable to conclude that any first cause represented by the effects we see is personal (defined as ‘having intent’), moral, timeless, changeless, immaterial, intelligent, and incredibly powerful.
Again, you don’t need to open your Bible to reach a conclusion on those things or that such a position is more plausible than trying to argue for all of existence coming from a non-eternal universe made up of only mindless matter.
Then we come to our second truth claim, which is that Jesus exists. On this point, I’ll ask for some grace and assure you that I’m not doing an appeal-to-authority; I simply don’t know how to say it any better than Duke’s Historian Dr. E. P. Sanders: “There are no substantial doubts about the general course of Jesus’ life: when and where he lived, approximately when and where he died, and the sort of thing that he did during his public activity.”
Go ahead and toss the doctrine of biblical inerrancy aside for now; that doesn’t matter at this point. The biblical biographies and external / non-biblical historical evidence leave no room for assertions that Jesus didn’t exist or that the events chronicled in his biographies aren’t grounded in history.
Which brings us to our third foundational truth claim – that Jesus rose from the dead. This is a big one because a still-dead Jesus falsifies Christianity.
But here’s an interesting fact: in the same way all educated historians believe Jesus of Nazareth existed, they also agree on the base events of His resurrection. Again, we don’t need biblical inerrancy for this; all we need is reasonable assurance that the New Testament authors got their history right. And historians say that they did.
That Jesus was crucified under Pontus Pilate, that He was buried, that His body went missing three days later, that reports of Him appearing to various individuals and groups began circulating, and that all His disciples except one were martyred for proclaiming His resurrection are not disputed by learned historians – Christian or non. Of course, what they disagree on is what caused those events.
There are lots of good books that work through all the different hypotheses of the resurrection and I can point you to some of the better ones if you like.
So, Jon, in my opinion, these are the things with which you need to wrestle. If you’re going to completely walk away from Christianity, you’re going to need good reasons for saying a Creator God doesn’t exist, that Jesus never existed or wasn’t who He claimed to be, and that His resurrection didn’t happen.
And sure, I get your issue with God and evil. I watched my young wife die in front of me many years ago, so that problem is one I’ve dealt with at a very personal level. But here’s something I’d like you to consider.
Scientists don’t toss their discipline as a whole into the trash because they can’t explain every question they have at the moment. Instead, they stand firm on their foundations and keep digging. Since Christianity’s foundations stand firm, that’s what I recommend you do.
One last thing … and I question as to whether I should bring it up, but I have too strong an inclination to let it slide. With you now proclaiming your disbelief in God, you will have many people come along side you and say how you and they are exactly alike. You will find strong encouragement and comfort in what these and others tell you; they will make you feel accepted and safe.
Whenever I see this happening, it always makes me think back to a guy who came to Christianity out of another worldview. He said the people of that belief system were warm and loving, but I’ll never forget what he said right after: “They would have loved me right into hell.”
I bring this up only to say that the things you’re wrestling with have eternal implications, and eternity is a long time to be wrong. Don’t take this as a threat – I mean actually the exact opposite. I don’t want you to miss any of the wonderful things God has for you, both in this life and the next. Jon, I hope I’ve given you some things to consider. If you want to talk one-on-one, you can reach me via Christianpost or through LinkedIn. God bless you my friend!
[1] All of these issues have both intellectually and emotionally satisfying answers and have been addressed by many solid Bible teachers. For example, William Lane Craig handles the problem of evil well in his book, Hard Questions, Real Answers; Paul Copan deals with questions about God in the Old Testament in his book, Is God a Moral Monster?; Mark Roberts addresses questions about Bible translations and their trustworthiness in his book, Can We Trust the Gospels?; and John MacArthur’s New Testament commentary series does a great job of discussing the cultural and descriptive aspects of the New Testament (e.g. women’s dress) vs. prescriptive teaching.
Comments:
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Heather Snyder
Yes, knowledge about God and knowledge what the world thinks about God are important tools in defending our faith, even to ourselves! The Bible makes clear that everyone on the earth knows Him and He is etched in their heart. The Bible says little about atheism other than, in quick concise summary, unbelievers are fools (Pslm. 10, 14 & 53). This particular kind of unbelief makes me think of one who had faith but…. In Timothy, Peter and John all speak specifically about the falling away of faith.
The Bible tells us faith saves, but if that faith is left unprotected, of we are not walking with the Lord, not abiding in Him, then we are vulnerable in our faith.
Oh, but our God knew this about us. When our scales are lifted, we must choose saving faith – not just gaining faith, but having it, truly believing it by living in it, claiming it, using it. We would be consistently seeking Him. That’s not necessary in church, as it often is or perhaps once was, but and peace and quiet waiting on the Lord. Taking breaks from our ministry (so as to put nothing before Him) and worldly responsibilities to appreciate Him, His creation His love as He expresses it and has expressed it. We go to Him for reassurance. His will. That is what He wants most, yet complacency seeps in when we’re not fully armed.
God doesn’t change our minds, He changes our hearts. We choose to believe and then it’s up to us to stand on that belief.
And, of course it cannot go unsaid, quite significantly, as the Holy impetus or catalyst, the Holy Spirit must be present and active.
All that to say, I hope anyone is this position is surrounded by strong Christian influences, not necessarily family, who pray with them and press into Romans 3; who press into hard questions of worldly feelings vs faith in the law, Jesus’s calling that anyone who can not bear His own cross cannot be His disciple and the unfortunate consequences throughout the Bible of those who donot follow Him. Sadly, many will fall away in the end times.
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Peter
YES! thank you. I wrote something similar a few years ago.
If you’re going to call into question all of Christianity, leave it, then you need to ask:
Would you agree that the claims of Christianity (or any other worldview) are either true or false? And they are true or false independent of how Christians behave? Do you agree that Christianity makes claims about reality? Do you agree or did you know that many people (including Christians) don’t think it really matters if the claims of Christianity are true or false? Do you agree that today, many don’t care if it or any other religion is true? Many just want to know if will work for them, if it does what they want, if it makes them feel good/happy? But what is the best way to address claims about ultimate reality?
1. Since the Christian Worldview stands or falls on one single event in history–resurrection of Jesus (1 Cor 15:12-20; Luke 1:4; evidence given to support this: John 20:30-31; Act 5:12-16; 2Cor 12:12; Heb 2:1-4; Luke 1:4)1– then can you provide good arguments and evidence that: there is NO absolute and objective truth; truth about reality is NOT knowable; the opposite of true is NOT false; Jesus did not really live in history; New Testament is NOT historically reliable; NT does NOT record that Jesus claimed to be God? If you can, then would you agree that I should not be a Christian?
2. However, would you agree that “so long as the New Testament documents are sufficiently reliable to establish the historicity of Jesus’ radical personal claims and the historicity of his crucifixion, burial, empty tomb, post-mortem appearances, and the origin of the disciples’ belief in his resurrection, then [Christians] are warranted by the evidence in believing that Jesus rose from the dead and so was who he claimed to be”?
3. Therefore, the only logical reasons to “leave” Christianity would be because there is NO absolute and objective truth AND there is evidence beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus either did not exist in history or He did not actually die and resurrect back to life.
4. Also, we must distinguish between (1) what one must believe/trust in order to be saved–the Gospel: God (that He exists and is one), Christ (that He exists, The God-man, His death and resurrection), Nature of Man (relationally separated from God; born sinners, condemned to hell; unable to save self) [Rom 10:9; 1Cor 15:1-6; Acts 16:31; Acts 2:21, 36; 3:14-16; 5:30-35; 10:39; 1Cor 12:3] and (2) what must be true to make salvation possible (truth of salvation essentials, e.g., justification, sanctification and glorification) and (3) source of knowing about the salvation essentials (e.g., inspiration and inerrancy of scripture), which are not necessary to believe to be saved. (For more on this see Conviction without Compromise by Norman Geisler and Ron Rhodes; Essential Christian Doctrines. http://www.str.org/articles/essential-christian-doctrines; Essential Doctrine Made Easy. Rose Publishing by Geisler.)
See also:
https://credohouse.org/blog/how-not-to-react-to-joshua-harris-announcement -
Gary
“However, would you agree that “so long as the New Testament documents are sufficiently reliable to establish the historicity of Jesus’ radical personal claims and the historicity of his crucifixion, burial, empty tomb, post-mortem appearances, and the origin of the disciples’ belief in his resurrection, then [Christians] are warranted by the evidence in believing that Jesus rose from the dead and so was who he claimed to be”?”
The biggest problem with this statement is that many and maybe most scholars doubt that the Gospels were written by eyewitnesses, and, that only seven of Paul’s alleged epistles are genuine. Belief in the Resurrection is therefore more a matter of faith (hoping) than belief based on facts.
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gary
If you want to be thoroughly educated on the evidence for the central claims of Christianity, read some good books, from both sides of the argument:
Books by Christian scholars/apologists:
-The Death of the Messiah by Raymond Brown
-Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh and Sean McDowell
-The Case for Christ by Lee StrobelBooks by skeptics/atheists:
-The Case Against Miracles by John Loftus
-Why I Believed: Reflections of a Former Missionary by Kenneth Daniels
-Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrman -
Peter
Adding to my previous comment. I appreciate Jon’s honesty. Many people are not honest with their beliefs and struggles and doubts. He brings up many good questions and doubts that many people share
( https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/are-young-people-really-leaving-christianity/
https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/yet-another-student-survey-confirming-the-need-for-case-making )And in my option, Jon (and many who have similar experiences), are victims of a church system and Christians who have failed them. I have been a student of Jesus since 2001 or so and I feel that the Church has failed many people and is in need of a reformation. I wrote a paper about that and you (or anyone else) can find it here
Myth: Real Christians Don’t Doubt.
I am convinced that everyone doubts to some extent (Christians and non-Christians) but few actually admit it. Christians; however, seem to be pressured by other Christians and churches to not have any questions or doubts. Many are being told that, “God is good and everything is awesome, so if you don’t believe this all the time, then something is wrong with you. You really don’t believe or you are not mature in your faith like you should be.” And if you do have doubts and questions, then you need to leave the church.
It seems to me that these Christians and churches that hinder Christians from asking questions and label doubt as sin are Foundationalist to an extent. They see all Christian belief as incorrigible (incapable of being correct) and indubitable (impossible to doubt; unquestionable) and therefore dogmatic. A basic book or course on Philosophy will explain the various kinds of certainty and the different types of knowledge we can have as humans. Apodictic certainty (promoted by Rene Descartes 1596-1650) is considered the
* highest standard: requires the necessary (absolute) truth of its object
* indubitability (exclusion of all doubt) and incorrigibility (incapable of being corrected or amended)
* it’s denial is a contradiction
* guarantees truth in every possible worldThis type of certainty seems to be what these Christians and churches adhere to when it comes to all of their beliefs.
However, most Christians (and even non-Christians) will admit that human knowledge is fallible or probable. Most Christians believe that only God’s truth as recorded in Bible is infallible (certain, indubitable, wholly true).
Only God is omniscient, true, perfectly good, and omnipotent. Our knowledge, on the other hand, is partial or incomplete. At times we are wrong because we are ignorant of the facts but God knows everything, actual and possible (Psa 139:1-6). And his knowledge always corresponds to reality (is truth), Exod 3:6, Num 23:19; Deut 32:4). The Bible is infallible (certain, indubitable and true) but our understanding and knowledge of it is only fallible; our understanding of it changes.
Moreover, we usually do not question something (e.g., our beliefs) unless something happens such as our exposure to other beliefs or worldviews, personal tragedy, suffering, etc. However, these Christians and churches don’t ask the doubting Christian WHY they are doubting and questioning.
I discuss this more in the above mentioned paper…
A video discussing this is: Can Christians Have Doubts about God?
https://www.str.org/video/can-christians-have-doubts-about-god#.XhH4Mdl7mm4It’s time that the Church recognize that asking good questions and doing some good critical thinking is not antithetical to faith. In fact, I would argue that it is the very basis for faith, properly understood…We must remember that “all truth is God’s truth” and we should not shy away from it. If what we have is true, we should not be afraid to think about it, investigate it and question it. If it’s true, what do we have to fear? —Daniel Carrington (from, Should Christians be Anti-Intellectual?)
Comments are closed.
Gary
My advice to anyone questioning his or her beliefs is this: Do some research! Read three books by three highly regarded Christian apologists, and then read three books by three highly regarded skeptics. Come to your own decision. You will be wiser and better for it.