What if I’m wrong—about Jesus, the Christian faith, God. What if I’m wrong and the atheists are right. What if Jesus is just a fabrication?

Ah, the curse of thoughtfulness…people who aren’t thoughtful don’t struggle with the curiosities of reality. They don’t struggle with the various conundrums of making sense with the world. If you are a sheep, or self satisfied, or just apathetic, it’s all no big deal.

There is a lot of ‘splainin’ to be done out there. And being a Christian doesn’t insulate you from doubts. Everyone has doubts (if you are a thoughtful type person, a thinker).
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not teetering on the edge and could go either way. I think I have overwhelming evidence that my convictions are well placed. That my trust has been well spent. But could I be wrong? Absolutely! Everyone can’t be right and I see and hear people all the time with really goofy ideas that have 100% psychological certainty that they are right. I know the power of the mind to trick us and lead us off into very strange enterprises. Psychological certainty is not an indicator of truth.

So, when I read a seemingly persuasive argument from a skeptic or hear something that gives me cause for doubt, I go back to the evidence itself to see what am I missing.

And you know, of course, it’s not just Christians who have doubts. Any thoughtful person is in the same boat. Every single world view has its difficulties and conundrums, its unexplainable features which have to be dealt with. I think the Christian world view has less of these than most.



For some reason, a big stumbling block to many who are or would be Christians is the problem of evil. But do you think the problem of evil is only a Christian problem? Atheist still have to deal with the problem of evil, and also with the problem of good for that matter. Because they have no grounding to deal with either of those things. No God, no transcendence, no grounds for morality, no morality, just stuff. Is that more satisfying?

Bertrand Russell said, and I’m paraphrasing, “How can you talk about God when you are kneeling at the bed of a dying child?”
That sort of thing stymies Christians many times. But philosopher William Lane Craig said, “What is Bertrand Russell going to say when he is kneeling at the bed of a dying child, ‘tough luck, that’s the way it goes!’?” That’s all that’s left for him.

So going from Christianity to Atheism because of doubts about the problem of evil solves nothing. I personally think it compounds the problems.

Reality is messy and though, as a thinking, left-brain type person I would like it all tied up in a neat little package with no loose ends and everything explained, it is not to be so.

More later…..
Thanks to Greg Koukl at Stand to Reason for content.