At whatever point you have encountered the Christian faith—whether that be wholehearted devotion, burned by the church, disillusioned by the moral failings of some of its leaders, or skeptical of faith altogether—the crux of the issue really comes down to one question: who is Jesus? If Jesus was who he said he was and who Christians claim he still is, then every person living should seriously and honestly investigate his claims and what they mean for their lives.
I say honestly investigate his claims because there have been two tendencies in the last century or so that have claimed to investigate Jesus but have betrayed their prior beliefs by their method.
One such method has been to investigate Jesus based on the presupposition that miracles are not possible. This method still takes the Bible seriously—to a limited extent at least—and strips away the miraculous to get to the core of who Jesus really was. The problem here is that the “Jesus” they came up with ended up looking a lot like the people who were doing the searching. To come up with a result that matches one’s own identity is as intellectually dishonest as those same people claim believing miracles is.
Another method is one that creates a false dichotomy between faith and reason. In other words, it is to say that people who are secular (that is, don’t believe in God or the claims of Christianity) form that belief based purely on reason and that people who are Christians form their beliefs purely on faith (what skeptics often call the fulfilling of an emotional need). In other words, the search is over before it begins because it divides secularism and faith into reason and faith, respectively.
But this is a dishonest approach as well. Those people who claim miracles cannot occur have to reckon with the many proofs of the resurrection of Jesus just as much as Christians have to reckon with the facts against it. More than that, skeptics must reckon with the fact of the enduring nature of Christianity across the centuries. While the church has never been—and never will be—perfect, it has always been there (and I believe always will be).
The truth of the matter is that every worldview – secular or religious – is comprised of both faith and reason. There is much more that could be said on this topic, but think, for example, about how statistically unlikely it is that earth exists as an inhabitable planet. This is a reality that demands both faith and reason.
Let’s take another example from Christianity. Probably the most famous book of the Bible is the gospel of John. At the beginning of this book, there is an interesting exchange. Jesus is beginning to call people to come and follow him. In other words, he is asking people to believe he is who is he says he is and respond accordingly.
Several of the men who end up becoming Jesus’ disciples respond to his call and begin following him. One man is not so sure, though. Philip, one of Jesus’ followers, finds a man named Nathanael and says, “‘We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph’” (John 1:45). In other words, he was claiming they had found the Messiah they had been reading about in their Bibles (our “Old Testament”). Nathanael slams on the breaks of the narrative by asking, “‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’”
Nathanael was essentially doing the same thing we do when we size people up who claim they are worthy of our trust. Where are they from? Where did they get their education? What’s their experience? Who do they know? Who do they know that I know?
For skeptics, Philip’s response may be somewhat surprising. He doesn’t rebuke Nathanael for his little faith or compel him to follow blindly. Instead, he extends an invitation: “Philip said to him, ‘Come and see’” (John 1:46). In other words, Philips invites Nathanael to answer the question, “Who is Jesus?” by investigating for himself.
What’s even more interesting is how relevant the book of John is for today. The very structure of the book is geared toward helping “Nathanaels” of every age “come and see.” Throughout the rest of the book, Jesus performs all kinds of signs and makes all kinds of claims and then offer explanations by what have been come to be known as the “I am” statements. In other words, he is explicitly showing us who he is.
The end of the book confirms that this was the purpose all along by saying, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30–31).
Here, we have both faith (the same word for “believe”) and reason together. John is essentially saying, “this book was written to give you proof of who Jesus is so that you might have adequate grounds for putting your faith in him.” And it’s even better than that. The result of putting one’s faith in him is not a bait and switch. It is so that “you may have life.”
One of the best ways to investigate the claims of Jesus is by discussing them with another person. If you’re interested in investigating who Jesus is, don’t hesitate to let us know. We’d be happy to discuss more.
If you’re not ready to do that yet, or just want to see more for yourself first, begin by reading through the gospel of John (free here if you don’t have a Bible). As you do, keep an eye out for the “I am” statements Jesus makes (there are seven).
Just as Philip invited skeptical Nathanael to “come and see,” so we invite you—whether you would consider yourself critical, curious, or somewhere in between—to “come and see” who exactly this Jesus is, and, once you’ve learned more, make an informed decision as to how you’ll respond to him.