John was rock climbing one sunny Saturday. The first hour was easy. He had found plenty of footholds and finger holds as he climbed up the face of the large cliff. It was thrilling for him to now be on his own without a teacher around to correct his mistakes.
With the noon day sun, he began to encounter difficulties. The rock got steeper and the cracks and protrusions seemed harder to find as he continued his climb up the rock. Each time he searched for a hold, a little more fear crept into his mind. “What if I put my weight on a faulty edge?” His whole body grew tense. He couldn’t go up, and he couldn’t go back. Gripped with panic, he began to imagine the fall that seemed imminent.
“Hey there, John!” He heard a voice, but was afraid to look up. When he did, he saw his friend Susan’s smiling face. John was almost to the top and didn’t realize it. “Reach your right hand straight above your head and you’ll find a great knob.” Just a few moves later John was on top of the rock. (Taken from “Be Sure! A Study of Christian Evidences” by Brad Bromling)
The Christian life can be a lot like that. It starts out confident and then is put to the test. Tough questions about faith come. The Christian will wonder if he/she really has the truth after all. Such doubting is natural.
Christianity is a belief which can be defended because it is founded on facts. Those facts are recorded in the infallible words of the Bible. The defenses of the Bible originated with the Bible itself.
How is it possible for a book, the Bible, to support its own self proclaimed evidence? We will discuss this in our next article.
Gary Dull