I admit I have a pet peeve: It drives me crazy when someone is described as a “person of faith.” Every time I hear that phrase, I want to shout, “Faith in what?” That’s because we know that even though a Christian is a person who has faith in Jesus Christ, “faith” as a stand-alone designation also can refer generically to belief in any number of false religions or wayward ideals.
Unlike those who cling to an empty form of “faith,” the Christian’s faith is rooted in biblical, historical, empirical and logical evidence. For example, there are more than 300 prophecies that Jesus Christ fulfilled. Mathematically speaking, the odds of anyone fulfilling this many prophecies are practically impossible:
1 person fulfilling 8 prophecies: 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.
1 person fulfilling 48 prophecies: 1 chance in 10 to the 157th power
1 person fulfilling 300+ prophecies: Only Jesus!
I was so happy when I read Dr. Michael Horton’s recent article on CoreChristianity.com, “Is Faith What We Do to Be Saved?” As he points out, there is no reason to have “faith” of any kind if Jesus Christ has not been resurrected from the dead.
The first thing we have to do when talking to people today is move the central truths of the Christian faith from the category of “faith” (understood as a mere leap based on will) to “truth” (understood as an objective state of affairs). The apostle Paul did not say that the most important stuff in religion is true, regardless of whether Christ was raised; on the contrary, he insisted that if Christ was not raised, then our faith is futile, we are still in our sins, we have lied about God, and “we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15:12–19).
In an increasingly diverse and pluralistic society, Christians need to be equipped to explain to the lost why Christianity is real and relevant today. That’s the entire purpose of Core Christianity. To answer the hard, unsettling questions of our times with both skeptics and committed Christians in mind.
To read Michael Horton’s extremely helpful article, click here and you can always listen to Core Christianity radio programs at CoreChristianity.com.
