Does Christianity Still Make Sense?Paraugs

One Way to Escape Your Doubts

Is there a way to move beyond your doubts without chasing down the answers to all your questions? I believe there is. In today’s time together, I want to share how my faith remained intact after having been hammered for years by doubt through one historical fact that I couldn’t escape—that is, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. To me, this truly is the slam dunk argument of the Christian faith.

As a believer, I knew the resurrection was the linchpin of Christianity. Paul the apostle is unequivocal about this: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17).This is Paul’s way of saying, “Hey, if the resurrection can be explained away because it didn’t happen, then you’re wasting your time playing church. If the resurrection isn’t true, then neither is Christianity.” That’s a truly sobering and life-shattering claim.

During my period of doubt, I took Paul at his word. If the resurrection truly is the linchpin of Christianity, I wanted to see whether it could be removed. As a Christian apologist, I was already familiar with the various arguments for and against the resurrection, but now I wanted to take Paul to task to see whether I could explain it away. It’s no surprise that I couldn’t. Instead, what I concluded was the evidence for the resurrection is so overwhelmingly powerful in comparison to the desperate arguments against it that anything I sought to add to the mix was simply unable to move the needle. The linchpin remained intact.

This was crucial for me in my despair because belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ opened a way to quiet my other doubts. I reasoned as follows: If Jesus really rose from the dead, then he really did die. If he really did die, then he really did live. And while he was alive, he prophesied that he was going to die and rise again. Which he did, if you’re following my train of reasoning. Beyond that, he confirmed the reliability of the Old Testament, promising the disciples that the Holy Spirit would come and lead them into all truth. For me, this made all the difference. From there, I was able to reason that if Jesus validated the trustworthiness of the Old Testament during his first coming, doesn’t it make sense that he will validate the trustworthiness of the New Testament at his second appearance?

Do you understand what I am saying? The resurrection was the game changer for me. All the particulars of the Bible I worried about could be rolled back into the question of whether Jesus rose from the dead. And if the Old Testament was good enough for Jesus, who is all-knowing, then it would certainly be good enough for me. I hope it will be for you too.

Thought To Chew On: The tomb became empty so my life could become full.

Interested in more from Bobby Conway? Understand and respond to the biggest challenges to the Christian faith in his new book Does Christianity Still Make Sense? found here. Check out the companion study guide for you or your small group here.