New Article: First Draft

Here is the initial draft of the piece I recently wrote for the anti-Christian, anti-conservative publication, THE BEAST, published here in western New York state. The editor will likely run a response to the article by Ian Murphy, the fellow to whom I'm responding in this article. Murphy is a writer for the publication and has run several vitriolic critiques of Christianity, as well as even a mean-spirited article about my own church.

Christianity: Trickery or Truth?

In some recent commentaries, Ian Murphy has ridiculed Christianity as a creed that only the mindless or irrational could adopt. This is a strange assertion considering that intellectual giants the likes of Augustine, Aquinas, Descartes, Isaac Newton, C.S. Lewis, and countless others in the past and today have found the faith reasonable and true. Indeed, examining the writings of polymaths like these allows us to find not only the intriguing questions they produced, but also their reasons for finding Christ the answer.

Gottfried Leibniz, the great 17th century mathematician/philosopher, for example, posed a most basic philosophical question: why is there something rather than nothing? It seems our universe didn't have to exist (we can certainly imagine it not existing). But then why does it exist? What's its explanation? This question is supplemented greatly by modern science, which indicates that space-time came into existence ages ago. Astrophysicist, Stephen Hawking admits, “.....” Since objects cannot pop into reality uncaused from nothing (imagine a roaring elephant or a Volkswagen appearing from literally nowhere!!), something outside of space-time must've caused the universe. But this means that there exists a timeless, spaceless being, having the unfathomable power and knowledge to create a universe out of nothing. As Leibniz himself believed, this being is seemingly the God spoken of in Genesis.


Another 17th century mathematical/philosophical genius, Blaise Pascal, went further, pondering not the universe, but those inhabiting it. For him, mankind was the utmost paradox: capable of both the greatest achievements and the greatest tragedies. Humans have after all produced drastic scientific and moral progress while also perpetuating horrors like Nazism and totalitarianism. Pascal realized that this is precisely what we'd expect if Christianity were true. For on that view, man is a great being made in God's image, but has chosen to rebel against God and live wickedly. Inevitably, just as Pascal found the Christian diagnosis of this problem true, he likewise found the truth of its solution: Jesus Christ.


Jesus taught that indeed mankind was so sinful and rebellious, that it couldn't avoid permanently separating itself from the Holy God – the giver of life – thus resulting in its own eternal death. Jesus's good news, however, was that He had come as God in the flesh to reconcile man and God by suffering this death in man's place. “I come not to condemn the world, but to save it.” Indeed, not only would Jesus suffer this death on the Roman cross, but He would defeat it by His resurrection on the Sunday afterward. He in effect paved the way for us: if we take His gift of dying in our place, we'll be saved and will ourselves be resurrected to new, eternal life in Heaven.


Readers may be skeptical that any of this really happened. However, virtually all New Testament scholars today agree that, (i) Jesus died by crucifixion, (ii) His tomb was found empty two days later, and (iii) appearances of Jesus were witnessed for weeks after. Scholars also agree that secular explanations of these facts have failed miserably. Theories such as Jesus's body was stolen or His disciples were deceivers have long been refuted. Currently, the best explanation is precisely: God raised Jesus from death.


Of course, having scholarly arguments and evidence isn't necessary to see that Christ is the truth. What primarily led men like Pascal and Leibniz to God was a genuine, open-minded desire to find Him. If we have this, God promises that He'll find us and save us through Jesus's sacrifice.