In the past 20 months in this blog, we have asked questions about Christianity that are centuries old but which have never been adequately resolved. One question deals with an aspect of the human condition that Christians do not want to deal with: We are finite. One reason might be this issue calls into question certain aspects of our theology. For example:
- Being finite means we do not have the time or talent to learn everything we need to know about life, about ourselves, about God. Being finite means we do not have access to all the information we need to make correct decisions. Because of this fact, there are people in our world who will not believe in Christ because they either have not heard of Jesus or their culture and/or religion tell them Jesus is irrelevant. How can God be a God of love and justice and yet condemn such people to hell?
- Being finite means God constructed our existence so certainty in regards to historical events is not absolute. For example, while there is substantial evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, there will always remain an element of doubt. So how can God condemn people to hell for not believing in something for which they cannot obtain certain proof?
- Being finite means that most of our beliefs are not under our control. Our beliefs are mainly formed by the culture in which we were raised and by our experiences. Another person with very different experiences and considering very different evidences could come to a very different belief system than a Christian would. How can God condemn a person to hell because his/her life experiences are different?
- Being finite means, as William Lane Craig says in his book Reasonable Faith, Christianity can only be shown to be probably true. [1] As my blogs of June 20, 2012 through July 11, 2012 show, that it is true in all areas of our lives. Even our science cannot provide us with absolute proof on any topic. We can only have certainty for things that occur within our space and time. The problem Christianity faces is that it teaches we must believe in Jesus Christ or we will spend eternity in hell. On an issue a crucial as our eternal fate, it would seem that God would give us more proof than mere probability
What the above questions demonstrate is that Christianity has failed to deal with the facts of the human condition (which is the way God made us). If we are to be intellectually honest, we must deal with these facts. In the next few blogs we will propose a solution that will deal with the facts of the human condition and also conform to Biblical teachings.
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[1] William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith, Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008, p. 55.
