XIII. A PERSONAL WORD WITH THE UNBELIEVER

CHAPTER XIII A PERSONAL WORD WITH THE UNBELIEVER

The author cannot conclude this book without expressing his deep concern for those who do not accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. For them, as well as for Christians, this book has been written in order to help them better approach the credentials of Christianity. If you do not believe the Bible will you please sincerely face the following questions. First, have I really considered the evidence of Christianity, or have I simply spent my time hunting up objections and dealing with the fringe of the field of Christian evidence? Second, would I be willing to undergo a complete change of life--in so far as my life is out of harmony with Christianity--it I conclude that the Bible is true? Third, have I allowed wrong methods and attitudes to keep me from fairly evaluating the evidence? Fourth, have I simply been indifferent to its evidence, and even somewhat afraid to examine th Bible? Fifth, would I reject something else--if it did not make a demand that my way of life be changed--that had as much for it as there is for the Bible?

I. THERE IS MUCH AT STAKE

There is much at stake. If the Christian is right the unbeliever is in a terrible condition. If the Christian is wrong, and the unbeliever right, the Christian has lived a more hopeful, and happy, life here and he will never know that he was wrong. If the unbeliever is wrong he will always know it and he has lost the best in this life as well as in the life to come. The things which are at stake are so tremendous that one ought to study them far more diligently than he would study a claim which might place him in line to inherit billions. These considerations alone should spur the unbeliever on to study seriously the credentials of Christ. If the author can help you he shall be happy to do so.

II. FACE THE REAL ISSUE

The unbeliever is urged to face the real issue, and not false ones. This book has shown that wrong conclusions are drawn; misleading questions are raised; evidence is never seen or if seen is not really evaluated; because people do not see the real issue. The real issue is not whether any objections can be raised for objections can be raised concerning anything. It is not whether some questions are unanswerable, for some questions are unanswerable concerning any fact of history. The real issue is not whether there are mysteries--things that human reason cannot fathom--in the Bible; all life has its mysteries and yet life is not for that reason rejected. The true issue is not whether there are Christians whose life falls below their confession. The issue is whether or not there is sufficient evidence to justify the belief that the Bible is the word of God--that it was written by superhuman power--and whether Jesus is what He claimed to be.

III. STUDY THE BIBLE ITSELF

One of the essential things in facing the real issue is to study the Bible. This includes more than merely picking it up; glancing at it; being puzzled by some passage; and closing it. Study it closely and study also some of the books which have been mentioned in this book.

One of the reasons that one should study the Bible is that much of the evidence of the truthfulness of the Bible is found in the Bible itself. As one would expect from a book of which God is the real author, it has certain self-evidencing power. Furthermore, there is a general impression of the truthfulness of the Bible which one gains by reading it, and can gain in no other way. It is sometimes difficult to put into words certain types of evidence. There are some things which, if they are not evident to the one who examines them, are difficult to formulate as abstract arguments. If, for example, a man cannot see for himself the vast difference between man and the animals, between a human being a mere animal, it would be very difficult to prove it to him. Dr. Paley well wrote, in Horae Paulinae, that "When we take into our hands the letters," of Paul, "which the suffrage and consent of antiquity hath thus transmitted to us, the first thing that strikes our attention is the air of reality and business, as well as of seriousness and conviction, which pervades the whole. Let the sceptic read them. If he be not sensible of these qualities in them, the argument can have no weight with him. If he be; if he perceive in almost every page the language of a mind actuated by real occasions, and operating upon real circumstances; I would wish it to be observed, that the proof which arises from this perception is not to be deemed occult or imaginary, because it is incapable of being drawn out in words, or of being conveyed to the apprehension of the reader in any other way, than by sending him to the books themselves."7This is one of the reasons that we urge unbelievers to study the Bible itself in weighing the evidence of Christianity. It contains evidences and arguments which are difficult to put otherwise than they are put therein. This type of evidence may have struck home to the believer, but he may not be able to explain it to the unbeliever, who fails to read the Bible itself. As Whately said: "In all subjects indeed, persons unaccustomed to writing or discussion, but possessing natural sagacity, and experience in particular departments, have been observed to be generally unable to give a satisfactory reason for their judgments, even on points on which they are actually very good judges (See Aristotle's Ethics, B.vi). This is a defect which it is the business of education (especially the present branch of it) to surmount or diminish. After all, however, in some subjects, no language can adequately convey (to the inexperienced at least) all the indications which influence the judgment of an acute and practised observer."

This is one type of evidence which has often impressed the believer who has made a thorough study of the Bible; but has not done it from the standpoint of searching for material for reasoning on the subject of Christian evidence with an unbeliever. Thus when asked by an unbeliever for reasons for the hope which is within him, he may not always be able to formulate this type of evidence and present it to the unbeliever. The unbeliever may conclude that the person has no ground for his faith, although he may have a great many reasons for it. Not all, of course, of Christian evidence is of this nature, but some of it is and this aspect of it will never be seen by the unbeliever unless he is willing to study seriously the Bible itself.

Friend, what stands between you and faith in Christ?