Note: I am in no way upset. This is not a rant. It is simply an observation.
Often times faith, like the faith I have in Jesus the Christ, is derided for having nothing to support it. Nothing but faith. "Blind faith." I always roll my eyes when that is said. No wonder everyone thinks Christians are idiots. If that is how our faith is viewed, then the church of the flying spaghetti monster is not so different from us. Allow me to assure you all, that is not the case. Allow me to tell you what I don't take on faith.
A) The Bible (as Protestants know it) was written over a period of 1,500-2,000 years, in three different languages, by over 40 authors, on three different continents. No one man (or woman) sat down one day and made it all up just to mess with us. The cohesiveness and unity (whoa there Antagonistic Agnostics - you have to actually read and study it to find cohesiveness and unity, not just highlight out of context verses that seem to contradict each other - I'm not going into Old Testament perception of God vs. New Testament perception of God right now) of sixty six separate books all telling one overarching story is, in itself, rather miraculous.
1) The coming of Jesus (Messiah, Savior, etc) and His characteristics and actions were prophesied hundreds of years (in some instances thousands of years) before His appearance in human history. Don't believe me? Read them. They're still there. He still fits.
2) The Bible does not exist outside of history. Multiple extra-biblical historians and records confirm events spoken of in the Bible. Like Jesus. He actually existed. He actually died. Those that recorded His resurrection are considered religious texts, but the events were still recorded. Jericho did fall to the Israelites. King Solomon was famous for his wisdom. The Bible, and it's events, did not happen in a vaccuum and God does not expect us to pretend as if they did. It is not a fairy tale. It'd be a fairly crappy one if that was how it was made to be.
3) Ancient people's were not simpletons, nor idiots, no matter how much we like to imagine they were. They knew the difference between alive and dead. They knew that walking on water was impossible, and they knew that feeding 5,000 people from two fish and five loaves is a really stupid story with no moral life lesson if it didn't actually happen. The entire story of Jesus is a really shitty one if He didn't actually rise from the dead. And just for kicks, lets all remember the writer of Luke was a physician. Now, they may have been practicing vivisection and didn't understand germs yet, but even in ancient Rome dead was dead and alive was alive. That's why they stuck a spear through Jesus's chest to make sure He was really, really dead before they took Him off the cross. Honestly.
B) Jesus Himself never asked for us to believe in Him blindly. Sure, we don't get to see Him alive like the 12 apostles (oh and those other 500 people) did, but we get rational, constructed accounts of His life, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension. He didn't ask the 12 apostles to believe that He rose from the dead because His body was missing. He totally showed up to show them. And they freaked out because dead people don't do that shit. And they were totally normal human beings who knew that dead people don't walk around and say 'check out my wounds. Totally me. Just, you know, breathing. And eating. Cause ghosts don't eat.' And then they believed. And then they remembered that He said He was going to do this. Not before the proof. After it.
Just for fun, let's jog our memory. When Thomas says, "Jesus, I'm having a really hard time believing this. Show me your wounds or I won't believe it's actually the you that died." what does Jesus do? Does He say, "No proof for you! Faith only!" or does He say, "Here you go. You asked for proof, and I gave it to you. Do you believe now?" And Thomas totally does.
There are multiple other reasons I believe. A lot of them have to do with the individual proofs God has given me in my life, my circumstances, and my perception. They wouldn't convince you of anything. They're not supposed to. They are for me.
But if you're struggling, ask Him to show you. Ask Him to show up, because He will. He doesn't ask us to take things on blind faith. All that He asks us to take on faith is what hasn't happened yet. Not what has. When we get to know God, when we understand that over and over and over again what He has said has come to pass, then it's a lot easier to trust that what He has promised that hasn't happened yet (that whole coming back thing - and that whole 'death isn't the end because I conquered death' thing) are taken on faith. And we have that faith because of what we do know. At least I do.
Anyway - that's my two cents. If this interests you and you want to know what prophesies were made and how Jesus fulfilled them and how reliable the Bible is - Doctrine by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears is an absolutely amazing book that helped me so, so much. It only helps if you read it though, so do me a favor. If you have questions - find answers. You're not the first one to have questions. People have been doing this for 2,000 years now. There are a lot of really good answers.
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