Is Christianity true?

Is it is no coincidence that I was brought up Christian and now believe that Theism is the best hypothesis for the Universe and that Christianity is closer to the truth than other belief systems? Being well aware of “confirmation bias”, this is something which has concerned me and has led me to look closely at why I believe what I do.

No doubt my beliefs have been influenced by circumstances and the environment in which I was brought up, but does that make them suspect? Do I have the vantage point to know?

My next step must therefore be to examine the reasons and the evidence for my belief in Christianity rather than any other belief system and to try to see whether my belief is rational and logical rather than merely a product of my up-bringing.

Beliefs, religious or otherwise, come from a combination of trusted authorities and subjective experience. The quest now takes me into considering which authorities can be relied upon and why.

Reasons to believe that Christianity is true include the following. The links give more detail.

1.  The starting point: Who did Jesus say He was?.
2.  Historical evidence for the miracles of Jesus.
3.  Historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.
4.  Evidence for the reliability of the New Testament.
5.  The testimony of the eye witnesses, many of whom suffered and martyred for their beliefs.
6.  The explosive growth of the early church.
7.  The testimony of Christians over the centuries of their experience of God.
8. The character and teaching of Jesus.

There are certainly issues which present difficulties for Theism in general and Christianity in particular, such as:

1. The problem of suffering – Why do bad things happen to good people?

2. The problem of hiddenness – Why does God rarely make Himself known?

While many have put forward suggested answers to these problems, none are really satisfactory and, for me, they continue to remain a mystery.

All belief systems, Atheism included, have severe difficulties and unanswerable questions and this might say more about human limitations rather than which system has the most truth.

Nothing can be proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, including that you exist and are conscious, but the evidence for the truth of Christianity is such that it is the belief system most likely to be true. It is this that continues to guide the way I live my life as well as what I believe.

My quest still continues but now it does so in the light of Christian teaching and the light of its Founder. My decision to follow the Christian Faith is a camp on the way up the mountain, a fork in the path. There are other paths but it looks very much like they are dead ends. The remainder of the climb starts from here.