Discussion With A Seeker

The following is the outline of some major points covered in a discussion I have been having with a friend who is seeking to test the idea of Christianity. In some ways our minds work in a similar way, and so I was happy to spend time to think through any questions. The actual discussion happened across many hours on more than one day, but I remember the following 3 questions because in my opinion they were highlights or central points.

Christianity is just one religion out of many in the world, and there is so much within it to think about before I would feel I could commit myself to it.

There isn't enough time in anyone's life to sample or even evaluate every single human religion or faith. Even in Christianity, there is too much to assess within a single lifetime, evident by the fact that committed Christians never stop exploring and learning more about what they believe. Therefore it makes sense to direct your focus to a single question: Was Jesus really raised from the dead after His crucifixion?



The belief in this event holds the rest of Christianity together. If your answer is yes, then a line of reasoning will lead you to realize that you need to commit yourself to God. If the answer is no, then you can feel free to move on and not worry about Christianity for the rest of your life.

The resurrection of Jesus was one of the founding principles of the early church. The earliest known church creed is quoted by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3-7, which clearly states this as a fact with many witnesses.

I find it difficult to believe that Jesus was raised from the dead because this is a spiritual action and I have no experience of anything spiritual in my own life.

When you talk about what you have experienced in your life, you are thinking about things you have seen with your vision, things you have touched with your skin, and other things related to the five physical senses. So if you think about it, of course you haven't experienced anything spiritual with these, because the spiritual realm is, by definition, not going to be detected by physical senses unless it takes on a physical form.

I think that you have experienced spirituality in your life, but you do not call it that. I am thinking here of things like the example that as a human, your are self-conscious. You have free will, and a sense of right and wrong. You share with the rest of the world an uneasy feeling that there is something wrong with the world, which would not make any sense if the physical world was all that existed.

There is something wrong with the world, it does not feel like it should be full of so much suffering. If God loves us then why does He not do something about this, why has He not fixed the world?

There is a famous scene in Mark 2 where a paralyzed man on a stretcher is lowered through a roof by his friends so that he can be healed by Jesus. Jesus sees that the man cannot walk, but instead of healing him, His first action is to forgive him of his sins. This is a good example where we see God's priorities.

God's plan is to restore our relationship with Him. Within that plan some things will be fixed, but God wants to save our souls before He saves our bodies. Also, God's plan for the future is to permanently fix everything, to get rid of death and disease and suffering. But in the present, here and now, our relationship with Him is the most important thing.



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