Introduction

Recent events in my life have caused me to reconsider the possibility of the existence of a Christian God. I've always been one to search for the truth, but I've felt that the subject of God was too slippery to tackle. On the other hand, there is too much at stake to let it slide forever. Because if God exists, I can't afford to risk eternal damnation, and if He doesn't exist, I can't afford to squander my short life worshiping Him.

My background has biased me in such a way as to doubt the existence of any God. By default, I assume that He doesn't exist, and go from there. If I were to assume that He does exist by default, I would also have to assume the existence of other possible beings and creatures such as extraterrestrials, unicorns, dragons, etc. All of these things have circumstantial evidence and "witnesses", but can not be verified as being true. In addition, even though faith has a central role in religion, I believe one can study the subject of God and reach some conclusions through rational thought.

In the end, I might end up an agnostic (one who asserts that the existence of God is unknowable), but right now I feel that I would rather come to some sort of personal decision about God. I don't know what conclusions, if any, I will reach, and I certainly don't expect to "prove" anything about God. But what I do expect to have is more than an intuitive notion of my beliefs, as well as concrete thoughts regarding many of the aspects of the subject.

In my study, I'm going to be as objective as I can. In fact, I will try to find some way of reconciling every discrepancy or unfavorable conclusion in favor of the Christian viewpoint. But I won't throw out an argument because there is some answer. If the answer seems to be on shaky ground I will leave the argument in along with the response. (A good example are the gospels' accounts of who went to the tomb after Christ's burial. One can take the very improbable viewpoint that a group of women went, but only a few were mentioned by each writer.) I've also tried to indicate every argument that has an alternative interpretation, or that has any sort of related information that might weaken it.

I encourage criticism regarding everything that I write, especially when it comes to conclusions that I have reached, my logic, or possible explanations for discrepancies. I will try to think of every possible explanation for every problem, then choose the one most favorable to the Christian viewpoint.

Back to Thoughts on Christianity and God.