Last night I watched a video featuring popular conservative commenter Ben Shapiro. At the end of his talks He takes questions and one especially interested me. She asked what will it take for Ben to convert to Christianity. I found his answer interesting because it seems his thought process is: I am a Jew, I have always been a Jew, all my forefathers were Jews, I have invested significantly in my faith and so it is hard to change.
It sounds like the man who wrote the book Facts Don't Care About Your Feelings has been caught in the exact trap he has warned others about:
Sometimes we find that our feelings are so strong that they don't care about the facts.
But Ben is right, facts are important. Truth is important. Not "my truth" or "your truth" but The Truth. Whether or not Christianity is true is important.
If Jesus was who He insisted He was, that is He was the Son of God, then what He taught is also true. Jesus predicted His death and resurrection to His disciples several times while He was with them. If Jesus died and rose from the dead, then He was who He said He was.
This is the lynch pin of Christian faith. Paul states if the resurrection of Christ is not true, our faith is in vain. But if Jesus did rise from the dead, then He really is the Son of God. This fact becomes even more important than life or death -- it is about eternal life or eternal death.
Because there is no law we can follow that will admit us to heaven. We are all broken, doomed to fail over and over. An honest look at our own lives demonstrates this! We need someone outside of ourselves to save us.
Jesus is the savior we need. He lived a perfect life because He was the Son of God. And then He paid the full penalty for our all sins when He died on the cross. All we have to do is believe and then the Holy Spirit will fill us and conform us to the righteousness of Christ from the inside out.
And it is not like there are not proof of His resurrection! The witnesses wrote it down and their followers copied and copied their eye-witness accounts by hand and saved them over the centuries, so convinced they were of it's truth. Today we call it the New Testament. Many died a martyr's death because they refused to deny their belief that Jesus rose from the grave!
Ben is too wrapped up, too invested in his religion to see this objectively. His feelings are overruling any of his openness to facts. His refusal to seek the truth is crucial not only for himself, but also for his children, and their children...
I am not exempt from this. May I always have my eyes open to see Your truth, Lord God! Help me to be one of Your witnesses to not only what Your have revealed in Your scriptures, but also what You have done in my life. You have changed me from the inside out. Praise Your Holy Name.
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Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)
The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.” (John 19:7)
The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
“You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Matthew 26:63-64)
They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.” (Mark 10:32-34)
And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. (1 Corinthians 15:14)
He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” (Acts 16:30-31)
God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:31-32)
He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. (Acts 10:41)
