“Christianity – Is it Based in Dishonesty?”

Disparaging That Which is Misunderstand

Interesting isn’t it, how those who seek to disparage faith in general and Christianity in particular seek to disparage a subject of which they have little personal knowledge.  Such claims made to be an authority on the Christian faith either directly or tacitly in reality are based on little fact and more speculation.  Claiming to know the truth of the matter and yet they never get around to making a serious inquiry into the facts.  Most certainly there are but a few who willingly enter into scholarly debate upon the subject.

Investment in the Investigation

Said another way, the confusion about the Christian appeal is least understood by those who have the least investment in the investigation of the claims of the Jesus.  It is far easier to claim that the case of Christ is less than compelling when no evidence is examined.  It is far easier to disparage with statements about it being a faith of fear, of cowardice, and of dishonesty than to actually examine the evidence which at points compellingly argue for quite the opposite.

Of course the evidence in some cases may not be immediately apparent.  But then such is so in other fields of knowledge as well.  Such being so there are two factors which must be entered into the conversation.  First, such belief requires a modicum of faith—a mustard seed size faith.  Second, it opens the door to the notion of revelation which is at variance with most other truth paradigms.  There must be room for faith and revelation even in a rational world.

Assumptions

Though there are those who make claims to the contrary, even in rational and natural subjects like the sciences there are assumptions.  Such assumptions are often based upon that which is believed to be true without a great deal of evidence.  The same in mathematics and logic when one assumes givens. 

So here is yet another inconsistency in that the rational naturalist is willing to make assumptions in math and science but in matters of faith it is seen as being less valid.  Such a person even goes so far as to claim that faith, because it involves revelation is the product of a biased, untrained mind, and even simpleton thinking. Then the question is this.  Is choosing to make assumptions in the area of faith any less legitimate than making similar kinds of assumptions in math and science?

Basing Belief in What?

Of course there are always those who fail to understand and in that failure are not willing to take the step of faith necessary to understand.  They then go on to label Christianity as a cheap trick or cheap tactic.  Yet those same people ask one to place faith in their false notions of Christianity.  I wonder just why it is that they see a basic dishonesty in Christianity and yet cannot see that because they do not do deep inquiry, they do not court the possibility but actually deal in dishonesty. 

Pascal’s Point

One may argue against Pascal’s wager and in doing so suggest that there are difficulties with the logic of his argument.  While that may be so, what generally happens is that in the process of dissecting the “wager” they miss the basic point which is this.  The advantages of belief are significantly greater than the outcomes of not believing.  Is the opposite true?  Of course, the disadvantages of not believing are significantly greater than the outcome of believing. 

Closing Observation

It seems that any belief system one chooses to embrace may be criticized by another as being less than truthful and thus dishonest.  Just what basis does one offer as the foundation for such a notion?  For such an assessment suggests that there has to be some standard or another for "truth."  While the Bible offers a foundation for the Christian to decide what is truth, there is nothing but human rationality to underpin other notions of truth paradigms.  Thus man's truth paradigms are totally dependent upon the thought process of man.  

In truth, the truth paradigms created by man are at best fragile in content and hang over a precipice without the kind of support that will keep them from one day crashing on the Rock below!

Background

To see the list of subjects to be discussed in this series see blog (Christianity – Is it a Faith Driven by Fear?) in that blog is a reference and in that reference is a list which is the springboard from which this subject will be discussed.