What If I’m Wrong? Confronting Doubts about the Christian Faith

This post is adapted from the transcript of Dr. Mike Licona’s Mobile Ed course Philosophy of History (CS151).

Toward the end of my graduate work, I started to have questions about my faith. It wasn’t because I’d heard some arguments against Christianity. To be honest with you, at that point I wasn’t even exposed to too many folks who weren’t Christians.

But I wondered, “How do I really know that Christianity is true?” I had been brought up in a Christian family, in a nation that is pretty much Christian, at least by name, and I had only really been exposed to the Christian worldview. I had heard about other worldviews like Islam and Buddhism and Hinduism and atheism, but I really just didn’t know too much about them.

So I asked, “What if I’m wrong? Maybe the reason I’ve been a Christian is because I was brought up that way. If I had been brought up in China, maybe I’d be an atheist; if in India, I’d be Hindu; Saudi Arabia, I’d be a Muslim. How do I know that what I believe is true? And if I’m wrong, that could really cost me a lot. It could be that I only have one chance to get this right.”

I ended up doing what I never thought I’d do: get a PhD. I debated atheists and agnostics and some of the greatest Muslim apologists in the world. I wanted to see: is this really strong evidence?

It’s one thing to present this to the choir at church or teach it in a Christian school. It’s an entirely different matter to put this before brilliant skeptics to see if your evidence and the things you’re presenting can really hold up under the toughest kind of scrutiny. I became convinced that the Christian worldview does provide the best view of reality when we put everything together.

Philosophy of History

A lot of things that we’re going to talk about in Philosophy of History (CS151) I’ve not only wrestled with myself, but it’s been tested by some of the toughest skeptics in the world. And my opinion is, it has held up well. 

licona
Dr. Mike Licona is associate professor of theology at Houston Baptist University. He holds a PhD in New Testament studies from the University of Pretoria, which he earned with distinction and the highest mark.

 

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Discover how the Christian faith holds up in light of competing worldviews: pre-order Philosophy of History (CS151). Order before March 29th to save $120!

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