The following is a recent e-mail exchange; slightly modified for confidentiality.

Pastor Matt, 

Just so you know, I’m agnostic. I can’t rule out the existence of God and I can’t satisfyingly prove it either. But here are some questions I’m struggling with. Is it possible that grave robbers or Romans took Jesus’ body so his followers didn’t make a monument out of his grave? What makes Jesus’ followers different from the followers of David Koresh or the 9/11 terrorists? Their changed lives are not enough evidence of Jesus’ validity; the terrorists were just as confident in their beliefs and willing to die too. Isn’t it possible that God sent different prophets to different parts of the world at different times, and Mohammed is just like Jesus? Why does one religion have to be “right”? It’s just like political parties. Thanks for helping.

Yours,

Unsure Eddie

Eddie,

Thanks for your openness and your questions. Let me take a stab at them. Sure it’s “possible” that people robbed Jesus’ grave. But if that’s the case then everyone who claimed to see him is either a lunatic or a liar. One thing we know for sure—even from non-biblical sources—is that hundreds upon hundreds of people claimed to have personally seen the resurrected Jesus in the weeks after his death and burial. How do you reconcile that? Again, either they are all lying or they are all crazy. Plus, you have first century historians like Josephus – who was himself a Jew, with no personal motivation to “help” the Christians claim– citing that many did “see” Jesus.

Second, how do you account for the willingness on the part of so many to die for the cause? Sure, many will die for what they believe to be the truth, even if it’s not. But how many are willing to die for what they would have KNOWN to be a lie? One? Two? What about hundreds? In fact all but one of the disciples who claimed to have seen the resurrected Jesus died a martyr’s death. That’s historical fact. Why would they die for something they knew to be a lie? That’s a distinct difference between the followers of Jesus and the followers of some cult leader. Sure, they were willing to die for what they believed to be right. But if Jesus had not been raised from the dead, as these men claimed, then they were dying for what they knew to be a lie. However if Jesus DID rise from the dead it changes everything. He must be believed. He must be followed. He must be worshiped. Why? His resurrection validates everything he ever said. Who else has risen from the dead? Mohammed? Buddha? Confucius? Dead. Dead. Dead.

As for God sending different prophets, that can’t be the case either. Why? Because they each espouse fundamentally different things. They contradict each other. If God was sending multiple prophets why would their messages diverge so much and prophets like Mohammed purposely discredit Christ as Lord? Why would Jesus say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me?” If they were all inclusive why do they each claim exclusivity? As for the analogy of political parties, that only proves my point. The precise reason that there are different parties is because they espouse fundamentally opposed ideologies. Only someone who has rejected both can assert they are the same.

Here’s my bottom line: If you claim that you can’t know if there is a God, then why do you choose to live as if there isn’t? You say you can’t make up your mind but you live as if you have—you live as if he doesn’t exist. You don’t pray to any God. You don’t worship any God. You don’t study any God. You live as if there isn’t one yet say you don’t know if there is one. Why not, in the midst of your uncertainty, choose the other side of that coin and see what happens? Why not choose to live as if Jesus is Lord? Why not, in your uncertainty, pray to Jesus, study Jesus, worship Jesus, become friends with people who claim to love Jesus and then see what happens? The reason you still have no evidence is because you have already chosen to live with an answer: he doesn’t exist. I posit that if one lived as if he did exist and is God, they would discover that he does and he is. Make sense?

I suggest two books: The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel and The Reason for God by Timothy Keller. Both are amazing.

I hope this helps.

Matt