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Beliefs

             But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, (I Peter 3:15)

Recently, I saw a comment from someone to the effect of “The only reason you believe what you believe is because your parents taught you to.” It’s not the first time I’ve seen it, and I have to admit that it’s the truth, sometimes. Even if we claim that God has revealed Himself to us or spoken to us, that could just be the way we’ve been taught to interpret it. Of course, those who make this claim (usually atheists) don’t generally have a much better claim for themselves. Either they believe what their parents taught them to believe, or they believe what some teacher (author, scientist, philosopher) told them to believe when they rebelled against what their parent taught.

The problem is that the vast majority of what we believe is based on what we’ve been taught, no matter what we believe. Perhaps a greater percentage of what we think we know, we actually believe because we’ve been taught. It’s close at least. And it’s not necessarily a bad thing to believe what you’ve been taught to believe. It is a bad thing to claim that it’s wrong for someone else to believe what they’ve been taught to believe if you believe what you’ve been taught. If they must verify and prove, so must you.

I’ve ranted about this before, so I’ll keep it short and give you this challenge: in the next two weeks, read or watch something on the topic of the crucifixion. Did it happen? How do we know? Or, do some research on the topic of dying gods. Compare and contrast them with Jesus’ death and resurrection. Do something that gets beyond what you believe so that you can be prepared to give a reason for your hope.

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