Why I Am a Christian (and why you should be too)

Life is a funny thing. It is the most amazing reality, yet the one we probably take the most for granted. We think, we act, we feel, relate, eat, sleep, dream, and create, with rarely a thought of the incredibleness of our very existence. Our bodies, our beings are a marvel just standing there doing nothing. But where did we come from?

We did not create ourselves. Our parents, their parents, their parents’ parents did not create themselves, and had really very little to do with the creation of the lives of their children. But here we are, in all our splendor, on a tiny planet in an immeasurable universe that we also did not create.

“Where did we come from?” is a universal question and it’s where I begin on the path that has led me to Christ. Even before consideration of the beauty and complexity of creation, the very fact that something exists, and that nothing comes from nothing, points to a Being outside of nature.

So, of course, my next question becomes, who is this Being? Now I consider creation’s beauty and complexity and I discern that he is powerful, intelligent, and good. I know he is good because of realities like the way my body heals itself when I get cut. And sleep comes when my body and mind are fatigued, and I wake refreshed. My Creator is good because the beauty of the sky and stars, the trees, flowers, and mountains are pleasant to look at and bring a simple joy in beholding them.

What else can I know about him? Here’s where I need a special revelation. Has God entered in somehow and made himself known apart from creation? He hasn’t spoken or appeared to me personally, but I know of historical accounts of someone identifying himself as God Almighty, Creator of the universe revealing himself in unique ways to certain people. The pinnacle of those ways was by being miraculously conceived as a God-Man in a young, Jewish virgin, living a sinless life preaching the good news of God’s redemptive plan, dying on a cross as the perfect atonement for sin, and rising from the dead on the third day.

Are these accounts reliable? Though I grew up in a Christian tradition, I long ago recognized my need to verify what I had been taught by personal investigation. So I studied the history of the Bible’s composition from various sources, and suffice it to say I was convinced of its accuracy. That’s a huge conclusion, but the details and evidences on which I base my acceptance will have to be in another post

Not only did I find the Bible to be a reliable account of multiple revelations by God of himself to humanity, but the God revealed there matched the God I found revealed in Creation.

But what about all the other faiths that are at variance with the articles of faith found in Christianity? Could it be that I have been mistaken in what I have chosen to believe? I have looked at Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Mormonism, Scientology, Christian Science, atheism, and more, and none of them, not one, rings true for me at all. Biblical Christianity is the only faith that makes sense of this world.

So that’s the condensed version of why I am a Christian. Why should you be one too? Well, contrary to current thought and attitudes about religion, what one believes is not simply a personal preference, like boxers or briefs. It determines your actions and to a larger extent, your destiny. If there is a God, and that God is the Triune One revealed in the Bible, then your reality and mine is that we are sinners separated from him, under a curse until and unless we do something about our sin. And the only way to remove the curse is to receive God’s free gift of full redemption through Jesus Christ.

I make no apologies about the exclusivity of Christ. You would not expect to be able to establish your own qualifications for competing in the Olympics, nor to show up at a White House dinner uninvited, and not be summarily escorted out. It is beyond ridiculous for frail, finite human beings to think they can decide for themselves how to be accepted by the God who created them. The amazing and wonderful thing is, he doesn’t condemn us for our ridiculousness, but loves us and patiently invites us to seek him so that he may be found by us. Every one of us.

Because the Gospel is inclusive in its exclusivity. All are invited to come to God the one and only Way.

I’m so grateful to have discovered the invitation, still fresh and new even after being buried in the sock drawer of my heart for many years. My RSVP guarantees me a place at the Wedding Supper of the Lamb, and it’s going to be great.

I hope to see you there.