by Shane Scott<\/p>\n
Several years ago, I decided I needed a hobby. I had many interests – basketball, fantasy baseball, and music – but I engaged in all of these pastimes with members of the church where I preached, or with fellow Christians in the area. I needed a hobby that would put me in contact with people from all walks of life. So I looked up the closest chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society, and over the last 17 years, I have made a large and diverse bunch of friends.<\/p>\n
As it happens, several of my barbershop singing friends are from Sweden, and – typical of the very secular climate in Sweden – they are not believers. A few of them are quite belligerent about their atheism. Last fall, I found myself in a discussion on Facebook with one of them, a conversation I was frankly hesitant to engage in, given the nasty reputation that debates on social media have earned. But in this case, I am glad to say that my fears were misplaced. Over the course of nearly three weeks, several atheists and agnostics in Sweden, as well as in the States, joined in and presented arguments against Christianity, and gave me a very courteous hearing as I responded.<\/p>\n
What actually precipitated the discussion was a post one of my atheist friends made in which he said no one believed in Christianity because of evidence, but simply because it provided a hope for an afterlife. When I responded that, through the centuries, believers had offered many powerful rational arguments for belief in God based on evidence, he replied with this statement:<\/p>\n
“Sorry, but you just cannot argue that there is any kind of evidence whatsoever that supports Christianity. If there were, it wouldn’t be called ‘belief.'”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In his mind, Christianity is a belief based on no evidence whatsoever.<\/p>\n
This viewpoint is based on a gross misunderstanding of what “faith” is. Christianity has never claimed that faith is “belief without evidence.” To the contrary, from the earliest days of the preaching of the apostles, great emphasis was placed on logical argumentation. Notice these examples from Acts:<\/p>\n
\n
- “And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ’<\/em>” (Acts 17:2-3)<\/li>\n
- “Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there<\/em>” (Acts 17:16-17).<\/li>\n
- “And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks<\/em>” (Acts 18:4)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Mark Twain may have thought that faith is “believing what you know ain’t so,” but that is not what the apostles believed! They used reasoning and logic to argue from the evidence found in the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah. If someone wants to challenge whether the apostolic belief in Jesus was justified, that is fair, and Christians are eager to take up that challenge and look at the evidence. But what cannot be disputed is that the apostles claimed it was a justified belief. They didn’t simply argue on the basis of wishful thinking.<\/p>\n
It is true that at a very basic level, faith involves an intellectual commitment to believe in unseen realities. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen<\/em>” (Hebrews 11:1). We can’t see God, and we didn’t see the risen Lord. But this exhausts only the most juvenile definition of faith. The fuller concept of biblical faith involves confidence and trust. “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him<\/em>” (Hebrews 11:6).<\/p>\n
Even though we cannot see God, we believe that the evidence for His existence is overwhelming in the order of nature (as Paul argued in Acts 14:16-17). And even though we did not witness the resurrection of Jesus, we believe the testimony of the apostles has decisively demonstrated its truthfulness (as Paul claimed in I Corinthians 15:3-8). And because this evidence is so powerful, we are willing to place our total trust and complete confidence in Christ. That is what faith means to a Christian. Complete trust in Christ on the basis of evidence.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Shane Scott Several years ago, I decided I needed a hobby. I had many interests – basketball, fantasy baseball, and music – but I engaged in all of these pastimes with members of the church where I preached, or with fellow Christians in the area. I needed a hobby that would put me in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[709,49],"class_list":["post-89860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-evidence","tag-faith"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45902,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-christians-be-involved-in-expensive-hobbies\/","url_meta":{"origin":89860,"position":0},"title":"Should Christians be involved in expensive hobbies?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, Thank you for your tireless work towards teaching God's Word and helping people understand the truth!\u00a0 I can appreciate the amount of hard work necessary to provide the amount of material found here.\u00a0 It truly is a great resource for those of us looking for biblical answers to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93137,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-religion-purely-the-product-of-social-conditioning\/","url_meta":{"origin":89860,"position":1},"title":"Is Religion Purely the Product of Social Conditioning?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 10, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Shane Scott via\u00a0Unmasking Sophistry, Vol. 6 No. 1, January 2026 If you have been following the current series of articles I have been writing, you know that I am responding to some common objections raised against Christianity by unbelievers. There was a time when this sort of study (called\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31868,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-i-say-you-cant-prove-god-is-real\/","url_meta":{"origin":89860,"position":2},"title":"What if I say you can’t prove God is real?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If religion (Catholicism) is the absolute truth, then how come when questions are asked about it no one can ever answer with facts, only faith and belief? Basically, if I say \"you can't prove God is real\", you can only prove it with faith and belief, no facts. Why\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49530,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-dont-think-i-have-sufficient-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":89860,"position":3},"title":"I don’t think I have sufficient faith","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello Brother, I came across your website over a year ago and have found it to be sound and very helpful. I am a member of the body of Christ, the church of Christ. I am 21 years old and have been a Christian for many years and have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37081,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-be-100-sure\/","url_meta":{"origin":89860,"position":4},"title":"How can I be 100% sure?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am starting to build more faith but I am still not 100% sure that God exists. \u00a0I go to church and everything and I feel terrible to admit this. \u00a0How can I be 100% sure? \u00a0Are you 100% sure? \u00a0Will I ever get there? \u00a0I'm just scared that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28218,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-think-of-songs-of-faith-and-praise\/","url_meta":{"origin":89860,"position":5},"title":"What do you think of Songs of Faith and Praise?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I am writing to you because I came across a blog you had on your website concerning your review of the Songs for Worship and Praise\u00a0hymnal. \u00a0I have owned the hymnal for a\u00a0couple\u00a0of months and also own\u00a0Songs of Faith and Praise\u00a0and\u00a0Praise for the Lord. \u00a0I am trying to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89860\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}