When we think of the word faith, what comes to mind? For most people there’s this idea that faith means to blindly believe in something without any evidence. That it doesn’t really matter if what you believe is true, instead it’s whether it makes you feel good that’s important. Prominent atheist Richard Dawkins wrote on Twitter "Faith means belief in the absence of evidence." But is this the type of faith Christianity asks of us? 

Despite what many people think, Christianity does not demand blind faith. Unlike other religions, the whole of the Christianity rests on an historical event - the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Either this event truly happened in history, in a real time and at a real place, or it did not. If it did then Christianity is true - Jesus is who he claimed to be; God in the flesh who died and rose again for our sins. But if this event did not happen, then the whole religion crumbles and our faith means nothing. 

In 1st Corinthians 15 v 14, Paul writes, “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.”

Here it says in the Bible itself, that if Christ was not raised from the dead then the Christian faith is useless. It does not matter if it makes you feel good, or if it gives you hope, Paul says if Jesus is not raised, if he is not alive and real, then having faith isn’t going to achieve anything. 

So despite the popular opinion that faith is purely subjective, based only on feelings, experience and in the absence of evidence, Christianity demands that we investigate whether or not the resurrection really happened. Our faith and our trust in God should come from reasonable and solid evidence that what we believe is really true. 

I’m Becky Gillespie from Thinking Matters and this has been your Thought for Today. For more reasons to believe visit thinkingmatters.org.nz