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Christianity is an essentially subjective religion. Now that may not win me many friends in the evangelical movement, but I do not think it is feasible to have an objective faith. Faith is, as the apostle Paul tells us, walking without sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). We do not have fiath in something objective - we do not have faith that 2 + 2 = 4 because we know it does. If something is objective, there is no need for faith - it is not necessary any longer. Paul tells us that one day we will not have faith, but we will see (1 Corinthians 13:12-3) God face to face.
Now, we have faith in God, and in His promises. We have faith in His Word, and in His return. It is because of the nature of faith that Christianity is a hard path, and followed by few (Matthew 7:14). Faith requires a leap into the unknown, ignoring the obsessive need to prove what cannot be proven. Faith requires courage.
"But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach." (Romans 10:6-8 KJV)
We can try, as apologists do, to prove the Bible's accuracy, but this is an enterprise doomed to failure. Does that mean I don't believe the Bible? No. We can prove certain things in the Bible - we can prove the existence of the nation of Israel, we can prove that some people and places mentioned in the Bible did exist. We can - with some difficulty - prove the existence of Jesus. But does this make people have faith in God? We can only prove so far - we cannot prove the Resurrection, we cannot prove the existence of God, we cannot prove our God is the only real one. No matter whether we use natural theology, philosophy or archaeology, we cannot prove the most important parts of our religion - they can only be reached by faith.
To be fair, this is not the fault of apologetics - it has been stretched beyond its intended use. Apologetics was created simply in order to defend Christianity against the attacks of others, to explain our beliefs and why we believe them. It was not intended for use to attack others, to persuade them to Christ.
What does claiming objective truth for our faith achieve? It actually damages us. There are plenty of anti-Christian apologists out there who know as well as I do that it is impossible to prove the essentials of our faith. When we place ourselves in the objectivist trap by stating that our faith can be objectively proven we allow others to claim that as its essentials cannot be so prove, the whole is false. Who can tell how many have lost their faith or been turned away from Christ as a consequence? We can only make objective truth-claims for a very small number of things, and for those things and for explanations of why within a subjectivist system we believe as we do is the only use of apologetics.
So, then, do I believe we should not preach? No, for it is a truism of our beliefs that we must preach the gospel. If we look at how the Gospel was preached in the Bible then we can see our model. When Jesus preached His message, when Paul and the other apostles taught, they did not attempt to objectively prove the truth of Christ. They showed the miracles, they taught the promises of God and showed the life of Christ within them. If we live like Christ, if we truly live and love as He taught then we will preach Christ far more effectively. We know His claims to be true, but we know by faith, by subjective truth. We want others to share that truth - but if they do not, we are to move on.
Christianity is a mystery religion, one of initiates of a sort. When we believe, God reveals to us and brings us understanding. It is not possible to prove our mysteries, and it cheapens them to try, but through our actions we may bring others into our same objectivity, into our faith.
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1 KJV)
© Dubhóc MacEògainn, 2005.