Topic:  Is there a logical reason to the truth of Christianity?

Date originally posted: July 1, 2003

Source of this posting: Moderator response to emailed question

Moderator who originally posted this source: Cathy Rusin

Question:   Is there any logical reason why we are sure that Christianity is true? if there is non, why and how are we any better than the 'pagans' since they are also sure that their religion is true but dont have a logical reason why they are sure.

Answer: 

I sympathize with your struggle to understand. It is really clear that this internet is not the tool by which you will come to the clarity you are seeking.

Let me make three suggestions for you.
1) Find your local campus minister. With luck, he or she might be able to help and/or connect you with a faculty member who has already worked out for themselves the 'faith and reason' balance, and is willing to talk and listen and guide you on your journey.

2) Read, read, read. Here are some ideas:
(Your local campus ministry center may have them in their library)
a) St. Thomas Aquinas (Aquinas on Nature and Grace by Westminster Press or Introduction to St Thomas Aquinas by The Modern Library College Editions are two edited versions of parts of his Summa Theologica)
b) Hans Kung "On Being a Christian"
c) Karl Rahner "Foundations of Faith"
d) Edward Schillebeeckx "Christ: The Experience of Jesus as Lord"

None of those are light reading. I hope you will find in at least one of them something that touches your mind as well as your heart.

At its foundation, belief in something is where you're willing to put your heart, that on which you are willing to bet your life. Pagans would be content to put their hearts into that which has been created, which has an ending ... Theists put their hearts into relationship with the eternal Creator. Christians bet their lives on the love and intimate presence of that Creator as made incarnate in the person of Jesus.

3)Go once more to our FAQ library (http://64.246.202.66/FAQ_Library/faq_library) and choose Random Questions, then click on "Reconcile Spirituality and Reality"

Best wishes to you. Stay on the journey, pray for wisdom.
Peace,
Cathy Rusin