In the hallways of the chemistry building I recently got into a conversation with a chemistry student who was aware of my belief in Jesus Christ. He asked me a very probing question: "What is the best reason you can give me why you are a Christian, and do you still have some nagging doubts?" I had to admit that it was difficult for me on the spur of the moment to give him my BEST reason, and in the time since then I have mulled this one over quite a bit. There was a time when I believed that if everyone in the world were a "good person" like me, this world would be a wonderful place. All wars would cease. People would start caring for each other, understanding each other, accepting each other. Then one day I was confronted with the Ultimately Good Person. I found myself watching the seven hour movie, "Jesus of Nazareth." Before it was over I realized for the first time that everyone in the world IS like me, and that is what's wrong with the world. You see, I discovered that at the root of my being, under a thin veneer of social grace and politeness, I was basically a selfish, dishonest, and egotistical person. I became a Christian because God confronted me with His true nature, and in seeing Him I saw my true nature. I saw my need. I needed a Savior. He was there, and in His mercy He forgave me for what I was, accepted me as I was, and made me into a new person. I immediately felt as if the rebellion inside me stopped, and I began to experience a peace with God. That's why I am a Christian - not because I love God but because He loves me, and He loves me so much that He sent Jesus to pay the price of my rebellion and bring me back into right relationship with Him. I am not a Christian because I have some infallibly persuasive argument for Christianity. There is no logical, watertight case against all the doubters and their arguments. I am not a Christian because I understand the exact mechanism by which Jesus rose from the dead, or how salvation works, or how the transformation takes place inside a human soul. I am a Christian because IT WORKS. I do not understand how vitamins work, but that does not stop me from deriving their benefit. I do not understand all the biochemical mechanisms that take place to digest and metabolize my food. And yet if I demanded to understand that mechanism before taking another bite, I would be dead right now. I eat by faith. I have childlike trust that food is good for me, and unquestioningly receive it and enjoy it. Just ask my mother. From earliest childhood I have tasted food, found out how wonderful it is, and seen myriads of people around me enjoying it and being enlarged by it. I have seen it work without understanding why. Some of you reading this are spiritually dead right now because you think that in order to be a Christian you must answer all the thousand questions your intellect has about life, the universe, and everything before you can accept it. Yet you have been feeding your body unquestioningly without sacrificing your magnificent intellect. Why not feed your starving spirit with the only thing that can satisfy its hunger, the living and abiding Word of God? I am not asking you to mindlessly swallow Christianity. I am encouraging you to investigate it, research it, give it at least as much scrutiny as you do the food content of your latest diet. If one-third of the world population professes Christianity it must be worth checking out. Go rent "Jesus of Nazareth" from your local video store and watch it with your family. Read the book called "Mere Christianity" by C. S. Lewis, the Oxford literary genius. Read the New Testament. The Word of God has the power within it to cause a supernatural transformation in your life if you'll put it inside you. And the wondrous surprise about reading words that are alive is that if you are an honest seeker after truth, you will have a genuine encounter with the One who is behind those words. That is supernatural Christianity.
@ copyright 1995 by Scott H. Northrup. All rights reserved.