Just as no building can stand without adequate supports, so, too, Christianity can’t stand without authentic pillars. Because its pillars are solid, the Christian faith also is objectively true.
Pillar number one: A creative, eternal, all-powerful, all-present, all-knowing, and loving God. We see many of these divine qualities in the first words of the Bible. God also is both real and personal. He also is just and holy; to Him all things are not the same. He is the source of absolute truth, for He is the source of reality. In addition, God reveals Himself in nature. In other words, we can learn a great deal about God simply by observing the created order, the interactions within it, and the uniqueness of human beings.
Pillar number two: Real, historical events in which God has acted to accomplish His purposes.
Pillar number three: A trustworthy and reliable written revelation of God to humanity. We have this in the Bible, which we rightly refer to as God’s Written Word.
Sometimes a person might say something like this. “The Bible is not primarily a book of science, history, psychology, philosophy, or moral teachings, but a book of faith.” The person more than likely means that we look to the Bible to learn about God and how He wants us to live—and this is true. Yet whenever and wherever the Bible speaks to history, psychology, philosophy, science, or any other field of knowledge or study, it speaks accurately and reliably. The reason is because of what the Bible is. It is a book of divinely revealed truth, but let’s be even more specific. It is a written record of truth God has disclosed about Himself, the world, humanity, sin, life, death, eternity, and many other things.
Pillar number four: A personal revelation of God to humanity in the person of Jesus Christ, who is God in human flesh. Jesus, in fact, is the central focus of the Christian faith. Jesus came to earth as a human being without ceasing to be God, lived a perfect life, and on a Passover Friday died on a Roman cross to pay the penalty for human sin. On Sunday morning, He rose from the dead and subsequently appeared to His followers multiple times before ascending back to the Father, even as angels assured His disciples that He one day would return.
Pillar number five: Ethical teachings that mirror God’s character and that contrast to man’s sinful nature as well as the choice of every human being to follow his or her own way rather than God’s. Ethical teachings are guidelines that tell people how to live, like the Ten Commandments.
Pillar number six: An invitation to humanity from God making it possible for us to avoid His wrath, experience His mercy and grace, and get to know Him personally and intimately (go here and here). When we accept God’s invitation, God the Holy Spirit regenerates us, giving us a new spiritual life.
Pillar number seven: Reasonable, clear answers to life’s basic questions. We look around us, and intuitively we know things are not as they ought to be. Why are things out of kilter? Christianity offers us substantive and adequate, though not exhaustive, answers. The explanations it gives us make sense of the world we live in as does no other belief system. The Christian faith tells us
- how we got here,
- how we got into the mess we are in,
- the ultimate solution to our problems, and
- how God will resolve things in the end.
It also shows us how we fit into God’s master plan.
Since the seven pillars are real, Christianity also is true, period—regardless of what people think or feel about it.
Christianity and the biblical worldview square with reality because they are true regardless of people’s emotions and opinions. Thus, they are real even if people think they are not and even if they feel they shouldn’t be.
In other words, Christianity and the biblical worldview square with reality because they are true in the absolute, objective sense.
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Copyright © 2017 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.