How
to Know God Exists Series
The Christian Experience
As we wind down our rather
lengthy examination of God's existence, I want to offer one last
point of evidence toward the proposition that God does indeed
exist - the fact that people who become Christians experience a
changed life.
One of the promises of
Christianity is the believer will become "a new
creation" (II Cor 5:17) and will be "born again"
(John 3:16). This idea means that people will experience real
change in who they are and in their very nature. This is why
people who share Christ with others will use their testimony as
a point of evidence to the reality of Jesus.
Of the arguments that we've
discussed thus far, many might object at the idea of internal
change as being a subjective one, and so it is. However, just
because the change we speak of is subjective, that does not
diminish its reality. Scientists study the effects of
mood-altering drugs on patients, which can also be subjective,
but they can with various degrees of certainty claim that it is
the drug that is causing the patient's mood to be changed, and
not other conditions.
Is The
Experience Real?
The strength of this argument,
then, lies in finding whether the changes are a real result of
something happening outside the individual, or is it merely the
belief of the individual himself that is causing the change. Dr.
J.P. Moreland states the problem in this way, "It is
possible to argue that all such experiences are merely
psychological or perhaps the result of sociological factors like
peer pressure. One could hold that some sort of placebo effect
is going on."1
If such a placebo effect is
occurring, then it is not God changing people's lives, but it is
the people believing their lives are changed that are
responsible for the said change. If this is true, then we don't
prove God at all.
So, how can we determine whether
a placebo effect is happening? Or how can we tell if some other
factor is causing such a change? Moreland lays out three main
points as to why we can claim the Christian experience as valid:
- The claim of personal
religious experience of God doesn't deny psychological
factors, it merely claims that they are not enough in
themselves to explain a transformed life. This means that
people will of course be subject to both social and
psychological influences. However, these influences do not
by themselves have adequate power to explain religious
transformation. In fact, religious experiences exhibit
properties that are unique to themselves.
- Attempts to reduce religious
transformation to psychological factors must assume there
are some common factors that would cause the similar
experiences. However, as we see more diversity in the causes
of people's lives being changed, that explanation becomes
less likely to be true. In other words, as the sample size
grows, and the backgrounds and other variables are
eliminated as a common cause, the more difficult it is to
ascribe such a change to a psychological cause.
- Finally, religious
transformation in Christianity is tied to objective events
(the resurrection) and an objective interpretive grid (the
Bible) which render transformation probable. This point is
perhaps the most important. These experiences are not based
on only the belief of the subject, but they are linked
directly to an event that is historically verifiable. The
Bible also predicts that this type of experience would
happen to the believer (as shown in the second paragraph
above).2
Now, I am not arguing that we
should accept all claims of religious experience as actual. We
must approach these as we would any other truth-claims: in a
discerning manner using the points I've outlined above.
How We Should
Approach Subjective Truth Claims
Josh McDowell demonstrates how he
approaches subjective claims. "There are two questions or
tests I apply to a subjective experience. First what is the
objective reality for the subjective experience, and second, how
many other people have had the same subjective experience from
being related to the objective reality?"
McDowell then goes on to use an
example of a man who claims a fried egg over his ear gave him
joy and peace, and shows how this flunks his test. However, when
judging claims of changed lives from believing in the objective
reality of Jesus Christ and His resurrection he says "the
evidence is overwhelming. .. that truly millions from all
backgrounds, nationalities and professions have seen their lives
elevated to new levels of peace and joy by turning their lives
over to Christ."3
Because there exists a vast
number of people from all cultures over nearly two thousand
years who made similar claims of transformation bolster our
position that their experiences come from outside of themselves.
And by understanding these three points, we can make a viable
claim that God is really working in the lives of those who
believe in Him and therefore He exists.
Next month we'll recap each of
the points we've made for the existence of God and summarize our
argument. I hope you'll join us then. Until next month, God
bless.
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