by Andrea Vigil-Ruiz

For the past four years, it has been a privilege to be given the opportunity to be a part of Youth Group as a staffer. Youth Group ranges from 6th – 12th grade and usually meets on Friday nights for Bible study and Sundays for Sunday school. When working with the youth, there can be many questions about the Christian faith that can come up: Why do Christians always talk about the Bible? How do I know that God exists? How do I know if the Christian faith is true? Why should I believe in Christianity as opposed to other religions? Overall, there can be a perception that being a Christian is somewhat mystical, driven by one’s emotions and feelings and cannot really be explained with reasonable reasons. During Sunday school this year, we are going through the book Reasons We Believe by Nathan Busenitz with the hopes of showing the youth that there are actual, tangible, reasonable reasons why Christianity is true and that Christianity is not a blind faith.

Since September, Johnny, Hansol, and Cesar have been on a rotation to teach through two reasons from the book each Sunday. Cesar kicked off the start of the Sunday school term with an introduction to why it’s important to know and understand the reasons we believe in Christianity. Knowing and understanding the reasons that support and defend the Christian faith can be beneficial in two ways: first, to help one grown in his own understanding of the veracity of the faith, ultimately leading to a greater appreciation and awe of God, and second, to equip the believer with the “tools” needed to talk about why the Christian faith is the one and only way with unbelievers.

After that initial Sunday introduction to the study, we dove into the reasons why we believe in God. Due to limited space, this article will address three of the 16 reasons that were presented in Sunday school so far. One of the reasons we believe in God is because the order and design of life that we see around us points to a Creator. The Bible explains that God is the creator of the universe (Genesis 1:1-30) and the overall design of life testifies to God’s creative power (Job 38-41; Psalm 104-1-35). Modern medical and biological science also points to the complexity of life. An example Busenitz uses is the complexity of DNA and how DNA is composed of very specific sequences of data (in the form of four bases: adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine) to complete the genetic code. Given the complexity of how specific the DNA sequence must be points to how this complexity cannot have happened randomly.

More so, when one looks at the creation of man, the idea of a Designer is supported even more. Christian apologist John Gerstner says, “There is more in the universe than mere life. There is intelligent life. There is a kind of life which not only lives but which thinks about living….How could matter, which has no life in itself, actually produce a life which can reflect on matter and tell it that it has no life in itself?” Even the human ability to defy the existence of God is proof of a Designer because the level of intelligence to think about such questions testifies to His existence. During this Sunday school session, the Design (Teleological) Argument was presented to the youth. At the end of the session, the youth were asked to think about how even the most minute biological system requires such specificity in order to function correctly (the flagellar motor system of bacterial cells requires 30 proteins and if even one is missing, the entire system cannot function properly). This session encouraged the youth to look at the complexity of life around them and see that the existence and function of these complex structures, down to even the most minute organism, cannot be due to random forces.

During another session of Sunday School, we went over how the human sense of morality points to a Lawgiver. The argument here points to how all humans have a conscience that is intrinsically aware of right and wrong. In Romans, the conscience is described as “the work of the law [that] is written on [people’s] hearts” (2:15) because “what can be known about God is plain to them” (Romans 1:19; cf 1:32). This reveals that there is a higher moral order where God is the Standard and Judge (Ecclesiastes 12:14). This moral conscience can also be seen across cultures (for example, stealing, lying, and murdering are seen as evil regardless of where you are from geographically), and not as a result of Western Judeo-Christian culture. Moreover, there are universal rights that all cultures agree on, such as the right to love and kindness. Of course, sometimes this moral conscience can malfunction due to being fed the wrong information (1 Corinthians 8:7; Titus 1:15) or when it is ignored for too long (1 Timothy 4:2).

The existence of a moral conscience with humans also shows that depending solely on a biological explanation for the existence of creation (such as the survival of the fittest theory) is neither sufficient nor makes sense. This session also addressed the existence of evil. The question “Why does evil exist?” is often asked, but Busenitz sees this question as a presupposition in support of the existence of God. We are able to identify what is morally evil because of the existence of God, who is the Standard of good. Busenitz writes, “Deep in our hearts we understand something is unrighteous or unjust — it offends us, saddens us, and causes us to cry out for justice. We rejoice when good triumphs over evil, and we feel violated when it does not.” For people across cultures to understand generally what is morally good and bad, it has to point to the existence a divine Creator and Lawgiver who is the ultimate standard of good.

Currently, we are in the section about the evidence for why we believe in the Bible. One reason we believe the Bible is the Word of God is that the Bible is marked by a clear and consistent message. The Bible was written from 1400 BC-100 AD, which is a span of 1500 years. For the 66 books in the Bible (39 in the Old Testament; 27 in the New Testament), there were 40+ different human authors that God used to write the Bible, across different geographic locations (Asia, Africa, and Europe), and in different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek). Not only that,  these authors were all from different backgrounds and vocations. Just to name a few of the human authors, there were: Moses, a prince (Exodus 2:10, cf. Hebrews 11:24-25) who became a shepherd (Exodus 3:1); David, a shepherd (1 Samuel 16:11-13) who became a king (2 Samuel 2:4); Paul, a former Pharisee (Philippians 3:5); and Luke, a Gentile physician (Colossians 4:14).

Given the varying conditions of where and when the Bible was written and by whom, this is evidence that God is the unifying factor in the authorship of the Bible. And even with such varying locations, languages, and authors, there is still a clear and consistent message about God, man, sin, salvation, and the end of the world. This unity in the message is also clearly seen in reference to the gospel of Jesus Christ, since He is the one that the entire Bible points to from Genesis 3:15 to Revelation 22:16. In Answers to Tough Questions Skeptics Ask about the Christian Faith, Josh McDowell and Don Stewart write, “The Old Testament is the preparation (Isaiah 40:3). The Gospels are the manifestation (John 1:29). The Book of Acts is the propagation (Acts 1:8). The epistles give the explanation (Colossians 1:27). The Book of Revelation is the consummation (Revelation 1:7). The Bible is all about Jesus.” With such a clear and consistent message from beginning to end, Christians can strongly hold firm to the belief that the Bible is from God.

To reiterate, the youth staff understands that going through this study will not ultimately save the youth. The salvation of a person is not dependent on any other human, but solely on the one who is the giver of the gift of salvation — God (Ephesians 2:8-9). By going through this study though, it is a way to encourage the youth to think about these different pieces of evidence so that they can see the Christian faith is a reasonable one, not a blind one. As a staff member, I have already been encouraged and even challenged in my own understanding of the evidence for the faith, and I look forward to the remainder of the school year in continuing in this book study. I hope the youth are, too!