Evidence vs Revelation

by Tom Crawford

9/15/2007

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In talking about the difference between blind faith and true, reasonable faith, I quoted from the book of Romans in the Bible:

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."  Romans 1:18-20 NASB^® - emphasis mine

This passage of Scripture, written by the Apostle Paul, says that there are things that God made evident to man through creation.  Even though it does not state it here, God has also made other things evident through creation, history, morality, and science.  As such, we do not exercise blind faith when we believe these things, because there is ample evidence behind these facts to remove reasonable doubt.  Some of the things that God has made evident are:

• God’s existence
• Many of the attributes of God
• The fact of Creation – time, space, matter, and energy all were created out of nothing by God
• Truth is not relative, it is concrete, it is not something different for different people
• Which religion out of the thousands of religions that are out there is the One True Religion
• Which God we should worship
• The historical accuracy of the Bible
• The authoritative nature of the Bible
• The fact that the Bible we have has been accurately passed down to us, just as it was written and passed down by the Apostles and Prophets (there are a few (very few) uncertainties, and we know exactly where these uncertainties are)
• That Jesus Christ existed
• Who the true Messiah is – that Jesus Christ was the only person that has ever existed that qualifies as the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament of the Bible
• That Jesus Christ died on the cross
• That Jesus Christ rose physically from the dead
• That man is a moral creature
• That man is sinful

On the other hand, there are many things that a Christian accepts in pure (but not blind) faith.  These things are revealed through God’s word, the Bible, and the Christian believes them because God is faithful and trustworthy.  Some of the things that God has revealed through the Bible are:

• Some of the attributes of God
• That God is a Trinity – One God eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
• Creation took place in 6 days, not in billions of years (in the Earth’s relativistic time frame)
• That man is both a physical and a spiritual being, different from the animals (this may be debatable as to which list it really goes into)
• The wrath of God against sinful man (it says this in the verses quoted above)
• That you as a sinner are condemned to a future Lake of Fire (not pleasant news)
• That the Bible is the inspired word of God (verbal inspiration = the very words, plenary inspiration = all the words)
• That Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for your sins, and thereby reconcile you to God
• That if you put your trust in Jesus Christ, that He died to pay the penalty for your sins and that He rose again from the dead, that God will forgive you of your sins, credit Jesus Christ’s righteousness to you, and give you eternal life as a free gift (good news)
• That man has an eternal nature – we will all be raised up and either live forever with God in His kingdom, or spend the future in the Lake of Fire

I could keep adding to both lists.  These are things I could think of off the top of my head.  God has made certain things evident, and He has revealed certain things to us that we can only know through His written revelation.

The name of my website and blog is “GodIsEvident”.  It is my desire and plan to discuss the things that God has made evident, and thereby show that it is not the Christian that exercises blind faith, but instead, it is the atheist and agnostic and in many cases other religions that exercise blind faith because their faith is not based on evidence and truth.

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