I think that one of the difficulties to believing in Christianity or believing in any particular religion is the reality of religious pluralism. It seems that there are a lot of options.
Now as a strict logical problem, the mere existence of other possibilities does not rule out the truth of Christianity. And assuming that God does exist, it is not hard to imagine that there would be imposters or compromised versions of the truth. The Bible clearly alerts us to false teachers. And the narratives in the Old Testament show us a record of Jewish monotheism confronting a pluralistic world. The new Testament shows us Jesus alone as Lord and King, a threat both to polytheism and the ultimacy of Caesar's power. So the threat is not new, and there is nothing inherently wrong about searching for the true God amidst the options.
The boisterous atheists today will sometimes say something like this. Christians deny every other God but Yahweh. The atheists simply go one God further...
I do want to recognize that there is an initial appeal to this, perhaps an emotional appeal. The problem of religious pluralism is less a logical problem than a gut emotional problem. It is assumed that there is a certain sort of arrogance to claiming to know the truth about God, to know his identity. The problem of religious pluralism is one that I feel. It may be the biggest cause of any doubts that I ever have. Because it feels like, if Christianity turns out to be true, that it wasn't fair. That I lucked out. And it feels difficult to share the Gospel with others who have simply grown up and taken on the faith of their parents... like I have.
From all this I need a breath of fresh air.
The truth about reality - whether there is a God, who he is, what he is like - is not dependent on me or the family into which I was born.
So I need to ask the question as simply and honestly as possible: What is true? And in doing so, I do not need to be over-eager to renounce the faith of my family in order to avoid some vague feeling of guilt for being born when and where I was. Indeed, what is true?
Is my faith in Jesus an arbitrary choice? Or are there good reasons to be Christian specifically? Have I decided to believe in God and then simply picked? Or is there a uniqueness to Christianity?
I think there is a uniqueness to Christianity, and a significant part of it is to be found in its distinctly historical character. Take Buddhism as an example of a religion in which this is not true. The main thing in Buddhism is a philosophy of life. It is about certain ideals and ways of thinking about and doing life. It is not specifically dependent on the historicity of the Buddha for its important parts. If Buddhism had gotten started some different way, it would not much have mattered to what it is and how it is now practiced.
Christianity is historical at its heart. The Gospel is not primarily good ideas; it is primarily Good News. Christianity at its heart is not so much about a way of life and a list of things that we must do. It is at its heart about some amazing things that God has already done.
The massively important bit in Christianity that we must do is believe. In God. Not merely an abstract idea of God or in some abstract philosophy of life. We must believe in God's love for us. But not his love as an abstract idea. In a concrete love that has spilled over into saving action in the cross as related in the Bible. The cross shows the uniqueness of Christianity.
Christ came in humble majesty. And there is a majestic humility in the historical character of Christianity. This faith opens itself up to verification. It lays itself on the dissection table. This is where Mormonism runs into trouble. Mormonism tells stories, but they have been far more easily falsifiable. Christianity, on the other hand, has walked well hand-in-hand with historical investigation. Some atheists will irresponsibly claim that Christ did not even exist, which is laughable, and demonstrates that they have not studied history. There are early non-Christian sources, such as Tacitus and Josephus, who help us piece together a story of early Christianity that agrees with the Bible. Archaeology is revealing how accurate all the name-dropping of the New and Old Testaments have been. Read the book of Acts. Luke is name-dropping all over the place. Because he cares about accuracy, and he wants to tell the story truly.
Christianity is brave to hang its hat on history, especially the crucifixion and resurrection. But it has stood well the test of historical verification. (Of course you will still be able to find those with contrary views, but if you are an atheist, I challenge you to check out this evidence for yourself. The Bible turns out to be very historically reliable.)
I believe in God. It makes more sense of the world for me. It makes sense of why I feel a moral law pressing on me. It makes sense of the scientific evidence for a beginning to the world. It makes sense of why there is something rather than nothing. It makes sense why the great majority of humans in history have been spiritually searching. It makes sense of why the universe is orderly. And also fallen and struggling.
I do not believe in multiple gods. If there are multiple gods, where did they come from? The one who was there first, the most powerful one, or the law that governs the gods would seem to be the real God. Monotheism makes more sense to me than polytheism.
Among the main monotheistic contenders, I think that Christianity gets Jesus right. I think that Islam and Judaism gets Jesus wrong. Judaism fails to recognize him, and Islam demotes him from what the New Testament seems to teach. I think that the New Testament documents open themselves up to historical inquiry, and I think they withstand this test well. (Of course, those who approach the question of the New Testament on dogmatic secular assumptions will inevitably reach secular conclusions. But if you approach it with an openness, I believe you will find the New Testament to be reliable.)
Those who are Christians need not feel as if they have simply chosen one among many options. Like we have simply reached into a bag.
And I might add, the Christian must not feel like he should have tried out everything before meeting Christ. When you meet the love of your life, if you really love them, you bind yourself to them, and it would be unthinkable to go out and sleep around before settling down. If you have doubts, deal with them, but I hope that your Christianity runs deeper than a mere change-of-clothes.
God is who he is. And he is worth finding.
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