Search for Answers

Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.

– GK Chesterton

Normally, I would have taken her on a wild goose chase. Better still, I would have played along the same just to see where the story would lead. On this occasion, however, I was a bit concerned. “You mean the Zeitgeist?” I asked. She looked perplexed. “How did you know?” She asked. “Could it be that they have been lying to us all along? She asked looking deeply concerned. Jesus was definitely copied from ancient deities and we have no way of knowing that Christianity is true? This definitely came as a shocker to me. Was she beginning to get conflicted? I wondered. I had always known that her faith in God was secure which made this very unexpected. Why all of sudden did this Zeitgeist seem to be considerably convincing?

There is always that occasional moment when one is faced with a new idea and not know what to do about it. Or perhaps it’s that guy who, wanting to be and overnight sensation, wakes up and writes about their new found freedom, in rejecting Christianity. There is always that new information that challenges our previously held belief. What are we to do about it? Many people have a general disdain for investigation and will only seek to maintain the status quo for so long it works for them. This view is synonymous to the proverbial ostrich who buried his head in the sand and imagined that the danger was no longer looming since it was no longer apparent.  Most of those who espouse such a view have a very limited impact if any in society.

It has become quite concerning to see many young people especially here in Africa getting carried away by simple and often poorly researched ideas on the internet. From ideas that Christianity is a white man religion and the fake origins of Christianity, to more subtle issues dealing with sexuality there is not a scarcity of ideas which seem to compete with the truth of scripture. One is left to wonder why these false ideas seem quite appealing and compelling to a virgin mind? In such an age of information proliferation with a mass market of ideas , one is at a loss on how to evaluate information or how to arrive at truth.

On one hand, quite a lot can be attributed to our context which for a very long-time has had truth shoved upon us by our fathers, who believed that truth should be received fundamentally without question. Characteristically, many who have walked away from organized religion are from such backgrounds feeling that truth was imposed upon them without room for external exploration. In essence, it is more of a rejection of the religion of our fathers than it is a rejection of the truth. Thus, these new ideas have more of an emotive appeal than a rational one.

Tools for investigation

Largely however, I think there is a clear lack of training on how to investigate and evaluate worldviews. We have quite a number who are eager to pursue knowledge but lack the requisite tools to effectively evaluate and critic the same. My intention is to try and bridge this gap between desire and tools for the pursuit of knowledge. I do not consider this list exhaustive or even fully adequate, but I thought I could share some of the insights I have developed while seeking for answers.

• Maintain an open mind

Cliché! might be your initial response. The overwhelming evidence, though, is that many are really not a truth quest but rather a convenience quest. In the disguise of an open mind, what we really have is a desire of an affirmation. An honest introspection yields only one truth: maintaining an open mind is perhaps one of the most difficult activity in any truth pursuit. We have to be alive to our own biases and presuppositions that might affect our approach to information.

Care must, however, be taken not to make an ‘open-mind’ an end in itself. As GK Chesterton is famously known to say, ‘Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid. Otherwise, it could end up like a city sewer, rejecting nothing’. The aim of open mindedness is to unbiasedly reflect through the plethora of ideas with an aim of settling on the truth (i.e. become close minded). Or as some will say, we should extend our open mindedness to include close mindedness.

• Learn some logic

A background in philosophy is perhaps foundational to any pursuit of knowledge. Contrary to common thinking each person has a philosophy of life whether held consciously or unconsciously. Each person has a way in which they answer the big questions of life including the idea that these questions cannot be answered. Moreover, all worldviews and religions espouse certain philosophical truths within themselves and to identify with any one of them requires an affirmation of the same. It is thus critical that we develop a mind that is able to think through the various philosophical underpinnings of any worldview

Secondly, most arguments are often propagated on the basis of false premises or invalid logic commonly known as fallacious arguments. A simple understanding of logic comes in handy in wading through such arguments and being able to settle on the truth. It is thus imperative for a genuine seeker to have some knowledge on how good arguments should be structured and how to identify logical fallacies. More often than not, you will find that you can easily dismiss false ideas using logic even without full knowledge of the worldview teaches.

• Read from both sides of the divide

As Os Guinness has succinctly put it, comparison is the mother of clarity. Its not just important to ask the right questions but also that we get the right answers too. The tragedy of seekers today is that they tend to get answers only from one side and not the other. I find it hilarious when one is willing to base their whole world view on the authority of one or two people simply because they seem to agree with them. The idea here is to find the best of the available material and arguments on both sides of the divide and critic them. I have personally found debates to be quite useful since they allow one to have a balanced view over an issue

• Try to get the best available

Experience has shown that a majority of ideas in the public space are more or less sensationalized slogans which bear limited or no place in academia. Moreover, there’s this great chasm between academia and popular thinking which am afraid is yet to be bridged. This is especially the case because we tend to gravitate towards what we find appealing rather than what is true. These empty slogans sound very appealing but carry with them very little content. This we should strive to be on the look out for.

Take for example the idea of Jesus being a mythological figure who never existed in history. For most of us in the public space, this might sound like a compelling argument but it is not a view that is held by historians.

• Engage with the Fundamentals

Find out what is fundamental to the worldview and what is peripheral and engage with the fundamental issues. This demands a good grasp of your current world-view before moving on to investigate others. It is of no value rejecting Christianity because it is not clear how many angels were at the tomb of Jesus or because the ending of Mark is in question. Find out what it central to the world view. For example, did Jesus really rise from the dead?

In conclusion, Christians and especially Christian apologists, have to develop the acumen to sift through worldviews. We have to be convinced that Christianity is not afraid of investigation. The evidence for the world-view towers over other world views and we can be certain that a candid investigation of the same will yield the words of the roman soldier at the cross: This indeed was the Son of God

Finally, we have to continually rely on God for guidance. The scriptures remind us that we have to develop a certain sense of humility while approaching the things of God since after all spiritual truth is spiritually discerned.