Why I believe what I believe

Just a note from my current quiet-time - I have been reading Lee Strobel's book, The Case for Christ, which brought to mind my journey for truth.

I was raised in the Protestant church from infancy. I had been sprinkled and dunked, sang in the choir and was in church everytime the doors opened. But none of that was going to get me to Heaven. While in high school, I made a profession of faith. However, in my 30's I developed an unquenchable thirst for spiritual knowledge. We were attending First Bible Church under the teaching of Steve Bateman. He taught us not to take everything we heard as truth, even from him, without checking things out ourselves. One of his favorite phrases was, "Don't check your brain at the door!". About that same time, I was confronted by someone's comment, "You base all you believe on the Bible and I don't believe in the Bible". Because of this, I had to ask myself - what did I believe and why did I believe it? Was it because of what I had been taught growing up in the church? What if what I had been taught was wrong or had been altered? How would I know? So began my search. Since eveything I believed was based on the Bible, I started there. I looked into the historicity of the Bible and the transmisson of it over the last two centuries. I looked for extra-biblical evidence to corroborate the Bible. Long story short, I gained complete confidence in what I believe and why. There are many great books out there that help, but The Case for Christ lays everything out so logically that I can't understand why everyone doesn't see it!

We have God's Word in our hands, something many people in the world are denied. I urge everyone to search for themselves the reasons for their beliefs. Ask for God's leading to be able to defend why you believe what you believe!

Maria
jcoker@email.caminternational.org