"Christianity is good, but truth is subjective" ~John Doe

Hello John Doe,

Thanks so much for writing. I really enjoyed the message you wrote, and I love to talk about this subject. I've answered your statements in turn (your comments in blue), and I would dearly appreciate your feedback. I hope you find my responses entertaining, if not enlightening. I am certainly not qualified to answer for Christianity, God or the Bible as a whole, but think of me as someone making the same journey of discovery as you and just here to compare notes from the paths I've travelled with yours...

Every human being has a universal right to his or her own supernatural beliefs. I will not attempt to disprove your message, but instead give insight as to why it does not work for my own life.

That is very respectful, and I appreciate where you're coming from.

The human brain has an incredible need to structure and organize information coming from the world. The question "Is there really a god?" really boils down to "why are we here?" An uncountable number of beliefs and religions spawned from this very question. People need to answer this question for themselves, based on what is right for them.

While I agree that humanity likes to categorize and define, and I agree that we're all imprinted with a strong desire to find out "why we are here" and what purpose there is to life, I'd like you to clarify this idea of "what is right for them". What do you think makes an answer right for one person and not for another?

Once you believe something fully, in faith, it becomes truth, and it is truth. Truth is subjective to the individual. What is true for one person may not be true for another. God does exist; he will exist as long as people believe in him. People will find an answer to the eternal question if that is what he or she is set out to do. "You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you." (Jeremiah 29: 13-14)

I'm afraid the statement "Truth is subjective to the individual" especially the implying "all truth" is impossible. Since the statement itself is one of truth, in order for it to be true, it would have to be subjective itself and not always true (click here for more info or visit www.rzim.com). In philosophy, this is known as a "self-defeating" statement. By it's own definition, it cannot be so.

Even moreso, if something is true to those who believe it, I believe that God is real and that those who reject Him are REALLY going to Hell (not because I or even God wants that to happen). If you are right, Christianity is true for those who believe it. But Christianity says that there is only one truth. In other words, if you are right then you are wrong. My grandfather claims to believe in relativism, and my mother asked him "so, you believe that I will go to Heaven when I die because that's what I believe, and that you will go to nothing because that's what you believe?" He admitted, "No, I don't think you'll go to heaven" thus admitting that he doesn't in fact ascribe to relativism or subjective truth. I pose the same question to you.

In my own life, I spent my childhood years in the church, and I still respect the institution for what it does. Community outreach programs are fantastic for the world. The saying "what goes around comes around" is true on a global scale. The world is like a messy bedroom. People throw dirty laundry everywhere and then wonder where the stench is coming from. As John Donne writes in 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' that "No man is an Island, entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main." We're all stuck on this rock together, and our actions will undoubtedly affect other humans. The institution of the church understands better than any other.

I appreciate your respect for the church. Scripture tells us that God loves all people and in fact that God is Love. It even says that a Christian who fails to love his brother (anyone) is not actually a Christian (1 John 4:20). However, CS Lewis makes a good point that Christianity is not about being helpful primarily. He says "Christianity claims to give an account of facts - to tell you what the real universe is like… If Christianity is untrue, then no honest man will want to believe it, however helpful it mioght be: if it is true, every honest man will want to believe it, even if it gives him no help at all… Here is a door behind which, according to some people, the secret of the universe is waiting for you. Either that's true, or it isn't. And if it isn't, then what the door really conceals is simply the greatest fraud, the most colossal 'sell' on record. Isn't it obviously the job of every man (that is a man and not a rabbit) to try to find out which, and then to devote his full energies either to serving this tremendous secret or to exposing and destroying this gigantic humbug? Faced with such and issue, can you really remain wholly absorbed in your own blessed 'moral development'?"

Unfortunately, there are some beliefs that just do not work for me. One is that there is a single correct way of thinking, one way in and one way out.

I'd like to hear your opinions on why this doesn't work. For me, it makes sense that if someone created us, they would want us to know and have a relationship with him, not just come up with whatever we want and have nothing to do with him. The idea of "whatever you feel like is fine" only works if there in fact is no God at all. Besides, everything else in life works the same. You can't expect to keep a job if you break your employers rules no matter how hard your own beliefs differ. And, unlike in Bugs Bunny, the force of gravity doesn't cease to make you fall just because you don't believe in it.

My personal truths are different in some areas. To me, the conclusion cannot be drawn that because something is very complex, it means it had to be created by God. If medieval knights saw a commercial airline jet, they would attribute it in some way to a vehicle of a supernatural being.

That's true, complexity alone doesn't prove God's existence. It is, however, a strong piece of evidence. As you say, if knights saw an airplane, they'd think it was created by God and they'd be wrong (at least not directly). However, they would be correct to identify it as designed by someone. Complexity may not prove God Himself, but I believe it does necessitate a designer.

The Earth is a near perfect place for life to exist. What are the odds that out of billions of galaxies that just one star may have a planet, say, about 93million miles from the sun? Chances are there are a few.

It's true that chances are good that there are a few other planets with the right distance from a star, but that is only one of several dozen specific requirements that must be met in order for life to be possible. The chances of all of these being met in one planet are astronomically against. The number of galaxies in space doesn't come anywhere even close to providing the number of planets it would take to produce even one by chance (I don't have a source to quote off-hand, but if you're interested, I believe I can find it again).

On the subject of biology, I believe there are holes in both evolution and creation. Not enough is known about evolution to trace back to the very first living organism. In my personal belief, I believe neither is completely true, and without sufficient evidence, leave it at that.

I don't disagree with you about evolution and creation not having enough knowledge to prove either way. I believe there will never be enough evidence to produce 100% certainty, at least until judgment day. If there were, and God could be totally proven, then we'd have no choice but to believe in Him, no need for faith and no free will.

God pursues those who pursue him, and those who need him, will follow him.

Please elaborate on "those who need him, will follow him." Do you mean what Marx and Nietsche meant that people believe in God because they want there to be someone there taking care of them, or did you mean something else? I would respond to that, but I don't want to waste your time if that's not what you meant.

In conclusion, I believe that God is real for those who believe in him, and has had a greater impact on the world than any other ideal. True subjectivity means there is more than more answer to the question, and it varies for each person. In my own believe, since no conclusion can be drawn, I will leave it at that and take life as it comes.

So, you have not drawn a conclusion for yourself. But, just because you don't know what the answer is, does not mean there is no single answer. Does it not strike you that to "take life as it comes" is just to ignore an issue that you really don't have settled for yourself? I may be wrong in what I believe, but I am actively seeking the truth. I don't ever want to shut out possibilities without considering them, because I may find out after it's too late that there was something vitally true that I was too lazy to investigate.

One final question for you. If you believe that truth is relative, then you must also believe that morality is subjective. If that is true, how can you claim anything to be unfair or unjust? How can you say that the murder of innocent children or a stranger punching you in the nose is wrong?

Again, I hope this helps in some way, and I'd love to hear your response. I hope to hear from you soon, and continue this path of mutual discovery!

Your friend,

~Jeff