Is Christianity Merely A Subjective Belief System?

Does truth, facts and evidence have anything to do with the religion of Jesus Christ?   Is the only foundation for belief in Jesus Christ subjective in nature?  This is certainly not what the Bible teaches, but more and more people are coming to these conclusions.   Most disturbing is the fact (did I really say fact?) that people who profess to be Christians are believing and teaching such things.   We are told as a religious maxim “not to judge others” as if there is no basis upon which to judge anyone or anything.  And we are told that if we “judge others” that is a bad thing, which itself is a “judgment”.    If we have no right to “judge”, how can we declare anything to be “bad” or “good”?   Once you do away with standards, you can use any measurement you wish.

Is Christianity simply a matter of what one chooses to believe?    Is belief in Christ contrary to all reason and logic?   Is believing totally subjective in nature and not subject to proof or any use of human reason?   Is faith totally “blind” and not based upon anything but our choosing to believe?   Does faith fall into a different realm from scientific inquiry or other areas of human disciplines and discovery?    Does faith lie totally outside of the realm of empirical evidence?  Does it rest on no stronger foundation than that of many of the eastern religions who teach “If you believe that something is, then to you, it is.”?    Is perception reality?   Is faith simply your own personal choice?   Like, you have your faith, I have my faith and others may choose to have a different faith, but all faiths are equally valid.  If all faiths are equally valid, then they are equally invalid.   So what difference does it make anyhow?  Folks, I have always asked a lot of questions.  That is the only way I know how to grow in knowledge and understanding.

Is truth merely an illusion of the mind?    The humanists teach that there are no absolutes.   There is nothing that we can say that is absolutely right or wrong.   One person’s philosophy is just as good as that of another.   We should not be judgmental because there is no objective way of measuring anything.    We ought sweeten our tone by submerging ourselves in a spirit of ecumenicalism.  Are we becoming a country that has lost all sense of reason and logic?    Millions are being influenced by the philosophy of subjectivism and no longer care about facts, proof and evidence.   This is affecting our politics, economics, our homes and every facet of society.    We are fast becoming a lawless society driven by polls. 

In such a short article, I cannot address the broader issues involved, but I can address some of the specifics that deal with religion.    As a Christian, I do believe in God, not based on blind faith, but on evidence.  As a Christian, I do believe that the Bible is the word of God, not because this is what I personally choose to believe, but because of compelling evidence.   I also believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, not because this is something that is comforting or feels good, but rather, I find the evidence compelling and overwhelming.  For those who believe that everything is relative, the Bible itself must seem extremely out of touch for the times, for I am not aware of any book that is more dogmatic and unyielding than the Bible.

Bible Warns About Subjective Thinking

Here are a few passages from the Bible warning about the danger of subjective thinking.  

Pro. 14:12: “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death”.    Note: the same thing is taught in Proverbs 16:25.  Just because something seems right, that does not make it right.  We may believe a lie thinking that it is the truth.

Pro. 3:5-6: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”  Note: Our own understanding is limited and is not something that we can lean on as a foundation.

Judges 21:25:  “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”  (Note: How did such thinking work out?  It produced confusion and destruction.  They became a lawless society.)

Jer. 10:23: “I know, O LORD, that a man's way is not in himself, nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.”  (According to Jeremiah, a prophet of God, this “inner light” philosophy does not work).

Three Prominent Passages

Warning About Subjective Thinking

When people refuse to have God in their knowledge, the end result is that they are blinded and walk according to the instincts of their own hearts.  They do not have a true understanding of what is real and what is false.  They have no foundation or standard by which to make judgments.   They can be deceived into believing that right is wrong and wrong is right.   Looks like I have just described the first sin committed by Eve.  She thought that Satan had told her the truth.  She thought that she would become like God knowing good and evil, and besides that, the forbidden fruit looked good and tasted good.  How could something that appears so good ever be bad?    This is a fundamental truth, at the beginning of the Bible, regarding man’s rejection of the ways of God.   Read carefully the following passage:

Genesis 3:1-6:  "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, 'Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?'  The woman said to the serpent, 'From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;  but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'  The serpent said to the woman, 'You surely will not die!  For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.' When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate." (Note: The lesson here is that Eve was deceived and believed a lie.  To her, Satan’s lie was the truth.  She believed the lie, but that did not make it true.  The lie appealed to her on different levels, but it was still a lie and was not based on reality.  There is only one reality that we can depend upon – God and his word.  Another major passage that emphasizes the same truth is found in the great passage below:)

Romans 1:21-32:  “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  Professing to be wise, they became fools,  and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.  Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.  For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.  For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,  and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.  And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,  being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,  slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,  without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;  and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”  (Note:  Instead of honoring God and recognizing God as creator, they started creating their own gods from their own minds.  Now be honest folks!  Does not the above describe and explain the world in which we now live?   When people are caught up in a mass deception, it is hard to dissuade them.  But beliefs have consequences and taking polls do not change the facts.)

Another passage I want you to consider is 2 Thess. 2:3-12 which describes the spirit of lawlessness and apostasy springing from the world of religion itself.  Read carefully these words:

2 Thess. 2:3-12:  "Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.  Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed.  For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.  Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,   and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.  For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false,  in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness."

When the apostle Paul wrote the above warnings, this mystery was already at work among those who professed to be followers of Jesus Christ.   Satan was up to his old tricks in producing false powers, signs and wonders to deceive the people. The truth was taken out of their hearts and they were caused to believe what is false. And why was this so?   Because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.   They were deceived because they took pleasure in wickedness.  Again, what a clear warning for our own times.   Folks, deception always involves people thinking that something false is actually the truth.  It makes absolutely no difference what we think about something.  The truth lies outside of ourselves.  If it lies within ourselves, then your truth is just as valid as someone else’s truth.  The real question always is,  “Is what we think or how we feel based upon some kind of standard outside of ourselves?”    Many politicians make their careers out of deceiving the people and making it seem that what is false is actually true.  Sometimes I say that truth has very little to do with politics.  It is only perception that counts!

Legally speaking you can believe whatever you choose to believe within certain restrictions.   Thank goodness, the constitution guarantees the freedom of religion.   But if Christianity is based merely upon how we feel, it differs not one iota from all the other religions of the world.  When the gospel was taught in the 1^st century, evidence was brought to light which was strong enough to convince good and honest people that the Bible is the word of God, that God does exist, and that Jesus Christ is the son of God.  Even Jesus taught that no one should believe in Him apart from convincing evidence (read John 5:3-47).   Consider the gospel preached as recorded in Acts chapter two.  On what basis did the unbelieving Jews become believers?    They already believed in the God inspired message of Moses and the prophets.   So Peter took that fact and connected the writings of Moses and the prophets to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, proving that Jesus was the Christ according to scripture.  He also appealed to the eye-witness testimony of the apostles to the resurrection of Christ.   It was on the basis of such strong testimony that many came to believe and cried out, “men and brethren what must we do?”   (Acts 2:37).   That is, in the light of all this evidence, and the declaration by Peter that this Jesus whom they had crucified (It’s hard to imagine anything worse that that!) is now alive and reigning as both Lord and Christ,  how could they make their lives right before God?   That was the force of their question.   Their emotions of  being cut to the heart, were not based upon any subjective feeling, but upon their being convinced by the evidence presented.   As Paul later wrote: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17).  So personal faith, if it is valid, must always be based upon objective evidence.

Please, dear friend, when you read these words do not think that I am saying that I am always right.   I have been deceived many times and on many levels.  No, what I am saying is that there is a standard by which all things can be judged.   I am thankful that all people have been created by God and are made in the “image of God” with a built in conscience and ability to reason and think.   So use your mind to the glory of God!    Our good creator has not left us without guidance.

                                                                                          --- Lindy McDaniel

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If you know of others who would like to receive advanced copies of Pitching For The Master attached to E-mail, please write to me at:  1095 Meadow Hill Drive, Lavon, Texas 75166.  Or contact me at my E-mail address: lindymcdaniel77@reagan.com.

This article should have been posted in February, 2013.   Sorry for the delay.  I plan to post two more articles in quick succession so that I will be on schedule for the year.   The photo at the beginning of this article was taken in July, 1957 just after my brother Von had pitched a one hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates.   Baseball has objective standards and rules.  These are not determined by how we feel or personal perception.  Subjective feeling does not work in any field of endeavor, so why do we think that belief in Christ, the most vital truth affecting our present and future happiness, operates any differently?    Should anyone be willing to die for their faith, as so many have been willing to do, if such were not based upon the solid foundation of truth?   I welcome your comments pro or con.