» Preface
Religious skeptics often believe that written works by Christians cannot be trusted for objective information because such works are written by religious people with an agenda in mind. In many cases, the same skepticism is used when skeptics view the Bible – it’s a biased book written by biased people. This evaluation may be true for some written works, but it’s certainly not true for them all. If it were, then you wouldn’t be able to trust anything you’ve read (including written works by atheists), because every author has his or her own sentiments when pertaining to religion. In fact, you shouldn’t disbelieve either side due to prejudices. Let me elaborate. Should you disbelieve the written work of an atheist concerning Christianity just because the author’s an atheist? Not necessarily, because he or she could be telling the truth. Should you disbelieve the written work of a Christian concerning atheism just because he or she is a Christian? Again, not necessarily – he or she too could be telling the truth.
What about the authors agenda? Does an authors agenda obscure his objectivity? If so, no written works are objective (including those written by atheists and skeptics), because all works are written for a reason, all authors have an agenda and at least most author’s believe what they write (at least I hope so). For example, Holocaust survivors who wrote about their experiences certainly were not neutral about their treatment. They believed wholeheartedly that the Nazis were wrong. They recorded and wrote about their experiences so the world would never forget and hopefully, never repeat it – this was their agenda. Did their agenda cause them to bend the facts? Not necessarily, in fact, their passion may have produced quite the opposite effect. In many cases, passion may cause people to exaggerate, or even stretch or hide the truth. However, passion may drive others to be all the more honest in order to protect the message they wish to communicate. I believe the author’s of the Bible took this same honesty to heart while writing the Bible.
If you are a skeptic, I only ask that you please keep in mind that you should believe or disbelieve what I have to say because of the evidence I present and not due my own Christian beliefs. I have not always been a Christian. I became a Christian through evidence. So, the fact that I’m a Christain is not the issue, but why I am a Christian is the important point. And that will be the focus of this segment and the pages that follow.
