WINC: Alleged Resurrection – The Gospels

Continuing the journey – now we begin to get to the meat of Why I’m Not a Christian (WINC).

As mentioned in my first two posts, my angle of investigation for investigating the truth claims of Christianity was questioning the historicity of the alleged resurrection of Jesus.

WINC: My New Foundations for Beliefs

As I prepared to begin phase 2 of my research – examining the truth claims of Christianity and the Bible – I quickly determined that regardless of where my investigation led, these would be my new foundations for belief.^[1]

1. Truth should withstand scrutiny.
2. “Faith” with insufficient evidence as a basis for belief is a liability.
3. Minimizing presuppositions is necessary if I hope to discover the truth.
4. At a minimum, a just god who punishes is morally obliged to inform transgressors of the requirements ahead of time.
5. The burden of proof is on the one making the claim.

Along with the evidence (and lack thereof, in some cases), these ideas would later underpin the reasons “Why I’m Not a Christian” (WINC).

What Started My Questioning

I only alluded to this in my first post. (The quotes below are from the same.)

Background

Not too long after graduating [from a conservative evangelical Christian university], I became pretty frustrated with what the Christian life was for me – especially with my “overactive conscience”. So I just kind of “set my faith aside”. I regret that now.

That cognitively dissonant phase – from my early 20s to my early 30s – was not the questioning. They were quite separate, overall. During that time, I generally didn’t really doubt the (supposed) truth of Christianity. I “just couldn’t do it anymore”.

The Wedge

Some events came to pass recently which forced me to face that cognitive dissonance that I had lived with for several years.

Why I Was a Christian

Yes, the verb tense is a not-so-subtle hint.

My first post contains a brief summary of my conversion experience (“Background”). After that, I can think of three main reasons:

1. Presuppositions.
2. Experience.
3. Apologetics.

Reasons

Presuppositions

I presupposed both God’s existence, and that he had revealed himself to humanity.

A Reluctant Start

I don’t want to do this. I want to get on with my life. But I must pause first.

I need to know who I am to get on with my life. I need to decide what I think is true to determine who I am, and who I aspire to be. And I need to search to find that truth.

Background

I was Catholic until I was 12.

One day,