“My head is filled with questions and I can assure you no answer to any one of them has ever brought me one iota of happiness.” (Arthur Dent, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, 2005)
I have read more Christian books than any reasonable human should hope, expect, or dread to have read. I am well-studied in apologetics, Biblical theology, and theodicy. I am blessed with numbers of friends far beyond my own social graces who bear wisdom beyond their years. I possess an unusually keen gift for finding information on the web. I have no doubt that, were my real problem ever an actual question, I could find an answer to it.
No, my real problem is not a question, and there is no truism, lemma, proposition, evidence, observation, argument or proof that can address it. The answer I need is a new way – to think, to work, to labor, to suffer, to pray, to celebrate. The answer I need is a new truth – grounded and unassailable, not subject to my own tepid indecision and wandering interests. The answer I need is life afresh, because I can’t even hold death at bay as it eats away at everything in this world I thought I cherished.
I believe, emphatically, that Jesus Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life”. He is not merely the exemplar of a new kind of humanity (although he is truly that), not merely the correct response to a theological inquiry (although he is truly that), not merely the agent of my eventual bodily resurrection (although he is truly that). I believe, dogmatically, that Jesus Christ is the answer – not to my questions (foolish and ill-framed as they usually are), but to my actual need, the real problem and paradox of living a condemned man’s life amid this sin-decayed fraternity.
I am an apologist from India and this is my first opportunity to visit your website, which I enjoyed very much. Those in the field of apologetics need to do much to bring the doubting Thomases to faith and also to strengthen those who wish to get answers.
You have raised a qustion in this article, but have not answered it. Probably in the next one … ?
Dr. Johnson C. Philip
India
Comment by Dr. Johnson C. Philip — January 3, 2009 @ 3:20 am |
I have enjoyed listening to you in person but I have to say that this post has been both challenging and introspective. I do not pretend to be educated, but do embrace the answer to my life… and to the paradox of living in this sin-decayed fraternity. I enjoy seeing the light of that person’s eyes who has seen a glimpse of the glory of that same Christ as He intervenes in the course of that person’s life. A miracle, if you will, the miracle of revelation. The explanation of that same revelation is typically what confuses the same person, but the revelation is awesome! Thanks Adam!
Comment by Jesse Granados — January 4, 2009 @ 1:34 am |
Absolutely love this article… thanks, Adam!
T~
Comment by Travis Jarrett — January 4, 2009 @ 12:36 pm |