Give a reason · 1 Peter 3:15

Isn't faith just wishful thinking?

2 min read7 sources

Broad scholarly agreement, source beside itArgument A case someone makes, not a settled fact

The objection

People believe in God because they want comfort, meaning and life after death. Wanting something to be true doesn't make it true.

What the evidence shows

01
The idea comes from Freud.
In The Future of an Illusion (1927), Sigmund Freud described religious beliefs as wish fulfillment.
1Wikipedia
02
The first Christian message was hard to wish for.
Crucifixion was designed to be humiliating, and Paul admits a crucified Messiah was “unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness.”
2Wikipedia 3BibleGateway (KJV)

The Christian case

01
Why you believe isn't whether it's true.Argument
Logic
Dismissing a claim by its origin rather than its content is the genetic fallacy. It cuts both ways: an atheist may also want there to be no God.
4Wikipedia
02
Faith can follow evidence.Argument
Lee Strobel
Strobel says he was an atheist when he began investigating the claims about Jesus, and became a Christian at 29 because of what he found.
5Wikipedia

What Scripture says

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)

MeaningFaith is trust in what is unseen, not denial of evidence.

“And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.”1 Corinthians 15:17 (KJV)

MeaningPaul makes faith depend on a historical event.

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:”1 Peter 3:15 (KJV)

MeaningChristians are told to give reasons for their hope.

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1769 Authorized Version), public domain.

Where Christians differ

Some Christians lead with evidence and argument; others say faith rests first on God's word and the Spirit's witness, with reasons as support.

What skeptics say

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences describes faith as “acceptance of a truth regardless of the presence of empirical evidence for or against that truth.”

6U.S. National Academy of Sciences

Did you know?

In the King James Old Testament, “faith” appears in just two verses. One, Habakkuk 2:4, is quoted three times in the New Testament: “the just shall live by faith.”

7BibleGateway (KJV)

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