If Christianity could be completely disproved...

[Mike]

I read a great book called "A Skeleton in God's Closet" which relates to this question. Written by a minister, it forces the reader to consider how they would react to a potential bombshell discovery that would prove Christianity false. It's a work of fiction where archaeologists claim to be on the verge of exhuming the remains of Jesus. As the day approaches, the world comes undone. People glued to 24/7 news coverage have a full range of emotions from dismissing the possibility, some with debilitating anxiety, some non-believers loving every minute of it, etc. It culminates with quite a scene. Helicopters and satellite capturing the video of the dig site and the world collectively holding its breath.

I won't give away the ending, but the purpose of the book was to examine yourself and where your emotions would be. I can't say with certainty, I suppose. I believe knowing how desperately detractors have fought to find the the deadly bullet for 2000 years and knowing what I have is the Truth, I would not be anxious leading up to the moment. Of course, they do not have what they believe they have.

 

[chessman]

Helicopters and satellite capturing the video of the dig site and the world collectively holding its breath.

 

[Mike]

chessman totally. Exactly what was going through my mind as I read the book.

 

[Randy]

At one of his conferences, Christian apologist Frank Turek was asked, by someone from the audience, the following question: "if Christianity could be completely disproved, would you still believe it?"

This was his response:

How would you answer that question? If Christianity was proven to be falsified, would you still be a Christian? If your answer is "yes", tell us why. If it is "no", how would you live the rest of your life?

As other stated its a false premise to us that believe.
"but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,"
but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

I think we follow Jesus not Christianity. We know He lives by the Spirit of Christ in us that testifies with our spirit of assurance of the testimony and that we belong to Jesus. It is not possible to deceive the elect. Those that hold to the testimony of Jesus and obey Gods commands show themselves as disciples of Jesus.

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.

Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.

If someone walked away from calling themselves a christian and chose another faith or claimed they no longer believed in Jesus ask such a person "how can one have the Spirit of Christ in them and not know Jesus lives?"

 

[Lucian Hodoboc]

As other stated its a false premise to us that believe.

It's not a false premise. Paul himself was a believer, but even he hypothesizes this issue in 1 Corithians 15:14-18.

I don't really know how to clarify it further. I thought the thread was in a place where the question would be considered a fantasy or joke. I did not realize it was in the theology thread.

I thought that this section was the section for debate after the forums had been merged. You see, when there are individual rules for each forum section, it tends to get pretty difficult to understand where to post certain type of threads. If I was wrong about posting this thread in this section, please move the thread to the appropriate debate section.

In Christendom, if Christianity is false then God does not exist, not there is another possible God.

That seems to me like a false dilemma. There is a plethora of possibilities other than the existence of another God. Just to name a few other possibilities: mistranslation, misinterpretation, incompleteness, alteration (of scripture), dispensationalism etc.

Christian theology, the only source that is really valid for use is the Bible itself.

Catholics and Eastern Orthodox hold tradition in high esteem too, so unless you exclude those denominations from Christianity, your claim is false.

So that is why I said what I said. The only way you are going to disprove Christianity is by using the Bible itself, as there is no other source accepted as authority by Christians.

A large majority of Christians accept certain areas of science as authoritative.

For example, if archaeologists discovered a scroll with Aramaic writings that said "God is a Trinity and I am The Son Of God, signed Yehushua" that could be traced (through carbon dating) back to the first century, do you think that Christianity would reject the idea that it was something written by Jesus Himself?

 

[Edward]

At one of his conferences, Christian apologist Frank Turek was asked, by someone from the audience, the following question: "if Christianity could be completely disproved, would you still believe it?"

This was his response:

How would you answer that question? If Christianity was proven to be falsified, would you still be a Christian? If your answer is "yes", tell us why. If it is "no", how would you live the rest of your life?

Of course I would still be a believing Christian. It would be pretty hard to convince me that God doesn't exist and Christianity is a fraud because I prayed to that God, and He answered me. He's done so much to help me that He has proven Himself to be true to me. One time, He even spoke audibly to me! There is no way that anyone can ever disprove God. How could they prove that the unseen world does not exist? Lol...

 

[Edward]

According to Einstein's theory of relativity, everything is relative, so anything could be possible. We constantly discover things that we did not know,

No no no no. Have you ever read that stuff from Einstein? Einstein was wrong and he said so before he died. He was a government shill. Our Government capitalized on his mistake and hired him. The info is out there, you need to take a closer look at all of this guys work and quotes before hanging your hat on something he said at one point in his life. :wink

 

[Edward]

It would not even be possible, not for a Christian anyway.

Exactly Brother. Just like he said in the vid...we're stuck with it!

 

[WIP]

It is not possible to deceive the elect.

But there is Matthew 24:23-24 ESV.
Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

 

[Papa Zoom]

It's a fair question to ask. Atheists are asked all the time that "if Christianity were proven true, would you then follow Jesus?" Many atheists say, "No" to that.

The OP is just turning that question around. Turek handled it perfectly. "NO, I would not continue believing in something that is not true." (I'm paraphrasing here).

Neither would I. Because I don't simply hope it's true. I "know" it's true (meaning my certainty is very high). But IF it could be proven to be false, I'd stop believing. I'd feel duped. I'd live my life pretty much the same as I think loving others matter. But who know? It would change everything.

I'm a Believer because it's true. I wouldn't be a Believer if it were known to be false.

This is an apologetic question and we ought to have a good response if we were asked. That girl left the mic with a stone in her shoe. She now has to grapple with the idea that Christians believe what they believe because they are convinced it's TRUTH! So much so that if it weren't (as Paul said) they know they should be pitied! What an empty life to believe a lie! As Christians we must acknowledge this. Living a lie is NOT good!

But we don't live hoping it's true, we live believing with the strongest of convictions. That's what knowing is in this context.

 

[Selah]

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[Andyintheuk]

I read a great book called "A Skeleton in God's Closet" which relates to this question. Written by a minister, it forces the reader to consider how they would react to a potential bombshell discovery that would prove Christianity false. It's a work of fiction where archaeologists claim to be on the verge of exhuming the remains of Jesus. As the day approaches, the world comes undone. People glued to 24/7 news coverage have a full range of emotions from dismissing the possibility, some with debilitating anxiety, some non-believers loving every minute of it, etc. It culminates with quite a scene. Helicopters and satellite capturing the video of the dig site and the world collectively holding its breath.

I won't give away the ending, but the purpose of the book was to examine yourself and where your emotions would be. I can't say with certainty, I suppose. I believe knowing how desperately detractors have fought to find the the deadly bullet for 2000 years and knowing what I have is the Truth, I would not be anxious leading up to the moment. Of course, they do not have what they believe they have.

Wouldn’t be a problem for me, I’d still be saying my prayers each day with a quiet time and I’ll still be at church the following Sunday. Why? Because to me that would be like trying to prove that Belgium doesn’t exist. I’ve never been to Belgium, but I know and believe with all my heart that Belgium exists. If somebody managed to prove that it doesn’t, I’d still be very sceptical.

 

[Northman]

I thought that this section was the section for debate after the forums had been merged. You see, when there are individual rules for each forum section, it tends to get pretty difficult to understand where to post certain type of threads. If I was wrong about posting this thread in this section, please move the thread to the appropriate debate section.

Not sure what you mean. I said I made a mistake, not you. I made the mistake of thinking this was in a different forum.

That seems to me like a false dilemma. There is a plethora of possibilities other than the existence of another God. Just to name a few other possibilities: mistranslation, misinterpretation, incompleteness, alteration (of scripture), dispensationalism etc.

I can certainly understand how some might want there to be other possibilities and try and support that, but if you pay attention to what people here are saying, there isn't another possibility for them. That means it isn't false. A few of the possibilities you mention are actually concepts from scripture that don't point to a different God at all.

Catholics and Eastern Orthodox hold tradition in high esteem too, so unless you exclude those denominations from Christianity, your claim is false.

Except that isn't an actual rule. They make traditions on what they think are based on scripture, not invent traditions and turn them into scripture.

A large majority of Christians accept certain areas of science as authoritative.

For example, if archaeologists discovered a scroll with Aramaic writings that said "God is a Trinity and I am The Son Of God, signed Yehushua" that could be traced (through carbon dating) back to the first century, do you think that Christianity would reject the idea that it was something written by Jesus Himself?

I don't think there is an argument about the physical authority of actual science. But as you have read here already, the Bible is the final authority.
There can be endless "what ifs" like that. They don't lead to a good place.

 

[KevinK]

Donning my inner Yoda, I would counter with, "If your existence was completely disproved, would you still believe in yourself?"

 

[WIP]

If somebody managed to prove that it doesn’t, I’d still be very sceptical.

If they proved it, that would imply that you would be convinced of that person's truth. No, you wouldn't be skeptical anymore. It's only so long as you don't believe it has been proven.

 

[WIP]

Donning my inner Yoda, I would counter with, "If your existence was completely disproved, would you still believe in yourself?"

I would say no but since it cannot happen then it is not possible. What might be possible is to convince someone to believe they don't exist. That's different from proving they don't exist.

 

[MarkT]

At one of his conferences, Christian apologist Frank Turek was asked, by someone from the audience, the following question: "if Christianity could be completely disproved, would you still believe it?"

This was his response:

How would you answer that question? If Christianity was proven to be falsified, would you still be a Christian? If your answer is "yes", tell us why. If it is "no", how would you live the rest of your life?

Christianity has never been proven to be false. That's not going to happen.

 

[MustangGirl]

The birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is as factual as it comes.
My Christian husband said it best to an atheist workmate..."If I'm wrong, when I come to the end of my life, I've lost nothing. If you're wrong, when you come to the end of your life, you've lost everything".

 

[Andyintheuk]

If they proved it, that would imply that you would be convinced of that person's truth. No, you wouldn't be skeptical anymore. It's only so long as you don't believe it has been proven.

I don’t like it when people imply from what I’ve said because usually they’re a mile off, as in this case.

 

[Lucian Hodoboc]

My Christian husband said it best to an atheist workmate..."If I'm wrong, when I come to the end of my life, I've lost nothing. If you're wrong, when you come to the end of your life, you've lost everything".

How did you husband come to that conclusion? If Islam is right and at the end of his life, he is greeted by an angry Allah Who damns him to eternity in Jahannam for having attributed partners to Him, then he has just as much to lose as an atheist.