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As a college lit major, I learned about and later taught mythology as well as storytelling concepts including symbolism and allegory. I also encountered skepticism about whether the biblical stories presented to me from childhood were meant to be taken literally. Is the devil real or evil personified? Should I take Adam and Eve and Noah’s Ark as fact? Can my questions help me in overcoming skepticism, or will my doubts derail my faith?
To rekindle my faith, I always come back to the one story I never doubt: the story of Jesus. With any skepticism I face, I start with Him and work backward.
The Perfect Word
Having authored several children’s books, I’ve seen firsthand the many rounds of edits between writer, agent, editor, and finally copy editor. Often, that last set of professional eyes catches errors the rest of us missed: “In chapter six, she goes to science after lunch, but in chapter fourteen, it’s math.” Mistakes, often embarrassingly glaring ones, somehow slip through.
The Old Testament contains approximately 300 prophecies, is the work of multiple contributors, and spans more than 1500 years. And yet not a word of it is contradictory. The New Testament then shows Jesus fulfilling every single one of those 300+ Old Testament prophecies, again without a shred of textual contradiction. My experience writing books solidifies for me that no human beings, however gifted, could pull off such a feat. Only God could give us this perfect book.
I meet my skepticism with facts. My faith is based in the assurance that the Bible is, indeed, the inspired Word of God.
The Empty Tomb
For me, I overcome skepticism with one simple question: “Where’s the body?”
C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity offers three possible responses to who Jesus is: liar, lunatic, or Lord.
People who don’t yet follow Jesus can make a decent case for Jesus having been just a humble, unassuming guy with some good ideas…until faced with the fact that He accepted worship, which isn’t so humble and unassuming. (Matthew 14:33 is but one example of 10 such occasions.) Christ clearly states in John 10:30 that He and the Father are One, and earlier in John 8:58-59, He refers to Genesis 15:7 and Exodus 3:14 when He says, “Before Abraham was, I Am.”
Jesus’ “I Am” statement was not lost on His listeners, who immediately tried to stone Him for blasphemy. In fact, throughout the book of John, Jesus makes several “I am…” statements that are clear claims to divinity. The religious leaders of His time plainly stated why they wanted Jesus dead: “’…because you, a mere man, claim to be God’” (John 10:33, NIV). Thus, to suppose that Jesus was simply a nice, fully human person holds no validity. Unless He was actually God, Jesus’ claims would make Him a liar.
Those who are uncomfortable with calling Jesus a liar might instead choose to view Him as a well-meaning person who was a touch insane—a kindly fellow who just happened to have a scorching case of a messiah complex. That theory might hold up until we get to the question of what happened to Jesus’ body.
To accept the lunatic option, skeptics must believe that the most powerful army in the entire world, along with the most powerful religious network of the time, all working together, somehow lost track of Jesus’ corpse.
To believe that Jesus was a lunatic Who really thought He could rise from the grave, we must trust that not one, but two, Roman guards fell asleep on the job, the penalty for which would’ve been certain death. We must further conclude that the ragtag band of followers who scattered like sheep when Jesus was led away from the Garden of Gethsemane suddenly pulled it together enough to move a giant stone from the opening of the tomb (without waking those extremely somnolent guards), steal Jesus’ body, and hide it from those who had every possible resource at their disposal to find it.
Finally, we also must accept that the apostles, Mary Magdalene, and more than 500 people at once (1 Corinthians 15:3-8) either lied about seeing the resurrected Jesus or were mass hallucinating.
From my perspective, believing all that would take much more faith than believing that Jesus actually rose from the dead.
The Devotion to Truth
The lives of the apostles are another counterpoint to skepticism. Their faith was so weak in the beginning. There’s the story of Peter walking on water, only to slip because of his lack of faith (Matthew 14:22-33); Thomas refusing to believe without putting his finger in the wound in Christ’s side (John 20:27); and as just referenced, all of them running away when Jesus was arrested. Not to mention Peter denying three separate times that he even knew Jesus.
And yet, these are the same men who would later go on to be beaten, imprisoned, and die terrible deaths because they refused to stop telling everyone of Christ’s resurrection. History records that all of the apostles save for John were martyred in horrific ways. (Theologian Tertullian records that John was boiled in oil but emerged unscathed.)
I simply cannot bring myself to accept that these men would stick to a lie guaranteeing they’d be beheaded, sawed, crucified, burned, or stoned, among other gruesome potential methods of execution. Not to mention Paul, the apostle “born out of due time” (1 Corinthians 15:8), who reversed course from fervent persecutor of Christians to an apostle so devoted to Christ that it cost him his head.
Pondering all this rekindles and solidifies my faith. I feel confident that the only sane option is to believe that Jesus is the Messiah.
The Alpha and Omega
With my faith firmly planted in Jesus, I then look to the rest of the Bible. How do I know Adam was a real person? Because the genealogy of Jesus traces back to Him (76 generations, Luke 3). How do I know Satan is real and not just personified evil? Because Jesus tells us so (Luke 10:18, Luke 22:31).
If I accept that Jesus rose from the grave after three days—and I do—why wouldn’t I believe everything else in the Bible? The One Who holds power over death holds power over all. Just as He told us, Jesus is both the beginning and the end. It all starts with Him and it all comes back to Him. Overcoming skepticism relies on acknowledging the facts, but also being OK with still having some questions.
Now listen to a short segment of this meditation from Abide based on John 1:14. Let these words help you overcome your skepticism about who Jesus is.
To experience the full-length version of this meditation, and much more, download the Abide app. Our more than 1500 guided meditations on Scripture will help you in overcoming skepticism about Jesus as you immerse yourself in the Word of God. Use this link for 25% off a premium subscription.
Ginger Rue is the author of nine books for teens, tweens, and children and is a contributing editor for Guideposts magazine. She lives in Alabama with her husband and children.
