John 20:30-31 .... "And many other signs therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name."
I once heard a discussion between a Christian, an agnostic, and an atheist. The Christian declared his faith that God created the universe, made man in essentially the same biological form he is today, and sent His Son Jesus as a man to offer people eternal salvation. The atheist showed amusement at what he considered to be the intellectual shallowness of the Christian and his faith. With light regard he dismissed theism and creationism as impossible in view of what empirical science has discovered. The agnostic did not express this air of condescending humor. He rather explained that he could find no ground for "taking the leap of faith," as he called it, to accept the Christian explanation of life, existence and destiny.
These three positions account for perhaps the majority of people and the way they think about God, Christ, and the Bible. The atheist denies because the spiritual is not discernible by the empirical methodology of science. The agnostic reserves judgment, admitting that something might exist beyond the reach of human science, but is unwilling to accept it on the basis of faith. There are yet other explanations of reality than the Biblical one and those of atheism and agnosticism. But in this brief essay we can neither attempt to list or define them.
Those who read and consider the Bible, however, know that faith in God and in Christ is not without foundation. It is not blind, a sort of "leap in the dark." In Heb. 11:1 it says that "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." The word "assurance" translates a word which conveys the idea of "foundation." Faith in God is not suspended in air, floating like a bubble to burst into oblivion upon the impact of some new scientific "truth." It is based on testimony, certified by competent witnesses. One can be great in faith and yet renowned in the knowledge and skills of the sciences. In fact, many have been and many now are. The person who has faith in Christ and lives by that faith is often categorized as a fanatic by the faithless. They disdain him for his blindness to science. But the scientific mind is no less fanatic when it blinds itself to the spiritual dimension, especially when there is creditable testimony in human experience to that dimension.
Jesus Christ, first and foremost, is that creditable testimony. This is what John is stating in the initial text above. During His time on earth in the form of man, He performed "signs" (miracles) in which normal physical laws were momentarily suspended. For example, with a simple command He stilled a great tempest on the Sea of Galilee. On another occasion He walked on the surface of the water of that same sea. He raised from the dead a man who had been buried four days and whose decaying body was already stinking. These signs were not done in secret, but out in the open before large numbers of people, many of whom were hostile to Him. Even they could not deny His deeds (Jno. 11:47), so they yet sought to discredit Him by attributing His power to evil, (Mt. 12:24). It has been affirmed and soundly defended that Jesus' miracles are better supported by creditable testimony than any other acts from the ancient past. Only a prejudiced mind will persist in the effort to refute them. The prejudice arises from the desire to dismiss the responsibility Jesus imposes upon people to curb their appetites, including their arrogance and pride, and subject their lives to the standard of His teaching. The "leap of faith" is, therefore, not into blindness but over one's own pride and self-will.
