Posted on Mar 10, 2025 by Mike LeDuke Next article:Witnesses to the Resurrection

Why do you believe?

Have you ever thought about this? Maybe you just believe because your parents believe, and thus that was how you were raised to think. Maybe you believe because you were so convicted by Scripture, or by God working in your life. Maybe you haven’t even considered this question, and thus, you don’t really know why you believe. You believe simply because you do.

Whatever it is that has brought you here, to this site, and to the belief that you currently have or even don’t have, God doesn’t expect you to believe blindly. Just consider some of the Scriptural passages concerning belief:

• Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. (Luke 1:1-4)
  
  These words introduce the Gospel of Luke, a collection of saying and stories about Jesus. They were written, as noted in the quote, to a man named Theophilus, despite the fact that “many have undertaken to compile a narrative.” In other words, though there were other gospels, Luke chose to write an additional one. Why? Because this particular gospel was written in such a way that Theophilus could “have certainly” about Jesus. Luke included dates and details that other gospels didn’t have––so that Theophilus didn’t feel as though he needed to have blind faith. When God inspired this gospel, He wanted a gospel that served as evidence.

• When Peter wrote about belief, he wrote similarly:
  
  And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:19–21).
  
  Again, the people did not need to simply believe what they had been told––the prophetic word was more fully confirmed. In other words, they could look at prophecies about Jesus and see that those prophecies had happened. Jesus had been born in Bethlehem, just as the prophet Micah had said in Micah 5:2. His crucifixion had followed numerous details recorded in Psalm 22. Thus, prophecy provided evidence for their belief.

Throughout the ages, people have looked for evidence for God. And God gives it. So, what evidence do we have today? That’s what we’ll consider in the next few posts.

Jason Hensley, PhD