Verifiable Evidence
The Christian’s faith is not built on a blind faith, but is based on verifiable evidence. If a person believes when there is no evidence, his faith is a baseless faith. Adequate evidence is available to verify all that Christians believe.
“Now faith is the substance of things hope for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
We all believe in what we have not seen, and for good reasons, for there is evidence that what we have not seen exists.
Faith in the Unseen
A good example of this principle of faith being based on evidence of something we have not seen is that each of us believes we had a great, great, great, great grandmother. Most of us have not seen even a picture of her, something she has written, or made, but we believe that she existed. We are evidence she was a real live person. We believe many things that we have not experienced through our senses.
Those who contend that we cannot believe in the unseen may have a problem. They may have never seen with their eyes, or touched with their hands, or seen an ex-ray image of their brain, yet most people believe they have one. Our ability to think and control our bodies is evidence we have a brain. Anyone who asserts he does not have a brain, might be right.
Some people think that prophecy and fulfillment and other statements in the Bible cannot be verified, that a person must blindly base his faith on unreliable testimony. If this is true, then such faith is unfounded, but Bible statements are verifiable.
Eye Verified
The Bible states, “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living [human beings]” (Genesis 3:20). Past civilization’s believed the different races existed having begun from various gods and goddesses who gave birth to or created various races. Moses who wrote Genesis was “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians” who believed the races were the work of their gods or goddesses, yet he wrote that Eve was the mother of all.
The result of DNA tests have provided evidence that all of us have come from one woman, even as the Bible teaches that all people came from one woman and one man. This is a verified fact based on fairly recent scientific evidence.
Climate
Evidence shows that the Earth at one time was not tilted on its axis as at present, which meant that Earth’s climate was consistent and without the four seasons of the year, thus instead of rain, it was watered by a mist as stated in the Bible, “But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground” (Genesis 8).
This all changed when the Earth’s axis became tilted. The changed magnetic moment of the Earth can be observed in rock formations. Our four seasons are the result of the tilted axis. The Earth has for centuries continued to have four seasons as stated in the Bible, which we can verify. No change is predicted for the near future, and this condition should continue as long as the Earth stands. “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, Winter and Summer, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:29).
No evidence shows conclusively that the Earth’s climates will radically change as long as the Earth stands. We can verify that this statement continues to be true.
By Fire
In Alton, Missouri, back in the 1940s, an atheist stood on the courthouse steps and ridiculed the Bible because of the statement that the Earth and heavens will be destroyed by fire. He laughed and asked, “Do you think that the rocks and all the water on Earth can be burned up by fire?” He laughed as he read, “But the heavens and earth . . . are reserved for fire . . . the elements will melt with fervent heat, both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:7b, 10b). This man is evidence of the truth of the Bible as one of the scoffers that was predicted to come: “. . . Knowing this first; that scoffers will come in the last days, walking in their own lusts” (2 Peter 3:13).
The listeners did not know how to answer except to say they believed that the God who created the universe could destroy it by fire if He chose to terminate the existence of everything in that manner. But informed people in this nuclear age are not laughing, for we have learned that the Earth and its works can be destroyed by nuclear fusion as described in the Bible. This truth of the Bible has been verified in the atomic age.
Mary
Most people in the western world have heard of Mary, the mother of Jesus. As the sayings of Jesus can continue to be verified as true, the same is true of what Mary said. In the Magnificat she exclaimed, “For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed” (Luke 1:48b).
Imagine an unknown young woman in a small town of little notoriety proclaiming that all generations would call her blessed because of the child who would be born to her. Over two thousand years later, her statement can be verified as true. Generation after generation continues to call her blessed because God used her as His handmaiden in the birth of Jesus.
Jesus
Jesus also was born into the home of the poor in an obscure village in the lowly regarded village of Nazareth in Galilee. Based on a common attitude at the time, Nathanael asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). Galilee was considered the back woods of the Palestine area.
Joseph and Mary were so poor they could afford only two turtledoves or pigeons to sacrifice when Jesus was dedicated in the temple (Luke 2:24). Joseph, the bread winner of the family, was a carpenter by trade who trained Jesus in the same trade (Matthew 13:53; Mark 6:3). No one would expect Jesus to be anything more than a carpenter.
Many of Jesus’ sayings, however, can be verified to be true when we test the benefits of His teachings. Jesus said:
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)
Millions from the time Jesus made this statement to the present can testify this is a true statement, not only because Jesus made this claim and they believed it, but also because they tested what He said and find it to be true.
Conclusion
Christians live by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7), a faith based on evidence. Much more evidence than given above can be given as the basis of our Christian faith, faith in God, Christ, Holy Spirit, the Bible, and Jesus’ teaching. The Christian faith is based on verifiable evidence, not on unreliable fables.
“For we did not follow cunning devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His Majesty” (2 Peter 3:16).
Owen D. Olbircht (1932-2022) held two graduate degrees from Harding University, where he taught for ten years. He served as Editor of Unique for Christ, published for university students. He was also the author of numerous scholarly works on various biblical topics.