Is Christianity a False Religion?

Believe it or not, being labeled as false is not the worst thing that can be said about a religion. Instead, the worst thing that one can say about a religion is that its central claims have no epistemic merit whatever, and therefore that it is neither true or false, just irrelevant. Such a religion would be literally meaningless, along the order of a UFO cult, or worse. A meaningless declaration like Noam Chomsky’s “colorless green ideas sleep furiously” is neither true nor false because it does not advance any statement about anything. Such a statement is simply hollow. In contrast, even though it may be false to say “it is raining” on a perfectly cloudless day, it is not meaningless to say so for the simple reason that “it is raining” is a proposition that has content which can be affirmed as either true or false. 

We can see, therefore, that there are three kinds of statements in view here: true, false, and meaningless. For a statement to be true or false,one must be able to measure such a statement against that which obtains in reality itself. The statement, “For the first time in history, the Houston Texans own a .500 record ten games into a season,” is a true statement (Note: I originally wrote this essay in 2007). It corresponds with reality, which is what it means for something to be true. The statement, “the New England Patriots have the worst won-loss percentage in the NFL this year,” is a false statement. It fails to correspond with reality. One is true and the other false, but neither the statement about the Texans nor the one about the Patriots is meaningless. Each has content that can be judged to either correspond with reality (true) or not (false). 

However, for many in America today, especially those given over to postmodern views of truth, a religion like Christianity is neither “true” nor “false” because religion is often viewed as an essentially subjective enterprise. Christianity, in this sense, is only “true” or “false” inasmuch as it positively or negatively affects my personal life. If Christianity “works for me,” then I can say that it is “true.” If another or no religion is preferred, then because Christianity thereby “does not work for me,” I can say that it is “false,” or minimally, “not true for me.” According to a subjectivist view of truth, the claim that “Christianity is objectively true for all peoples at all times irrespective of any personal disposition” is little different epistemologically than saying “colorless green ideas sleep furiously.” That is, for one who is deeply affected by postmodern thought, the central claims of historic Christianity are not just false, but without epistemic meaning in any objective sense. 

But there’s just one little problem. The Bible makes claims that are verifiable as either true or false. The central message of the Bible is less like “colorless green ideas sleep furiously” and more like “it is raining today.” You cannot even disagree with the first statement because it is literally absurd – there’s no content with which to disagree. But while the Bible invites investigation as to the truthfulness of its claims, it repudiates any attempt to brush aside its assertions with a nonchalant, reductionist wave of the postmodern hand: “It’s just one meta-narrative of many. It’s just a record of the prejudices of a bygone, patriarchal world. It’s just a feeble, pre-scientific attempt to explain natural phenomena. It’s just inspired in the way that Shakespeare or Bono is inspired.” 

The skeptic can say what he will about the Bible and the claims of the Christian faith. But however much he may abhor the gospel message, he only fools himself if he thinks that what Christ claimed about Himself – namely to be God incarnate and the only Way of eternal salvation – can be reduced to meaninglessness like “colorless green ideas sleep furiously.” Out of the three types of statements we started with – true, false, and meaningless – only two can possibly apply to the Christian faith: it is either true or false; but not meaningless. The Bible is willingly vulnerable: you are free to investigate whether its claims are true or false. But since if it is true you would not be free to choose the consequences of misjudging it as false, it seems wise to proceed with sober carefulness.  

I am convinced – both by experience and evidence – that Christianity is neither meaningless nor false, but objectively and verifiably true. By that I mean that the claims of the Christian faith describe the actual state of real affairs in the world. There really is a God, an uncreated, eternal Being who is the first Cause of the universe’s coming to be at some point in the finite past. This infinite God has revealed Himself both in nature and in the Bible, and has confirmed the truthfulness of His own messengers over against those of all non-biblical religions by way of miraculous confirmation. Jesus of Nazareth really did exist, really did claim to be God incarnate, and really did prove the truthfulness of that claim through specific and recognizable signs, most notably His bodily resurrection from the dead. Jesus Christ being God incarnate, He cannot lie nor can He be deceived about something. That means that what He claimed about the Bible is to be believed over what modern or postmodern critics say about the Bible. In addition, man is who the Bible claims him to be, both created in the image of God and fallen into sin, utterly irredeemable apart from the saving grace of God found only in Christ. 

The claims of the Christian faith cannot be brushed aside as the mere subjective preferences of a relative minority so inclined. The Bible cannot be judged as largely irrelevant to those who do not similarly care to embrace it as the truth. A critic may judge the Bible and its claims as false – as not correspondent with reality. But he is not free to judge the Christian faith as meaningless – not even worthy of discussion. Is Christianity a false religion? I hardly think so. But at least we can meaningfully debate that question. And to that dialogue the Holy One of Israel Himself invites us all: “Come, let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they will be white as snow.” (Is. 1:18)