catapult magazine

I just got done having a two hour long conversation with a co-worker about whether Christianity is true or not. I never did very well in my debate classes and I always seem to forget the majority of what I know or all of those pat answers that they give you in Sunday school every time I have conversations like this. He has been researching different religions and says that he cannot make a decision about Christianity because the church is withholding information from him. He feels that the Bible, as we know it today, was put together by sinful men who through selfish motives left out important gospels that could have been included in the Bible. For instance, he says that when the Dead Sea Scrolls were uncovered, a gospel supposedly written by Jesus was uncovered as well. The church is hiding this book however because it teaches that the church is not important and essentially God can be found within us. (Hence the idea that we are made in “the image of God”) He says that the Bible was put together in such a way as to make the church very powerful, as opposed to saying what God wants it to say. Has anyone else heard anything about this? Can anyone give me a quick summary about how we “know” the Bible is inspired?

Also, he feels that everyone worships the same God. Hindus worship the way that they do because that is how God has revealed himself to them. Essentially when it comes down to it, all the important beliefs about God are contained within these other religions. He says that in the Bible when it says that God created man in his own image it uses the plural version of God. I knew this and told him that it refered to the Trinity, but he says that the Trinity did not exist back then – it came later, in the NT. Hasn’t the Trinity always existed? If God created Jesus wouldn’t that make him a creature and not God, or a lesser God. Why don’t I remember what I learned in my Creeds & Confessions class at Dordt? I have heard this kind of belief a lot, but I still don’t have a good way to respond. I always end up falling back on “I just know in my heart that it is true”. Is faith the only tool I have to debate with? Sorry this is so long. I could really use some advice.

Jen—

This is Kristin, but I think I may be logged on as Grant. In any case, there is an article relevant to this topic in the new Time magazine (the one with Saddam on the cover). It talks about a lot of the early church writings and factions and, while it doesn’t mention a gospel written by Jesus, is pretty interesting.

Kristin