Why I am a Christian (24)

Agnostics Sound Fair-Minded but I Can't Be One

In 2012 I jotted down all the reasons I could think of why I am a Christian. I found 26 so I decided to serialise them in a blog every fortnight for a year.

I covered themes from the realms of science, philosophy and theology before looking at five different facets of Jesus. Then I looked at the inspiration, invincibility and influence of the Bible. Then there were six posts about experiences, mostly personal to me.

I am now drawing near to the end of writing about why I am a Christian, having set out my different reasons every two weeks since January.

As I said at the start, I do not consider that any one reason, on its own, is enough for me to believe that Christianity must be true. The one that probably gets closest is Number 14 about the resurrection but even that one leaves a nagging “what if…” especially when something awful happens in life that makes even the most convinced believer briefly wonder if our existence isn't just a random deal of good and bad luck.

But taken together, all 23 reasons so far make up a cumulative case built on (a) what I think and (b) what I have experienced. Taken together, the 23 reasons I have written about up till now satisfy me that I am not deluded or brain dead and that Christianity really is true. Basically, it all adds up for me and I think if anyone looked honestly, with an open mind, at all I have written about so far they would have to admit that the case for Christianity is a serious one.

If I wasn’t a Christian I would be something else. I have mused about the “something elses” for a long time and these last three posts are about why I do not go along with the three most popular alternatives to being a Christian; religion, atheism and agnosticism.

What about other religions? Could it be that I am just naturally credulous? Do I just need to believe in something as a crutch to help me limp through life? If so, might I have joined another religion had I not become a Christian? What if I was attracted to being a Christian simply because I was born in Britain? What if I had been born in Japan or India or Saudi Arabia or Thailand? Would I have become a devotee of Shintoism, a Hindu, a Muslim or a Buddhist? I’ll look at other religions in Reason 26.

What about atheism? What if all I had ever read in life was the BBC’s Have Your Say forums or the Guardian’s Comment Is Free section? Would I just never have taken Christianity seriously at all? If I had been brought up by atheist parents, self-crowned ‘brights’ who scoffed at Christian faith and suppressed any interest in spiritual things throughout my childhood, would I have ended up an atheist like them? Maybe. But I’ve thought about atheism, I've read their stuff, I've dialogued with some of them - and decided that atheism misses the mark. I’ll write about why I have chosen not to be an atheist in Reason 25 in two weeks' time.

But this week, reason 24, is about agnosticism. I have thought it through carefully and decided not to be an agnostic. But probably the majority of the population in the UK - I would hazard a guess that about 60-70% - is agnostic.

There is a small core of people who self-identify as believers whether they are Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Jews or whatever. They tend to get derided at school. (Well, not so much the Hindus, Muslims, Jews or whatever because that might be seen as racist or islamophobic or anti-Semitic or intolerant).

Then there is a growing and vocal core of people who self-identify as atheists. They are never picked on at school. (Well, unless they are overweight, or ginger, or have zits, or wear the wrong trainers, or like the wrong music. But not because they proclaim that there is no God - no one gives anyone a hard time for that).

But the majority of people in the UK are pretty live-and-let-live about such things. “Yes there might be a God, probably not in all honesty, but who can really say for sure? Churches don’t seem to do too much harm a few obvious bad apples apart; they even do quite a lot of good, and if you’re that way inclined, going along might cheer you up. But it’s not for me.” This is probably the default world view of the majority of people in the U.K.

Many such people don’t think much about spiritual things. They just don’t feel the need to, although in times of need most will not hesitate to send up a quick prayer just in case. “If there’s a God – fine. If not, well, whatever.”

If you asked the question for a survey “Is there a God?"

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

most I guess would instinctively tick box number 3. These are the agnostics.

In a way, I really respect agnostics. Generally, they are not heavy or antagonistic. They don't wait like a coiled spring, ready to react the moment someone expresses an opinion consistent with the Bible. They don’t go around saying that they’re scientifically right and everyone who thinks differently to them is brainless. There’s a refreshing intellectual honesty about agnostics. “You might be right. You might be wrong. Whichever way round it is, let’s agree to get on and not cram the internet with opinionated rants.” I like that. I never feel that agnostics are trying to convert me to their way of thinking or indeed scold me for mine.

I warm to people who, when I ask them a question, reply “I honestly don’t know” instead of bluffing and pretending they do.

The comedian David Mitchell (who was brought up in a Jewish home) in this short YouTube clip has recently admitted to being an agnostic and not an atheist. This is part of his interview:

“I don’t accept the argument that atheism is the most rational response to the world as we see it. I think agnosticism is. And I don’t want there to be nothing. No, I’m not convinced there’s something but I do want there to be something. I want there to be an all-powerful, benevolent God and I like that thought. And I was initially brought up with it and now I’m not sure – but I’m not ready to reject it and I’m suspicious of the disdain for people who find that a comfort in their lives.”

What could be fairer than that? Mitchell’s approach appeals because it is eminently reasonable and fair-minded and tolerant of difference. It is open to discussion and persuasion. It is not that brand of agnosticism that says that we can’t know if there is a God or not so don’t bother looking. Mitchell just says he doesn’t know; he’s not convinced as things stand, but he sees no virtue in being completely closed about it.

If I wasn’t a Christian I would probably be an agnostic. After all, it’s what I was before I was a Christian.

And yet in some ways an agnostic is the worst possible thing to be. 

You see, either my name is John or it isn’t. There is no perhaps. Either you are married or you’re single. There is no maybe. In the same way, either there is a God or there isn’t.

So it might be that atheists have been right all along. Perhaps there is no god after all. Maybe it is just a figment of people's imagination and people like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens have justifiably made a fortune selling books because they are correct in their assertion that God is a hare-brained fantasy.

Or on the other hand, it may be that theists are right instead. Perhaps there really is a God who made the universe and is behind our concepts of virtue, truth, justice and beauty. Maybe it’s true after all.

The Irish poet W.B. Yeats summed up the fatal weakness in agnosticism when he said, slightly tongue in cheek, “Some people say there is a God. Others say there is no God. The truth probably lies somewhere in between.”

Of course the truth is not in between, but at one of the poles. Either there is a God or there isn’t. But whichever it is, agnostics are wrong.

Put it another way. Anyone can back the wrong horse. (At the racecourse, most people do in fact; that’s why the man who owns the betting shop drives a Mercedes). But in a two-horse race, what sense is there in backing neither runner just because you really can’t choose between them? Either way, you miss out on the winnings.

Stephen Gaukroger in his little book It Makes Sense asks you to imagine that you are about to drown at sea. You’ve just had a third lungful of sea water and it’s not looking good. Now you know that there are two boats nearby. One will get you home safe and dry. The other is packed with explosives ready to go off at any moment. If you're an agnostic, Gaukroger says, you choose to stay in the water. One boat heads back to port. The other is blown to smithereens. And you drown.

You were absolutely right about the perilous danger of one of those boats – and absolutely wrong to stay in the sea.

Rejecting both the reality of God and the unreality of God, agnostics are condemned to make the wrong choice because either God is real or he isn’t. Agnosticism is therefore the worst of all worlds.

About 3,500 years ago Moses spoke to the whole Israelite nation in these words: 

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Deuteronomy 30.19-20).

He was saying "Come on, make your minds up. Don't sit on the fence forever."

That’s why I am not an agnostic any more. When I left the security of my uncertainties and discovered the sure riches of Jesus Christ I knew there was no going back. I absolutely don’t regret it for a minute. That’s the 24th reason I am a Christian.