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With the current prevailing attitude that »all things are relative« and »whatever works for you is your ‘truth’,« more and more people are seeking various personal experiences (anything from legalistic religions, to Transcendental Meditation, to EST, to ‘encounter groups’) as a means of fulfillment and a sense of purpose.
However, Christianity is more than a subjective experience – it is based on critical, objective, historical fact – the resurrection of Christ. That event established Jesus’ Deity and His power over sin and death. If the resurrection had not occurred, then Jesus would be neither the Son of God, nor our Savior. Christianity would be meaningless. As the apostle Paul bluntly stated, if Christ did not rise from the dead, then »we are of all men most to be pitied.«(1 Corinthians 15:13-19)
Christianity is not down on experience, however. Jesus invites individuals to experience a unique and personal relationship with Him. However, He encourages a commitment to Him that is based on an absolute truth, an objective fact of history outside of ourselves to which our subjective experience is joined. Moreover, that commitment is more than ‘accepting Christ’ intellectually. Biblical faith is ‘trusting’ faith, and the one who receives Christ as Savior is exhorted to follow Him as Lord of their lives from then on, regardless of up and down emotional feelings or psychological experiences.
What type of ‘faith’ will you choose to have? Will it be based on emotions, psychological experiences, rule-keeping, or something else, rather than based on the trustworthiness of God Himself and His authoritative Word?
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