Believing is a strange thing. For some people it happen quickly. For others, myself included, it is not something that happened overnight. As mentioned previously my journey towards believing and to finally commit myself to God is best described as an active process.
In the following paragraph I outline the process that took me towards God. It is an "approach" that I have followed. Although, it is not an "approach" in the sense that I set out to adopt it deliberately; it is only in retrospect that I am (slowly) about to unravel this "approach" or process that I have followed. In a way, the only thing I set out to do initially is to find out more.
Of course, I am not claiming that this is the best way, nor is it the only way to approach Christianity. Everyone need to find their own way.
The following is most appropriate for those people who are interested in finding out more about Christianity but is troubled (as I have been) particularly by some or all of the followings:
(i) The validity and reliability of the Bible;
(ii) Related to (i), the circularity of the argument presented to them by Christians;
(iii) Its apparent conflict with Science.
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The first and foremost step is to have an open mind. It is critical that you do not come into this process of finding out more with a pre-determined or fixed mindset, eg. that Christianity is "a load of crap". Nor, of course, should you believe that Christianity is great. It is important to be neutral, be truly objective at this point.
This is very important because it allows you to see, hear and evaluate all the evidence that you encounter without being unduly bias towards a particular direction. Preconceived mindset tends to create a filtering effect that direct a person’s thinking towards the pre-determined direction.
This said, it is acknowledge that people do inevitably have preconceived opinions about religion in general and Christianity in particular. Indeed, if you don’t have some ideas about it already, why would you want to find out more about it? In this regard, preconceived opinions are entirely acceptable provided that these opinions are not set in stone and that you are aware of them.
Just be prepared and be willing to reexamine and to change them.
Approach the Bible as you would with a historical text, or a paper in an academic journal. To evaluate the piece of historical text or the argument in the academic paper you do not just read the text or the paper. To be objective with your evaluation you consult materials written by others on the same topic, or, discussion on the text or paper you are evaluating. Use the same process with the Bible: refers to secondary materials.
There is really no limit in how far this investigation can be taken. Yet, as with all research, eventually a point will be reached where it is safe to stop and come to a conclusion.
Just like when you are evaluating a historical text or academic paper you need to read and understand the text or paper, it is very important that you need to read and understand the Bible before you can start making judgment. Remember it is not possible to make objective judgment in relation to something that you have incomplete understand of. To say that your judgment is objective or rational in such situation is a contradiction, and is really self-deceiving. It only indicates that you have already made up your mind subjectively.
There are three things to do:
1. Read.
2. Think.
3. Ask.
The last one can be particularly helpful. There are bound to be questions you do not understand. Talk to Christians, discuss the problems with them.
Of course, do not just take their words for it, it is also important to confirm what they say with the Bible. They could be misinterpreting the Bible themselves. After all, to make an objective decision you must weight up the evidence.
These three things are iterative in that you do not just read, think and then ask. You also need to read and think, and may be even ask again, after you have received an answer in relation to your original question.
This is perhaps the most demanding part. Self-examination is never easy to do, let alone try to work out what we want to do with our life.
There are many questions that you could ask yourself, and there are many ways to examine your life. Everyone is different.
While it is not possible to cover all bases here, the questions that I think everyone should ask themselves in this endeavor are:
1. What is your purpose or goal in life? Indeed, do you have
a purpose?
2. Do you think you will ever achieve this "purpose" by continuing
with what you have been doing?
3. Will you be happy if and when you achieve this "purpose"? Are you
sure?
3. Once this "purpose" has been satisfied or achieved, what then?
Spending the time cogitating about these questions, particularly with reference to your past life experience, can be very interesting, not to mention very rewarding in terms of what you can discover about yourself, this thing called "purpose", and ultimately about God.
The next step is to combine what you find out during this process of self-examination and what you find out about the Bible in terms of its reliability and its message.
If you are like me, you would come to realise that only Christianity can give you a more definite sense of "purpose". It is a sense that is unmatched by any other purpose that you can think of. Importantly, it is a purpose that will give you a sense of perpetual happiness, through contentment and faith, that no other purpose can possibly match.
So what is this "purpose"? The answer: To serve God.
It is amazing how your attitude, your behaviors, etc can change by this very simple purpose. By adopting this as your purpose, it triggers a shift in your perspective away from one that is self-centered to one that is God-centered. You start to see things differently and to live your life differently.
Sure, of course you, and your life, will not be transformed overnight. It takes time to be matured in Christ.
After you have been though the above, at some point a decision need to be made. It is good to make a commitment one way or another: sitting on the fence is not recommended.
If at the end of the day you choose to belief, I congratulate you for making such a hard decision and welcome you into God’s family as a brother and sister in Christ.
If, however, you have decided not to belief, then I urged you to ask yourself one last question: Unless you think you do not need to rely on anyone, who can you rely on ALL the time?
Of course, this decision or conclusion need not, and indeed cannot, be final. Research or investigation can, and should, continue. Further investigation lead to better understanding. This may prove your original decision wrong, but then again it may also reinforce it.
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