Christianity is NOT about what Christ did in your life. It’s greater than that.

Not long ago philosopher  said that our private feelings about God do not belong in the public square.

Only appeals to argument that are universal belong.

I agree. I sort of agree. Let me explain.

In Rorty’s mind, religion is private. Emotive. Internal. Religion is an appeal to what gets me out of bed. What floats my boat.

Unfortunately, these are not claims to objective truth.

What a Personal Testimony Really Is

Rather, they’re claims to private feelings. Individual experiences.

Much like a personal testimony. And while personal testimonies are wonderful. They’re not the gospel.

Listen. The world is full of personal testimonies. Here are just 3 examples:

1. Writer  asserts he overcame a degenerate, drug-infested lifestyle through sheer will power.

2. Advocates of  believe they’ve learned how to turn weakness and suffering into power and abundance.

3. And followers of  claim they’ve recovered from emotional and physical pain through meditation.

In the end, if all we relied upon was our personal testimony to defend the truth of Christianity, you know what you’d have? A lot of noise.

What Is at Stake

You are not a Christian because of your personal testimony. And no one will become a Christian through your personal testimony.

Christianity is NOT about what Christ did in your life. It’s greater than that.

Christianity is a claim to historical truth. And that claim to truth is this: Over 2,000 years ago God became a zygote in a teenage girls womb. And she gave birth to that boy–Jesus–blood and all.

Thirty-three years later, after a wild and woolly rabbinical ministry, a man named Pontius Pilate–a man who if not for the gospels would’ve been left in historical obscurity–sentenced Jesus to death.

Jesus–a man not only born of a woman but also cataloged as a Roman citizen during  in 3 B. C.–perished on a wooden cross.

And it was his bodily resurrection from the dead that :

For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner.

In other words, Christianity is about the historical existence of an empty tomb. And we are staking everything on that empty tomb.

That means Christianity can be overthrown.

The Alternative to a Personal Testimony

Thus, this is the evidence we offer to prove that Christianity is true. It’s the evidence we should offer when someone asks us, “Why are you a Christian? And why do you think Christianity is true?”

And that is the appropriate, objective evidence for your belief to bring into the public square. It might be a bad argument. But it’s a genuine act of sharing your faith. And an act that people genuinely must wrestle with.

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