![]() “Even some of the great ‘heroes of the faith,’ people like Abraham and John the Baptist, doubted.” Mike describes the events in Matthew 11, wherein John the Baptist sends messengers to Jesus to ask if he truly is the Messiah. To cope with emotional doubt, Mike says that first you must recognize that doubting is normal. And that needs to be dealt with separately.” Doubting is normal “Well, what if I’m wrong? What are the consequences? That’s emotional doubt. Mike had spent years studying the evidence and had honestly concluded that the Resurrection makes the best sense of all the data. Intellectual doubts are based upon philosophical and historical evidence. Mike is careful to make this distinction. It wasn’t based on evidence! That wasn’t an intellectual doubt, it was an emotional doubt.” ![]() But I asked myself, ‘What am I really second guessing?’ I wasn’t doubting the evidence I had uncovered, I was wondering if I had somehow missed something. I thought that my doubts would vanish forever, but a month afterward they crept back in. “When I got to the end of the study, I was genuinely surprised by how much evidence there was for the Christian faith. Christians sometimes feel as if they must banish every trace of doubt. ![]() This is a theme Mike repeatedly returns to as he explains his slow, winding journey toward confidence in Christianity, and specifically the Resurrection of Jesus. Even though historical data cannot prove beyond all doubt that Jesus raised from the dead, I think that it does prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.” When I found out their answers to the claims of Christianity, it actually strengthened my faith. “I wanted to put my historical case for the Resurrection in front of the brightest skeptical minds in North America, to see if these things would really hold up. But far from weakening his faith, those public interactions actually buttressed his confidence in the truth of Christian claims. “But for me, I felt like I had to do that to resolve the doubts in my own mind.” Debating the faithĮven as he put the claims of Christianity to the test, Mike engaged in debates across the country with prominent skeptical scholars such as Bart Ehrman and Elaine Pagels. ![]() Mike says that although it was important for him to take this approach, he doesn’t recommend it to others. Although he never became angry with God, he felt far away from him. I don’t want to do that, but I feel like I need to.”ĭuring the ensuing period, Mike’s spiritual life grew cold. “Because I’m trying to be as open-minded as possible,” Mike prayed, “I realize that this may put a damper on my relationship with you, God. Mike knew that such brutal, intellectual honesty could come at a steep spiritual cost. I’m open to looking at the data and following it. If Christianity is wrong, now is a really good time to show me because I am more open than ever. “I was out one evening praying and said, ‘God I believe Christianity is true, I believe Jesus was raised from the dead. Mike would often take long walks at night, praying through these issues. I didn’t want to leave any stone unturned. This made him even more persistent in his pursuit of the truth. “It’s not just my faith, it’s everything. Even the most mundane, every-day issues are not immune to his scrutiny. He told his wife, “When I conclude my research, if I conclude Jesus did not rise from the dead, I’m going to have to resign my position and find another line of work.” In the midst of all this doubt, Mike says there was only one thing of which he was absolutely certain. Although he felt confident in the existence of God, he couldn’t seem to shake misgivings about other core Christian beliefs-even the Resurrection of Jesus, the very doctrine upon which he had based his academic career. That night, Mike shared his doubts with Debbie. Following the evidence, wherever it leads Doubt had made a dramatic re-entry into the apologist’s life. And then I just heard her voice pierce into the darkness. We probably hadn’t said anything for half an hour. ![]() “One night I’m lying in bed and I figured my wife was asleep. Mike describes the moment they acknowledged its unwelcome reappearance. The unsettling specter he thought he had banished had returned. But as he continued his doctoral studies, Mike felt a familiar presence lurking near the edges of his consciousness. He traveled the country, debating the philosophical merits of Christianity on college campuses and in churches. He’d written two books on the historicity of the Resurrection. Mike Licona was at a spiritual crossroads, and he couldn’t have reached it at a more inconvenient time.Īs the apologetics coordinator for the Southern Baptist Convention’s mission board, Mike gained the reputation of a stalwart defender of Christianity. Facebook Twitter Reddit Pinterest Email LinkedIn ![]()
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