“Come, let us reason together.” -- Isaiah {1:18}

-- Logic --

Ask yourself this ©: If Christianity is just a made-up religion, why were hardships and dangers baked into it from the beginning?

Advertisers know that when they develop a plan to win customers, they must present the product as easy-to-use and with no downsides. In other words: best foot forward, worst foot hidden.

The same is true for recruiting members to a new organization. So then why did Jesus’s Apostles (particularly St. Paul) openly write about all the hardships and dangers that accompanied being a 1st-century Christian? And why did the Gospel writers include many unpopular dictums, such as “Love your enemies” or “Turn the other cheek”? Surely these facets of Christianity weren’t designed to attract new followers.

So why were they included? The only logical explanation is that the Evangelists felt obliged to. And the only logical explanation for feeling such an obligation is that it is the truth.

-- Lewis --

Ask yourself this ©: If Jesus is just a run-of-the-mill preacher, why did He claim to be the Son of God? And if He claimed to be the Son of God, does that logically fit what we see in His life?

The English author and wonderful Christian apologist C. S. Lewis (writer of the Narnia series, which includes the beloved The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe book) was an atheist for 15 years of his life. His conversion was largely facilitated by his close friend and fellow English writer J. R. R. Tolkien.

As a Christian apologist, Lewis developed “The 3 L’s” proof for the divinity of Jesus. Basically it goes like this:

Jesus said that He is the Son of God

Therefore He is either:

a Lunatic

a Liar

or

The Lord

Well, His cogent debates with His enemies precludes the first option

And, His many attested miracles precludes the second option

So, the only viable option is that He is Who He says He is: The Only Son of God and the Only Savior of the World

_______________________________________

-- “The Last Respectable Prejudice” (Kenneth L. Woodward) --

Ask yourself this ©: When every other religion (with the possible exception of Judaism) is taboo to disparage, why is Christianity in general -- and Catholicism in particular -- singled out for rampant ridicule?

In October of 2002, Kenneth L. Woodward wrote an essay in First Things entitled “The Last Respectable Prejudice”. In it he described the existence of a “repugnance for things Catholic . . . .”

However, this prejudice is largely ignored when discrimination of all kinds is discussed. Such ‘prejudice about prejudice’ indicates that something deeper is at work here. What is it about faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior that seems to bring out the worst in some people? Why do we not see this happening when non-Christian religions (again, with the possible exception of are considered?

Could it be that Jesus alone really is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, as He told us He is? And thus could it be that Christianity alone, among all the world’s religions, is the one and only true religion?

I believe so, for many reasons, and chief among them are the following:

Christianity (especially Catholicism) is persecuted like no other.

Jesus claimed divinity and sole Saviorship, validated by miracles (especially His Resurrection) ever since -- right up to the present day.

God’s approving seal on Christianity (especially Catholicism) is very clear and ongoing, and He would never leave us in a state of confusion by validating two (or more) true religions.

The Truth comforts, yet the Truth challenges.

Chapter 10 -- Mary, Miracles, and the Martyrs

“If God exists, then the real miracle would be if there were never any miracles at all.” -- C. S. Lewis [verify]

-- Mary --

Ask yourself this ©: If Christianity is false, then how have so many people, separated by centuries and by oceans, reported seeing very similar appearances by Mary (the Mother of Christ), and reported hearing very similar requests from her in those appearances?

Mary, the humble virgin who agreed to become the Mother of God (without losing her eternal virginity, mind you), is our most powerful human intercessor before the throne of God. She is constantly at work calling us to her Son. She is the Devil’s most feared saint. And she has repeatedly appeared on earth over the centuries, to warn us off the wrong path and onto the right one.

The Catholic Church scrupulously investigates all claims of Mary appearances, and has approved only about 1/30 of them. The Church’s investigatory criteria are:

The facts in the case are free of error.

The person(s) receiving the messages is/are psychologically balanced, honest, moral, sincere and respectful of church authority.

Doctrinal errors are not attributed to God, Our Lady or to a saint.

Theological and spiritual doctrines presented are free of error.

Money-making is not a motive involved in the events.

Healthy religious devotion and spiritual fruits result, with no evidence of collective hysteria. https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/a/apparitions-approval-process.php

In her appearances, Mary has performed miracles (e.g., the dancing sun, witnessed by some 70,000 people at Fatima, Portugal, on October 13, 1917), predicted future events (e.g., a more terrible war after World War I), and repeatedly asked for increased prayers (e.g., requesting daily Rosary praying).

Given all of the above, it’s obvious that a very strong case can be made for the reality of Mary as the Mother of God (Jesus).

P. S. It has been said that when you put a dot on each of the places Mary has appeared in France, it forms the letter “M”! [verify]

-- Miracles --

Ask yourself this ©: If Christianity is false, then why are so very many people convinced they’ve witnessed miracles? And how have numerous saints’ bodies not experienced degradation, despite never being properly embalmed?

Besides the ones noted above, and all of those that Jesus performed during His earthly ministry, there have been thousands of miracles that God has wrought through His saints, from the time of Jesus and continuing to this present day.

Defining miracles as events inexplicable by ordinary means, and knowing that the Catholic Church has an excellent track record of assiduously investigating miracles, we can put a good deal of faith in their reality. Let’s focus on 3 key miracles:

First is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from death by Roman crucifixion, the greatest of all miracles and the bedrock of Christianity

Second is the conversion of Saul → St. Paul (discussed in Chapter 3) ; Paul went on to become Christianity’s greatest missionary of all and a willing martyr for Jesus Christ

Third is a special group of saints known as the incorruptibles, whose bodies did not undergo the natural fate of physical disintegration, but were found decades and centuries after burial to be whole (and often accompanied by a heavenly scent)

Again, given the sheer number of miracles reported throughout the world ever since the time of Jesus, even if only a small percentage of them is true (a position that would require a huge amount of faith in the other side), even a single miracle would prove, by definition, that God exists.

-- the Martyrs--

Ask yourself this ©: If Catholicism is made up, then when have so many people, from all different times and places, been willing to die (often under torture) rather than remounce their faith in Christ? And why did Jesus’s Apostles, who knew for sure whether He had or had not risen from the dead, choose death rather than denying the truth of His Resurrection?

Another special subset of saints is comprised of the martyrs. From the Greek word for “witness”, a martyr is one who gives up his life for faith in Christ. With the exception of John (the youngest) and Judas (the betrayer), all of Jesus’s Apostles were martyred. Since then, countless persecuted Christians have chosen (often torturous) death instead of denying Our Lord. And it is important to note that the roll of Christian martyrs continues to grow to this very day. To wit: the century that saw the most Christian martyrs was the 20th century!

Before we leave this section, let’s drive home one key point: A special group of martyrs (and that’s saying something) is comprised of the Apostles (Jesus’s “inner circle”). Obviously they were in a unique position to know the truth or falsity of Jesus’s Resurrection. And they chose painful martyrdom instead of denying what they knew to be true: that Jesus rose again from the dead and is therefore the Son of God. People don’t willingly die for a lie.

Chapter 11 -- Offsetting, Ockham’s Razor, and the Our Father prayer

“When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes

-- Offsetting --

Ask yourself this ©: If there is no God, then why hasn’t evil long ago destroyed all traces of goodness in the world?

In my search for God, I read a book entitled My Life without God, by William J. Murray. In it, he describes his life with his mother, Madalyn Murray O’Hair, the woman responsible for prayer’s being taken out of public schools. While this is one of the worst things to ever happen in America, the book ends on a happy note, with William Murray becoming a Christian (another proof that there’s a God?).

One point he made in the book has always stuck with me. To paraphrase: “I [William Murray] saw enough evil growing up to know that there must be an Supreme Being balancing it out with goodness.”

This is a salient point to keep in mind as we proceed. For, as Sean Hannity put it in his book, Deliver Us from Evil, “Evil exists. It is real, and it means to harm us.” So, given the Devil’s 24/7 malevolence toward all humanity, the only logical reason why the world hasn’t already been completely overwhelmed by evil is that there must be an omnipotent, omnibenevolent Supreme Being limiting the Devil’s power.

-- Ockham’s Razor --

Ask yourself this ©: If there is no God, then why are all the atheistic theories for reality much more convoluted (and often contradictory) than the one, beautiful, straightforward theistic one?

William of Ockham, an English Franciscan friar and theologian who lived around 1300, devised a philosophical tool (“Ockham’s Razor”) that can shed good light here. Basically, Ockham’s Razor states that when confronted with two or more possibilities for the same phenomenon, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.

This may seem obvious, but in practice it is often far from. Unfortunately, we humans are very adept at coming up with all kinds of convoluted theories to explain away things that we are not comfortable with. Sadly, the evidence for God’s existence has been shrouded in a fog of competing theories to try and account for why things are the way they are, without God. And while honest inquiry can be a beautiful thing, some of the atheistic theories are just plain nonsense.

That said, Ockham’s Razor cuts (pun intended) to the heart of the matter, reminding us that the simplest explanation carries a great deal of veracity for its very simplicity, and the simplest explanation for why things are as they are is that there is a God, Who sent His Son to pay the price for our sins.

-- The Our Father Prayer --

Ask yourself this ©: If Jesus were evil and/or insane, then how did He compose The Our Father prayer (arguably the most wonderful individual prayer of all)?

One day, Jesus’s “disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test.’” {Lk 11:1-4} {NAB}

Now that is a prayer! It contains the three elements of praising, asking, and repenting. And yet it’s simple. Direct. Trusting. Such beautiful things do not come from an evil nor insane mind. They can’t.

Chapter 12 -- Proximity, Paradoxes, and the Persecutions

“ . . . power is made perfect in weakness.” -- The Lord, to St. Paul {2 Cor 12:9}

-- Proximity --

Ask yourself this ©: If the Catholic Church is just a human institution, then how did the Early Church manage to grow so explosively in the very time and place where it could have been so easily snuffed out: 1st-Century, Roman-occupied Jerusalem?!

The Earliest Church consisted simply of Jesus’s disciples. The Jewish authorities and the Roman occupiers likely knew who most of them were (at least the ones in Jerusalem). And seeing this new “start-up” religion as a threat to their power and way of life, they conspired to try and crush it before it had a chance to grow.

And the odds were overwhelmingly in their favor. They had the motive. They had the opportunity. And they had the means. Even a casual observer would agree that this nascent movement should have easily been nipped in the bud. But it wasn’t. “Things that make you go hmm.”

-- Paradoxes --

Ask yourself this ©: If the Catholic Church were just a made-up organization which just wanted to attract membership, why would they include such stark paradoxes in the Bible?

A Dictionary.com definition of the word paradox is “any person, thing, or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory nature”. God often works in paradox:

The Virgin Birth

Life from Death

Growth amid Persecution

Etc.

How can this be?, you ask. God is truth ; surely He cannot work in falsehood, right. Ah, but note the word “apparently” in the definition. God can do anything. And along with His omnipotence comes the possibility (probability?) of events which, to our limited intellects, seem to be impossible. “ . . .but for God all things are possible,” says Jesus {Mt 19:26}

-- the Persecutions --

Ask yourself this ©: If the Catholic Church is false, then why has she always been targeted, from day one? What is deemed such a threat by her persecutors?

Let’s look once more, now in a broader scope, at the persecutions constantly leveled against the Catholic Church:

Demonic attacks

Heretical attacks

Human attacks