Obtain Evidence for What You Believe

Peter taught that we should “be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” (1 Peter 3:15) “A reason” implies that there are true facts, evidences, or observations supporting a given belief. Embracing a belief simply because someone else (a friend, family member, or church leader) maintains that belief is often not compelling enough to convert others or to maintain your own adherence during trials.¹ We should not believe something just because we were told it by our parents. We ought not assume something is true if it is repeated enough.² Those who are off the strait and narrow path far outnumber those who are on it. Truth always stands in the minority, and therefore will always be the exception to what is heard most often.

Instead, we should seek to follow the advice of men of God in the scriptures, who have invited us to “try the spirits.” “Trying the spirits” is an antiquated way to refer to an active search for truth. Salvation is not a passive activity. One must be anxiously engaged in discerning between truth and error if there is to be any hope for salvation.

We have no right to feel strongly about something for which we can not provide either charismatic or rational evidence. Feelings are insufficient. Emotion is not revelation. Instead, emotions tend to mirror prior held beliefs. When prior held beliefs are reinforced, the believer feels good. When prior held beliefs are contradicted, the believer feels bad (this is called cognitive dissonance). When truth evaluation is reduced to feelings, it becomes impossible to persuade, no matter how certain and clear the facts. Instead of debating the correctness or incorrectness of doctrine, which can be established through scriptural, rational, and historical investigation, one must defend against the feelings comments caused to those with status quo beliefs, whether or not those beliefs are true. The doctrine itself ceases to be the focus. Instead, the feelings of the believer become the focus. (See “Revelation.”) The natural man is an enemy to God; finding truth requires us to yield our emotive response—which is carnal—to the voice of the Holy Ghost.

We search in order to find two kinds of evidence: charismatic evidence and rational evidence. Charismatic evidence consists of experiences we have had that support a principle. In this category, we could place Paul’s witness of Christ: He saw; therefore, he knew. We could place Joseph of Egypt’s dream of the 14 years of plenty and famine in this category. In fact, the scriptures are full of visitations, visions, dreams, and voices that all serve as charismatic evidence for a particular idea. We should exercise extreme caution in considering emotional experiences as charismatic evidence.³

Rational evidence is a historical, scriptural, or logical argument that supports or contradicts a given principle. Rational evidence can be evaluated absent of experience. Rational evidence is a powerful tool for disproving principles, since only one counterexample is needed to disprove something. But it has another more important use. While charismatic experience is how we gain unshakeable testimonies of truth, charismatic experiences come largely as the result of experimenting on God’s word. Without logical, scriptural, or historical reason to believe on a proffered principle, one will not have enough faith to experiment on it. Rational evidence provides a bridge between where we currently stand and where we need to stand in order to receive a charismatic witness.

We are testing the word when we refrain from considering a teaching true until the Lord proves it to us through a charismatic experience. Asking questions and doubting are essential to provide the real intent necessary to learn new truth through study and revelation. Since one cannot have faith in a false principle, the evaluation of potential truth is a task of utmost importance to those of faith, for the attempted exercise of faith in false principles will perpetuate ignorance, stall progression, and further delay a first-hand experience with God.

To find truth, you must be your belief system’s hardest critic. You must be informed. How can you satisfactorily persuade someone who does not believe you without being prepared to answer any criticism of your belief? If what you believe is true, seeking to contradict it can only improve your ability to persuade others. Of course, it will also lead to situations where you discover that what you previously believed is, in fact, false. While selfinvestigation will sometimes lead to disproving previously held notions, letting go of false beliefs draws one closer to God. Therefore, whether resulting in affirmation or disproof, honest questioning can only lead closer to God.

Sir Carl Popper wrote,

For all of us, in all our activities, the notions that we can do better only by finding out what can be improved and then improving it; and therefore that shortcomings are to be actively sought out, not concealed or passed over; and that critical comment from others, far from being resented, is an invaluable aid to be insisted on and welcomed, are liberating to a remarkable degree. It may be difficult to get people— conditioned to resent criticism and expect it to be resented, and therefore to keep silent about both their own mistakes and others'—to provide the criticisms on which improvement depends; but no one can possibly give us more service than by showing us what is wrong with what we think or do; and the bigger the fault, the bigger the improvement made possible by its revelation. The man who welcomes and acts on criticism will prize it almost above friendship: the man who fights it out of concern to maintain his position is clinging to non-growth. (Sir Carl Popper quoted in “Popper”, Bryan Magee, 1973, p. 39.)