Better Felt than Told Religion?

Some claim that their faith-relationship with God is "better felt than told." This phrase is used to mean a variety of things. One potential connotation is that there is a component to a life-walk with God that cannot be adequately explained until one has personally experienced it. Certainly there is an "experiential knowledge" to our faith. The Scripture says, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!" (Psalm 34:8). The Hebrew writer affirms that we must "taste the heavenly gift" and "the goodness of the word of God" (Hebrews 6:4-5). Evangelistically, we encourage people to "come and see what God has done" (Psalm 66:5; John 1:39). Peter specifically says that we must always be ready to give an "answer" (Greek-apologia, a defense or explanation) of the hope that lies within us. In context, Peter is discussing giving an answer to those who basically ask, "How can you have such confidence and hope in the midst of persecution?" We must be ready to give a personal explanation to anyone who asks about what God has done in our lives. Telling our personal story of how we came to faith and the difference Christ has made in our lives is an example of evangelism modeled for us in Scripture (John 9:25). Paul often gave his "personal testimony" as a means of explaining his faith evangelistically (Acts 22:1-21; 24:10-21; 26:1-23). On these three occasions Paul gave his "defense" (apologia) by giving his personal faith story. Many who are seeking truth in our postmodern context today are more convinced by personal experiences than by logical reasoning. Subjective experience is not a full-proof approach to evangelism, but it is one that was used by Paul and is often very effective in our current environment.

Skeptics of the Christian worldview, however, will not be persuaded by "warm and fuzzy" stories of Jesus' impact upon your life. After all, personal experiences vary from person to person and don't really prove the truthfulness of anything. Jesus said that we can "know the truth" by being diligent students of God's revealed truth (John 8:31-32). God expects us to direct our analytical abilities toward the evidence of truth he has provided, reason correctly from that evidence, and arrive at God's absolute, unalterable truth (Romans 1:20-21; Psalm 119:89). Paul often used logical reasoning in an attempt to "persuade" people to believe the truth of God (Acts 9:22; 17:2-3; 18:4; 24:25). While "personal testimony" can be effectively used in personal evangelism, Christians must also be prepared to give a well-reasoned explanation of the truth-claims of Christianity. Objective truth must be "proved" from the evidence God has given from nature (Psalm 19:1-3) and from his word (John 8:31-32; Acts 17:2-3).

Truth has come under attack in our postmodern culture. By definition, "truth" is an established fact that shows the reality of something. Truth is objective meaning that it is not dependent upon individual experience, but instead is an absolute standard to which all people are accountable. God's word claims to be this objective, absolute truth (John 17:17). If we don't pursue truth and use our logical abilities to arrive at God's truth, we are "without excuse" and will find ourselves the recipients of God's wrath (Romans 1:18-23).

We must love God and seek him with both our hearts and our minds (Mark 12:30). Let's tell others of what God has done in our lives personally. But may we also be prepared to logically defend the truthfulness of God.