The Royal Grand Plaza Hotel!

In your wildest dreams, you never imagined you'd be standing in the lobby of the Royal Grand Plaza. Towering marble columns line the walls. Breathtaking sculptures decorate the alcoves. A luxurious red carpet with gold patterns covers the floor. A massive white stone fountain, the lobby's focal point, sits in the center of the room, it’s jets of water raining down upon the beautiful statue of a mermaid. The entire scene is illuminated by an elegant, multi-tiered glass chandelier hanging above the fountain.

You don't know how they could afford it, but your best friend Bill's family has rented this majestic hotel's ballroom to celebrate their son's 30th birthday. Family and friends from all over, including yourself, were invited. Dressed for the occasion in your finest clothes, you cross the lobby and make your way to the party.

Outside the ballroom, you are stopped by a doorman who is checking names against the guest list. You tell him your name and he asks to see some form of identification. This hotel must take a strong stand against party-crashers, you think to yourself as you reach for your wallet, only to realize with horror that you left it at home. Fumbling through your pockets, you pull out the Evite printed from your email and show it to the doorman. The doorman apologizes that he cannot accept the printout, as it can easily be copied or shared.

While you are thinking what to do, an older couple, perhaps some of Bill's relatives, approach. The doorman checks their identification and lets them enter. Before they disappear, however, he asks them if they can vouch for you, doing his best to be helpful. Unfortunately, you and this couple have never met.

Frustrated, you stand outside the ballroom hopeless. You have legitimately been invited, but can't gain entry. You know you are who you say you are but have no way to prove it. Just when you are about to give up and return home dejected, Bill steps through the door. Wherever he was heading, he stops the minute he sees you, gives you a warm welcome, and asks what you are doing standing outside. You explain the situation and Bill immediately clears you with the doorman, who once again apologizes before letting you in to enjoy the party.

* * *

Skeptics often attempt to disprove the truth by offering alternative explanations. As in the story above, you are who you are but that fact is countered by other explanations. You don't have physical proof. Your Evite could either be fake or belong to someone else. Others don't recognize you. The conclusion is that you must not be who you say you are.

This tactic works fine in the courtroom, where a lawyer only needs to show there is reasonable doubt that a criminal defendant is guilty. However, it's not a great tactic for determining truth. Using our example again, the fact is you are you. All the other factors do not change that fact. To undoubtedly determine that you an impostor in that situation would be a result of faulty logic.

I was reminded of this recently while watching the M. Night Shyamalan movie Glass. Glass is the third movie of a trilogy that starts with Unbreakable and continues with Split. The story follows three characters (portrayed by Bruce Willis, Samuel Jackson, and James McAvoy) who possess superhuman abilities. In Glass, Sarah Paulson plays a psychiatrist who, believing the trio actually suffers from a Superhero/Super-Villain complex, attempts to offer natural explanations for their "powers." Bent bars were old, rusty, and weak. A shotgun blast was survivable because the shells were damp, compromised, and did not discharge properly. One could scale walls because they subconsciously learned how to from watching online videos of people climbing sheer cliffs. Samuel Jackson's character countered these arguments with the following:

Everything extraordinary can be explained away, and yet it is true. I think deep down you know this. Everything we will see and do will have a basis in science. But it will have limits. This is the real world, not a cartoon. And yet some of us don't die from bullets. Some of us can still bend steel. That is not a fantasy.

The same applies to Christianity. Much of what the Bible tells us about God and Jesus is extraordinary and deals with the supernatural. Many people have tried to explain it away, but that doesn't mean that those explanations are true, only that they might be possible. A fair warning to the Christian: the same goes in reverse. When a Non-Christian's worldly beliefs are challenged by scripture, they will not necessarily consider their original beliefs false just because there is another option. As with any multiple claims of truth, you must dig deeper to find the truth.

So how do you do this if you don't have that I.D.card or a smoking gun? Just like the lawyers in my courtroom example, you have to study the claims. For every explanation offered by the defense, the prosecution attempts to pick it apart and offer additional evidence to show that there is only one likely conclusion, the defendant's guilt. Understanding these things can be helpful to anyone questioning the claims of Christianity, whether they are exploring the faith or already consider themselves a Christian.

I would encourage anyone exploring Christianity to remember that the existence of alternative explanations alone does not invalidate the truthfulness of the faith. For instance, some might say that it is possible the disciples actually went to the wrong tomb, found it empty, and wrongly assumed Jesus was resurrected. Because of this, those skeptics conclude that scripture is untrustworthy. Such a conclusion would be illogical since the original claim, that the disciples did indeed go to the correct tomb, is still a viable option. Both claims need to be examined to determine which one better holds up to the scrutiny.

If you are a Christian doubting your faith, I would encourage you by reminding you that having doubts is okay. The Psalms are full of prayers that question God (Ps. 13, 22, 77, 94). The Gospel of Mark tells of a man who, despite his son having just been raised from the dead, confesses to Jesus that he still has doubts (Mark 9:24). From time to time, I even wonder if some claims that contradict scripture might be true after all. Don't be scared by your doubts. Use them as motivation to study further and learn more about God and His creation.

When investigating any topic, it's important to consult reliable sources. Probably the most valuable thing I've ever done was to examine the reliability of the Bible. Since most of what we know about God comes from this book, it would seem an important first step in exploring the Christian faith. Over the course of a year, I tested various claims about the Bible. In the end, I was convinced that scripture was trustworthy and as a result, put my faith in Christ. In the thirty years since I’ve uncovered more and more evidence to support that conclusion and have found nothing to reasonably dispute it. Because I've come to trust the Bible as the Word of God, whenever I have doubts, I also have a reliable source I can turn to to help me understand that doubt and steer me toward the truth. If you are curious about the reliability of scripture, I would strongly suggest reading Lee Strobel's book The Case For Christ as a first step.

Finally, pray and ask God for help, whether you believe He exists or not. If the skeptics are correct, what have you lost except for a few moments of your time? But if God is real, He has promised to listen and lead you. (Matt. 7:7-11)

In the end, I have faith that you will find that God is who He says He is. His word, the Bible, confirms it. It is God's I.D.!