Risk Free Return: The Reasonableness of Christian Faith
Family leaders shoulder great responsibility. They must shepherd members along safe and productive paths, champion family identity, unity and purpose and protect and prudently deploy the various classes of capital providing needs, wants and longevity. Virtually every family of means seeks to establish a legacy reaching to future generations. The challenges may be overwhelming at times and indeed throughout history the vast majority of family leaders underperformed their wealth transfer objectives. Is there an historically proven process to comprehensively meet the real and varying challenges of family leadership for today and tomorrow?
Worldview
Surprising though it may seem, the easiest evaluation of one’s probability of success focuses on worldview. In the West today, there are two prevailing approaches to thinking about the world we live in – one is irreligious, often naturalistic and characterized by a ‘commitment to reason and science’ and the other believes in God and is most often Christian. The worldviews are different, and it is the differences that make all the difference.
The one thing common among all non-Christian worldviews is the absence of belief in God’s divine providence playing a role in the affairs of Man and in the lives of His followers. Alternatively, Christians put faith in God’s protection, provision, progress and prosperity for posterity, seeming just the solution for family leaders. Can Christian belief square with those committed to reason and science?
Christianity’s Promises
Christianity promises the free gift of God’s grace. That means freedom from the earthly death of the bondage of sin, and from physical death through resurrection of your body and soul. God’s grace delivers by divine providence His temporal blessings and eternal salvation.
Christianity’s Requirements
To accept God’s free gift of grace, all that is required is to ask Jesus Christ to be the lord and savior of your life, to accept that you are not perfect and ask His forgiveness for your imperfections, and to honestly endeavor to enter a personal relationship with Him and live according to His teachings.
Christianity’s Returns
The benefits of people accepting the Christian religion have been written across the pages of history and on the hearts of believers for more than 2,000 years.
We are the beneficiaries of a Way of Life. Before we ignore, abandon or forever lose that Way of Life to woke culture, we should examine the facts and understand clearly our history. This topic might be of primary relevance to families of means for two reasons: 1) without our Way of Life your wealth could not have been Created; and, 2) without our Way of Life, your wealth can never be Preserved. I will let the man that had he greatest impact on the Wealth Preservation business in the last 100 years give name to our Way of Life. Sir Winston Churchill called it “our Christian Civilization.”
Many schools no longer teach this. Many of those that do teach, do not do so honestly. Most families do not teach it, though we hope we are playing our role in delivering change. Let us survey the History of our Western Christian Civilization in brief, the essence of what is unique and defining about Our Way of Life and specifically about the creation and preservation of wealth. We will review the essential pre-conditions for material success, and that real wealth is created and not discovered or appropriated.
Our Way of Life is synonymous with Western Christian Civilization and began with the birth of The Man who split history and time. We are often captivated by the fanciful illusions from movies and television, but life in the ancient world was not at all grandeur, romance or beauty. In the time B.C. the entire world was a cruel and miserable place, life was cheap, brutal and mostly short. Abortion, infanticide and exposure were terrors of young life and euthanasia and Stoic suicide evils of the old.
Across the Roman Empire, the supposed marvel of the Ancient world, class, nationality or tribal identity determined social status and despotic tyranny, sexual immorality and perversion, treachery and political corruption were cultural norms. If you were not lucky enough to be born among the narrow class of ruling or military elite, you lived at subsistence level or worse – were enslaved. Among elites physical labor was abhorred and slaves provided for all the food and comforts that had not been seized by political expropriation or military force. Slaves were subject to the daily social, economic and sexual depredations of their masters. Supporting the vast military machine and the bread and circuses of the welfare state required crushing taxes and regular debasement of the currency yielding little economic space for a middle class between elite and slave.
The Coliseum in Rome hosted its butcherous entertainments for almost 500 years, and was but one of scores of smaller public killing grounds throughout the Empire. It perhaps illustrates the depraved state of this greatest empire in the world that in the 400 years between Caesar and Constantine, the reign of thirty-two Roman Emperors ended either with their murder or suicide.
Now into this living hell came a new religion and a radical new system of morality, that directly opposed the way of life then common around the world. This new worldview began to rapidly change the world on a wide scale, carried as it was along every caravan route and Roman legionary road – and changed it immeasurably for the better. In fact, almost every good thing that is characteristic about the best of our Way of Life can be traced to this New Way and almost every bad thing has resulted from its absence.
What distinguishes Christianity? What defines its civilizing influence? A theologian would answer the first question with focus on: Creation; Sin; Incarnation; Resurrection and Holy Spirit. Rather, in answering the second question, our focus is on the differentiating characteristics of Creation; Love; Discovery; Discernment and Progress.
The First difference with this New Way, outside Judaism, was belief in one God the Creator and Supreme intelligence of the Universe. Second, that He created Man in his image with Love for each person individually and equally. Third, the belief that each person possessed the individual and equal God-given right to God’s grace, freedom from the bondage of sin, temporal blessings and release from death in eternal salvation. Fourth, that with freedom, every person had the personal responsibility of choosing or rejecting God. Fifth, belief that God reveals himself in nature and through the Bible, and study of these rewards Man with the Discovery and progressively improved understanding of God. Sixth, the recognition that improvement is the advance to a better situation of increased value; Discernment the selection of the one preferred between relative values. Seventh, the ability, and responsibility, to think and act to improve oneself and Progress toward an ideal and so advance the human condition.
There is a vast historical record detailing these changes and advances, most of it ignored or corrupted today. But very briefly, some major contributions to our Way of Life are: the sanctity of life; human and civil rights; elevation of freedom and dignity of women; abolition of slavery; modern science; hospitals and health care; universities and education; global literacy; orphanages, charities and benevolence societies; and last but not least equal protection under the rule of law and political, economic and religious freedom – together defining the United States of America – which of course has given rise to the health, wealth, liberty, happiness and philanthropy we have enjoyed to this generation, never before seen or imagined in the long bleak history of the world.
Belief in God’s revelation of Himself in Nature and in the Bible gave rise to studies seeking a progressively improved understanding of God. Since neither Nature nor the Bible are wholly doctrine but rather more process and narrative, study is necessary to discern what Augustine called, “God’s reasons.” As Rodney Stark illuminated in The Victory of Reason, this rational theology is orthodoxic and focused on progressively advancing ones understanding toward more-correct thinking. This future focused approach differed from other religions before or since that are orthopraxic and focused on precedent, ritual and therefore, mostly on the past. This future focus on progressive improvement in understanding gave rise to the physical sciences as related to Nature and to the social sciences as related to Man.
Progress in physical sciences led us to all of the advances from Astronomy to Zoology referred to as the Scientific Revolution and the Social Sciences gave rise first to the Reformation where Man was freed from tyranny of the Bishop of the Church and then the Enlightenment where Man was freed from the tyranny of the King of State. When turned toward the individual, this progressive improvement gave rise to God honoring character – the piety, honesty, industry, thrift, temperance, and charity – otherwise known as the Christian Work Ethic. Fittingly, today’s great institutions of academics, athletics or business talk about preconditions, about creating an environment favorable for success.
This is the Way of Life we inherited and to which we owe everything. And something else: the idea of improvement by definition considers relative value and that consideration by definition is a value judgement. Appropriate value judgements are critical to improved thinking and conduct and essential to the creation and maintenance of our Way of Life.
The very great wealth created by our Way of Life and coveted by so many worldwide would not be possible without political liberty, private property, a dignifying work ethic and the systematic and sustained application of reason and the notion of progress to commerce – all results of the New Way of thinking and living. Christians first associated dignity, honor and value to work. We note Jesus was a carpenter, Peter a fisherman and Paul a tentmaker who wrote “If a man will not work, he will not eat.” Free people engaged in dignified work repudiated slavery and generated increase, produced a growing new “middle class” between rich and poor, and meant fewer slaves and social dependents thus lifting society. Private Property rights and individual freedom are two valves of the same heart and can never exist one without the other. It was the Scottish professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Glasgow Adam Smith who in 1776 founded modern free market economics when he published the Wealth of Nations, probably after the King James Bible the second most influential book in world history. Here Smith described how freedom, private property, rational self-interest and focus on improvement lead to a culture in ascendance with increased opportunity for all.
These then were the essential and unique preconditions for wealth creation and also for the flourishing of the human condition, what Jefferson so famously called “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” It was not an accident. It was not an historical certainty. It was a creation, the intentional conscious effort by people whose beliefs guided their conduct and their sacrifices. They changed forever the way of thinking about the relationships between Man and God, Man and Man, Man and Nature, Man and State and Man and Church; and these changes ushered in a cataclysmic transformation and forward progression of Man’s life on Earth.
Here is a chart showing some of part of that change – increase in wealth per person over the last 2,000 years, but especially since the invention of the United States of America – the realization and convergence in a nation for the first time, of the political, economic and religious freedom championed by Christian thinkers and activists and their values and work ethic.
It was only then, and only here, that great and widespread wealth began to be created independent of social class, political party or religious affiliation. In earlier times wealth was something that was discovered, like fish in the sea, gold in the ground or timber on the hill, or was transferred from one to another by tariff or tax or theft. But real wealth is created and it took our Way of Life to create it; and it takes our Way of Life to preserve it.
Is Christian Faith Reasonable?
Our current era is no different from past times as strong objections to the existence of God in general and the Christian faith in particular abound. A group of unbelievers known as the New Atheists have gained considerable following calling upon a scientific rationale for disclaiming Christian belief. This is a debate that cannot be won, owing as it does to the inability to prove individual understandings about the immaterial world. But, we offer insight into two realms of human understanding in support of the reasonableness of belief in Christianity.
Macro View
We observe, and posit that all people can equally observe, the following facts of human experience:
- Our Universe
- Our Earth
- Life on Earth
- Man
- Human Consciousness
- Human Conscience and Morality
- The Historical Life of Jesus
- The Spread of Christianity
- The Beneficial Blessings of Christianity in the Progress of the World
- The Beneficial Blessings of Christianity in the Hearts and lives of Millions of People
Without delving into a discussion about each of the above, we will make this statement:
Absent the truth of the Christian Faith, there is no commonly agreed upon explanation for the existence of all of the above. Further, absent the truth of the Christian Faith, there is no commonly agreed upon explanation for the existence of any single one of the above.
On the contrary, the Christian faith explains each and all. We suggest from this exercise that Christianity is the most reasonable explanation for the existence of the most important features of the human experience.
Micro View
To illuminate unique reasons for our Christian belief, we compare with popular views that dismiss Christianity:
Consciousness: Regarding human consciousness, the common systems of unbelief – evolution, atheism, rationalism and determinism – all maintain that physical matter is all that is real, and that physical matter evolved over time by random events determined solely by Nature. Nothing is real that cannot be observed, experimented upon and measured; nothing immaterial really exists, it is all myth and fairy tale.
But, human consciousness is not described by those theories. Human consciousness is real, it exists. It is the immaterial individual consciousness knowing itself that puts the “I” in Identity. Further, one person can never tell what another person is thinking, but every one has confidence that the other person can think. Individual consciousness is real, acknowledged and unique, yet cannot be observed, experimented upon or measured by another, it is immaterial.
So, human consciousness exists as a fact that refutes non-Christian theories and worldview. We observe that the unique consciousness that exists is ones’ human nature.
Change your Mind, Change your Nature: Renowned atheist Sam Harris does not believe in human consciousness and wrote in “Free Will” that self-agency does not exist. Man’s actions are determined by random acts of nature. “Free will is an illusion so convincing that people simply refuse to believe that we don’t have it.”
Yet, we observe above that human consciousness, though immaterial, does exist. And, the human mind, the human consciousness, uniquely among all things known to Man, has the ability to change its nature. A rock cannot change its nature. A tree cannot change its nature. A bird cannot change its nature. Yet, Man can and does change his nature. And the sweep of history and the testimonies of millions of Christians proves that the changed nature of Man makes the person better and along with her and him the world. This refutes non-Christian world views dismissing consciousness and free will.
Recognize the Minds of Others: Our unique human consciousness recognizes the invisible unique consciousness of others and consciously judges it against the values of our own invisible unique consciousness. We naturally recognize it, without seeing it or the ability to know it, but we know it is there. This innate recognition of existence without physical evidence, refutes non-Christian world views excluding the immaterial world. It rather seems that an immaterial world not only exists but extends all around the world, not only to Christians, but to each and every person and has throughout all of human history.
Conscience & Morality: Almost universally, as humans, we think (our own unique invisible and immaterial consciousness) that we somehow know the mind of others (not only recognize consciousness, but attribute certain characteristics to it) when: 1) it is supposed not to exist; 2) we are entirely unable to know it from a materialist point of view; and 3) for many of us, most of our thoughts initially judge the other person in the negative. This is evidence of the Godless nature of Man devoted to self-interest.
This may be innate human nature and our unavoidable, and unchangeable, state, if we do lack consciousness, a conscience and free will. But Christianity not only teaches humans to use their minds, change their hearts and love, but world history and personal epiphany testify to this reality. Christianity is the cure for insistent self-interest, human enmity, for hate, and in that, the cure and salvation of the world. To summarize, we observe the following unique features of Christian Faith, and for our belief:
– the unique doctrine of God’s creation of Man in his image, with human consciousness;
– the unique recognition of consciousness;
– the unique ability to change human nature, from self-interest to loving others;
– the unique doctrine of the necessity to change one’s nature, to be ‘born again’;
– the unique personal recognition of the need to change one’s nature;
– the unique message of freedom, equality and responsibility before God;
– the unique message of love, hope and healing for all;
– the unique teaching to ‘love thy neighbor as thyself,’ to give everyone the ‘benefit of the doubt’; and,
– the unique teaching that all lives matter to God and his followers, all lives are created by God, in the image of God and loved by God.
We note that all of the above are refuted by non-Christian worldviews committed to materiality and yet all are innately known to humans, indeed, may essentially define humanity.
We suggest from this exercise that Christianity is the most reasonable explanation for the existence of unique attributes of human nature that can decide it can, should and will change of its own free will. And, we have demonstrated that the Christian faith is the sole comprehensive, cogent, congruent and consistent worldview that explains both the state of the world and the state of Man, and therefore an entirely reasonable system of belief.
Pascal’s Wager
In Pen`sees (Thoughts), seventeenth century polymath Blaise Pascal authored a robust treatise on the reasonableness of belief in God. Fusing original thought on infinity, probability and decision theory Pascal analyzed the relative gain or loss due to belief or unbelief. Blaise Pascal posited that it was more reasonable to live life as if God existed, even if you eventually find out He does not, than to live life as if God does not exist, and then find out that He does.
Risk
Pascal’s Wager focused importantly on the prospect of eternal salvation and the reasonableness of choosing to live life accordingly. Some may call it the ‘all-in bet.’ But the benefits of Christian belief are not solely salvation from earthly mortality, they begin to accrue in the here-and-now for God’s children. And for family leaders, as we introduced above, the Christian worldview is different, and the differences make all the difference. We have shown how Christian belief has endowed us with a Way of Life that is the Light and Envy of the World, responsible for the creation our wealth, and necessary for the preservation of our wealth.
Simply, if it is, as we have shown, reasonable to choose the Christian worldview, it would seem unreasonable to choose otherwise. How unreasonable? Sufficiently unreasonable as to risk everything. And what is risk but the measure of the degree of variance from an expected outcome? The generally assumed outcome of successful people is continued freedom, family and personal success. For unbelievers, this outcome faces dire existential, systemic and institutional risk.
First, let’s remember that the materialist, determinist worldviews dismiss the idea of one even having a choice. Adhering to such outlooks condemns one to accepting whatever may come, disclaiming human agency, rejecting God and his free gift of grace in earthly blessings and eternal salvation. So choosing Christianity is a powerfully liberating decision.
Second, beyond empowering choice, Christian’s believe that the Gospel is True. Jesus said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life,” John 14:6 If Christian faith is True, then unbelief must be false. What is vital for today’s family leaders to understand is that with Truth comes Trust; without Truth there can be no Trust, and the absence of Trust ignites Risk. The existential risk of unbelief suggests that we may be eliminated. There is abundant evidence of governments and people in the world advocating for and delivering death. The systemic risk of unbelief is manifest in the desire to overthrow our Way of Life. It is very popular in the world today and even in the U.S. to cry out for the repression of Christians, the undoing of our Constitutional Republic and the displacement of Capitalism. The institutional risk of unbelief is seen in the corruption of every aspect of social, political, economic, commercial and religious life. Without Truth can be no Trust, yet Trust is vital to the success of every human interaction across the entire spectrum of human experience. Family leaders insistent upon participating in environments devoid of Truth, wholly abrogating Trust and fueling a bonfire of Risk, court disaster.
Worldview Redux
In conclusion, a Christian worldview is historically proven to benefit believers and improve the world. Christianity uniquely explains the state of the world and that of Man. Critically, the Christian worldview is responsible for and defines our Way of Life, essential for the creation and protection of wealth for families but importantly for our culture and the world. A Christian worldview has been adopted by many of the families most successful in delivering a legacy lasting generations. Christian Family Abbeys have proven successful in serving the individual, family, community and culture that endured for a millennia for the betterment of mankind.
Comedy or Tragedy?
We have offered for the family leader an historically proven process to comprehensively meet the real and varying challenges of family leadership for today and tomorrow. Christianity is an accessible and reasonable choice. And as Christian thinkers from Erasmus to Os Guinness have noted, the message of Jesus is much closer to comedy than tragedy. In the world of the unbeliever, there is no spiritual consolation or providential favor available during life on earth and death is an ultimate finality. Alternatively, Christians draw daily upon deep wells of comfort, protection and provision for themselves and their families, always looking forward to the eternal happy ending. What could be better?
Scotus
In Praise of Folly, Desiderius Erasmus, 1509
Fool’s Talk, Os Guiness, 2015
Confessions, Augustine, 397
The Victory of Reason: How Christianity led to Freedom, Capitalism and Western Success, Rodney Stark, 2005
photo credit: Albert Octavus Knoblauch, Pitch & Toss, The National Galleries of Scotland