The search for God can seem so puzzling and so difficult that many people feel like, “All that God-stuff is a mystery, and no one really knows what’s true.”
If this is how you are feeling, it makes sense to dig into this instinct and see if this objection to faith can withstand a rigorous investigation. Let’s start by considering some of the main reasons why the search for God seems strange and even impossible.
According to some estimates, there are about 2.1 billion Christians in the world, or around a third of the world’s population. Whether you are a Christian questioning your faith or simply curious about the world’s largest religion, you’ve probably asked yourself: how can we know if Christianity is true?
“And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified Jesus, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.” – Luke 23:33
Historically speaking, there’s nothing special about crucifixion. Perhaps tens of thousands were crucified throughout the Roman empire. Before the time of Jesus, in 87 B.C., a Hasmonean ruler named Alexander Jannaeus crucified 800 Jewish rebels in Jerusalem. During part of a siege of Jerusalem in 70 A.D, the Roman military crucified as many as 500 Jewish people a day. Under these circumstances, to speak against the government, or worse, to actually revolt, could lead to unspeakably horrible consequences.