Christian Falsifiability

• John Vandivier

I often hear smugly from some non-Christians that Christianity is a matter of faith and thereby non-falsifiable. This is completely incorrect. Christianity is based on historical fact and therefore it is uniquely falsifiable among religions.

Here are 5 quick ways one might falsify Christianity, or otherwise show Christian belief is unwarranted or non-preferred:

  1. Show that Jesus never in fact existed, or didn't die on a cross, or Pontius Pilate never existed, or something similar
  2. Show that the universe didn't begin at a fixed point in time.
  3. Show that the 4 Gospels are in fact forgeries, or the apostles didn't exist, or something similar.
  4. Invalidate some key tenet of Christian theology.
    1. Here, a key tenet means something which effects the cost-benefit analysis of choosing Christianity, not simply a common belief among Christians.
    2. For example, to show that a correct interpretation of Salvation Theology indicates that no person can actually obtain salvation would be a major issue.
  5. Show that some other worldview is somehow preferable. Probably a comparatively higher ROI would be most convincing.
    1. For example, if it turns out that Christianity really does require complex works to obtain salvation while some other religion can result in an outcome equal or better than Christian salvation with significantly less or no effort, the other religion may be rationally preferred.

The fact that none of those things can't be done doesn't make Christianity blind faith. The evidence-based, empirical, logically consistent nature of Christianity is exactly what makes it so non-blind and so reasonable, in contrast both to other religions and to strong atheism.