Argument from Motivation

"I'm glad you found a religion that works for you, but it doesn't work for me"

I've heard this statement said to me before when I've shared with some people my faith. The sentence kind of shows that they don't really understand my point-of-view, though...

Yes, there are a lot of very valuable emotional aspects to Christianity. However, there is a big intellectual part as well. It's not just that "this religion works for me", it's that I actually believe it is the one true religion, and that there is plenty of logic to back it up. So if someone tells me what this title says, does that mean they don't want to hear the intellectual part?

The people who say things like this statement probably only view religion as a way to get emotional enjoyment - and that no religion is true. "Spiritual truth" is whatever you make it out to be.

Religions are not just about emotional enjoyment, though. They often make bold claims that either must be true or most not be true. And religions contradict each other a lot! For example, Christians believe that Jesus is God. Muslims believe that Jesus was just a prophet (and not God). Can you reconcile these with each other? No! They are very opposite.

I would go on to say, then, that because of the logical contradictions between all the religions, either one religion must be true, or none of them are true. I don't know of any religions that are compatible with each other. There probably are. But of the major ones, they are definitely not.

So if only ONE religion (or none) is true, shouldn't we spend our time trying to figure out what that might be (or if there is one that is true)? After all, the time we spend after we die may depend on it!

An Argument for Christianity based upon the Motivation of its Founders

I hope I've convinced you that looking at religions from an intellectual standpoint is important. I'd like to form an argument now for Christianity based upon the motivation of its founders. It is a strong argument. And we will examine a few other religions to see how they compare.

By motivation, I mean that we will be asking these two questions:

1. "Would this founder have motivation to lie?"
2. "Did the founder have any other witnesses to confirm that they are telling the truth?"

Islam

Background
In the history of Islam, Muhammad was visited by an angel, Gabriel, and Muhammad was (soon) told that he would be Allah's chosen prophet. He was able to get together many followers. At first, there was a lot of persecution towards them (interestingly, some were protected by a Christian ruler in Ethiopia). Shortly after the Hijrah (when they migrated to Medina), they gained a lot of followers and started fighting and conquering the pagans of Mecca. Soon, the constitution of Medina was created, and the Muslims started forming a small government where Muhammad was recognized as the Prophet of God.

The power of the Muslims quickly grew, and Muhammad invited several rulers of the world to submit to Islam: King of Persia, the Emperor of Byzantium, the Negus of Abyssinia, and the Governor of Egypt. Just a few short years later, Muhammad unfortunately grew ill and then died. Abu Bakr then took over as the first khaleefah. Islam continued to grow and conquer in battle, and it continued its role as a religious government.

Question 1
So, let's look at the first question: "Would this founder have motivation to lie?"

Unfortunately, I would say that the answer is "yes." Muhammad received a lot of power and possessions through Islam. His goal was to gain followers, and he often did so very forcibly (by conquering in battle). Here are a few passages from the Quran I found that illustrate some of the things he claimed and gained from Islam:

1. Muhammad must be obeyed as leader (Surah 4:80).
2. Muhammad can have many wives and female slaves (Surah 33:50-51). Indeed, he had about 11 wives.
3. Muhammad promised soldiers that being killed in battle guarantees heaven for them. This could get the soldiers to fight harder for him (Surah 61:10-12, 4:74, and 9:111).
4. Soldiers can marry female prisoners of war even while their husbands are alive. This could also potentially get soldiers to fight harder for him (Surah 4:24).


Muhammad certainly did have a lot of material possessions to gain, and that means that he unfortunately did have motivation to lie.

Question 2
Let's look at the second question: "Did the founder have any other witnesses to confirm that they are telling the truth?"

Unfortunately, the answer is "no". Muhammad was given exclusive revelation. No one else received revelations at the same time to confirm that he was telling the truth. So he could have been making it up.

Consensus
My consensus, then: unfortunately, it seems that he could have been lying about his spiritual revelation. He had plenty of motivation to lie (lots of things to gain), and he had no one making sure that he was telling the truth.

Mormonism

Background
Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, was born in Vermont in 1805, and his family shortly moved to Palmyra, New York. America was undergoing major spiritual revival. There were many Christian pastors (from many different denominations) moving around and preaching in different towns. He heard one pastor mention James 1:5, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him" (KJV). He went to the woods near his hometown and prayed while meditating on this verse, and it was there where his first vision came. He was told in his vision that all denominations of Christianity are false and their believers are corrupt.

A few years later, he was visited by the angel Moroni. Moroni told him of some golden plates buried nearby which were written in some kind of hieroglyphic language. Moroni also gave him some reading crystals so he could interpret them. It was from these plates that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of the Mormon. Soon after, Joseph Smith had a vision of John the Baptist giving him the Aaronic Priesthood.

Mormonism grew steadily in followers, and Joseph Smith received visions to travel west with his followers. In Illinois, Smith and his followers built a town called Nauvoo, where they tried to live out their Utopian view of society. The leaders also argued that Jesus had multiple wives, and they instituted polygyny.

In 1844, Joseph Smith was arrested and indicted for polygyny (among other things). Soon after, a mob unfortunately stormed the prison and killed Joseph Smith and his brother. Most of the remaining Mormons followed Brigham Young to Utah where they founded Salt Lake City.

Question 1
So, let's look at the first question: "Would this founder have motivation to lie?"

Unfortunately, I would also say that for Mormonism, the answer is "yes." Joseph Smith had a lot of things that he gained by founding Mormonism. He gained power through followers, many wives through polygamy, and money as well. Here are a few examples:

When Joseph Smith and his followers purchased land in Nauvoo (the land was expensive, by the way), Joseph Smith received a revelation that a church member must build him a mansion, and that is how his house was built.

In 1842, Joseph smith went bankrupt and owed more than $73,000 to creditors (this is nearly $2 million in today's dollars). It seems that he was using the church money for his own personal needs, and he had to get the church to bail him out of his debt. There are also all kinds of other possible scandals that they had with their own bank that they set up.

There are many other possible monetary scandals that I will not be mentioning here.

Finally, Joseph Smith had around 28 wives total, which was allowed since their leaders decided to institute polygyny.

Including the amount of followers he obtained, those are a lot of things to gain from founding his religion. Unfortunately, I think this indicates that he did indeed have motivation to lie.

Question 2
Let's look at the second question: "Did the founder have any other witnesses to confirm that they are telling the truth?"

Unfortunately, the answer is "no". Joseph Smith was also given exclusive revelation. No one else received revelations at the same time to confirm that he was telling the truth. So he could have been making it up. It does seem kind of sketchy that he also had revelations for specific personal gain (such as the building of his mansion).

Consensus
My consensus, then: unfortunately, it seems that he could have been lying about his spiritual revelation as well. He had plenty of motivation to lie (lots of things to gain), and he had no one making sure that he was telling the truth.

Christianity

Background
You could arguably say that Jesus is the sole founder of Christianity. However, I'm going to view the disciples and Paul as additional founders since they wrote most of the books in the New Testament of the Bible (and they would know whether it was true or not since they all had first-hand experience).

Jesus was born in Bethlehem from the virgin, Mary. Before Jesus was born, Mary was told by the angel Gabriel that Jesus would be the savior of the world, the fulfillment of the prophecy in Judaism. When Jesus was older and begin his ministry, he gathered a large group of followers (supposedly by performing many miracles such as healing the sick), but his closest followers were the 12 disciples; ordinary men that he specifically told to follow him.

Jesus predicted that he would be killed, but he also predicted that he would rise from the dead three days later. Jesus was eventually nailed to a cross, killed, and buried. Scholars agree that there is no possible way he could have survived the crucifixion. Three days later, his tomb was found to be empty, and the disciples claim that they all saw him alive from the dead.

The disciples went on to found churches and write the books of the New Testament, telling the stories of Jesus and teaching Christians how to live. Paul, a man who was killing Christians for the sake of Judaism, claimed to have received a direct revelation from God that told him that these Christians he was killing were believing in the truth. He soon joined the apostles in founding churches and writing books that would be part of the New Testament.

Question 1
So, let's look at the first question: "Would this founder have motivation to lie?"

If we are talking about Jesus, then the answer is probably "no." Jesus did not gain women or monetary possessions for his beliefs. He had several followers, but he willingly entered a city (Jerusalem) where he knew that his followers would abandon him and he would be killed.

If we are talking about the disciples and Paul, the answer is also probably "no." Unlike Islam and Mormonism, there is no strong evidence that the disciples gained possessions for what they believed.

For monetary gains, look at what Paul said to one of the churches:

33 I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes. 34 You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me. 35 In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:33-35).

Paul specifically said that he himself worked to supply his needs - he did not want to be a financial burden to others. When Paul was ministering to the Thessalonians, he wanted to prove to them that he was not doing this for monetary gain:

7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. (2 Thessalonians 3:7-8).

They were clearly not seeking money from their followers. There are other passages as well such as Acts 4:32-35 that show that all of the apostles were sharing with the needy and not hoarding money for themselves.

If they were not seeking monetary gains, what about women? History indicates that Jesus never married. We do not have any record of polygyny among the disciples and Paul. It seemed that Peter and some of the other apostles had one wife (1 Cor. 9:5). However, it seems that Paul was not married and said that he prefers it to remain that way for his ministry (1 Cor. 7:8). So, unlike the founders of Islam and Mormonism, women were certainly not a possible motivating factor.

As far as power goes, there isn't really much of an indication that the disciples and Paul wanted power. In fact, they even seem to indicate that simple tasks such as overseeing food production are just as important as their ministry.

So, did Jesus, the disciples, and Paul have anything to gain for lying? Not really. In addition to not gaining much, most of them were killed for their beliefs. This strongly indicates that they were telling the truth.

Question 2
Let's look at the second question: "Did the founder have any other witnesses to confirm that they are telling the truth?"

Yes. Unlike Islam and Mormonism where there is only one founder receiving revelations, there are multiple founders here. All of the disciples claimed to have seen Jesus after he was raised from the dead. It would only have taken one to say that it wasn't true in order to discredit the others (and the idea that all of them hallucinated the same thing is not very believable - see here and here for more arguments concerning the resurrection). And they all agreed on the principles that Jesus taught.

In addition to those, Paul, a completely separate entity who was killing Christians, claimed to have received direct revelation from God that Jesus had been raised from the dead and that the ministry of the disciples was true. This is a huge change, and the fact that he completely agreed with the disciples' message is incredible.

There are supposedly many other people who saw Jesus after his resurrection as well. So there were certainly a lot of different witnesses to confirm that the founders were speaking the truth. And they were all in good agreement as well.

Consensus
My consensus, then: the founders of Christianity are probably correct. They had little motivation for lying, and there were many witnesses to confirm that they were speaking the truth.

If the resurrection is true, then the Gospel is probably also true. You should read it. The next steps would be to get connected with a group of Christians and study the Bible to learn more.

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you have any comments.