Pg. 82
"Okay, Dr. Craig, youre an intelligent and educated individual," I began. "Tell me how can a modern and rational person still believe in babies being born from virgins, people walking on water, and cadavers emerging alive from tombs?"
Craig smiled. "It's funny you should ask specifically about the virgin birth," he replied, "because that was a major stumbling block to my becoming a Christian. I thought it was totally absurd."
"Really?" I said. "what happened?"
"When the Christian message was first shared with me as a teenager, I had already studied biology. I knew that for the virgin birth to be true, a Y chromosome had to be created out of nothing in Mary's ovum, because Mary didn't possess the genetic material to produce a male child. To me, this was utterly fantastic. It just didn't make sense."
"You're not alone," I observed. "Other skeptics have problems with it too. How did you proceed?"
Craig thought back for a moment. "Well, I sort of put that issue aside and became a Christian anyway, even though I didn't really believe in the virgin birth. But then, after becoming a Christian, it occurred to me that if I really do believe in a God who created the universe, then for Him to create the universe, then for him to create a Y chromosome would be child's play!"
I told Craig that I found it interesting he could have become a Christian despite misgivings about a doctrine as significant as the virgin birth.
"I guess the authenticity of the person of Jesus and the truth of His message were so powerful that they simply overshadowed any residual doubts that I had," he replied
I pressed him by asking, "Weren't you rushing headlong into something you didn't totally accept?"
"No, I think this cab be a good procedure," he said. You don't need to have all your questions answered to come to faith. You just have to say, 'The weight of the evidence seems to show this is true, so even though I don't have answers to all my questions, "I'm going to believe and hope for answers in the long run.' That's what happened with me.
"Does a person have to suspend their critical judgment in order to believe in something as improbable as miracles?"
Craig sat upright in his chair and raised his index finger as if to punctuate his point. "Only if you believe that God does not exist!" he stressed.
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(X-posted at my other blog also)
