Why I am a Christian

A few months ago I reevaluated this question from the angle of rhetorical appeal.

I did this because as I’ve grown older I’ve had two somewhat opposite experiences:

1. I’ve studied logic much more carefully.
2. I’ve learned that, in general, while people are rational (their behavior has rationale), they are not reasonable. We do not operate solely on the basis of dispassionate reason.

These two facts made it seem prudent to think through my commitment to Christ using the three modes of appeal: pathos, logos, and ethos.

1. Pathos
   1. Hell
   2. Tribalism
   3. Cosmic Story
   4. Social Life
   5. Happiness
2. Ethos
   1. The moral credibility of Jesus
   2. The moral credibility of Christianity’s best
   3. The power of Western Civilization
3. Logos
   1. Why I think God exists
   2. Why I think Jesus was raised

I’ll write a series of short posts explaining each of these. They aren’t meant to be comprehensive. In a way they can’t be. I’m too long winded to be interesting if I tried to be. Secondly, I have a blog, I’m not a scholar or an author. So don’t expect anything here to be particularly novel or great. But hopefully, if you’re a Christian with doubts or a non-Christian with questions, this will help you toward Jesus.