Is Faith Just an Excuse for a Lack of Evidence?

Nobody wants to be the gullible one holding onto an imaginary friend while the rest of the world has grown up. In this episode, Pedro tackles one of the most common cultural assumptions of our time: the idea that faith and facts are mortal enemies, and that "faith" is just a blind leap you take when the evidence runs out.

But what if that definition of faith is completely backwards?

In this episode, we unpack:

• The Bridge Analogy: Why faith isn't the absence of evidence, but the exact moment you trust the evidence enough to move and commit your weight to it.
• The Trauma of "Just Have Faith": How religious gaslighting and intellectual betrayal turn strict, cold empiricism into a brilliant psychological defense mechanism against spiritual abuse.
• The Patron Saint of Empiricism: How Jesus handled "Doubting Thomas." Jesus didn't demand a lobotomy or lecture Thomas on blind faith—He actually submitted Himself to Thomas's physical, forensic peer review.

The next time someone demands absolute proof, don't just throw apologetics at them or get defensive. Validate their hunger for truth and honor their intellect. God is not intimidated by our hardest, most cynical questions.

Support & Connect:

• Reach Out: Have questions or want to talk through your doubts? Email Pedro anytime at isitbecauseofjesus@gmail.com.
• Support the Show: If this podcast has been helpful to you, consider becoming a Patron using the link below, leaving a review, or sharing it with a friend who might be deconstructing.

Remember to ask yourself: Is it because of Jesus?

Have questions or want to connect?

Email me: isitbecauseofjesus@gmail.com

Buy the book.

Website: isitbecauseofjesus.com

Support the show on Patreon.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Is it because Jesus Is it because Jesus? Hey, welcome to Is It Because of Jesus? I'm your host, Pedro Garcia, and today we have another fierce comment about Christianity. This is a fun one, but remember that we're not fighting a battle. We're trying to understand the heart behind the person. So when this happens to us and we are having a conversation like this, we don't get stuck in what the mouth is saying, but the heart from which the common came. Okay? So um here we go. This is the comment today. Faith is just the word you use when you don't have enough evidence to actually prove something is true. If it were true, you'd call it a fact. Since it isn't, you call it faith to make the lack of logic sound like a virtue. Okay, that's the comment. If you have ever wrestled with the psychology of doubt, you know this one hits right at the intellectual deep end. This isn't just a casual critique, it's a direct strike at our core human vulnerability, the profound fear of being duped. Nobody wants to be the gullible one. Nobody wants to be the person holding on to an imaginary friend while the rest of the world has grown up. The entire logic of this comment is built on a massive, culturally accepted assumption that was handed down to us that faith and facts are mortal enemies. We operate under this idea that science deals with cold, hard facts, while religion deals with warm, fuzzy feelings, and that faith is just a blind leap into the dark. A mental trick you play on yourself when the evidence finally runs dry and you just want to feel better. But that assumption is completely backwards. The philosophical reality we have to grasp is that faith is in the absence of evidence. Faith is the action you take based on the evidence. Think about it like a bridge spanning a deep canyon. You can study the engineering reports, you can examine the blueprints, test the tensile strength of the steel cables, and gather every mathematical historical fact that proves that bridge will hold your weight. But all of those facts, as true as they are, will not get you across the river. Faith is the exact moment you put your car in drive and actually pull out onto the concrete. You don't call it faith to excuse a lack of logic. You call it faith because facts alone cannot carry you. You eventually have to commit your weight to the thing you have studied. We do this every day. You don't have 100% empirical peer-reviewed proof that your spouse won't betray you today, but you look at the historical evidence of their character and you commit. Faith is trusting the evidence enough to move. Okay, but let's take the theology of the whiteboard and sit down across the table from the person writing this. Who are they? Well, imagine a person who, as a teenager, asks a really difficult, intellectually honest question. Maybe they found an alleged contradiction in a historical manuscript, or they looked at the sheer volume of suffering in the world and asked a Sunday school teacher to explain it, and the adult in the room panicked. Imagine being told you just need to have faith, not as a warm invitation to trust, but as a weapon to shut you up. That person is looking at a religious culture that has historically treated curiosity like a disease and questions like a threat. They are not writing this comment because they hate the truth. They're writing it because they feel fiercely protective of it. They would rather stand in the freezing cold of strict empirical reality than sit by the warm fire of a comfortable lie. So, behaviorally, what we're looking at here is a profound response to intellectual betrayal and the desperate attempt to resolve cognitive dissonance. When a person's valid, God-given intellect is met with religious gaslighting, when they are told that thinking critically is somehow a sin, it deeply fractures their trust. They lash out with strict, cold empiricism. They demand absolute scientific proof for everything because it has become a brilliant psychological defense mechanism. If they only trust facts and hard data, if they refuse to ever take a leap of trust again, then no one can ever spiritually abuse them or manipulate them. Their mockery of faith isn't born out of a love for rebellion. It's a reinforced concrete wall built to protect their mind from ever being taken advantage of again. Okay, but how does Jesus handle this tension? He doesn't scold people for wanting proof, he doesn't demand a lobotomy as a prerequisite for discipleship. Look at the disciple Thomas. After the crucifixion, Thomas is grieving, he's cynical, and he explicitly says he will not believe the resurrection happens unless he sees the forensic evidence. He literally says, unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, I will not believe. Thomas is the patron saint of empiricism. And what happens? A few days later, Jesus walks into the room. He doesn't lecture Thomas on the virtues of blind faith. He doesn't shame him for his lack of logic or tell him his questions are dangerous. He walks right up to the skeptic, holds out his wounded wrists, and says, Put your finger here, see my hands, reach out your hands and put it into my side. Jesus meets the demand for evidence with his actual physical presence. He submits himself to Thomas' peer review. He completely absorbs the skepticism, proving that he is entirely safe for our hardest, most cynical questions. So the next time someone brings up this argument, don't just throw historical apologetics at them or get defensive. Validate their hunger for truth, honor their intellect, tell them they're completely right to refuse blind leaps and that God isn't intimidated by their demand for evidence. Turn the tables gently. And when they tell you they're walking away from the faith, if they do so, ask them, is it because of Jesus? Okay, well, that was uh deep and fun. And uh as I said in my prior episode, I'll say it again today. We get stuck in the comments with the intellectual side of things, but there is a heart crying out for some type of help, and that is the focus for us followers of Jesus. So uh remember if you want to contact with me, is it because of Jesus at gmail.com. No question mark. And also, if you like the show, you can also um share it with others, you can review me and review the show. If you would like to even uh you like it so much that you'd like me to keep going with the show, you can even um help in becoming a patron, and you have the information below. Thank you so much, and remember the question always is it because of Jesus?