“Do you believe that Jesus rose from the dead?”

“Yes.”

“But isn’t it incredibly naive, and even dangerous, to base your life on myths?”

Abby didn’t seem offended by the question, but as before, she thought through her response. “I’d say this to you. It’s not a myth if it actually happened. I believe it did. From what I understand, the historical evidence for Jesus’s rising from the dead is quite good.”

Melinda, always ready to debate, spoke. “No offense intended, but how can any intelligent person believe the Bible? It was written thousands of years ago in a patriarchal society, pictures God as male, sets up men as dominant over women, advocates slavery, condones violence, and is no better in its moral code than a host of other religions.”

Inwardly I smiled. The clash of worldviews.

“I guess…I guess I don’t see the Bible in that way,” Abby said simply.

Melinda shook her head. “Why would you want to adhere to a belief system that says you are inferior to men? What does that say about your own opinion of yourself?”

“I don’t see myself as inferior to men. Where does the Bible say that?”

“All through it, doesn’t it?”

Abby looked over at me. “Dr. Daniels, we can discuss this issue if the class wants to, but it will take some time, I think.”

I looked at the class. “This is a legitimate topic, but I don’t want to spend our time debating what the Bible says about one issue.”

Kadie raised her hand. “Do you really believe that, if God even existed, there would be only one way to him or her?”

“Yes. Jesus said he was that way.”

“But isn’t that incredibly exclusivist? How can there be only one way to God? What about all the other ways to God that sincere people have pursued over the centuries?”

Abby paused for a moment. “It seems to me that the real question is how could there be more than one way to God. If God actually came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ, then God already planned how he would reconnect with humanity. If that is the way he chose, why would we think some way we developed on our own would work? That would put us in the place of God.”

Yuan, one of my brightest students, weighed in. “Don’t you think religion is a crutch used by people who need something else to believe in other than themselves? I think everyone here knows that in China, there are still Christians practicing their religion, but it seems obvious to me it’s a religion of the uneducated. Intelligent society has moved beyond that now.”

“It depends on how you define ‘crutch,’ I suppose,” Abby replied. “If we were created to have a relationship with God, I wouldn’t call that a crutch. I’d call it realizing our place in the universe.”