May 21, 2026, Seward Folly

Commentary by Pastor Ethan Schrock, Seward City Church

What is belief? It can be defined in many ways, but the core meaning behind belief is an allegiance to a specific truth that a person holds because of a perceived sufficient body of evidence supporting it. An extremely simple display of belief is the case for Santa Claus.

Generally, for a child, all that is required to believe in Santa is a few stories, some imaginative movies, and a few reassurances from their parents. Because of the evidence they are given, they trust as truth that on December 25th, a jolly, mystical man will descend their chimney to leave them gifts. However, as they grow up and understand more and more how the world functions, they begin to question the reality of such a story and eventually understand that the greater body of evidence contradicts the legend, and they begin to believe Santa is, in fact, not real. The evidence supports the truth that Santa is fictitious. 

In life, there are more important things to believe as true than Santa and his reindeer. As a Christian pastor, I firmly believe that Jesus Christ was an actual person, the Son of God, and that the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, led Him in His earthly ministry. Christ died for our sins to bring us back into a relationship with his Father, and this is the center and meaning of all human existence. I would need a much larger article to give the weighty amount of evidence that points to all these claims being true. Instead, I aim to challenge the reader to answer the question: How much evidence is enough for you to believe in Christ? What kind of evidence would seem adequate to change your mind about the existence of God?

The Christian faith is founded not on blind faith, but on evidence of all kinds, not the least of which is first-hand accounts. But are these accounts convincing? The Bible is full of individuals and groups who met with God, saw His miracles, and wholeheartedly followed Him after. Why are their accounts not enough to convince so many? I would say there is much skepticism in the secular community around the validity of these stories. Since we live in a more “enlightened” age, the assumption can be made that these records are nothing more than the embellishments of a primitive society. These stories were written down to be read like fairy tales. Often forgotten is the fact that people of the past were still people like us. Saying that the Biblical authors purposefully wrote down lies or myths for later generations to believe would be the equivalent of believing that the biographers and historians of the 1700s collectively lied in their documents about the founding of America.

Where is the evidence for such a claim? Or, to return to our previous example, it would be as outrageous as trusted historians and religious leaders of previous centuries manufacturing Santa Claus sightings and documents with the intention to fool later generations. What would be the point? 

The common adage is “I have to see it to believe it,” especially when it comes to subjects of miracles or mystery, and it seems to make sense. Yet, if we apply this same logic to our knowledge of human history, we will cease to believe in any history at all. The only truth to be known would be the truth present to our limited physical senses. To have to see someone walk on the moon before our very eyes before we are to believe it would mean that basically no one can believe that Neil Armstrong really did walk on the moon. The empiricist position on religion or faith ignores all the experiences and writings of the last several thousand years of human existence. I am not arguing that every legend and tall tale is to be taken seriously, but if the reason as a society we don’t believe in the divinity of Jesus is that we have not seen Him or His miraculous work with our own eyes, it is a very weak reason. I think we, as a culture, would be wise to question the assumed reliability of our own limited experiences in the face of overwhelming evidence of all other kinds of proof. 

An individual’s worldview often defines how to interpret the world around us, but this doesn’t mean that all worldviews are equally true. The underlying beliefs behind a worldview can be overwhelmingly contradictory to reality. Belief in something false is, of course, not beneficial to us, and so we as humans should strive to know the truth and direct others to it as well. How do we know what truth is? The simple answer is what aligns with the evidence. Would you accept belief in the divinity of Christ if enough evidence were shared with you? Have you grappled with the case for Christ and the Church he started? Are you truly open-minded or just comfortable in the perceived safety of your long-held opinions? What would be enough evidence to convince you that the existence of the creator God is true?

These are questions that are of the highest importance. It is no coincidence that you are reading this article; God may be challenging your beliefs. The evidence for the validity of the Gospel exists and is sufficient for reasonable faith. The Church is not a club of delusional individuals, but instead is a large body of reasonable people who have been convinced by sufficient evidence and willingly follow the one true God. Are you willing to believe?

A sunny day photo of Seward City Church. Photo by Ethan Schrock