Direct Answer
According to the transcript, Christians may resist challenging evidence because it threatens established belief systems, denominational comfort, sectarian pride, and familiar ways of reading Scripture. Bercot presents this resistance as something he personally experienced before yielding.
Support from Transcript
- He says, “At first I fought bitterly against the things I was finding in the historic record of the church.” - He eventually yielded when he realized “how thoroughly biblical their Christianity was.” - He warns that the easiest course is to “ignore this book” and “forget that the early Christians even existed.” - He says it is easier to retreat “back to the comfort of your denomination, safely protected by its seminaries and theological literature.” - He notes that established belief systems make it “difficult for us to objectively look at early Christianity.” - He says readers may try “finding loopholes or imperfections” in his approach.
Discussion Follow-ups
The transcript does not list every possible fear, but it strongly points to comfort, pride, and prior theological commitments as barriers to receiving historical evidence.