How Do You…
How do you explain God to someone who doesn’t believe ?
I must admit that I lean towards the agnostic, but atheists bother me more than the devout. If the Christian Bible is correct, then the devout has the advantage over the atheists, but if the Bible is wrong, then both are equal. Heh. Obviously, the devout hold the advantage.
This is why I don’t get the ANTI-God. And I type it that way cause that’s the way the non-believers tend to put it. They try like hell to couch it in “LOGIC”, but logic really dictates that you take no position at all. There simply is no way to know. This is why atheists are nuts and Christians are iffy. Atheists are taking a position based on absolutely nothing. NOTHING. There is no science, no theory, no suggestion that God does not exist. At least Christians are open minded.
I try always to have faith. I really do. The logical brain I was given dictates a need for evidence, but apparently faith is a requirement. Faith without evidence is hard for me. I like to think that there is some reason, some point to life. That we’re not just some accident. Mostly, I hope/pray that there is an afterlife. Death scares the shit out of me. I’m mostly fearless. I don’t scare easy, and I’ve risked my life often when I thought something needed doing. The thought of no longer existing scares the hell out of me and almost nothing scares me.
I have a hard time believing that I’m just some sort of happy accident. It seems odd to me that the very people that scoff at the lottery think that “we” “just happened”.
There’s the “money quote” btw. Atheists, or the “educated” laugh at the state lottery as “a tax for people that are bad at math”, yet think humanity “just happened”. Here’s the kicker …. folks win the lottery. Yep the odds are against any one person from winning, but the odds are just as for someone winning. The Left misses this as well as they miss God.
My understanding is that as long as I accept Jesus as having taken punishment for my sins that I am good/am golden/may as well be Jewish (Jews being the chosen people getting to opt out of the Jesus exception).
I’ve never been much of a church-going type, but I watched Passion of the Christ at the theater on the big screen …. I rate that as disturbing as watching Blackhawk Down at the theater on the big screen (which I did). I think the intent of both films was the same. To allow (as much as is possible) the viewer to witness the events portrayed. But what do you take from that? What are you supposed to take from it?
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I used to be an atheist, but after many years of thinking about it I moved over to the Believer side of the ledger. To further fine-tune my religious leanings I decided that the Christian faith was the one that felt the most right with me. Now I have to figure out which flavor. I’ve never been to a church service and lately I’ve been thinking that I might want to check some out.
I dunno if you’ve ever looked at One C0smos but that’s a really interesting religious blog. Robert Godwin is the guy who runs it and he’s definitely a heavy thinker in this area. I also bought his book One Cosmos Under God and I highly recommend it.
Pascal’s Wager comes to mind. Your first paragraph pretty much summarizes that line of thought.
I happen to believe there is a God. Looking at the pictures from the Hubble (thanks again Aggie), especially those showing hundreds of GALAXIES, each with untold amounts of solar systems, each of those with the potential of having at least one planet which may support life. And that picture was of just a portion of the universe at large. Something (someone … somebodies) had to have created this. To place it all at the feet of random chance … to allow for us, the tiniest of motes, riding on a dust speck planet, on a dust bunny of a solar system, in the most generic type of galaxy; to have sentience … self awareness … free will (as far as we know) … and yet to let this human nature die after only 70-90 some odd years. What an incredible waste. If we were nothing more than the beasts of the fields, or but a cog in a hive mentality, then I could perhaps buy into us being nothing more than one life form of many on this planet (and the universe at large), no better or worse than any other.
But because we are more (or at least have the potential in each and every one of us to become more) then that … well, there must be some reason. Even if we are not given to understand it at this place/point in time. For it all to “end” at just “three score and ten”, is a far greater sin perpetrated on us by “nature” and random chance, if there is no God.
And so, I believe.
Now if you want to talk about the sins/trials and tribulations of “organized religion”, that is a horse of another color *grin*.
I’m 45. Just became a believer at 40, after an agnostic life prior to that.
When asked, I tell people my religion is that Christ Jesus is my Lord & Savior, and that I happen be associated with a Baptist-based, Bible-teaching Church. My life has not been the same since I accepted Christ. Best decision I ever made.
The 1st time I viewed Passion of the Christ, I was not a believer, and the movie meant absolutely nothing to me.
The next time I viewed Passion, I had been an involved believer for about 2+ years, and there were times in the movie I wept like a child, as I finally understood the ultimate sacrifice Jesus paid on my behalf.
He didn’t deserve it. But He took it. For you.. For me.. For everyone. What Love from our Father.
Blessings to you all, AG, Enas, Guy and LC..
I’m very simple in my belief in Christianity. One thing of which I can never be accused is being a doubting Thomas. It may be the only simple thing about me, but it works
I grew up in the Church, under the influence of Lutheran theology…
Just an idea of two books to possibly check out that go along with the post would be “Can Man Live Without God” by Ravi Zacharias or “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis. Zacharias will be more philosophic and blunt in his book and talks mainly to those who already believe in God, and then C.S. Lewis is more of a common man approach to Christianity. He writes to both believer and non and not as blunt (and the one that I prefer).
Was hooked on C.S.Lewis since I first picked up a copy of “The Screwtape Letters”. The Narnia Series is a great read for either adults or children (And a marvelous way to introduce kids to an overview of Christianity in the guise of an amazing series of adventures.) Lewis’s “Mere Christianity” is a “must read” as well.
The contemporary concept of “faith” as completely apart from having any rational basis in facts is just that: contemporary, relatively recent. The Biblical exposition of faith is as a transaction, a bi-lateral covenant, wherein one trusts God and God does His thing (salvation, providence, whatever). Generations of folks have found God to be faithful in His part of the bargain. Are we to simply call such folks liars or fools, discounting their experience as something that cannot be measured in a test tube?
“feh* Such reasoning is extremely limited and arrogant. When my grandfather, for example, who I knew thoughout his life to be a trustworthy and honest individual, told me of God’s faithfulness to him throughout his life, I’d have been a fool to chide him for his “foolish” faith. Oh, and I wasn’t referring to my grandfather who was a preacher. Strangely, he never related to me personal experiences with God’s faithfulness like my “ordinary folk” grandfather did…
In the decades since, I’ve come to discover that what Granddaddy told me is true: those who trust God aren’t disappointed. Sometimes, it does require taking a longer view than our “microwave society” is used to, though.