Believe it or Not
When Jesus stood before Pilate, the governor asked Jesus, “What is truth?”
Recently I have been searching my own heart and mind for true belief. Have you? It can be quite troubling. The particularly discouraging part is coming across articles by people, once committed to Jesus, who proclaim no belief in anything outside of the material world. It is as though everything experienced in Christ has been forgotten, denied or overshadowed by something they deem more valuable. Now they teach a "new" belief, that God does not exist. They claim, in all sincerity I suspect, that anything that cannot be seen, measured or otherwise proven by scientific means is simply not real but a fabrication by our own brains.If one sees God primarily as Judge, then non-belief can be a relief. No Hell, no Satan, no spiritual battle, no rules and no punishment mean freedom. For those who see God as Love and the source of love, the idea of non-belief ushers in a finite world involving a final separation from everything that is known and meaningful. Responsibility for providing encouragement , comfort in times of loss, and keeping the the ultimate justice/mercy balance, are transferred to the human “spirit”, proved by history to be one easily corrupted, dominated, power-seeking or self-driven toward destruction.
While science attempts to answer the "what, where and how" questions, and nobly helps us understand the physical world in which we live, only philosophy and religion can attempt to answer the greatest question ever and always asked by humankind: "Why?" Without answering that important question, any truth received is partial truth. Human beings need purpose! Christ himself demonstrated God to mankind and the Bible records what he taught in answer to that most basic question.
A Christian minister reminds me: "Christians more than ever need to know what we believe, why we believe it, and why it matters. Our faith is true, and has survived vicious assaults against it through the centuries. It has outlived Voltaire, Darwin, Skinner, Freud, and all other antagonists, and it will outlast Stephen Hawkings, undoubtedly. Christian faith is the anvil that has broken a million hammers.”
While wise sounding sentiments cannot prove Christianity to be true, all the facts an intellectual mind can produce in argument against Christianity cannot prove it false. In the soul’s depths, one either pursues relationship with a Creator or fights the pursuit.
Put another way, it has been said that God's laws are truth. One cannot break them. One can only break oneself against them.
When Jesus stood before Pilate, the governor asked Jesus, “What is truth?”
Recently I have been searching my own heart and mind for true belief. Have you? It can be quite troubling. The particularly discouraging part is coming across articles by people, once committed to Jesus, who proclaim no belief in anything outside of the material world. It is as though everything experienced in Christ has been forgotten, denied or overshadowed by something they deem more valuable. Now they teach a "new" belief, that God does not exist. They claim, in all sincerity I suspect, that anything that cannot be seen, measured or otherwise proven by scientific means is simply not real but a fabrication by our own brains.If one sees God primarily as Judge, then non-belief can be a relief. No Hell, no Satan, no spiritual battle, no rules and no punishment mean freedom. For those who see God as Love and the source of love, the idea of non-belief ushers in a finite world involving a final separation from everything that is known and meaningful. Responsibility for providing encouragement , comfort in times of loss, and keeping the the ultimate justice/mercy balance, are transferred to the human “spirit”, proved by history to be one easily corrupted, dominated, power-seeking or self-driven toward destruction.
While science attempts to answer the "what, where and how" questions, and nobly helps us understand the physical world in which we live, only philosophy and religion can attempt to answer the greatest question ever and always asked by humankind: "Why?" Without answering that important question, any truth received is partial truth. Human beings need purpose! Christ himself demonstrated God to mankind and the Bible records what he taught in answer to that most basic question.
A Christian minister reminds me: "Christians more than ever need to know what we believe, why we believe it, and why it matters. Our faith is true, and has survived vicious assaults against it through the centuries. It has outlived Voltaire, Darwin, Skinner, Freud, and all other antagonists, and it will outlast Stephen Hawkings, undoubtedly. Christian faith is the anvil that has broken a million hammers.”
While wise sounding sentiments cannot prove Christianity to be true, all the facts an intellectual mind can produce in argument against Christianity cannot prove it false. In the soul’s depths, one either pursues relationship with a Creator or fights the pursuit.
Put another way, it has been said that God's laws are truth. One cannot break them. One can only break oneself against them.