Faith in God

     Last Sunday we discussed the application of faith in our everyday lives.  However, some may ask what this has to do with religious faith.  After all, science has not proved God exists.  In fact, science in many respects makes it seem impossible for God to exist. 

      At the same time, faith in God shows such diversity.  There are now so many different concepts of God.  History contains so many more.  There are the Greek, Roman, and Celtic gods.  Christians and Muslims have differing ideas of the nature of God within different sects of the two religions.  Native Americans have their beliefs on the concept of God.  Indeed, if we traveled the world we would find differing beliefs in so many different places.  Can we really argue that religious faith has a foundation when science can’t prove there is one and the world can’t agree on who God should be? 

     This is a valid question.  Yet the history of science demonstrates a couple interesting facts.  Major scientific advancements never take place unless someone has faith in that which science can’t prove.  Often the world can’t agree on these subjects either.  Such advancements are tested over and over again, with one failure right after another, often times by more than one person or group of people.  And when somebody finally achieves a breakthrough, they often find the world a harsh place, unwilling to accept the new technology, theory, or whatever scientific achievement was made.  When the world does accept the new advancement, often the world can’t agree on how the advancement is applicable, what it means, how it can be used, or even what the terms for the advancement are.  Examples of such scientific discoveries include Darwinism, dinosaurs, Neanderthals, and the age of the earth.

   Yet if it weren’t for faith in that which seems impossible, we wouldn’t have the modern wonders of technology that we currently have.  There would be no cars, no Internet, no television, and no video games.  Older wonders such as books, nails, and fire wouldn’t exist.  We wouldn’t know the concepts of math or language if not for science.  It has truly blessed our lives.  Thus we can conclude that the inability for science to prove something and the inability of the world to agree on the subject are not valid arguments for something not existing. 

     Now, you may argue that doesn’t prove there is a god for us to have faith in either.  That’s very true.  But if you look throughout science you’ll also notice that all technological advancements have a creator.  Some person had to discover the technology.  Some person had to create cars, watches, the Internet, games, Google, and Facebook.  Some person had to create language, math, economic theory, and philosophical theory.  Well, what of gravity, trees, animals and people?  The earth and the various life found within it are far more complex than anything we as human beings have been able to create.  How were they created if not for a creator?

    Well, the Big Bang theory and Evolution of course!  These subjects are still argued by the world.  It’s true the world at large believes in them, but the world at large also believed once that the world was flat and the sun revolved around the world.  But, let us assume they are true.  How did they happen?  Can you really claim they just happened?  Does a watch just happen?  Does a car just happen?  Does a house just happen?  Does a baby just happen?  No, these things don’t just happen.  So it’s reasonable to conclude the Big Bang and evolution didn’t just happen.  There had to be some guiding force behind them. 

    Additionally, the events surrounding life on this earth are a little too perfect for mere coincidence.  The force behind the creation of this earth had to be intelligent in order to align the universe so perfectly for the conditions of life to be present.  How, then, can we argue there is no god?

     I know there is a god.  And I know faith in God is reasonable.  In fact, I take the position that living a life without faith in God is unreasonable and cannot bring true and lasting happiness.  So, I add my witness to the many given throughout the history of the world that there is a god.  And I hope this blog will invite those in the world to believe in Him, and to have faith in Him.  Doing so will give you purpose and joy.  This is a promise I can give because I’ve tested it and found it to be true.

Learning to Live by Faith

I’ve heard it said that there are only two guarantees in life:  death and taxes.  Yet there are actually others.  One of these is faith.  Everybody born into this world has to learn to live by faith, for it permeates everything we do.  Many may argue this isn’t true.  Let me give some examples to prove my point.

When my baby daughter sucks during feeding, she does so having faith she will get the milk she needs and desires.  When my wife and I put a diaper on her, we do so having faith the diaper will catch all of her waste and keep her clothes clean (unfortunately our faith is not always rewarded as we hope).  As young toddlers and children, we get shots because our parents have faith these shots will protect us from terrible diseases.

When we start riding bicycles, we fall off.  Falling off often hurts.  Yet we get back on and try again, having faith the next time will be different and we’ll succeed.  Eventually, we do.    As we get older, we want to drive instead of riding bikes and buses.  So we take Driver’s Ed, having faith we will earn our driver’s license and get to drive.  As we do, our parents tentatively hand over the keys to a vehicle, having faith (though doubt is often strong) that we will drive safely and responsibly.

As children, we also seek out the company of friends, having faith we can share some fun experiences with people who share interests with us.  As we get older, we desire a constant companion.  So we begin to date, having faith we can fall in love with someone with whom we can share everything.  Often the journey to this goal is filled with heartache and pain as we give and get rejections.  Yet we continue searching, having faith we will eventually find someone who loves us as well.  And when we do, we marry this person, having faith both people in the marriage will continue to work at making the marriage a success.

Next we start trying for children, having faith we can bear or adopt little ones to watch grow.  We have faith these children will grow up as we would have them grow up, and that we will have the ability to support their needs spiritually, emotionally, physically, and financially.  Even raising these children requires a tremendous amount of faith.

Going to college requires faith the education will help us get our desired career.  Job hunting requires faith we will impress somebody and get hired.  Investing requires faith our wealth will increase in value over time.  Shopping requires faith the product or service is as advertised and will meet our needs and wants.  Getting out of bed requires faith something will happen throughout the day to make it worth our time to get out of bed.

If you take the time to explore your life, you will discover everything you have done or will do must begin with faith.  Continually doing the same thing eventually turns this faith into knowledge.  You begin to know how to ride the bike as you do it over and over again.  You know you can share good experiences with your spouse and friends as you do so over and over again.  Repetition causes faith to become knowledge, but only after we have practiced the faith in the first place.

Thus we can see everything we do in this life has to begin in faith.  This proves everybody who comes into this world has to learn to live by faith.  No one is immune.  Faith is a guarantee, just like death and taxes.

Opening Story

                A few days ago, I was looking at political news on the Internet when I came across a report about war in the Middle East.  My interest was sparked, so I read the article.  At the bottom was a comment from a reader stating something to the effect that all Arabs are born to fight since fighting is all they know.  The author of the comment continued with hopes Arabs fight each other until they are all dead, concluding with his hatred for Arabs and any other religious fanatic (not quite his wording) who followed “man-made rules” (his wording used to imply religious rules are made up by man and not God).

                This ignorant hatred really troubled me.  I spent the next day or so pondering on this message, as well as several other troubling messages I’ve come upon in the past.  I wondered what I could do to help counter such thoughts with truth.

                As I was pondering it, the thought came that if I truly wanted to do something about it, I should start a blog about faith.  I thought this a ridiculous notion since I don’t like blogs.  Why would I start one?  Again the thought came that if I truly wanted to do something about it, I should start a blog about faith.  I countered this thought again, this time with the argument nobody wants to read a blog about faith. 

                But the thought persisted.  The more I thought about it, the more I came to know this was what I needed to do.  So it is that I start a blog about faith by acting in faith—faith that the Lord will use this blog for some purpose.