Anything But God

 I am stunned by the people who call the Bible 'silly' and say they can't believe that Christians (including me) believe. 

This is some of what I have heard people say about the Bible and/or about Christians:

• How can you believe in some 'old man' in the sky (or - 'old white man' from those with a problem with a 'white' God')?
• You believe that a man was swallowed by a fish and lived? Or: you believe in talking snakes and talking donkeys? Or: `insert a comment here~.
• You believe that a "loving" God will send people to Hell?
• You believe that a virgin had a child and that child grew up to become a Savior for the world?
• You believe in a flood that killed everyone except for one man and his family?

I could go on for a while. I can answer a lot of those questions but I won't in this post. What I will say is what I always think when someone makes such a comment and that is this: You laugh because I believe in God and in a Bible that is a history of people. Then why do you believe in aliens or witchcraft or that you can think your way to what you want or attract your way to success? Why do you believe that everything came from nothing? And why do you want or need so badly to believe that there is no God?

By the way, the comment I personally have heard - and not always from people being mean - is Do you just need to believe in a God because you're afraid not to?

Sounds legit

I will answer that one. I believe in God because this world, the universe, nature, and human life testifies to a Creator God. 

The other day, I was listening to a podcast (love a good podcast!) about a man (and other people) who pretty much dedicated his life to a study of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. (I recently mentioned how much I like stories about Holmes.) Some of the people mentioned in the podcast are those who are so extreme in their fandom that they have clubs and meetings. The main subject of the podcast was a man who even recreated Holmes' Baker Street home in his own home. (Oh my.)

There are people who fall under the spell of gurus to the point of risking or losing their lives to follow them. There are people who believe in some of the most inane things but they have a problem with my belief in God?

I. Just. Can't. 

Back in Anchorage where everybody talks to just about anybody in the store or on the street, I ran into a lady who believed in angels but not in God.  I know a lot of people who believe in demons and ghosts and the like but don't believe in God.

There are lots of people who believe in reincarnation and the like. 

Here is the one thing that has always confused me: if God is not real, then why do so many people try to dispute his existence? I don't see people picking on the gods of any other religion. Scientologists believe in the most ridiculous things I could ever imagine. 

So, yes, I believe in the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. I believe in the Son and I believe in the Holy Spirit. And until you or your god can speak life into existence from nothing, leave me alone.

Peace

--Free

P.S.: I saw this old title of an article after I initially wrote this post: Why you don't need God. In the search engine, this was the teaser: "Without God, life is still meaningful (Opinion)". My immediate reaction was to think: "But is death?" And that, in my opinion, is what so many people miss. Life could be good or bad for people, but it's death where eternity comes in. That's the part they should be thinking about.

Dr Martin Examines Arguments Against God

Dr. Walter Martin did a lot of debates on the John Ankerberg Show. I've listened to him examine the doctrines of Jehovah's Witnesses, 7th Day Adventists, Mormons and others. I always admired his approach to Christian apologetics. He always, always anchored his responses on Scripture. He could debate with laymen, scholars and scientists.

When I tell people about the Lord, I can tell them about my faith and my hope that they accept the gift of salvation. Often I run into people who disagree with me and many of those people are well-versed in Scripture. Those are the ones who will try to tangle me up in theory and language and anything else they can to justify their disbelief.

Recently, I spoke via comments with a man who does not belief in God, does not want to believe in God and, yet, is angry that if there is a God, his deceased parents are suffering. What I would like to say to him is that, we cannot know whether or not our unbelieving loved ones accepted the truth of God before they passed or not. For all I know, my grandfather may have, before he passed, came to the knowledge that there is a God. I pray that he did. As for the man I have shared comments with on this blog, my heart aches for him and I hope that he realizes that we don't - we cannot - know what my loved ones or his believed at the moment they passed. There is still hope & I know that God is a merciful God. (I always think of the story of the men who worked all day and were paid the same wages as the men who came to work later in the day. Some of of come to believe long before we pass into death, but those who come at the last moment are given the same mercy and forgiveness as we are!) I desperately wanted to give him some kind of hope and love to rest in, but I couldn't find a way around his arguments. I will continue to pray for this person, but in the meantime, I thought that I would post for him (and others), this session by Dr. Martin.

Dr. Martin passed away some years ago, but many of his debates are still around via the Ankerberg Show. I found this YouTube audio of him addressing (apparently on a college campus) seven atheistic arguments. They are posted by user Christian Roadwarrior & I am so grateful to have found them. I hope they are a blessing to someone.

Conversation & Comments (re: question for atheists)

Because Blogger won't show more than 5 comments on a post, and because I am having an interesting conversation (via comments) with someone, I am going to put the recent comments here in this post.

I have to say that the commenter - Brian - is being very civil & I appreciate that. I appreciate being able to ask questions and have an intelligent conversation with someone who has such different beliefs from my own. If nothing else, this shows that people can differ and be respectful. A lot more of us could take a lesson from this.

(So, Brian - I'm going to be deleting some of our old comments as we add new ones, but they will be shown and updated in blog posts.)

Here are the comments so far:

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Brian Westley said...

"If it could be proved to you that God is, would you be glad?"

Depends entirely what kind of god exists.

"Do you believe you are without a soul?"

Depends on what you define as a soul. If you have one, I hope it's testable.

August 27, 2009 3:30 PM

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Free said...

Brian:

You really haven't answered either question. I still don't know whether you be glad of God's existence, and I still don't know whether you think of yourself as having a soul.

As far as my soul being "testable," I believe my salvation eliminates the testing. I have been accepted and redeemed by the Creator.

August 27, 2009 3:48 PM

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Brian Westley said...

"You really haven't answered either question."

Because your questions don't have enough information.

You replied, yet you STILL haven't given me enough information.

Describe what kind of god. Describe what a soul is.

THEN I might be able to answer your questions.

August 28, 2009 6:01 AM

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Brian Westley said...

My statement "If you have one, I hope it's testable" was ambiguous. I didn't mean "If you have a soul, I hope it's testable" -- I meant "If you have a definition of 'soul,' I hope your definition is testable."

That is, if you define what a 'soul' is so I can answer your second question, it would be very helpful if your definition of 'soul' is clear enough so I can do some sort of test to see if I have a soul. Even better if I can do a test to see if other people or animals have souls, too.

August 28, 2009 7:31 AM

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Free said...

I believe my soul is what I am. Many people think of themselves as a body with a soul. I believe I am a soul with a body.

You probably know that, as a Christian, I believe that. I'm not familiar with what the atheist defines as a soul. That's why I am asking for your definition of these things. (And, no, I don't believe that animals have souls.)

Since my belief of what the soul is ties to God, I am trying to understand what the atheist definition of "soul" is. Do you understand what I mean there?

August 28, 2009 12:04 PM

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Brian Westley has left a new comment on your post "To The Atheists":

"If the atheist is wrong OR right, he has lost eternity."

Nonsense.

If the atheist is right, THERE WAS NO ETERNITY TO "LOSE".

"The Jews, like a lot of other ppl, don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah. If they believed Jesus is the Messiah (the one they have waited for), they would worship him as God too. Idolatry is worship of FALSE gods."

But now you're ignoring the possibility that YOU are wrong.

Like I said, suppose BOTH of us are wrong, and the Jews are RIGHT.

In THAT case, YOU are practicing idolatry. I am not. I am better off than you, because I'm an atheist.

But you aren't even addressing this as a possibility. If Christianity is false, worshipping Jesus is worshipping a FALSE god.
Posted by Brian Westley to Free & Faith at August 28, 2009 6:05 AM

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(NOTE: The above comment didn't get posted b/c of the comment limitations. I got it from my email about the posting.) My response:

Brian - You say "If Christianity is false," but my whole point all along has been that you and I know what I believe (that Christianity is NOT false).Yes, if I am wrong, then I am worshipping a false god & I would have lost all. I understand that. The belief that I am NOT wrong is where my faith comes in. But my questions to you are all based on my curiosity about "What if" I am right & you are wrong.

In the case of you & I both being wrong & the Jews being right, I am in the same position as I would be if the Hindus are right, or any other non-Christian belief system is right. Lost. But, again, this is where my faith comes in.

Question for Atheists

I have a Twitter pal who is an atheist. I have asked him a question that he just won't answer clearly. I wonder if there are any other atheists out there who can answer this question for me:

If it could be proved to you that God is, would you be glad?

Simple, right?

I mean, an atheist is one who does not believe in God. But - if they could know that there IS God, how would that make them feel? That's all I want to know.

I guess the reason I wonder about this is that any atheist I have ever talked to always claims that they are "okay" with believing there is no God. So I wonder if they would be okay with learning that there is God.

I'm still waiting for my Twitter pal to answer me. So far all he has done is stick to his idea that there IS no God, saying that it doesn't matter. But he won't say what he'd feel like if there is proof, to his satisfaction, that there IS God.

I suggest that the next chance you get to talk to anyone who is either an atheist or a non-believer in the God of the Bible, you ask them how they would feel if it were proven to them that God is.

(And, for those who want to know how I'd feel if it could be proven to me that there is no God: I would not want to live. I would have no reason to go on. If this life has no meaning or purpose other than what man has to offer it, and if there is no eternity - just dead sleep in the dust of the ground - I don't want it. I don't want "reincarnation" either. Why would I want to exist only for what this world has to offer?)

Peace
--Free

**UPDATE**

Still no answer from atheists yet, but I wanted to add another question:

Do you believe you are without a soul?

To The Atheists

I asked and atheist recently if they were angry at God or just didn't believe in God. They responded that they are not angry, that they just don't believe. They think that my faith is useless.

Here is the thing tho: both the atheist and I have a faith. Mine is in that God is; theirs is in that there is no God. But, like I told the atheist: one of us is wrong. If I am wrong, I am no worse off at death than the atheist, but if he is wrong, he has lost eternity.

Now, understand that I can't conceive of the "No God" idea. I have had too much personal interaction with the Holy Spirit in my life to NOT believe. But if I had nothing other than simple faith, that would be enough for me.

If there is no God, and if I believed that, there would be nothing stopping me from doing anything to get anything. Even most people who don't believe in God recognize what God has put in us as the understanding of "Right and Wrong." Most people who don't believe in God don't want harm to come to those they love. They understand it's wrong to kill. They understand feeling remorse and sadness and joy and relief. They look at their newborn children and cannot explain or express the wonder of that miracle.

So, if you are going to tell me that there is no God and ask me to prove that there is, I would ask that you prove to yourself that there isn't.

I direct you to God's words TO you atheists: The fool has said in his heart that there is no God (Psalm 14:1)

By the way, after I wrote this post, I found a page that does address the positions of atheists. It is here. I encourage my Christan, non-Christian and atheist readers to check it out.

Finally, I would just say that if you are going to base your life and bet your eternity on a belief, then it's worth making sure that your belief is solid. This goes for those who don't believe in God, those who believe in false gods, and even more importantly, for those of us who believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Former atheist C.S. Lewis (who, like most serious atheists, was extremely intelligent) has always been someone I think of as a man who wanted to at least examine and understand his belief before he staked his life on it. If he was wrong, then at least he was not carelessly wrong.

Peace