Since nothing can technically be proven, skeptics know that and damn themselves if indeed there is a God. Damnation is the outcome of denying truth. "Faith" is accepting what cannot be proven as truth. Scripture defines it this way:
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Heb 11:1).Theists hope there is a God, Deists hope there is a God but not the one of Holy Scripture, Atheists hope there is no God, Gnostics hope they know the secrets to obtain God, and Gnostics hope that God cannot be proven. As you can see, all the "isms" require faith to maintain their versions, or more likely, perversions of the truth. "Facts" are what exist in actuality. "I think, therefore I am," according to Rene' Descartes. Inanimate things exist but don't think. Hence, thinking does not totally define existence. However, each of us know that we are because we think. Cause and affect/effect verifies that to the satisfaction of most people. I see and reason with the knowledge in seeing. I touch and feel. My mind acknowledges the information, and so on. Because I receive information and consider it, that is reason. More accurately, I am because I have reason.
There is evidence that there is a God:
By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. (Heb 11:3).
This passage is "correspondence theory" of truth. Because the universe can be seen, it exists. No intelligent person would deny that assertion, Thus, we can agree that the universe exists, not because it is proven, but by correspondence theory. The skeptic would seek proof that there is existence and for them, the correspondence theory is "proof" enough for them! Perhaps we are merely figments of the imagination of some super-being! Even with that silly assertion, we still exist but only in different substance. Rather than being matter, we would only be thoughts.
My belief in God came from seeing the universe. As a child I would lay on my back and look to the stars. I wondered about their origin, beauty, substance, and time. That was profound thinking for a child but they were my thoughts. My conclusion which I still assert is that God created the universe. I didn't even know the concept of God but concluded that it started someplace and with the order I witnessed, intelligence must have designed it. As I grew older, this "Intelligence" turned out to be God. Those thoughts would make me a Deist at that point. I believed in God. I later found out that even the demons believe that! (James 2:19).
To be a theist, one must believe in a personal God. Jews need a sign but "Greeks" use wisdom. (1 Cor 1:22). Perhaps one or the other can "prove" the assertion that there is a personal God. Jews require signs. God provided miracles one after another. The parting of the Red Sea was one convincing act. Speaking in divine tongues was another. Jews needed that. Perhaps those with little faith require speaking in tongues and are spiritually Jewish! I am spiritually Greek and wisdom satisfies the assertion that there is a personal God.
Seeing the complexity of the universe convinces me that the truth is there is a Creator God. The internal consistency of all Scripture with the common theme of Jesus - a personal God - along with the accuracy of prophecy convinces me that God is personal. That is not proof but sufficient circumstantial evidence that God is real and personal. No other religion has a physical God who interacted with mankind. Their gods can only be represented by idols. The Flesh of God is Jesus, and in effect is, or should be, the idol of all Christians!
Many saw God in the flesh. He claimed that He Is God, and demonstrated that to mankind: He died and was resurrected. The reason was not only to prove His claim to Godhood but as God, to save mankind. Only gods can create, resurrect, and save from death. One must believe that God created to believe that He can recreate with the resurrection.
The facts that the apostles knew Jesus, knew he died, knew that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven, is substantial evidence for the wise. Those who left their depositions were willing to die for their assertions. Because thirteen of the fourteen apostles were known to have died for the truth of Jesus, convinces me that God in the substance of Jesus is real and personal. God saved Himself and He can save me! I would be foolish to reject the assertion that Jesus saves because of doubt. Doubt does not define truth but defies it. Why would God even save me if I doubted His Existence? He doesn't!
Emotions are how people interact with existence. I would hope that the sane reader accepts that he or she exists. Our senses provide knowledge which sane people consider. That process is reason. When I consider all the evidence, I conclude that God Exists and He is personal. That realization provides hope: I will not someday be annihilated but live on forever. All balanced people desire to live forever if it is in bliss. If anyone doubts that, present their case! The only way to live forever is by trusting God to save. God died Himself, so that His creatures could live forever. That sounds fantastical but is it truth? The wise person will accept it as truth because the alternatives are fatalistic.
"Conversion" is when one realizes that he has been deceived about God's non-existence, and accepts that He does. Belief in God, however, is not sufficient; the fact that we are no gods is necessary. We can't save ourselves but God can! Realization of that is called "born again". We must be born-again to have eternal life (John 3:3). In other words, God must be accepted as factual, real, and true to His Word.
No comments:
Post a Comment