This post comes from Calvary Chapel Pastors
Do you believe in God?
For centuries, philosophers have debated why people believe in God. They reason that it can be a result of upbringing—our parents trained us up and to question them would be immoral. Another is the bandwagon—so many people believe, so it must be true. We may believe on authority—our community leaders (priests, ministers, imams, and rabbis) believe, and they can’t all be wrong. One of the weakest reasons is that I can recognize the existence of God through logical argumentation (apologetics).
Ironically, agnosticism—which claims there isn’t enough evidence—also appeals to reason (you can’t prove a good God exists), bandwagon (all the cool people have rejected God), and authority, only this time it is the word of academics who insist they are brighter, know more stuff, and are, therefore, right. A glance at Nazi Germany makes that a tough position to defend.
These philosophical points argue that no one can know God or absolutes of any kind, so they are left with the belief that all roads lead to truth/heaven, no matter how contradictory. If God is “fair,” he would never condemn good, sincere people. If I insist my way is the only way, then I’m intolerant and mean. Once again, it is assumed that it is impossible to know anything.
But, this makes belief supreme. If I believe something intensely and sincerely enough, then it’s true for me; my belief creates my reality. This is not the picture the Bible paints, that God Himself has reached out to us, humankind.
But, why do people refuse to believe? Yes, we experience great personal tragedies (the death of a child, crippling accidents). We’ve all heard how authority figures take advantage of trusting people. A “loving” God would prevent such things. In a perfect world, people don’t steal, hurt, or deceive. But, this means that we are all born with some sense of how the world should work. Why is the world so corrupt?
The Bible teaches that the world was fashioned by a Creator, and it was “very good.” The mess that the world finds itself in is due to the self-centeredness of humankind, who have rebelled against their Maker.
continue reading the views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of Calvary Southampton
Leave a Reply