A Measured Argument for Atheists to Consider

I understand the basic argument of the atheist. For an atheist, God is intangible. The existence of God cannot be proven by rational thought, by scientific reasoning. Ergo, it is irrational to believe in an unseen Authority. However, despite me being a Christian, I will not try to dissuade the atheistic way of seeing the Universe.

However, for the atheist, I have a few ideas I would like you to consider. Does love exist? There is no tangible way to prove the existence of love. Yet we have all felt love, all seen it. One does not doubt a mother's love for a child. Yet we cannot prove that love in a rational way. Acts attributed to a mother's love can just as easily be attributed to the instinctual need to ensure the survival of the species, even when an act of love can have a negative effect on one's own ability to survive.

Despite this, we still believe that love is a real thing.

The connection to God is similar to the feeling of love. As many religions would say, God is Love. While we may not be able to prove God in a scientific way, those who are moved by religion can feel God in a way that is beyond rational understanding.

People are more than just rational beings. We are capable of the abstract. Art, music, even the creative thought we use to solve scientific problems, these derive from some irrational part of the human mind. If we can accept that there is more to the world than simply what is reasoned and rational, then an abstract God may not be much of a stretch of the imagination.

I will admit there have been shortcomings in organized religions. Terrible things have been carried out in the name of religion, be it the Inquisition, Al Qaeda's reign of terror, or any number of atrocities that atheists are sure to list. Religious organizations have slowed or stopped the flow of scientific or progressive ideas. men can easily use the name of God behave according to their own will.

I also admit that a rational and enlightened person can be morally upstanding without the threat of retribution from a supernatural authority figure. However, these items are beside the point.

I do not believe in God because someone told me to. I do not believe in God for want of Heaven or fear of Hell. I believe in God because I have felt God, and I have seen His Work in my life. So have billions of others. Now the belief of others is no reason to believe something yourself. All that I ask is that you stop for a moment, quiet your mind, and see what you feel. If you are searching for meaning, for something more than the shortcomings of the world you can see, taste, feel, smell, and hear, then open your heart to something greater than yourself.

A Prayer for Guidance

Oh Lord, hear my prayer

In You all things are possible

You nourish my mind, body, and soul

Yet I remain as selfish as ever

You have given me guidance and talent

Yet I seak only my own glorification

Forgive me, Lord

Lord, I humble myself to Your will

I pray, use my talents for your will

Guide me, oh Lord

Allow me to an example of Your Way

Guide me Lord, by Your will

Without You, I am nothing Lord,

The embodiement of selfish mediocrity

Lord, take charge of my life

This I ask of you

In Jesus precious name,

Amen

I Believe in God. I also Believe in Evolution. The Two Can Exist Together

I am still new in my reconnected walk with Christ. I am not a new believer, I believe I have my basics down. However, it has been 10 years since I was a regular church goer, and there are some things I am seeing that I did not run into in my youth.

The first thing I am seeing is a belief in Creationism. I have only tried two churches in the 2 months since I rededicated my life. Both churches interpret the Bible as the literal history of the planet. They believe that Man was created as we are now, that there was no evolution. I respectfully disagree.

However, there is something of an issue with my disagreement. Now, I am making an assumption here, but it seems that people may think that my lack of belief in a literal interpretation of the Bible implies that I lack true belief, or that I am still in some sort of rebellion against God.

First of all, I do not feel in conflict with God. I feel I am following His lead. I feel He is working in my life, and I humble myself to His Majesty. However, I do think that believing the Bible as entirely literally accurate is intellectually lazy.

I have no doubt that the Word of God is 100% true. Allow me to stress that statement. I have no doubt that the Word of God is 100% true. However, the Word of God is not the same as the words of God. Please take note of the distinction.

The Word of God is His Divine Message to us. It is a Message of Salvation from Sin, a Message of Love. The actual words are a means of delivering the Message, but they are not The Word in the way it was meant to be understood.

Allow me to illustrate. The Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ was the Word of God made flesh:

John 1:14 (New International Version)
14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Does this mean that Jesus was made from words and sentences? No, that is absurd. That passage does not make sense if you are speaking of the Word as just words and sentences. However, if you see that Jesus is the physical embodiment of a revelation of the nature of God, then it rings true.

The stories in the Bible, especially in the early Old Testament, were not meant to be taken literally. Whoever the scribe who wrote Genesis was, could he have understood the complex processes that God set in motion to craft the world as it is? NO. Could he create a metaphorical story to explain things? Yes.

Looking at some of the Bible as metaphor and some as history, the question is asked, how do we tell the difference? This was the question asked of me. I explained my belief that the Creation Story, Noah and the Ark, the Tower of Babel, these are metaphors. I was asked how do I tell the metaphors from what I believe are actual history, such as the reign of King David?

The argument I received was since we cannot draw a distinct line between metaphor and actual fact, then we must take it to be literal, otherwise, the actual Truth in the Word could be ignored as metaphor. I refute this.

I believe that the planet is billions of years old. I believe that man evolved from a primitive life form. I believe in God, and in His Word. These are not exclusive of one another.

I also believe that in order to read and understand the Word, we cannot blindly assume it is all literal fact. We must be more sophisticated in our understanding. It is imperative that we be able to understand the context in which the texts were written. To quote author Karl Giberson,

"The early chapters of Genesis do not read like history. They have a different sort of character to them. People who read Hebrew and understand the ancient Near Eastern worldview, and the cosmology that informed it, have given us ample reasons why you would not read Genesis that way, even if you weren't worried about reconciling it with a billion-year-old planet."

God gave us tremendous capacity for sophisticated thought, why would He ask us to suspend that ability when dealing with His Word? I believe in science, geology, and evolution, yet I still believe in God, in His ability in our lives. I believe in Sin. I believe in Christ.

I do not begrudge anyone who believes in the Bible as literal history. However, I do think that is a lazy attitude to take. God gave us great capacity for reason and logic. I do not think that we should suspend that when we are trying to be close to Him.

Lets Really Give Thanks - A Call To Action

Thanksgiving is coming around the corner, so there is no better time to stop and think about one is thankful for. Giving thanks is important. I am nothing if not thankful for the blessings that have bestowed upon me in my life.

I am thankful for the the wealth of friends I have in my life. There are many poor metaphors I could make here regarding cups or cornucopias and overflowing abundance, but let it simply be said that I have more good friends in my life than any one person should enjoy. Friends who are more than just fun, friends who are supportive and giving. Friends who know when to listen to you, and friends who know when tell me the hard truths. I will not list them all here, but if you are one of those people, I thank you for all that you have done in my life.

However, I am thankful for more than just the people who make up the fabric of my life. Throughout my life, I have received a generous outpouring of the kindness of strangers. There is the woman who I don't know, who I have never met, who gave me $1,000 to cover a shortfall in my tuition. There are the people who helped me fix a flat tire, who gave me pieces of wisdom or insight, who simply let me cut ahead of them in line at the grocery store when I had less items than they did.

My life has been full of random acts of kindness, more than I can describe and likely more than I know. These acts are the work of God in our lives. They are the interconnectedness of us all manifesting itself in real action.

That is the point of this blog, real action. It is one thing to sit around a table with family and friends and talk about things you are thankful for. But how many of us have the means to make someone else thankful?

We waste a lot of money on things we don't need. So I ask you now, can you afford to buy a case of canned goods and drop them off at a food bank? Do you have the time to clear the clutter in your house and donate good items to the Salvation Army or Goodwill?

We all know people less fortunate than ourselves. What can you do to make their lives a little better? Maybe it is something that they desperately need. Even better, maybe it is something they don't know they need that you can provide. Share your blessings.

I gave thanks today. I bought two full hams. I have wonderful friends who ask nothing of me and give the world in return. As a small gesture, I left one ham in the refrigerator of the family with whom I will spend my Thanksgiving, the family I have spent it with for the last 5 years. If I told them I was going to do it, they would have told me not too, so giving and selfless they are. It is nothing compared to what they have done for me, but it is a token none the less, a token of appreciation for the blessing they have been in my life. I owe them more than they can know.

The second ham I took to my local rescue mission as a donation for their Thanksgiving. Again, this was a small token, a drop in the bucket compared to the greater needs of the people there.

I challenge you, dear reader, to do the same. Do not say what you are thankful for this year. Show your thanks. Show your friends, your family, your loved ones your appreciation. this doesn't mean you need to buy them something. I simply lack imagination. Do something unexpected. You know what they need in their lives. Fill a need, and show them you are thankful.

I also challenge you to perform a random act of kindness. Help a stranded motorist fix a flat tire. offer to buy a stranger's meal. take a minute out from your life, close your eyes, and you will know where there is need. Fill that need. Be thankful. Be the blessing.

If you read this, and it motivates you, please, forward it on to others. Make this a rallying cry. Post a comment here, share your blessing. It is a harsh and cold world for all of us when we walk it alone. But when we help one another, when we show our love, we become more. We all benefit, the giver and receiver.

Maybe your random act of kindness will spur someone to their own act of charity. maybe you restore someone's faith in their fellow man. Maybe they will give thanks to you this year. We always ask for blessings. We can be the blessing.

What makes Right... Right?

Morality. Whether consciencely or not, this is something we all deal with. How do I act moral? How do I live morally? How do I live rightly? Why do others do things that are wrong? Why do I do things I know are wrong?

Throughout human history, there have been several moral codes laid down for people to follow. All religions have some sort of moral guideline that it requires its believes to adhere to. Jesus famously laid down the Golden Rule in Matthew 7:12, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." He was referencing an earlier scripture from Leviticus 19:18, "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD."

Christianity is not alone in setting this ethic of reciprocity. From Confucius we get, "Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself."

Hinduism: "That man who regards all creatures as his own self, and behaves towards them as towards his own self, laying aside the rod of chastisement and completely subjugating his wrath, succeeds in attaining to happiness."

The Muslim Qur'an commends, "...those who show their affection to such as came to them for refuge and entertain no desire in their hearts for things given to the (latter), but give them preference over themselves"

From Taoism, "The sage has no interest of his own, but takes the interests of the people as his own. He is kind to the kind; he is also kind to the unkind: for Virtue is kind. He is faithful to the faithful; he is also faithful to the unfaithful: for Virtue is faithful."

Ok, so all religions have a general rule for being good, or virtuous, or righteous. But that doesn't answer the question at hand, just why is that right? For Christians, Jews, and Muslims, the answer is as simple as , "Because God said so." On the other hand, Eastern faiths, such as Taoism, Hinduism, and Buddhism, do not have same centralized authority figure, yet they have the same rule. So we still don't have an answer.

Instead of trying to decide why some things are right, maybe we should look at the problem from another point of view. What makes something wrong? For Christians, this might be asked as, what makes something a sin?

God is the ultimate Good in the Universe. God is Love. Being close to God is being connected with Him, with the Universe, with everyone else. When you feel love, you feel close, connected.

God wants us to Love Him. Because one cannot truly love anything unless they have a choice, God has granted us Free Will. Therefore, we have a choice; we can choose Love by choosing God, or we can choose to not accept God.

Therein lies a problem. When we decide to choose against God, we lose the power of that connection, the power of the Love that He is. We replace Him with our own desire. Our desires are inherently selfish. When we make a decision with only ourselves in mind, we are wrong. We sin. We do not only commit a wrong against the victim of our selfishness, but also against all people, and God.

When we disconnect from God, it leaves a hole in our lives. How do we fill that hole? We try to fill it with our desires. Food. Sex. Sports. Gadgets. Hobbies.

But where does that leave us? Do we still feel empty and unfulfilled? Yes. Only God's Love can make us feel complete.

So, how does this come back to "doing unto others?" When we start to frame our decisions, our lives even, in the context of serving others, we connect with them, and we connect with God. It leads to a higher plane, and a higher path. When we connect with that Love, suddenly we can find ourselves not being concerned if things are right or wrong, because by doing unto others, and therefore doing unto God, we will be doing the right thing.

God Speaks To Us in Mysterious Ways

I am slowly coming back into my church life, a life I abandoned over a decade ago. One of the things I am trying to begin again is a daily devotional. In the past, I was an undisciplined reader of the Bible. I would go days or weeks without reading on my own, then suddenly rip through a few books over the course of an afternoon. There was often no reason behind choosing what I read other than satisfying my own curiosity.

As a fledgling Christian in a new church, I am again opening my Bible to read. this time I am going by a set reading plan used by the church, a daily guide to reading the bible that will allow thentire tet to be read in a years time. Today was my first reading.

God works in mysterious ways. The driving force behind my leaving the church so long ago was the death of my twin sister. I wanted to challenge God. I wanted Him to explain Himself, to justify to me why he had allowed her death. I was arrogant and childish.

The passage selected for my reading today from the Old Testament was Job, chapters 39 and 40. It is God's answers to Job's challenge to Him. Job wanted a chance to prove his innocence before Him, to argue his case against what had befallen him. I will jump right into Job 40:1-8

¹ The LORD said to Job:

² "Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?
Let him who accuses God answer him!"

³ Then Job answered the LORD:

⁴ "I am unworthy—how can I reply to you?
I put my hand over my mouth.

⁵ I spoke once, but I have no answer—
twice, but I will say no more."

⁶ Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm:

⁷ "Prepare to defend yourself;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.

⁸ "Would you discredit my justice?
Would you condemn me to justify yourself?

This was written thousands of years ago. However, it is God speaking to me. It is God answering my challenge. Is it coincidence that on my first day of devotional reading I am directed to exactly what I need to read? Directed by a bookmark that simply has dates and assigned reading for that day? This reading plan was set long before I rededicated my life. However, that plan does have one verse on it:

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. - Jeremiah 29:11.

God is always ready to speak to us, we simply need to listen.

Beautiful Day

Going with a cliche today, but sometimes cliches are what they are because they are true. Today is a beautiful, as was yesterday and so too will be tomorrow. We are soaked in Love, in the Love of our Creator, the love of family, the love of friends, the love of even strangers.

There are those who feel destitute, those who see each new day as another day of suffering. Suffer no longer! The answer is before you. God. The Divine. That is Love, the most amazing and complete Love there is. Seek the Divine.

I follow the path of Christ. However, any path that takes you into the arms of the Divine is Blessed. Humble yourself to the power of Love that surrounds us, and each day you live will be beautiful.