Why I Believe

Faith is an interesting idea. I think that it often defies logic. It also lends itself to circular logic. For example, I believe in God in part because God has hard-wired people to believe in Him. I don’t have a problem with that sentence. It makes complete sense to me. But, you say, than why do some people not believe in God? The answer is that God has created knowledge of Him and a desire to believe in Him but that He has also given us free will to reject this knowledge and not believe it.

People are amazingly good at believing what they want and disbelieving what they want. Look at all the Holocaust deniers out there for example. Look at all the people who want to believe all the conspiracy theories about everything from the JFK assassination to the World Trade Center attack (“the Jews did it”; “the CIA did it”). People are also good at rationalizing what they believe. The people who believe that the Holocaust is a hoax do not want to believe it happened. The people who blame “the Jews” or the CIA for the WTC attack do not want to believe that Moslems did it. If people can believe those things how much harder is it to believe in a God?

But I digress.

I believe that science shows us a world and a universe that is too organized to be randomly created. Science shows us things that break the normal rules so that life can exist. Why does everything get denser when it becomes a solid except water? Obviously so that fish can live. Well, obviously to me. That’s not a random thing. That is a planned thing.

I believe that God shows Himself in ways that affect our daily lives. Oh, sure there are the age old questions of “why do bad things happen to good people” and “why do good things happen to bad people” that bother many people. They bother me from time to time but I have decided that these questions show how incomplete our understandings of the universe and of God are. When one considers how incomplete our understanding of so many physical things is, things we can see and touch, how difficult is it to accept that our understanding of the unseen and by definition unknowable is?

I think of the explanation of “The Matrix” in the movie of that name. It is explained that the machines first created a perfect world where everything went right for everyone. And everyone died. So they created a flawed world and people lived. Is there something in our nature that requires struggle? Perhaps there is something in God’s nature that requires struggle and that is why we were created as we were?

There have been times in my life when I have felt the presence of God. There are times when things have happened that do not make sense to me without an acceptance of a supernatural influence. Perhaps these were just examples of my imperfect understanding of the situation but I prefer to accept God.

There have been times in my life what I wanted not to believe in God. Really. It seems so easy. If there is no God than man is the highest determinate of right and wrong. Since I cannot accept that someone else is any better at right and wrong than I am what ever I decide is right is right. Plus then what is best for me is best period.

Oh, sure I’ve taken philosophy and ethics in college (most recently in grad school) and I’ve heard the arguments against what I’ve just written. I find them totally useless and unacceptable. They are the logic of people who are afraid of both God and anarchy. So if I could just accept that there is no God I could do away with guilt. Guilt is invalid if there is no God to instill it in people. But guilt does not go away. Not in healthy people anyway. So where does it come from if not God?

So the nature of the universe and the nature of people, to me, cry out that there must be a God. Not the supermen of the Greeks, Romans and Norse but a real God who is all powerful.

Are there problems with the God of the Bible for people? Of course. There are things that appear contradictory. But I am willing to accept apparent contradictions as my lack of understanding. I can live with that. I understand that some people cannot. I wish I could explain those issues for people. But I cannot.

So establishing a belief in God, as a Christian, the next logical step is why do I believe that Jesus is God? For that I start with the Bible. This too is something of a matter of faith. But if I start at the beginning I understand that guilt is based on knowledge of good and evil. As suggested earlier I believe that this knowledge starts with God. So a cure for guilt must come from God as well. People are a flawed creation in some ways. The whole notion of free-will combined with incomplete knowledge leads naturally to mistakes as well as knowingly doing wrong. Punishment for doing wrong is also logical. But I believe in a loving God who offers a second chance.

I believe that Jesus is that second chance. I do not believe that this world is all there is. I accept that there is a place of punishment and a place of reward. All religions have some of that. Even reincarnation uses this world as a place for both reward and punishment after death. Where did that come from if not from a God who knows that it is true?

Because of our nature we cannot be perfect. Also we will not accept a simple “never mind” so an alternative needed to be created to reconcile us with God. Jesus was God taking human form so we could relate to Him. He was killed so that there was punishment. He rose again to show that there is victory over death. We can than choose to be one with Him and be reconciled or we can reject Him. Our free will is maintained.

As a short term benefit, Jesus was a good teacher who gave us a more complete understanding of right and wrong. He gave us a more direct example of how to live that what we received in the Old Testament. And more, the door to reconciliation was opened wider, beyond a small group of people.

Is my understanding of this perfect? Can I explain away everyone’s concerns? No. But that’s not my job. There is a Holy Spirit who talks more directly from God to those willing to listen. My job is to say what I believe, why I believe and hope and pray that others will believe. Why? Because I believe that after this life there is either punishment or peace with God. I’d rather people have the peace with God and I do not believe there is a way other than Jesus to get there.

One last story. Years ago I tried to repel down a cliff. I could not because I would not trust the rope. There was no logical reason for me not to trust the rope other than that is stretched. People who knew told me that it was supposed to stretch. That stretching was a good sign. I could not believe it. I was afraid. Had I just so much as jumped away from the cliff the rope would have held and I would have been able to trust it. But I didn’t. I trusted my self and climbed back up the cliff. I regret that failure to trust to this day. I think I missed out on something good because I would not take a leap of faith.