When did we lose the ability to have a conversation? We all have opinions on different issues, but shoving people aside and disregarding them as people simply because they disagree with us is not going to help this country and this world move forward. It's just going to break us further apart.
When I see someone post something on Facebook saying "if you disagree with (insert topic here), please defriend me", I see someone missing the point of social media and missing the point of being individuals. We should all be allowed to have our own opinions and discuss them without threat of losing friends or being completely dismissed. We should all also be able to hear other people with differing viewpoints discuss those viewpoints without dehumanizing them or treating them as though they are less than we are. I certainly hold viewpoints that would cause some other people to dismiss me. We all do, but silencing anyone who disagrees with us is not progress.
We need to relearn how to have civil conversations with people who see things differently. We need to respect others instead of demonizing them and always assuming the worst about their intentions. We need to see others as people who can be reasoned with, and we need to become reasonable people ourselves. We need to consider that our viewpoints are not always perfect and that we might just learn something from someone else. People we disagree with are conversation partners, not enemies. They are people, not monsters.
We are not greater or less than each other; we are simply different. God loves us all the same.
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Monday, November 5, 2018
Random Verse - Psalm 42:8
By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me — a prayer to the God of my life.
- Psalm 42:8
God is not simply a being that exists in some far off place and is uninterested in our day-to-day lives. He is the one who created everything - all that has ever existed in the universe. That includes billions of stars and planets and things we can't even imagine. It also includes us. It includes you. God is my creator. He formed me and molded me. He has had my life in his hands every step of the way. God loves me and is always at work in my life. He is the God who loves and the one who saves. When I look at my life, I see evidence of God all along the way. I know he is still there, still moving in ways I cannot always see at the time. He is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
Thank you, Jesus, for never letting me go, though I would deserve it. Thank you giving me life and love. Thank you for guiding me in this life. While I too often stray from what is right, you are always there for me, always loving me. Thank you for your sacrifice and your forgiveness. You are my salvation and my stronghold, and I know you will never let me go. I love you Jesus. Amen.
- Psalm 42:8
God is not simply a being that exists in some far off place and is uninterested in our day-to-day lives. He is the one who created everything - all that has ever existed in the universe. That includes billions of stars and planets and things we can't even imagine. It also includes us. It includes you. God is my creator. He formed me and molded me. He has had my life in his hands every step of the way. God loves me and is always at work in my life. He is the God who loves and the one who saves. When I look at my life, I see evidence of God all along the way. I know he is still there, still moving in ways I cannot always see at the time. He is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
Thank you, Jesus, for never letting me go, though I would deserve it. Thank you giving me life and love. Thank you for guiding me in this life. While I too often stray from what is right, you are always there for me, always loving me. Thank you for your sacrifice and your forgiveness. You are my salvation and my stronghold, and I know you will never let me go. I love you Jesus. Amen.
Friday, October 26, 2018
Random Verse - Psalm 16:1
Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge.
- Psalm 16:1
Every day, terrible things happen. People die in car crashes or from cancer. Families and marriages crumble due to the sinful actions of one. We cannot know what tomorrow will bring. Perhaps we will be the victims of some horrible event. Whether purposeful, accidental, or natural, there are many things in the world that can cause us harm. What are we to do about it?
In a word, we need to trust. For those of us who call upon the name of the Lord, God is our refuge. He is our stronghold. He is the one who will keep us safe. It would be easy to get tripped up on this point, as it depends on your definition of safe. Yes, sometimes God will save you from a terrible situation. Sometimes God miraculously cures that cancer or prevents that drunk driver from barreling into you. Sometimes God stands in the way of the world and keeps you safe from its dangers.
But what about when He doesn't?
The greatest trust is not nearly to believe that God will keep you safe in this world. God has never promised us that bad things won't happen. He's never said that we won't have pain or suffering or have our lives cut short. Every day we live in this world is a gift from God that we should not waste. Yes, we should pray that God will keep us safe in the world. We should pray for healing and rejoice when it comes. That, however, is not the great safety that God promises us. The truth is that each of us will, someday, die. It is an inevitability of life. When that comes, is it God no longer keeping us safe? Is He no longer our refuge? Of course He is. The greatest trust is to know that no matter what happens to us in this world, no matter what pain we go through, and no matter how many years we are given to live on Earth, that God has our souls in His hand. God's primary goal is not to merely keep us safe for our lives in this world, that are here today but gone tomorrow. His primary goal is to welcome us into His kingdom to be with him for eternity. I do not fear the world or the oncoming death, for I know that God is holding me in his hands. He is my refuge, and He will keep me safe, forever and ever.
- Psalm 16:1
Every day, terrible things happen. People die in car crashes or from cancer. Families and marriages crumble due to the sinful actions of one. We cannot know what tomorrow will bring. Perhaps we will be the victims of some horrible event. Whether purposeful, accidental, or natural, there are many things in the world that can cause us harm. What are we to do about it?
In a word, we need to trust. For those of us who call upon the name of the Lord, God is our refuge. He is our stronghold. He is the one who will keep us safe. It would be easy to get tripped up on this point, as it depends on your definition of safe. Yes, sometimes God will save you from a terrible situation. Sometimes God miraculously cures that cancer or prevents that drunk driver from barreling into you. Sometimes God stands in the way of the world and keeps you safe from its dangers.
But what about when He doesn't?
The greatest trust is not nearly to believe that God will keep you safe in this world. God has never promised us that bad things won't happen. He's never said that we won't have pain or suffering or have our lives cut short. Every day we live in this world is a gift from God that we should not waste. Yes, we should pray that God will keep us safe in the world. We should pray for healing and rejoice when it comes. That, however, is not the great safety that God promises us. The truth is that each of us will, someday, die. It is an inevitability of life. When that comes, is it God no longer keeping us safe? Is He no longer our refuge? Of course He is. The greatest trust is to know that no matter what happens to us in this world, no matter what pain we go through, and no matter how many years we are given to live on Earth, that God has our souls in His hand. God's primary goal is not to merely keep us safe for our lives in this world, that are here today but gone tomorrow. His primary goal is to welcome us into His kingdom to be with him for eternity. I do not fear the world or the oncoming death, for I know that God is holding me in his hands. He is my refuge, and He will keep me safe, forever and ever.
Monday, October 22, 2018
Random Bible Verse
In an effort to increase my writing and continue to keep this blog active, I am going to try something new. I will be using the random bible verse page at DailyVerses.net to fuel future blog posts. I will take the verse and reflect on it. I will not select a new random verse if I do not like the first one provided each time. Some of these posts may be more interesting than others, but so be it. My comments may be a direct response to the verse, or it may be thoughts that the verse brings to my mind or stories it reminds me of. I look at this as a writing exercise as much as it is a content driver. I will be trying to do this a few times per week, if things go as planned. And thus, here is the first one.
Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult.
Proverbs 12:16
We live in a reactive world. People allow themselves to be offended at every little thing somebody else says that doesn't match what they believe or how they live. We often see people who believe differently than us as the enemy. We insult other people with harsh words, and then throw fits when those same people insult us. We don't take time to understand the viewpoints of other people, instead assuming the worst about them. We assume that we are the only ones seeing things correctly, and that everybody else is foolish or stupid or selfish or evil. We are so easily set off by the words of people we don't even know.
It is inevitable that we will interact with people who disagree with us on many different issues. What we cannot do, however, is simply throw insults at anybody who disagrees with us. Such reactive emotions do nothing but raise tensions and sever relationships. We must all learn how to have profitable discourse instead of simply yelling at each other. When others do hurl insults at us, we must not return fire with our own harsh words. We live in a diverse society with a free exchange of words and ideas, and that should be celebrated and not weaponized. We should seek to understand one another and converse peacefully with those we disagree with. In the end, none of us is perfect and none of us have a full understanding of how life works. We need to see each other as real people of equal value instead of looking down on anybody who sees things differently.
Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult.
Proverbs 12:16
We live in a reactive world. People allow themselves to be offended at every little thing somebody else says that doesn't match what they believe or how they live. We often see people who believe differently than us as the enemy. We insult other people with harsh words, and then throw fits when those same people insult us. We don't take time to understand the viewpoints of other people, instead assuming the worst about them. We assume that we are the only ones seeing things correctly, and that everybody else is foolish or stupid or selfish or evil. We are so easily set off by the words of people we don't even know.
It is inevitable that we will interact with people who disagree with us on many different issues. What we cannot do, however, is simply throw insults at anybody who disagrees with us. Such reactive emotions do nothing but raise tensions and sever relationships. We must all learn how to have profitable discourse instead of simply yelling at each other. When others do hurl insults at us, we must not return fire with our own harsh words. We live in a diverse society with a free exchange of words and ideas, and that should be celebrated and not weaponized. We should seek to understand one another and converse peacefully with those we disagree with. In the end, none of us is perfect and none of us have a full understanding of how life works. We need to see each other as real people of equal value instead of looking down on anybody who sees things differently.
Monday, October 8, 2018
Crutches
"Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business."
- Jesse Ventura
I remember when this quote was made years ago, back when Jesse Ventura was the governor of my state. It is a point of view shared by many others around the world. Many other such quotes have been made, of course, but this is the one I'm going to focus on.
Here's the kicker: I don't completely disagree with his assessment.
Just most of it.
When people say that religion is a crutch, I have this to say: they're right, and for followers of Jesus, that's the way it should be.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."
- Proverbs 3: 5-6
"And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
- Philippians 4: 19
God is our great provider, and part of surrendering our lives to Him is accepting that we need Him. The Bible does not say that we are strong enough on our own, or that we do not need anything from God in order to survive and live successful lives. No, it says to rely on Him for everything. So yes, God is our crutch, for without Him we cannot walk. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
Most importantly, salvation comes to those who believe in Jesus Christ and accept His salvation for our sins. This is something we cannot acquire on our own: Jesus died for us, and only by leaning on that salvation can we enter Heaven once we die. Attempting to get to Heaven on our own is foolishness. Jesus is our crutch to get there, and accepting this truth is the only way to salvation.
When it comes to organized religion being a sham: I wouldn't stretch it that far, but I will say this: organized religion has some major problems. Why is that? Because the organization of religion is run by sinners like you and me. It is run by people with major problems, just like every religious and secular organization in the world. I do believe that Christian leaders should hold themselves up to a very high moral standard, but expecting such people to have perfect records is expecting the impossible. The only human to ever have a perfect record was Jesus Christ. The Christian church can be a wonderful thing that spreads the good news of Jesus, but it is still run by sinners in a sinful world.
Oh, and we're all sinners with major problems, by the way. I couldn't do any better.
Yet I am not a Christian because of the church. My belief in Jesus is not based on the quality of religious leadership or the inner workings of the Christian organization. I am a Christ followers for this reason: it's true. Don't let Christians turn you off from Christianity, because ultimately, for you, it's not about the rest of us. It's not about how Christians behave or how sinful they are, because we're all sinners. It's about love and salvation. It's about your eternity. It's about you and Jesus.
I have no doubt in my soul that Jesus Christ is not a fairy tale, and that there is a true God in Heaven looking down on me. I believe that there was real blood shed on a real cross by a real human, and that the death of Jesus and His resurrection on the third day is the reason that I will spend eternity in Heaven. This is not some work of fiction I enjoy, it is the truth that I follow in my life. It impacts everything I do.
On a side note, and I have posted about this before in more detail, but we are not really meant to be religious. Religion is man made and run by those pesky sinners. Religion is traditional and ritualistic. Religion is following rules for the sake of following rules. The world sees me as religious, but I try to live beyond that. I try to live as a follower of the one and only true God, and the choices I make are due to my belief that they are the right choices, not simply because a religion tells me so.
There are many around the world who think that anyone who believes in God is weak minded, which is just a politically correct way of calling someone stupid. They say we invented God because we wanted to believe there is more to this life, more than just birth, death, and a few meaningless years in between. First, it is hard to talk to anyone who thinks anyone with a differing opinion from them is "weak minded." I would never define an atheist or otherwise non-Christian person as weak minded. I may think they need Jesus, but that certainly doesn't mean they're unintelligent. Also, believing in God is not something to be done only by those who turn their brains off. To me, it is only logical that there is a God, and I cannot fathom a universe coming to existence without such a being.
Finally, Ventura is certainly right about one thing: going out and sticking their noses in other people's business. We Christians should be involved in the lives of non-believers, so that we can minister and witness to them, giving them opportunities to accept Jesus as their savior. Is this because we're nosy? No, it comes down to one truth: without Jesus, everyone on this planet will be alone for eternity. It is our duty as Christ followers to spread the gospel, not because we're trying to increase our religion's dominance or get more people to come to church. No, we do this because the love and grace of our lord Jesus Christ compels us to, because we do not want to see anyone perish. We share the gospel because it's true.
In closing, Christians are imperfect beings whom Jesus died for, just like everybody else. The difference is that we have chosen to believe it. We have chosen to accept the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. We have accepted the fact that we need God to have a full and fulfilling life. Even if the world chides us and does not understand, Jesus is our crutch, because without Him we cannot stand.
- Jesse Ventura
I remember when this quote was made years ago, back when Jesse Ventura was the governor of my state. It is a point of view shared by many others around the world. Many other such quotes have been made, of course, but this is the one I'm going to focus on.
Here's the kicker: I don't completely disagree with his assessment.
Just most of it.
When people say that religion is a crutch, I have this to say: they're right, and for followers of Jesus, that's the way it should be.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."
- Proverbs 3: 5-6
"And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
- Philippians 4: 19
God is our great provider, and part of surrendering our lives to Him is accepting that we need Him. The Bible does not say that we are strong enough on our own, or that we do not need anything from God in order to survive and live successful lives. No, it says to rely on Him for everything. So yes, God is our crutch, for without Him we cannot walk. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
Most importantly, salvation comes to those who believe in Jesus Christ and accept His salvation for our sins. This is something we cannot acquire on our own: Jesus died for us, and only by leaning on that salvation can we enter Heaven once we die. Attempting to get to Heaven on our own is foolishness. Jesus is our crutch to get there, and accepting this truth is the only way to salvation.
When it comes to organized religion being a sham: I wouldn't stretch it that far, but I will say this: organized religion has some major problems. Why is that? Because the organization of religion is run by sinners like you and me. It is run by people with major problems, just like every religious and secular organization in the world. I do believe that Christian leaders should hold themselves up to a very high moral standard, but expecting such people to have perfect records is expecting the impossible. The only human to ever have a perfect record was Jesus Christ. The Christian church can be a wonderful thing that spreads the good news of Jesus, but it is still run by sinners in a sinful world.
Oh, and we're all sinners with major problems, by the way. I couldn't do any better.
Yet I am not a Christian because of the church. My belief in Jesus is not based on the quality of religious leadership or the inner workings of the Christian organization. I am a Christ followers for this reason: it's true. Don't let Christians turn you off from Christianity, because ultimately, for you, it's not about the rest of us. It's not about how Christians behave or how sinful they are, because we're all sinners. It's about love and salvation. It's about your eternity. It's about you and Jesus.
I have no doubt in my soul that Jesus Christ is not a fairy tale, and that there is a true God in Heaven looking down on me. I believe that there was real blood shed on a real cross by a real human, and that the death of Jesus and His resurrection on the third day is the reason that I will spend eternity in Heaven. This is not some work of fiction I enjoy, it is the truth that I follow in my life. It impacts everything I do.
On a side note, and I have posted about this before in more detail, but we are not really meant to be religious. Religion is man made and run by those pesky sinners. Religion is traditional and ritualistic. Religion is following rules for the sake of following rules. The world sees me as religious, but I try to live beyond that. I try to live as a follower of the one and only true God, and the choices I make are due to my belief that they are the right choices, not simply because a religion tells me so.
There are many around the world who think that anyone who believes in God is weak minded, which is just a politically correct way of calling someone stupid. They say we invented God because we wanted to believe there is more to this life, more than just birth, death, and a few meaningless years in between. First, it is hard to talk to anyone who thinks anyone with a differing opinion from them is "weak minded." I would never define an atheist or otherwise non-Christian person as weak minded. I may think they need Jesus, but that certainly doesn't mean they're unintelligent. Also, believing in God is not something to be done only by those who turn their brains off. To me, it is only logical that there is a God, and I cannot fathom a universe coming to existence without such a being.
Finally, Ventura is certainly right about one thing: going out and sticking their noses in other people's business. We Christians should be involved in the lives of non-believers, so that we can minister and witness to them, giving them opportunities to accept Jesus as their savior. Is this because we're nosy? No, it comes down to one truth: without Jesus, everyone on this planet will be alone for eternity. It is our duty as Christ followers to spread the gospel, not because we're trying to increase our religion's dominance or get more people to come to church. No, we do this because the love and grace of our lord Jesus Christ compels us to, because we do not want to see anyone perish. We share the gospel because it's true.
In closing, Christians are imperfect beings whom Jesus died for, just like everybody else. The difference is that we have chosen to believe it. We have chosen to accept the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. We have accepted the fact that we need God to have a full and fulfilling life. Even if the world chides us and does not understand, Jesus is our crutch, because without Him we cannot stand.
Friday, September 7, 2018
Faith Does Not Exist In A Bubble
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. - Matthew 28: 19 - 20
As Christ followers in America, we tend to ignore the Great Commission given to us by Jesus. We go about our daily lives, scarcely giving thought to the eternal destinations of those around us. We pray and try to live righteous lives, as we should, be we neglect one of our main purposes. Yes, we are undergoing the process of sanctification and will be doing so for the rest of our lives. That, however, is not the only reason we’re still here. God is ready to use us to reach the lost of the world, because he loves each and every person he has created. We should be living our lives as a shining example of his love, treating each other with kindness and love. Even then, there are times when we should all step out of our comfort zones and actually talk about Jesus. Admittedly, this is something I find intimidating. It is something that has been sorely lacking in my life, but I have been hoping to change that. For starters, I am currently reading Good News for a Change: How to Talk to Anyone about Jesus by Matt Mikalatos. I am still early in the read, but it has been interesting so far.
The life of a Christ follower should not be lived in a bubble. We are not simply the followers of some religion whose requirements we can appease on our own. I don't particularly care for religion. I don’t care what religion you are, and neither does God. Jesus actually has a lot of criticism for “religious people.” Instead, what God wants is followers, not dogmatic people blindly and ritualistically going through the motions, but earnest followers who want to be in close fellowship with him, because they choose to be. Religion is about rules, but that's not really what God is concerned with. He is looking for relationship, and for his people to be his tools to spread the good news of Jesus to the world. This is about reconciling people to God and saving their souls. If we look at it as anything less than that, we risk minimizing our efforts and reducing our effectiveness. We need to talk about Jesus because people need to hear it. People need Jesus. We all need him. He is the son of God, sent to defeat sin and death for all time. The truth must be spread, because the cost of silence is far too great. Everybody around us is a child of God, and God is seeking to return all his lost children to him. That is what life is truly about. Anybody simply looking to “convert” people or win an argument is missing the point. It’s not about numbers. It’s about real people with real lives who need real help, who are at real risk of being separated from God forever.
We each have a faith journey that we are walking, and we are all at different points on that journey. However, we can all be used by God to further his kingdom and reach the lost. Why would we want to live in a bubble when there is so much at stake? God can do amazing things through the faith of his people, but if your faith is so limiting that it is only about you, then how powerful can it really be? God is a deeply personal god, yes, as we all have come to him on different paths, and he met us in different places and in different ways. But that doesn’t mean it’s private. In fact, if something in your life has made such a significant difference, why would you want it to be private? Is opening up the book of our life not worth the potential that other people could experience the same great changes that we did? Is our privacy worth keeping others from experiencing grace? It’s not about your rights or your privacy or your comfort. It's about Jesus. It's about love. It’s about truth.
[to be continued...]
As Christ followers in America, we tend to ignore the Great Commission given to us by Jesus. We go about our daily lives, scarcely giving thought to the eternal destinations of those around us. We pray and try to live righteous lives, as we should, be we neglect one of our main purposes. Yes, we are undergoing the process of sanctification and will be doing so for the rest of our lives. That, however, is not the only reason we’re still here. God is ready to use us to reach the lost of the world, because he loves each and every person he has created. We should be living our lives as a shining example of his love, treating each other with kindness and love. Even then, there are times when we should all step out of our comfort zones and actually talk about Jesus. Admittedly, this is something I find intimidating. It is something that has been sorely lacking in my life, but I have been hoping to change that. For starters, I am currently reading Good News for a Change: How to Talk to Anyone about Jesus by Matt Mikalatos. I am still early in the read, but it has been interesting so far.
The life of a Christ follower should not be lived in a bubble. We are not simply the followers of some religion whose requirements we can appease on our own. I don't particularly care for religion. I don’t care what religion you are, and neither does God. Jesus actually has a lot of criticism for “religious people.” Instead, what God wants is followers, not dogmatic people blindly and ritualistically going through the motions, but earnest followers who want to be in close fellowship with him, because they choose to be. Religion is about rules, but that's not really what God is concerned with. He is looking for relationship, and for his people to be his tools to spread the good news of Jesus to the world. This is about reconciling people to God and saving their souls. If we look at it as anything less than that, we risk minimizing our efforts and reducing our effectiveness. We need to talk about Jesus because people need to hear it. People need Jesus. We all need him. He is the son of God, sent to defeat sin and death for all time. The truth must be spread, because the cost of silence is far too great. Everybody around us is a child of God, and God is seeking to return all his lost children to him. That is what life is truly about. Anybody simply looking to “convert” people or win an argument is missing the point. It’s not about numbers. It’s about real people with real lives who need real help, who are at real risk of being separated from God forever.
We each have a faith journey that we are walking, and we are all at different points on that journey. However, we can all be used by God to further his kingdom and reach the lost. Why would we want to live in a bubble when there is so much at stake? God can do amazing things through the faith of his people, but if your faith is so limiting that it is only about you, then how powerful can it really be? God is a deeply personal god, yes, as we all have come to him on different paths, and he met us in different places and in different ways. But that doesn’t mean it’s private. In fact, if something in your life has made such a significant difference, why would you want it to be private? Is opening up the book of our life not worth the potential that other people could experience the same great changes that we did? Is our privacy worth keeping others from experiencing grace? It’s not about your rights or your privacy or your comfort. It's about Jesus. It's about love. It’s about truth.
[to be continued...]
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Logic
I've heard atheists say before that no rational person would believe in a God. They say theists believe in a higher power because they want to believe there is more to life than this Earth. They say that only the unwise would truly think there is a great being in the sky watching over us. They say Christians are illogical and unintelligent, for how else could they believe such foolishness? They call them delusional, senseless people.
I know I live in a world where some people look down on me for what I believe, but I don't really care. I don't believe what I believe because it makes me look a certain way to the world, nor do I believe it because it makes me feel a certain way. I don't believe it due to a desire for peace or contentment. While an atheist may read this and still think I'm delusional, I believe in a God due to something they believe Christians to be incapable of: logic. For even if I had not had "God moments" throughout my life, where God made his reality obvious to me, there would still be the underlying fact that I find the idea of this universe having no God to be completely illogical. It makes no sense.
The theory that this universe created itself is illogical. No matter how many millions and billions of years you go back, there has to be an ultimate origin. We could talk specifics of the Big Bang, evolution, and other scientific theories. Yet such things are mere details, for if this universe is merely physical, then it must have a beginning. If it has a beginning, there must have been a time when there was no universe. If there is no universe at all, there is no matter, there is nothing in existence to take its progression to the next step. It is illogical to think that the universe sprouted from nothingness into something. There must be something more, something higher, something eternal. God, by definition, is eternal, having no beginning or end. Nothing had to create God, because he always was. There is nothing that is merely physical, however, that always has been. There couldn't be. The only way that this universe came to be is if something eternal created it. I do not believe this because I want to or because I feel like it should be true, I believe it because logic forces me to do so.
I do not know all the details of how God created the universe. There are debates on the literal Genesis creation story and theistic evolution. While such debates are interesting and of some value, the truth remains that, however the universe came to be, that it was God doing the creating and not merely the physical universe bringing itself into being. If we evolved from single-celled organisms, then it was God that authored and guided that process; it did not simply happen of its own accord. Whether God created the universe in six days or gradually over billions of years, the end result is the same: the universe is God's creation.
In short, I believe what I believe because of logic, not despite logic. I know atheists will still call me foolish, but I will not change what I believe simply to fit in to the world.
I know I live in a world where some people look down on me for what I believe, but I don't really care. I don't believe what I believe because it makes me look a certain way to the world, nor do I believe it because it makes me feel a certain way. I don't believe it due to a desire for peace or contentment. While an atheist may read this and still think I'm delusional, I believe in a God due to something they believe Christians to be incapable of: logic. For even if I had not had "God moments" throughout my life, where God made his reality obvious to me, there would still be the underlying fact that I find the idea of this universe having no God to be completely illogical. It makes no sense.
The theory that this universe created itself is illogical. No matter how many millions and billions of years you go back, there has to be an ultimate origin. We could talk specifics of the Big Bang, evolution, and other scientific theories. Yet such things are mere details, for if this universe is merely physical, then it must have a beginning. If it has a beginning, there must have been a time when there was no universe. If there is no universe at all, there is no matter, there is nothing in existence to take its progression to the next step. It is illogical to think that the universe sprouted from nothingness into something. There must be something more, something higher, something eternal. God, by definition, is eternal, having no beginning or end. Nothing had to create God, because he always was. There is nothing that is merely physical, however, that always has been. There couldn't be. The only way that this universe came to be is if something eternal created it. I do not believe this because I want to or because I feel like it should be true, I believe it because logic forces me to do so.
I do not know all the details of how God created the universe. There are debates on the literal Genesis creation story and theistic evolution. While such debates are interesting and of some value, the truth remains that, however the universe came to be, that it was God doing the creating and not merely the physical universe bringing itself into being. If we evolved from single-celled organisms, then it was God that authored and guided that process; it did not simply happen of its own accord. Whether God created the universe in six days or gradually over billions of years, the end result is the same: the universe is God's creation.
In short, I believe what I believe because of logic, not despite logic. I know atheists will still call me foolish, but I will not change what I believe simply to fit in to the world.
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