Shades of Belief

In our time, people are all over the board with regard to a belief in a God or gods. There are the firm religious adherents in Christianity, Islam and Judaism that believe in only one God. The Buddhists don't really believe in a god or many gods, but they do have a life philosophy. The Hindus have many gods they revere. If I'm totally honest, I have no idea what the Sikhs believe and there are many other faiths and philosophies that I have never fully investigated;Wicca, Druidism, Shamanism and animism to name a few.

Then there are those that subscribe to no organized religions. They are certain there is no God or gods and so they do not bother. Of all the faiths, theirs has to be the strongest. I am talking about the atheists here. Since they cannot quantify or measure in any empirical way what is spiritual, they choose to deny the existence of the spiritual world altogether. To them, everything is material. There is nothing beyond it and there is nothing to transcend to.

Atheists have a second cousin in agnosticism. Agnostics are not sure there is a god, but they are not sure there is not a god either. They have no faith and no god, but they lack the certainty of their atheist cousins and they wonder about the faith of their  believing friends. I'm thinking they just don't want to commit to anything, but an investigation of that is beyond the scope of this blog post.

As I Christian, I can tell you this. My scriptures say this:      

Psalm 14 1-3

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
    They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,
    there is none who does good.

² The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,
    to see if there are any who understand,^[a]
    who seek after God.

³ They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
    there is none who does good,
    not even one.

Romans 1:18-22

 

¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,^[g] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

I do not offer these as an apologetic to those that do not believe. I offer them because I believe they are true. Those that refuse faith in God are fools. Everything in the universe gives credence to the notion of an intelligent designer. Creation is waaaaay too complex to have simply happened. There at least had to be some kind of beginning and a spark that lit that fire. Who had the matches? Where did all matter originate from? There has to be a cause to realize the effect.

I think the reason so many refuse to believe in something higher and grander than themselves is that they believe they are the highest and the grandest. They worship at the altar of self and they believe that, if anything will save them, it will be their own works. Humanism is the new religion. 

Many of the faithful buy into humanism. Let me tell you, when you do that, you practice syncretism. You cannot worship yourself and your own needs and deeds while adoring the one true God of creation. Yahweh does not like to share His worship.  

I do not know what to tell people that do not believe in God. I can make them aware of what I believe. I can tell them all about Jesus and the Bible. I can serve them personally until the cows come home. What I cannot do is make them believe. I am powerless to make them see the spiritual side of life. Only the Spirit of the Living God working through His Word can do that.

So I leave you with this.

God wants you to be in His family. He loved you so much that He sent a part of Himself, His only Son, to save you from yourself and the evil spiritual powers of this world. Grab a Bible. Sit down and read the gospel of John. Read through the book of the Acts of the Apostles. See for yourself the fire of the early church and read the words of those that witnessed the life of Jesus Christ while He was here. Learn what you have to do to become part of His family. Find a believing, God loving and fearing church and obey Jesus. It will be the best thing you ever did for yourself and for your family.

Seed planted. It's all I can do for you. If you seek Him, you will find Him. It can happen. Just step away from your doubts and believe.

Take care. I love you. If you want to talk....groundhog001@gmail.com

I will try to help.