Fact versus Faith ...

There are very few absolutes in the world around us.  We can scientifically verify the existence of gravity by its affects on us as we attempt to defy it.  We can measure the force of gravity, and then ascribe the measurement in ‘weight’.  And since everyone has a personal familiarity with the concept of gravity and its effects, we begin to accept gravity as an absolute truth.  But for example, if you tried to examine the great number of things in your life you take for granted as truth, you would find little absolute proof of any of them. 

Take your name and parents for instance, are you really certain your name is what you have been brought up to believe?  Could it have been different on your birth certificate?  How can you scientifically prove your birth certificate is accurate?  Could it’s authors have been lying about certain facts?  Was the hospital notary in on the deception?  Could you truly be the product of another entire set of parents but simply taken at birth?  You were too young to know, so how do you scientifically prove something that happened before your cognitive memory?  Ah yes, the good old DNA test, we can get one of those now and clear all this up (at least we know we were not stolen at birth).  But DNA does not verify the truth of the documentation associated with your birth.  With some work at it, we could round up witnesses, get copies of corroborating documentation, talk to the doctor who delivered us, etc..  At some point we would have enough support to believe the truth we know, but it would take work, and in some rare cases may never be proven scientifically.  Is it any less true, without the science to support it?

If you use the name you have been brought up to believe is yours, if you answer to it, if others know you by it, then it is a truth, even if it conflicts with paper signed long ago.  At some point each person chooses to be known by the name they validate, if they are not happy with the one they have, they change it.  The point here is that some truth is simple enough to believe in, without a ton of scientific data to back it up.  That presumption of truth, is called faith.  In order to have faith, you have to trust the person(s) you put your faith in.  It does you little good to put your faith in something random, unknown, or unfamiliar.  You may ‘bet’ on someone else’s good nature, but that can hardly be called having ‘faith’ in them.  Faith and trust then are in separable.  And with faith, you may be able to believe in the truth of something without all the science behind it, and sometimes even when what you look at, tells a different story.

Most people who support evolution as the basis of our origin, believe Christians to be using a ‘weak’ argument whenever they rely on ‘faith’ in the absence of scientific fact.  Yet the ‘science’ of evolution requires a great deal of ‘faith’ as it cannot answer many pertinent questions either.  When science lacks the answers, it is rationalized as ‘undiscovered’.  But when a question regarding God comes up, any response of ‘faith’ is deemed as naïve blind obedience.  I suppose the reason for this is a fundamental lack of trust in who our God really is, and what He is all about.  Consider for a moment what we believe about our God; that He is good, and that He wants only good for us; and that we are free to choose for ourselves.  Given this, we are not slaves, because we choose to serve Him.  This is not forced labor, it is labor based in love.  Given God’s intentions for us, we can trust in Him, to ALWAYS look out for our best interests (even if they conflict with our own wisdom).

I love the example of Abraham in scripture who is touted as having great faith to leave the land of his father, for a land he had never seen, based solely on a promise from God.  I love how at age 100 he finally has the son he was promised by God to populate the earth like the sands of the seas.  But most of all I admire the relationship Abraham had with Christ, that he was so close to Jesus, they actually talked to each other.  Abraham knew it was God, when God told him to take Isaac to sacrifice him.  Think about this for a second.  God was telling Abraham to commit first degree murder of his only son, as a sacrifice to Him.  At the time ONLY pagan / heathen gods demanded such child sacrifice, and these rituals were always STRONGLY condemned by God.  Yet here He is, asking for the same thing.  I would have freaked out, and refused to accept this was really God talking, sounds way more like Satan to me than God.  But Abraham knew the voice of God first hand, had followed it all his life, and did so again, hoping against hope God would withdraw his request.  Not until the angel stopped Abraham from actually committing murder, did God stop this ‘test’ of his faith. 

We have such a hard time believing that God will follow through on His promises to us.  And so we ‘help’ God by taking care of ourselves financially instead of sharing our money back with him.  We protect ourselves from the world, by keeping away from homeless crazy people who need us, but might hurt us while we sleep.  We avoid dangerous places like prisons, soup-kitchens, shelters, hospitals, and nursing homes for fear of our own mortality.  And we think we follow God in faith.  How much ‘faith’ does living this way really require?  Is that why we don’t give our faith a good work-out like we do our bodies?  We play it safe all the time, risk little or nothing, and learn to trust little at all. 

We couch our prayers for the sick in weak words like “but let it be according to Your will” as if it would ever be God’s will for someone to suffer or die.  We suffer and die from our own choices, and from the effects of evil on others.  Why not pray boldly for healing instead of just comforting the loved ones?  Is it because we don’t want to give ‘false’ hope to the sick; with our weak faith perhaps the hope would be false.  I say instead we boldly ask God for the miracles He wants to pour out on us.  Stop hiding behind weak words, and ask God for what we really want.  Let Him say no, if He does not want to grant our request, but let us make the request in faith with power.  In faith that KNOWS God wants to pour out His healing upon us so we don’t even have room to receive it. 

This kind of faith takes trust.  It’s risky to call out for God to help and put the attention on Him to see if He does. 

Faith then is not the last resort of those who lack scientific proof of their beliefs; rather it is the first thing we look to in any situation we face.  We rely on our faith to bridge the gaps in our knowledge, not because we have NO knowledge of God, simply because we may not yet have a complete knowledge of God.  We add faith to our reason, and to our personal experience with God, and in so doing, faith grows.  As we witness the results of trusting God, we constantly prove His care and goodness in our lives.  Once you begin to KNOW what God does in your life, your faith starts a fire inside you, that no man, and no evil can ever put out.  This becomes yet another avenue of a life altering experience.  Our discovery of God and His true character and intentions makes us stronger still.  Our incredible weakness and unworthiness, covered in a blanket of love that changes the core of who we are.

Of course this kind of faith is not something to play with kids.  Once you get infected with trust like this, and see results like this, you will catch fire like you can’t imagine.  You will not be able to shut off the spickett once that channel gets opened up in your life.  Once this gift of faith God puts in your heart starts to bare harvest, watch out.  You may just single-handedly change the world, not you per se, but God working in you and through you…

Why Me (part 3 of 3) ...

We have been exploring answers to the simple question 'Why Me?'.  First we defined our individuality and uniqueness, then confronted the existence and impact of 'evil' on our lives - now it is time to explore the positive reference to this question - getting something (a gift) we do not deserve.

Recognizing the existence of a benevolent God was the first step in our journey towards individual meaning to our lives.  It begins our quest to fulfill our unique and invaluable purpose.  But how do we go about it?  How do we come to know this creator God we have discussed?  How do we communicate with Him?  It is logical that given our finite status, and since He is infinite, it seems most, if not all of the work, will have to rest on His plate instead of ours.  Since we recognize His existence, and our separation from Him, we begin to feel a need to reconcile with Him, and get close to Him again.  This need is born into every human who has ever lived.  But not everyone recognizes it, or understands it.  It is like a hunger that is never satisfied.  It is a combination of ambition, the pursuit of excellence, curiosity about what is possible, and an insatiable need to be loved and accepted.  A desire to return 'home' even though 'home' may not be fully understood.  The more one gets to know God, the more the intensity of this desire to reconcile can be felt.

The burden for communication has already been addressed by God.  It turns out having created us for a specific purpose, God is able to read and understand our thoughts, desires, and deepest motives.  It is both scary, and exhilarating that God easily penetrates the facade we present to others, and knows our deepest core.  There is NO hiding from God, not physically (remember He can transcend time, space, and matter), and not mentally (having authored our ability to both think and feel, He can easily see into our true selves).  Every word we speak He knows.  Every intent, whether open or hidden, He is keenly aware of.  So to communicate with Him we need only speak to Him, or perhaps 'think' to him silently and He will hear us. 

A modicum of respect would be a good idea on our part in this process.  As much as God loves us, and relates to us, and intends nothing but good towards us - He is still the Supreme Being in the Universe.  It doesn't hurt to remember that the courtesy of His friendship does not negate His awesome power and position.  In other words, for God to come down to our level to speak with us, does in no way make us equal to Him.  He may be family, but He is still the 'dad' of this family, and His word goes, period.  But there is equally no reason to fear talking to God.  The analogy of young children speaking to 'daddy' is both welcomed and accepted by God.  Young children respect their parents while still having fun with them.  This is the nature of our communications to God.  He is patient with us, answers our questions, helps us in times of need, and most importantly teaches and corrects us as we need it (what is in our own best interest from an eternal perspective - i.e. sometimes beyond our ability to understand in the here and now).

What about God's communication to us?  Obviously we have NO ability to read His thoughts or intents from our finite minds.  So how do we 'hear' him?  Again, He knows our limitations and has addressed this as well.  There are lessons on the nature and character of God that can be found in His creation - in the harmony and balance of unspoiled nature - in the order and precision of mathematics - in the tender intimacy of a relationship between parent and new born child.  There are a great many things we can learn about God, as we marvel at the beauty of His creation that still shines through our 'evil' polluted world.  The second way, in which God reaches out to us, is through a carefully crafted and divinely preserved set of written records of His love (i.e. the Bible). 

Why the Bible, and not the Quran, or the writings of Confucius, or the Torah (which technically is a subset of the Bible), or the mysterious plates of Joseph Smith, or this book, or any other written source of men.  Again we look at it logically, the Bible is the only written record which completely outlines ... 1.) The Existence and character of God, 2.) The origin and existence of Evil and its goals, 3.) Our existence & the ONLY plan that could work to reconcile man back with God, 4.) The ultimate destruction of evil, and 5.) The definition of love.  The Bible is full of prophesies which can be historically proven, and predicts the Messiah where every single attribute that is foretold is fulfilled in total in Christ. 

I believe Biblical writers were inspired by God to write what they did.  They were not perfect, but their writings were accurate enough to enjoy the preservation of God.  Many dismiss the 'numbers' in the Bible as inflated, and the claims of miracles as nothing more than allegory.  We will discuss this further in specifics as needed, but this claim in its premise states that a loving creator God - did not think it important enough to keep the single most referred to method of communication to us - accurate.  In effect God doesn't seem to mind some sort of sliding scale of accuracy; then in that case, why not a sliding scale of love, or of goodness.  It is not consistent with His character to be sloppy.  Therefore His communication should be able to be counted on as accurate.

I realize that many do not want to accept the Bible because of the scope of some of its claims.  For instance, according to the Bible our world was created in only seven days.  In fact the Bible says that our Earth (the rocks and dust, etc. was "without form and void" - i.e. an asteroid without water, air, or the ability to support life).  God selected this floating rock in space and began to shape it.  He gave it an atmosphere (air), He gave it water, then land.  He placed it in, or simply created the surrounding solar system to give it a sense of time, and location in space.  Then He brought life into our planet, first with growing things, then with animals, finally with us 'in His own image' (something to discuss in a later section).  Because the carbon dating of the rocks on our asteroid date back farther than 6000 years, is not hard and fast evidence the world was not created exactly like God said it was according to the Bible.  They are not mutually exclusive.  This first claim of the Bible has been historically hard to accept by the non-believer; the idea that God created us.  If you accept this premise, the rest of the Bible becomes God's communication to us.  We have explored the alternatives to this logically and already came to this conclusion, so we will move on.

Lastly God can communicate with man, those who choose to listen; through the 'still small voice' he hears when he is quiet, undistracted, and well practiced at truly listening for God.  I believe sometimes that 'still small voice' is our conscience - nudging us to choose right when faced with a choice.  Sometimes it comes through the counsel of others in our immediate circle of influence.  Sometimes 'the voice' is neither quiet or small, sometimes it is unavoidable, loud, and clear - even miraculous in its manifestation - but these times and people tend to be rare (very rare).  The results of any of these communications should be able to be measured against the written words in His book, and compared against the consistency of His character.

So communications then, have been established between us and God.  There is a way to learn what God wants for us, what His plan is.  We can begin building a personal relationship with God immediately.  Think about this concept carefully - we can begin to know God right now - we can begin to reconcile with God right away - we do not have to wait.  We will discuss later the concept of 'Hell' being the torturous recognition of our separation from God and all that is good.  For now we are talking about the concept of 'Heaven' where all that is good can begin to be understood right now - no waiting.  Heaven then, is MORE than just a place.  It is NOT just a destination.  It is a lifestyle of reconciliation of us and our God.  This is what 'Salvation' (or saving us from our evil and forced separation) is all about.  It’s not about escaping doom it is about experiencing LIFE right now.  It is about being HAPPY right now.  This is the gift we have been given - right now.  And like any other gift, it is free to us; ALL we have to do is simply accept it. 

How do we go about that? ... will be discussed throughout this book.  For now focus on the concept that your reconciliation with God can begin immediately.  Your communication methods have been outlined, no need to wait...

Why Me (part 2 of 3) ...

In the previous section we discovered meaning for each of us, on a unique level, that only we can experience individually.  If we are called into existence for a particular purpose, and by a benevolent God, then why do some horrific things seem to come our way?  A person, who recognizes the existence of God, and searches to perform his unique mission, still seems to suffer the same fate as those who do not choose this road.  How could a benevolent God not shield us all from the unpleasant horrors we face?  And since He 'could' protect us, and He chooses not to, isn't He to blame for our misfortunes?  These questions need to be addressed, but also recognize the premise is as old as 'evil'.  'Evil' has always desired to tear down the character of 'God'.  To paint God with all of its own traits - call Him a liar, a dictator, cruel, selfish, and proud.  Of course God is none of these things, but the techniques of blaming God are as old as 'evil' itself.

So why does misfortune occur?  First, we must begin by addressing properly the concept of cause-and-effect.  For instance, if you decide to consume more alcohol than your body is capable of processing, you will get sick and throw-up (or so I have heard).  When you’re sick, do you then blame God, knowing full well it was you that chose to drink too much in the first place?  And in point of fact, if you did not throw-up you could die from it poisoning your system.  In this scenario, two important principles are at work - first, you will pay the consequences of your choices - and second, others may pay for them as well.  The first decision to drink and impair judgment was not a good one, but then, a second even worse decision may now occur (particularly since you are no longer capable of using 100% of your brain power) - you could decide to get behind the wheel of a car and drive in this condition.  Now what happens, a horrific accident where people die.  Ironically, usually the drunk lives through this one as he/she is fairly limp when they collide.  However, the family with small children dies from the impact most every time.  Whose fault is this?  Is it the beer and alcohol company's fault for making this product?  Is it the bar-tender's fault for serving it?  Is it your friend’s fault for not stopping you from driving?  All those options sound better than the truth - it is clearly and completely your own fault as a series of your decisions, led to this result.

We enlightened, and litigious Americans hate the concept of taking responsibility for our own actions.  We live in a culture that seeks to find someone, anyone else to blame for our deeds and decisions.  Otherwise we would be forced to look in the mirror way too often for what happens in our own lives.  Ah, but what about the family of 5 that you killed in your drunken stupor.  How is your decision, your choice, their fault in any way?  Shouldn’t God have fixed this scenario for them at least?  The answer to this is a bit difficult but bear with me.  In general, God does not interfere in the free-will decisions we make on this earth.  If He did, we could easily resemble robots, forced into the slavery of His will.  This He will not accept.  We must learn to choose Him of our own free will.

 

But with the power to make the choice for good, comes the consequences of making the choice for 'evil'.  When we choose 'evil' on any level, we inflict pain on at least 3 groups - ourselves, our God, and those around us.  'Evil' cannot be contained to just destroying ourselves, like a dreaded viral disease, it stretches out to everyone it can reach to inflict further pain.  It is said, 'no man is an island.'  Never truer words were spoken with respect to the consequences of 'evil' choices.  And very often, those who SHOULD NOT have to suffer from what we choose, in fact do suffer.  And while evil exists, this will remain true.  The only way to exterminate evil is to recognize it's true nature, and turn away from it.  This process itself is God authored and we will discuss it in more detail later.  For now, the point remains, as we choose to indulge evil, we lay the ground work for inflicting pain on a much wider basis than we anticipate.

There are those who look at history, and say, how can there be a God, who allows 6 million of His own people to die at Hitler's hands?  They are not looking at the right thing.  Hitler's personal choices for 'evil' affected an entire nation.  He did not personally shoot 6 million Jews, he had PLENTY of help, from complacent people who were afraid to choose 'good'; too lazy or indifferent to choose 'good'; or just infected with racial prejudice & bias and zealous enough to kill for this stupidity.  Thousands of people carried out these orders.  Even more looked the other way.  And to be clear, the deaths were not limited to Jews, Gypsy's suffered about another 6-8 million losses, as well as endless numbers of German and Russian soldiers along that front.  God allowed Hitler to live out his life, as He did all of those guilty accomplices, as He did for all of those people who turned a blind eye - as He does for you and I as we sometimes choose to turn a blind eye to places like Bosnia, or Darfur, or maybe just that poor guy who asks for money at the intersection where you drive your car.

 

While in general, God does not normally interfere with our free-will choices, there are times when He does.  God has a master plan and is in control of all of existence.  He does not force your decisions or your will, but He does sometimes protect you from the poorer decisions of others.  There are cases of miracles all throughout history of people who escape death or harm due to the direct interference of the divine.  God's plans will be carried out.  They will not be deterred by 'evil'.  This is not a guarantee that following God equals divine protection.  As we have seen time and again, our own choices often directly impact us, and the choices of others.  We don't follow God for protection, or safety, for it is not fear we have of death.  Remember following God's plan means more than just the life you live today, there is something more; we will discuss this more in a later section.  The point is that the meaning we seek in our individual lives is unaffected by the events that may impact us.  We leave the particulars of our existence in God's hands.

Lastly, there is one other notion that needs to be looked at a little bit more.  The question 'why do bad things happen to good people?'  We have already talked about choices and consequences, but the idea that there are 'good' people needs a little bit of focus.  First of all this question implies that God loves someone in the equation less than someone else.  For example, in the case of our drunk driver who winds up killing the family - we assume the family was 'good' and the drunk driver was 'bad'.  It is actually impossible to know either of these things. 

For those of you who are parents, if one child hits a sibling, do you choose to love one of them less - or are you sorry for the pain of the wounded - and worried to correct the behavior of the one who caused it?  God loves the drunkard every bit as much as He loves the family.  He weeps at the pain we go through, both as victim, AND as perpetrator.  One may be at fault, but pain is experienced everywhere.  This is the real nature of 'evil', it does not discriminate, it wants everyone to experience pain.  The goal of all 'evil' is to inflict as much pain on God as possible - how do you accomplish this goal - why by attacking His children of course.  And every created being, God sees as His erring child.  He loves them ALL.  He wants them ALL to be reconciled with Him: even Hitler, even those that helped him, even me.  We think of ourselves as the only victims of evil, when the real target is actually God Himself.

For those that face the loss of someone they loved; for those who were abused by someone beyond their control; for those who hurt for whatever reason, whether self-inflicted, or by another's choice - God feels your pain.  He would give anything to stop the cycle of 'evil' that has impacted you.  He hates what pain 'evil' causes, and He assures you it WILL NOT LAST.  There will be an end to the 'evil' you have experienced.  Your life here may be hard, with little comfort, but this will not always be so.  There is something more.  God has plans that stretch out farther than your limited viewpoint can see.  He sees time unlike you.  And He knows there will come a day when all 'evil' is put to an end.  And then finally, we will be united forever in our choice for 'good'.

In a future section we will discuss the final part of this series on 'Why me' from a more positive perspective.  In short, it is time to examine the greatest gift you will ever be given.

Why Me (part 1 of 3) ...

This question is usually directed in one of two ways, either "Why Me?" meaning how could something this horrible happen to someone as wonderful as me; or the less often reference, how could something this wonderful have happened to me as I do not deserve it.  We'll look at the first reference viewpoint in this section, starting with the concept of 'me'. 

If existence is to have a personalized meaning, a meaning that is unique to the individual, this would require that our origin stem from something unique in itself.  Ever wondered why snowflakes are supposed to be completely unique?  Ever wondered why fingerprints, DNA, and retinal scans, etc.. are unique?  There are no 2 people identical throughout our world, even though twins may be close, they are still individually distinguishable.  Then too look around at the world in your vicinity - note the variance in nature - the number of different plants, bugs, and animals that surround you.  Just in these three forms of life there is a tremendous level of variety, or uniqueness.  It appears difficult to find two trees that are exactly alike, same number and location of branches, same number and shape of leaves, same color, and same schedule for fall & spring.  Why so much uniqueness?  Seems to me that once the pure science of evolution found a model that worked, it would then tend to repeat the winning formula, not continue to alter it towards an uncertain end. 

I cannot definitively give an answer to the metaphysical question "why are we all unique" (though we know how), I can only guess, that the Creator God likes to continually create.  Creating is different from mass production in that it requires something new and unique in each issue.  Memorializing the same thought thousands of times is different from inventing a thousand new thoughts.  And though we may not fully understand the 'why' part of creation, we can certainly see the results - infinite variety.  Apart from the physical differences that are so plain to all of us, there are also characteristics and personality differences that again define us as unique.  Who we are, is as unique, as how we look.  Though we may share major commonality with others, there are ALWAYS defining little differences that keep us unique and make us individuals.

One of the first notions we had to decide what we believed about in this dialog has been whether we originated from purely random chance (strict evolution), or by design and intent (God based creation).  There appears to be nothing random in how God does what He does.  Everything we know about life in our world has immense order and consistency.  There are 'laws' of physics we are ALL subject too.  No one overcomes gravity on a whim.  Our biological existence follows patterns, is predictable, and the level of knowledge we know about it we are quite proud of, it is in fact what we call science.  Science and God are NOT mutually exclusive, after all God created the rules of space, time, and matter that science exists within.  But therein lies the difference, God is the author of science, not the other way around.  The point here is that God is not sloppy, careless, or random about what or how He creates - although He seems to be infinitely able to continue to be unique in the manifestation of His creations.

So 'why' do you exist?  The answer MUST be, that you were created for a specific purpose which ONLY you are capable of fulfilling.  Now let’s widen out just how unique that really is, because God thinks beyond our concepts of time, (meaning the emphasis we place on the here and now).  God created you to be unique since the inception of the creation of man until the end of the world as we know it.  You are not just uniquely created in your own time, but in all the time of man.  Your purpose then may be two fold, the first to impact the world in which you live now - the second to fill a special place in the Kingdom of God for all eternity that only you can fill.  But this means your individual life has meaning.  Your life has meaning that is different from my own.  We have different but equally meaningful reasons for our creation and our existence.  It may be hard to wrap your mind around how many possible reasons God has for creating ALL the people who have ever lived, but that is because your mind is simply finite, whereas His is infinite.  But your own limitations and skepticism do not lessen the truth.  You are individually designed for a specific purpose only you can fill.

What happens then if you choose NOT to accept God's love and to allow the meaning of your existence both now and later, to go unfulfilled?  The universe will experience the loss of your existence, and I imagine will mourn for this loss for some time.  It is not a casual thing to throw-away something that is irreplaceable.  'Evil' would have you believe that 'you' are not important, just another small little cog in a great big wheel, that matters not at all in the scheme of things.  But 'truth' states otherwise, in fact, 'YOU' are of infinite value.  If every single other human that has ever lived or will ever live decided to reject God, and 'YOU' were the only living being who would ever accept Him for all of time, He would have still come to this earth and died, just to save 'YOU'.  For just one lost sheep, God would empty heaven.  Just for 'YOU'.  But His plan for you is not just for you to be born, live, and die, then possibly live again.  There is a work cut out for you, which you alone can do.  There is something you are uniquely suited for.  There is meaning beyond the scope of the time you can measure, and the world you can imagine at this point in your existence.

The quest then of your life becomes to find this purpose and fulfill it.  To experience meaning on the most personal basis, we must find that thing for which we were uniquely called into existence and fulfill it, do the work we were assigned.  What is that meaning for you?  Only God can know.  Therefore you may want to begin asking Him, what He is mind for you, and how you can begin experiencing the meaning He intended you for.  Where 'evolution' leaves a seeker cold and alone - God offers purpose.  Where 'evolution' declares your relative unimportance - God declares your infinite value.  It is hard to outrun the source of ALL love.