Showing posts with label the Majority. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the Majority. Show all posts

Thursday 31 December 2015

On Faith

On faith


“He spreads out the northern  skies  over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing.”
                                             Job 26:7
When I see the above picture of the earth taken by Apollo 17 from the moon. I am amazed at the accuracy of Job’s statement over two thousand years prior to Apollo going to the moon.
I am reminded that God created this beautiful blue dot. The writer of Genesis stating,
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” 
                                                                                       Genesis 1:1.
In another picture taken from the Voyager space probe 6,054,587,000 Kilometres from earth we are shown yet again how small earth is in the vastness of the universe.
Yet that “mote of dust” as Carl Sagan called it is our home.
Carl Sagan wrote,
“From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”
                                                                          Carl Sagan
Sagan of course is right. That tiny speck in the universe is all we have. That is if you think of it from a purely human prospective.
There is however more than this world. I know Sagan and all who do not believe in God would disagree with me. After all it seems far more logical to us that if there is a God, why would he not simply reveal himself directly to us?
The answer is simple. He requires us to if you will take a more difficult path. A path that shows our love and loyalty to Him. The path of faith.
The writer of Hebrews defines faith as,
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” 
                                                                                                                          Hebrews 11:1
Going on to say,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.’”                                                                                                                                                   Hebrews 11:6.
It’s not like God did not leave us any evidence that he exists, He did.
He set the earth, that “mote of dust” we live on at the perfect position not only in the solar system but in the universe. A position that allows life as we know it to exist.
Also throughout history he has sent his prophets to tell the world about Him.
God has set I believe in each persons heart the knowledge that there is life beyond the grave.
History stands as a testament to this belief. All societies throughout history have had rituals designed to help the departed enter the next life. The majority of people that have ever lived have believed in God.
Additionally He himself in the form of His one and only Son Jesus Christ came into the world to point our way to heaven.
John the apostle wrote,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  
He was with God in the beginning. 
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  
In him was life, and that life was the light of men.  
The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. ....
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.  
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 
The 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.” 
                                                                                             John 1:1-5, 10-14.
Now I know Atheist and others do not believe the words of John. But then to believe that God created the universe and everything in it. To believe He entered the world He created takes faith.
And to have faith in anything especially God is a very difficult thing to do.
Please think about it.

Sunday 27 December 2015

Of Atheist and those who believe in God

Of Atheist and those who believe in God

“The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” 
                                                                      Psalm 14:1.
I listened to a prominent Atheist the other day say there is no God and those who think there is a God should be considered mentally ill. I’ll give him the doubt and say that this man was exaggerating.
This person by all accounts is a very radical atheist. Who attacks Christians in particular. And while I accept the fact that he has his right to say what he says. I don’t however think the man as well educated as he is, has thought things through.
After all in calling people who think there is a God mentally ill, he is saying the majority of the world is mentally ill.
Think about it Christians and Muslims alone, who believe in God, account for over half the worlds population. That’s not counting Hindu’s, Jews and others who believe in God.
Not only that in saying people who believe in God should be considered mentally ill is to say the majority of people in the world or who have ever lived are mentally ill.
Peter John Kreeft a Catholic philosopher said,
“Atheism is cheap on people because it snobbishly says nine out of ten people through history have been wrong about God and have had a lie at the core of their hearts.”
Peter John Kreeft ph.d
Anyone who says there is no God has in effect set themselves up as judge and jury. They in their opinion know best. If you will, they have made themselves a god of a type.
Atheist say we can’t prove God. That however is not completely true. There are many things scientist can’t prove by seeing things or touching things directly. However they can see the results of what they are looking for.
A good example is black holes. When the theory of Black Holes was first thought of they couldn’t be seen. It took faith to believe they were there. That the theory was correct.
In the same way I cannot see God but from what I see around me I can see the results of His handiwork.
No one can formulate love. We can’t see it or touch it yet we know it exists.
I cannot see sub atomic particles with the naked eye, yet I know they exist because I can perform certain scientific tests that will show me they are there.
Likewise I can look at the universe around me from the biggest galaxies to the smallest sub atomic particles and see they are in perfect order. I can see that the universe is set in such away that it allows life as we know it on earth to exist.
That tells me there is a creator behind it all.
As a Christian I know I will never convince the most ardent atheist there is a God. Then as a Christian that is not my job.
My job as a Christian was given to me by Jesus who said,
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  
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 28:18-20.
That is what I do. I present the teachings of Christ to anyone who will listen. If they believe me, good. If they do not. That is their right. The God I serve, the creator of the universe gave man a free will and that free will allows people to reject God and say that He does not exist.
All I would ask is that anyone reading this would take time to at least read the New Testament with an open mind. Read it and make your own conclusions. Remembering all the time the Bible is a book of faith not science. And God wants us to believe in him through faith. The writer of Hebrews saying,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.’”
                                                                                                   Hebrews 11:6
Please think about it.