Questions of Faith: What We Believe & Why? First Question… Why believe in a God at all?

Our scientific knowledge continues to expand.  We are learning great things about the universe, the stuff it’s made of, and how it works, even possibly how it all started, which the Big Bang Theory and Evolution teaches us.  So isn’t belief in God childish at best, like believing in a Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny?

Yes, Science teaches us a lot.  Science is good, informative, useful, and makes us smarter about the world and the universe that we live in.  Thanks to science we enjoy all the hi-tech gadgets and gizmos that make our life easier (or more challenging as the case may be).  However, Science in and of itself can neither prove nor disprove the existence of God.  That is, the Scientific Method cannot be used to determine whether or not there is a God.  Therefore, strictly speaking, asking whether or not God exists is NOT a scientific question, nor can science answer such a question.

Secondly, the belief or non-belief in the existence of God is also not a matter of intelligence or a question of having or not having a higher education.  Some of the greatest minds and best educated individuals in the history of humanity have held a deeply committed faith in God.  Thus, NOT to believe in God’s existence does not necessarily make one smarter and does not mean that one is more highly educated.  Indeed, there are many modern day scientists who believe in God and continue to make excellent scientists. 

But, since the existence of God cannot be proven scientifically, one way or the other, the question can still be asked: why should one believe in God as opposed to not believe, or why not be an agnostic (which means one who believes that “God’s existence” remains unknown and is unknowable)? 

Well, now it comes down to initiative, and personal, experiential, historical evidence or accounting.  By “initiative” I mean this: if God does exist then it’s clear that the initiative must come from God Himself to make His existence known to us humans.   Why?  Because by definition the God-ness of God puts God beyond our ability or capacity to directly know God or realize God on own terms or in our own power.  God must stoop to our level in order to “connect” with us.  That is, God must take the first step and reveal Himself to us.  (Note: I use the pronouns, “He, Him, His, and Himself” as a matter of convenience; for the truth is that God is not simply the equivalent of a human male, as if “He” literally means “the man upstairs”).

So, being that the only way we can possibly know that God does exist is for God Himself to reveal Himself to us, we are dependent on His Revelation.  And here is why Christians believe that there IS a God.  Christians believe that God has and does reveal God’s Self to us and that there is an abundance of personal testimony, eye-witnesses, personal experience, and historical evidence for this.  So, from the Christian perspective, given that God has pro-actively revealed Himself to us, there is no place for agnosticism.  We believe that God has “contacted” and “connected” with humanity.

Furthermore, undergirding the principle of “Revelation” is the premise that God is a Living Sentient Being.  That is to say that God is NOT simply an Impersonal Force in the Universe—as if God were merely part of, and one with—the essential energy and substance of the Universe.  So, by “Sentient Being,” I mean this:  God is Self-Aware.  God has personality.  God knows and understands.  God has a will, which is to say that God acts with purpose and intent.  God feels things, or to put it in human language, God has a heart.  And, God makes choices.  So we are dealing with a Person, not a thing or a force like some kind of mindless power or energy force.

So, when God chooses to make God’s Presence known to humanity, we call it Revelation.  Christians believe that God has in fact actually revealed Himself to us and that the story or account of how and when God has revealed Himself to us is what the Biblical record is all about.  Summarily, the bottom line for Christians is this: Jesus Christ is the supreme Revelation of God’s Existence and of God’s Presence in the life of humanity.  So, in a nutshell, Christians believe that we are not alone in the Universe.  We confidently believe that there is in fact a God out there.

Lastly, consider the opposite option.  If there is no God, then all that exists merely exists by chance or by accident, which is to say that our existence, my life and your life, has no purpose, no plan, and no reason behind it.  Life is what it is because things fell together that way, a mere chance happenstance.  And, if there is no Creator and our lives have no personal intent, then everything that we experience, everything that we think or do or feel is also a chance accident of the Universe with no rhyme or reason to it.  Without God, nothing has any meaning or purpose.  In that case, even my writing and your reading of this blog has no real meaning or purpose to it, other than it happens to be a mere extension of our accidental existence.