"Whose Side Are You On?"

I had someone ask me this once. My problem is that Christianity today makes it so easy to switch sides; which I why I have had to completely rethink it to keep my own faith intact. It wasn't simply to rethink the answers to the BIG questions, but to rethink the way Christianity needs to be practiced.

I suppose I should be worried out on a limb like this but I am in good company -- Jesus was very much a guy who was not afraid to take on the religious people of his day. You know those Pharisees that made their rules more important than the Bible. In the end, I had to create some questions to test myself:
1. Am I seeking to enslave people with my religious rules or am I liberating people through the Gospel?
2. Am I following my Master's command to do good to those who hate me and praying for those who are my enemies or am I engaged in political action to get them to see things my way and conform?
3. When dealing with unbelievers am I practicing wisdom or contempt?
4. Is it easier to pass judgment and think the worst or exercise grace and believe the best?

I follow these rules and now I find myself in a position more and more to talk to unbelievers because by doing this I have found myself listening more and talking less. One thing of note is that no dialogue takes place when we treat people with contempt or engage in name calling -- save that for the self-righteous.

In the end the issue is one of living the commands of Christ, not just acknowledging the truth of them and still doing what you want.

That is why at times I seem to be on the side of agnostics and atheists because they are bringing up valid points, but Christians as a general rule seem to be more interested in creating their own safe Christian world than ministering to the world outside.

Petra's song 'Looking Through Rose Colored Stained Glass Windows' has become more true each year.
"Looking through rose-colored stained glass windows
Never allowing the world to come in
Seeing no evil and feeling no pain
making THE LIGHT as it comes from within so dim."
Petra off the album 'More Power To Ya" (emphasis mine)

Whose Side am I On? Christ's: but I am learning that following his teachings and fulfilling them are the real mark of whether that is true or not. I find the more I understand this, the less time I have call down judgment on the world because I know that He himself said: "For God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him" John 3:17. Jesus was more interested in bringing the sinner to repentance than condemning that sinner's lifestyle and trying to regulate it through legislation.

I now value openness between sides so they can talk. If Christianity truly is the truth, then there is no question that should throw it or that Christians should not be able to come up with a reasoned and rational response. If it is true, there should truly also be no evil done to us or around us that we cannot respond to with compassion and love. If these things are not true of Christianity then there is something wrong and it needs to be corrected. We can't expect respect until we give it.

Is There Absolute Proof That God Exists?

Now before I begin I want to let people understand something about faith. Everybody regardless of belief system (including atheism and agnosticism which I will get to in a minute) has a measure of faith to it. Faith being trust and belief in something that goes beyond their senses and into the realm of pure belief. I believe, though others may be free to argue, that everyone has beliefs that are basic and essential to them to function beyond their basic five senses:
1. We all believe in the existence of person hood in others. That the people in our lives are people like ourselves.
2. We all could not function without memory beliefs. When I get out of work I get in my car and head home even though the existence of my home is not evident to my five senses.
3. People believe in love -- hold it, measure it, describe it visually, can you hear it, taste it. Hmmm. Seems love and other stuff like it are basic beliefs that are not really evident to the five senses.

Now -- atheists have this same problem though they deny it. They believe in a Big Bang -- they have never witnessed it. They believe in evolution -- ditto. Then they laugh at me for believing in a God, I can't see -- irony. There is an arrogance of mind to atheists who look in the face of their colossal ignorance of mankind about the universe and its nature and say they understand exactly how things were and are and will be. The statement --"There is no God" is ultimately just as big a statement of faith as "There is a God". Logically, 'There is no God' is a universal negative and universal negatives are the most hard to prove. To prove it you would have to be everywhere in the universe at the same time and have the power so nothing could block your ability to assess the question. This is not possible for any human and so the atheist is taking something very much on 'faith' when he says: 'The is no God.' It is actually a great leap of faith given that he is a finite being with a limited knowledge and only his limited education in his life and experiences to go on.

Agnosticism I can take better because they are at least willing to admit how ignorant they are and that there are some things that they may never know including whether there is a God or not. Most dismiss religion as an attempt to control and for the most part they are right. Most of the better ones though come back with the idea that there indeed may be a religion that is right, but how can you know which one? I understand the issues of agnosticism well because I considered it for a long year. I believe that it is a sensible option, but it may have its perils. Agnostics put faith in their reason and humanity much like atheists, but I think we can all admit that faith in both of these things can fail as well because of their limitations.

Now, what about the person who says -- There is a God. In some respect he is in a better position logically universal positives do not require as much effort to prove -- once you find evidence of God's existence that would be conclusive you can stop searching the universe. The problem is given the same limitations we can't do this either.

What we are left with is the hope that said God will reveal himself to us and show us He is real. Now that is what all religions in one sense or another claim has happened in one form or another. They all claim some divine revelation from a divine source that proves that their version of God, or the gods, or Karma or etc. is true.

What remains then is to assess if a religion has had a genuine visitation by the divine that can be verified. Which one the rises to a level where it stands highest in the most likely to be true.

Can we prove God exists conclusively -- no, but I believe that it is possible to prove which version of divine reality is the most true and provides the surest foundation for faith -- which all humans have.