People like to treat religion like a buffet table. They place all the belief systems out there and then go through picking and choosing the bits they want to be true.
But religious beliefs aren’t supposed to be like that. We don't get to choose reality. We have no control over it. We are finite beings with zero power to influence much of anything in our world, let alone reality as a whole. Instead of thinking we get to decide what reality is, we are meant to search and study the world around us to discover what is true. We don’t get to simply choose what we want to be true.
“We don’t get to choose reality...Let’s be honest with ourselves, we can’t even keep our own hearts beating. The audacity required to think our opinions should mean anything is insane.”
Most people I know decide what they believe on an emotional whim. They like to pretend they are knowledgeable on the subject because they prayed a few times, or listened to a bit of a sermon, or visited eastern countries and like to meditate. They are only comfortable with touching the surface level things which make them feel good and happy. They aren't willing to actually put the work in to sort through the lies and discover the truth. That kind of work is too uncomfortable and the truth about reality isn’t always pretty, and it doesn’t always make us feel good. So, people would rather just close their eyes and continue pretending to be gods of their own lives. But, really, let's be honest with ourselves, we can't even keep our own hearts beating. The audacity required to think our opinions should mean anything is insane.
God speaks in Job 36:4 and says, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, then, if you know so much.”
https://tr.ee/pxgCnk
Don't slack on seeking out the answers to these big important questions:
Why are we here?
Where did we come from?'
Is God real?
What does God want from me?
Do the research. Believe me or not, I've spent most of my life doing this research and I've barely scratched the surface of the information God has provided us with.
While I could spend the rest of my life studying and still have way more to learn, the work I’ve done isn’t useless. Because of the evidence for God and the Bible which I’ve already learned about, my faith isn't wobbly. My faith can’t be changed by every little setback in life; it is grounded in fact and supported by evidence. Just as my favorite quote–which is by C.S. Lewis–says, “Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.”
And, because of this, when life gets hard—instead of getting angry with God and turning on Him—I turn to Him for help through those struggles. Without fail, He always steps in to help and to comfort me. And these personal interactions He’s had with me have only strengthened my faith even further. I don’t ever want to try facing life without God by my side.
God is calling out to you. He has provided the evidence needed for you to get to know Him.
Romans 1:20 (ESV) says,“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”
Don't let our culture's habits of surface research and gut reaction decisions hold you back from answering life’s big questions and from discovering reality. When we discover reality, we can then know better how to properly exist within it.
Some people refer to the search for reality as the Metaphysical Search. You can click on these photos to link to more information specifically on Metaphysics —->
Furthermore, if you really think about it, an all-powerful creator wouldn’t need to care about His creation at all. There would be nothing we could do about it if God decided to just get rid of us all.
And yet, God does care about us. He wants a relationship with us and because of that He was willing to go so far as to choose to give us free-will, because free-will gives us the capability of choosing to have that relationship with Him, and relationships which are chosen freely by both parties are the ones which are truly great. God gave us free-will even though He knew we would choose to abandon Him and try to go our own way. He also knew that the result of us having free-will would be that Jesus would have to sacrifice Himself on the cross in order to make a relationship possible between Him and us.
1 John 4:10 (NIV) says, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
The reality of God’s love for us is mind-blowing, and it is precisely this proven love of God for us that has caused me to dedicate my life to Him. Not only because He loves me, but because He clearly loves everyone I care about even more than I ever could. It can be terrifying watching someone you care about face struggles which are out of your control, or having to let them go off into the world without you. Knowing I can trust God to be with them and that He loves them is the only thing that eases my mind.
To sum things up, not only is there loads of scientific, mathematical, and historical evidence out there supporting God’s existence, He has also reached into my life personally to prove Himself. He didn't have to do any of that, but He did, and I am eternally grateful to Him for it. I never want to try existing without Him by my side and I don’t ever plan to.
Last year I collected a bunch of information about the evidence I have mentioned here and put it all together on a page on this website. There is stuff to read, listen to, and watch which begin to answer the big questions about our reality and Christianity. Some of the questions include: What is the Bible? Why believe God exists? Does the Bible align with history and archeology? Why believe the Bible over other religions? Did Jesus rise from the dead? And so much more. The stuff there barely scratches the surface of the evidence God has provided us, but it's a good place to start. Here’s a link to the website: kcmifm.com/bibleinfo.
This series of blog posts titled, “Holding on to Reason”, is named after Amanda’s favorite C.S. Lewis quote: “Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.”
Click here for more things written by Amanda Hovseth.