The idea of there being a powerful cosmic being, responsible for creating and controlling
the universe, used to be commonplace.
For that vast majority of human history, those who denied supernatural forces would have
been in the extreme minority, and so articulating why we believe in one was often unnecessary.
That is not the case today.
As atheism continues to grow, people of faith are all of the sudden having to defend their
own existence.
Is it not just superstition?
Has science not debunked the naivety of our ancient forefathers?
Untrained in this sort of debate, some Christians attempt to frame their answer in the atheist’s
language.
They try to prove mathematically, prove empirically, that there MUST be a God.
Using logic, pointing to the unexplained, presenting what they believe to be forensic
evidence of God’s past deeds, they engage the question as if it were a question of science.
But this is simply not the case.
Our believe in God is not a matter of fact, not the result of verifiable sense data…
it is the result of faith.
To look for fingerprints or mathematical proofs is to look for God in the wrong places.
It is an attempt to replace faith with certainty.
The only FACT of the matter, what must guide our inquiry into this question, is that we
DON’T know for certain that there is a God.
We don’t.
At least not in the same way that we know that 2+2 is 4 or that gravity is a force that
brings bodies of matter together.
If God were an observable fact, then there would be no choice to believe, no room for
free love, for faith.
God is not a fact.
But that doesn’t mean that God can’t be known to those who have been given the gift
of faith.
For those who believe, the evidence abounds.
For one, we are privileged with innumerable accounts of those who have witnessed God with
their own eyes.
Our Scriptures testify that for more a millennia, God spoke to his people through angels, powerful
plagues, and direct commands.
Witnesses saw the living and true God of Jesus Christ heal the sick and raise the dead.
A fraud does not have the immediate success that he had; a fake does not transform an
entire region of the world overnight.
People saw with their eyes and professed with their lips a God who worked wonders, who spoke
clearly, who heard their prayers and answered them.
For many, their testimony is enough to believe.
For the more philosophically minded, we find reason to believe because we cannot imagine
an infinite regress of time and space.
Where did it all come from?
We can say that humans adapted from primitive monkeys, that evolved from primitive mammals,
that go back to some primitive goo, that ultimately go back to the Big Bang… but what caused
the Big Bang?
Where did those atoms come from?
What created them?
To go back and back and back to infinity just doesn’t make sense.
There must have been a first cause, a first mover of history, that is outside of time
and space.
There must be a reason why there is something rather than nothing.
For many, the illogical nature of purely material existence is enough to believe.
Others begin with the being of humanity, the intimate knowledge of self.
Within our being is a desire to know.
Our nature is disposed to discovery, self-reflection, and identity, inexhaustible desires within
us that reach forward infinitely.
With everything we learn, everything we answer, we are left with 10 more questions, leaving
us to conclude that we are not beings that will be ever satisfied with a something, but
rather beings seeking out infinity itself: God.
It is against the backdrop of this infinite horizon that we discover who we are and where
we are going.
For many, the boundless desire within them is enough to believe.
But of course, there is a final way to know.
It is the purest and most simple of explanations: there are some that have personally encountered
God.
Maybe they witnessed a miracle or heard his voice speak within them.
Maybe they felt undeniable comfort in the midst of tragedy, had a life-changing experience
with no other explanation than God’s loving hand.
This is why I believe.
Truly.
Trusting in others, seeking God in philosophy and anthropology make sense and give greater
meaning to what I know, but when it comes down to it, the reason I believe is because
I have felt his healing presence in my life.
In a time of great distress, I was given comfort and released of my pain; in moments of immense
isolation, I have felt a loving embrace.
I have not seen a supernatural being appear in my midst and have not had any ecstatic
experiences, but I have encountered God on more than a few occasions.
It is the sort of knowing on the level of love, a feeling that burns so powerfully and
clearly that nothing could ever call it into question, and yet there is no data to convince
another of its existence.
That feeling, that experience, however nebulous and unverifiable for you, is enough for me.
That is what inspires me to believe, that gives me life, that overcomes the many feelings
of doubt in my life.
Maybe that’s sufficient for you, but maybe it’s not.
Maybe, if put on the spot, if asked to give your own testimony, to proclaim the Kerygma
yourself, you would give another answer.
I tell you again, this is not a hypothetical question.
People will ask you.
They will want to know.
Why, in a world of science, in the age of enlightenment, when so many people are choosing
to no longer believe, do you say that there’s a God?
If you want to be a disciple of Christ, if you want to call yourself a Christian, you
must be able to answer this question clearly and convincingly.
Know the faith, so that you can proclaim the faith.