Thinking about God, Jesus and The Big Questions

Just as atheists cannot prove that God doesn't exist, neither can Christians prove that He does.  However, many atheists are under the mistaken impression that it is the 'job' of Christians to prove God's existence (even though they make no attempt to prove their opposing stance!) No, is not up to believers to prove the existence of God, and this is why.  Jesus and God want us to come to believe in them of our own free will, and to come to them via faith (as opposed to deductive reasoning).  If there was absolute, total proof of God's existence, there would be no reason to have faith.  It would then be a no-brainer that God exists, and we would have come to him via a mere act of observation instead of by faith.   Why is faith important? Because it triggers our spiritual development. The spirit is not something which is wishy-washy - it is there, but hard to detect. Make no mistake: whether someone is Christian or atheist, either way i...

When it comes to religious matters, we Christians believe our very souls are at stake.  Atheists do not believe there is anything so serious at stake.  Anyone would therefore expect that Christians would shout their message the loudest, since they believe there is the most at stake.  However, it seems that both 'shout' similarly loudly.  Why is that?    Both camps genuinely believe that their version is the underlying truth (although of course, both cannot be right).  Therefore, both camps have the truth at stake; they think of themselves as campaigners for the truth.  In addition, Christians believe our souls are at stake.  Why then do atheists shout so loud when they believe there is less at stake?   This is a question which is difficult to answer.  However, we should be aware that Christianity can actually benefit from these loud shoutings of the atheists.  Why is that? It is because the atheists give us spec...

This is the long-promised post on the issue of those who reject the Bible because it isn't "complete" (by their standards).  The Bible isn't meant to be a science textbook The Bible is sufficient to generate faith.  The Bible is not meant to contain all the answers to scientific questions, nor is it meant to be a manual on how the universe works.  It is a guide to God and Jesus.  Just as a music textbook needn't include for instance a section on English literature, neither does a book on God and Jesus have to include sections on music, engineering, science, etc.  However, it is surprising how many atheists expect that the Bible should do all these things!  What would happen if the Bible DID contain 'everything'? Let's consider for a moment what would happen if the bible was very "complete" (by atheist standards).  This would result in a huge and lengthy tome which no-one would ever read! Even with the life expectancy of today, even a B...

We live in a post-Fall existence.  We therefore cannot truly imagine what the Garden of Eden must have looked like before the Fall.  However, it must have been a beautiful, comfortable, and low-maintenance place to live.  There were no weeds or thistles, no poisonous plants.  Tending to the plants and obtaining nutrition from these plants was a straightforward business. Adam and Eve had never seen a weed or an unwanted, undesirable plant in their lives. All the plants there were beautiful and/or useful: The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground - trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2: 9 Unlike Adam and Eve at that point, we on the other hand, are all too familiar with  weeds.  They spring up much faster than the plants we are trying to cultivate, and will choke their growth and spread their seed quickly. ...

I have read the book "The Blind Watchmaker" by Richard Dawkins.   ["The Blind Watchmaker - why the evidence of evolution reveals a universe without design" by Richard Dawkins (1986) W.W. Norton & Company, New York.] Although the book is intended to argue for atheism, it falls far short of this mark.   Instead it could be more accurately described as arguing for evolution and against creationism.   However, most Christians and most types of Christian theology do not have any problem with evolution - indeed, many Christians see evolution as a necessary part of God's design.   Just as I cannot prove the existence of God, neither can Dawkins disprove it In "The Blind Watchmaker" Richard Dawkins uses examples of the complexity of life to argue against a designer, instead arguing that these complexities came about through evolution.   Indeed it reads more as a carefully thought out popular-science book on evolution, than as an argument promoti...

Although this topic is not strictly theology, I have put careful reading and thought into the spiritual angle of housework, so I felt I should finally write about it.  Understanding God's viewpoints on housework is not easy, I found.  There is not a whole lot written in the Bible relating to housework.  This is very likely a sign that housework is not of vast spiritual importance one way or another.  However, this did not help me with my questions.  Whenever I was doing housework, I always wondered: "How do I strike the balance between doing sufficient housework to make my house a safe and hygenic place but not spending so much time on it that I neglect God's work?"  For me, this was a burning question.  I did not want to report one day to God that I had spent all my time keeping my house clean.   Yet, it is also obvious that all of us need to maintain a reasonable level of housework for health and hygiene reasons if nothing else. I...

The more I read the Bible, the more I am aware that we need to choose our spiritual words with care. This is because there is a vast spiritual world out there which is bigger, vaster and more real than than our physical world.  The spiritual world is eternal, i.e. it goes on forever.  In contrast, our physical world exists for only a short time.  A body can die or be killed, but this will not affect how long the soul lasts: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28  Our words and actions can have spiritual impact on others - whether positive or negative: “If anyone causes one of these little ones - those who believe in me - to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea.  If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed ...

I have noticed that some atheists ask some questions that may seem odd or unusual to a Christian.  However, these questions should be encouraged and followed up on.  This is because the odder the question seems to a Christian, the less the atheist may have grasped the basic concepts of Christianity, and thus the atheist is arguing against an argument that he or she doesn't fully understand. So it is important that Christians follow up on 'odd' or 'unusual' questions. As an example of such a question, I was once asked "Does your religion give you a sense of comfort or safety?"  While it is true that the answer for most Christians may be "Yes", this would still be viewed as a very odd question.  This question, to an atheist, seems quite reasonable.  But to a Christian it is odd.  This is because a Christian believes in Jesus because he or she honestly believes this is the truth. Now, a sense of comfort or safety may be a side-effect for some ...