God's Not Dead

Before we begin, please do not categorize me with Islamic suicide bombers and child-molesting Catholic priests. Dismantling these straw men arguments would be a waste of time. Fanaticism is a human problem, not a religion problem. All religions are not the same. The god that told men to hijack airplanes on September 11, 2001 is not the same God that led Christians to travel to New York and help with recovery. Throwing every religion into the same pot and denouncing religion as a whole commits major logical fallacy. First, when examining the evidence for God, you must know what you are looking for. God is not a physical element that you can measure, but rather the intelligent mind behind the universe. If you are looking for Bill Gates, you will not find him by dissecting a computer. True faith in Jesus Christ is not a blind leap into the dark. It is a result of considering the evidence as a whole. To say there is no evidence for a Creator is like saying a painting in an art museum could not have been painted because the artist is not visibly present in the gallery. To claim nothing exists outside the physical universe is a statement of faith and cannot be proven. Just because we know how a mechanism works does not eliminate the existence of its designer. Darwinian evolution teaches that life arose spontaneously from nothing, for no reason or purpose, guided by the blind watchmaker of natural selection, and that life and the universe are merely the product of blind, random forces. These ideas motivated atheist Communists and Nazis to slaughter millions of innocent people in the 1900s. In order to come to faith in God, you must step out and believe/acknowledge his existence. No true Christian, including myself, came to faith in Jesus Christ with having all our questions answered. Those answers came post-conversion while walking and growing with the Lord. And on my deathbed, I (nor anyone else) will have all the answers. Everyone has a worldview, which is a story that attempts to answer the questions about our existence. The early Christians told their story and confirmed it with the evidence that Jesus resurrected to fulfill all of the 365 messianic prophecies of the ancient Jewish prophets. An argument I am sure you will make will probably state that your religion depends on your birthplace. There is some truth to this, but it is not the full picture. Just because someone is born into a certain religion does not mean they will choose to remain in that faith once they are old enough to think for themselves and consider other worldviews. Skeptics prove this themselves because many were born into Christian families/cultures, but they chose to leave the faith once they got older. Statistics are currently showing that the rapid growth of Christianity today is occurring in regions of the world where Christianity has not dominated, such as Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Consider that Christianity originated out of the hostile Roman Empire, where willingly professing Jesus Christ could get you thrown to lions, burned alive, or crucified. Unlike other belief systems at the time, Christianity originally spread by an unknown force: love and grace, and people converted regardless of their birthplace. I, being born in the Christian culture of America, have an advantage that I am grateful and blessed to have. This advantage should not be ignored or dismissed. Science is the vast field of knowledge, and you and I both want to dig through that field to separate fact from fiction. But we both look at our universe of knowledge through the lenses of our worldviews. One of us must be fogged up and delusional: a Creator either exists or He does not. It is not what you do not know about God that hinders your belief. It is what you do know about God. Romans 1:18 tells us the problem: "suppressing the truth in unrighteousness." People do not like God's rules. Mankind's very nature does not prefer to be told what/when/where/why/how to do something. This is similar to attempting to push a beach ball underwater. The harder you push down, the more forcefully it resurfaces. Your God-given conscience convicts you of your need for a Savior. And I definitely need a Savior because I, just like every Christian, am the epitome of a hypocrite. Is it really over when you die? Atheism/agnosticism will never satisfy your mind and heart. But Christianity is not some unreasonable, wish-fulfilling crutch. Atheism is the ultimate wish-fulfillment because unbelievers do not want God to exist. No God means no accountability or morals. In a public debate, Richard Dawkins was once asked how much proof would be enough to convince him that God existed. This was his response: "That's a very difficult and interesting question because, I mean, I used to think that if somehow, you know, great big giant, nine-hundred-foot-high Jesus with a voice like Paul Robeson suddenly strode in and said 'I exist. Here I am,' but even that, I actually sometimes wonder whether that would . . ." This ridiculous and ignorant statement proves that if your mind is made up about what you refuse to believe, then no amount of evidence will persuade you. "If you are an atheist you do have to believe that the main point in all the religions of the whole world is simply one huge mistake. If you are a Christian, you are free to think that all those religions, even the queerest one, contain at least some hint of truth. When I was an atheist I had to try to persuade myself that most of the human race have always been wrong about the question that mattered to them most." ~ C.S. Lewis (Former Atheist) Evil and suffering are explained in the fact that God created a world where you and I are free to make real choices to do good or bad that affect other humans around us. Without that choice, we would not be debating right now. God gave simple commandments to humanity, but we have mostly ignored them. Therefore, we are to blame, not God. "Men became scientific because they expected law in nature and they expected law in nature because they believed in a lawgiver." ~ C.S. Lewis The laws of mathematics, logic, and physics are constantly true throughout the Earth. This, as well as life's complexity, points to a transcendent morality and rational intelligence. The same concept applies to the apparent spiritual laws. Lying, stealing, and rape are immoral, no matter where you are in the universe. Violation of these spiritual laws separated each and everyone of us from God, and separation from the one who brings peace will naturally bring pain. I am willing to admit that I walk by faith, but atheism is a religion in itself because it is based on faith. No belief system of historical science can ever be proven unless we can confirm/rely on the recorded, trustworthy evidence of an infallible being who was there and was behind it all: God's creative declarations in His Word, The Holy Bible (so that we may know Him). Galileo confirmed the accuracy of the scriptures when his discoveries aligned with the biblical principle of the Earth rotating around the sun. Richard Dawkins, the world's most famous atheist, publicly admitted that the universe appeared to be designed, but he goes on to claim that it couldn't have been designed because we can ask the question: "Who designed the Designer?" Once again, God is supernatural (beyond the natural realm). You cannot attempt to explain the supernatural with natural reasoning. Every explanation does not require an explanation, especially when you are referring to an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent eternal Deity. This demand would establish an infinite regress, and no amount of truth could be known. If you found a turtle in the middle of the woods on top of a fence post, you could rationally conclude that it did not get there by itself. Someone put it there. Without an explanation of who/what/when/where/why/how, you could conclude that time/chance would not eventually cause this to happen. Imagine if the police took a week off. There would be no prosecuted crimes or enforced laws. This would result in the opposite of peace. If heaven does not exist, then good cannot be rewarded. Why care about anything or any future generation to come after you? Will terrorists get away with their ways in the end? Building society without God has been tried and failed many times. What if you were a talented singer, someone listened to the amazing songs you recorded, and then denied you were the singer of those songs or mistakenly gave someone else the credit. Would that upset you? What if you created a planet? How about a universe? God deserves the recognition for all of His creation. Knowing a Creator exists changes your whole perspective. This should cause us to desire a personal relationship with this Person. And guess what . . . He wants a relationship with you more than you or I could ever want a relationship with Him! The good news is that God became a man in Jesus Christ. He lived the life you and I should have lived, and died the horrible death you and I deserved to die, in our place. He willingly came to take the punishment for the sin of humanity once and for all because of His infinite love for you and I. Three days later, He resurrected to verify His identity as the Son of God. He now offers complete forgiveness freely to all who will believe, turn from sin, and stop trusting in their own self-righteous efforts. He does not want you to be religious. He just wants YOU, and for you to come exactly as you are! Faith is actually holding onto what reason has led you to, despite your changing mood and feelings. Responding to the Gospel will change you from the inside-out, just like it did me. I promise you, from the bottom of my heart, you will be born again if you repent and trust Jesus. Time is running out, my friend. The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. ~Psalm 19:1