Detox Church Group said:
July 22nd, 2011 at 1:14 pm
As for chiming in - this type of discussion ultimately takes me to the faith component to any belief system. I believe that Jayjacque touched on it earlier. Anyway, it would take as much faith for me to become an atheist as it does to remain a believer in Christ’s deity.
For some background - I’ve been in relationship with who I perceive as the Spirit of Jesus since my senior year of high school. I came to that by a series of events unique to my life, arranged by something that knew what was going on with me at the time. If I wrote about those events it may not mean anything to the reader, but the way my life unfolded in a series of days - weeks - revealed to me that the Lord is personally “acquainted with all my ways” as the Psalmist David mentions in Psalm 139.
Call me delusional, a complete loon for fabricating a lifetime bond in my mind, but if it takes faith to believe one way or other, I’d rather use my energy to believe in a Someone who actually assists me through life. The alternative is to believe I’m on my own as a random sack of DNA with no consequence beyond my breath - a few years muddled through on this earth.
Whether it be by the answers (results) to prayers I’ve prayed or the sense of calm I feel by the thought of his presence, the spirit of Christ has been a consistent guide throughout the progress of my life. The Bible has been a key, but not the only one, to my connection with God. It has conveyed God’s attributes, good or bad, even if raising questions due to the barbaric account of OT Jewish history. We have to consider that man has progressed from primitive ways and even if we aren’t completely able to cohabit the earth without war and pillage to this date, we’ve come a long way. It’s a war of good vs evil within us all that remains our struggle. Because we’ve changed over time we aren’t locked into patterning our lives according to the ways of the people who lived during the times the various books in the Bible were written - both old and new testament. I choose to believe that God understands that and would like us to use wisdom and discernment in how we live out our faith according to the times we live in. Could it be that he dealt in barbaric ways with a barbaric people because that is the only way they knew to that date?
I have to admit whether the Bible is historically accurate to the word or not doesn’t seem to diminish how it helps me on a personal level. Even though I read through the OT occasionally when I feel like it, I don’t usually turn to it for comfort and strength, especially after years in an authoritarian church that patterned itself after the OT (giving new meaning to loony if you ask me). But Psalms, Proverbs, Eccl, even the book of Job speak to me - all written before Christ and I turn to many NT texts that were all written because Jesus Christ lived. But I also turn to secular, non-biblical texts for encouragement. Movies and music also give me a shot in the arm when I need it.
If I were to approach God on a purely intellectual level (laughable considering how little I know!), the barbaric accounts would certainly give me more of a pause, but since my approach to him is beyond the cranial, I guess I trust in his intelligence and love even though the writings he gave us were in the limitation of the timeframe they were penned. Since I also come to him by my spirit which may sound a bit loonish, I guess there’s a need to know I’m more than my head. If we aren’t merely physical beings and we exhibit spiritual qualities, maybe that’s not so crazy. Try as we may, nourishment to the mind and body can’t always satisfy what is spirit within us, although that is only noticeable over time when one discovers something missing within. It’s the faith component that helps us know we possess on unseen essence of spirit. We see the result of our spirit in our ability to be generous, extend kindness, choose to love, all of which require that we think beyond ourselves to the needs of others. God too is an unseen essence of spirit. He has been likened to the wind - we see its evidence in the trees blowing and in the study of meterology, etc. We may not see him but we see the evidence of his benevolence all around us. One person may interpret that evidence as only man’s doing; but another may see it as the hand of God influencing mankind. Either way, there is a faith component contributing to the belief.
If it takes faith to believe in ourselves alone or to believe in a creator who loves us and cares what happens to us, I figure I may as well employ that faith on the side of who I believe to be God. Furthermore, if a gift of eternal life is offered with stipulations (through, as the story goes, the acceptance of Jesus as God’s son who gave his life on earth in exchange for our ultimate separation from God), I’d rather err on the side of believing it’s true. If I were to die and find out it is indeed true, I’d be happy I fought to keep my faith in Jesus intact. If I were to choose to not accept the gift with its stipulations and then die and find out that Jesus turned out to be just another guy with no power to save, what harm did it do me to believe it in earthly life? It helped me through all the rough times, gave me joy and security in the knowledge I am loved. Sure, I’d be stunned and disappointed but maybe not if it turned out the last breath I took was indeed the end of me. What if I chose to not accept the gift and when I die it turns out to be what I should have done? Then it would be a fatal error. Not saying I believe only from fear, but it does come into play ever so slightly as I’m choosing one side or the other.
I guess we can conclude it is a gamble. I suppose none of will have ABSOLUTE proof till we each take our last breath. Meanwhile, we each have the component of faith in whatever it is we choose to believe.
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