TOUGH QUESTIONS

Tough questions for explorers or seekers

Jesus is the door to another world, a spiritual world, a world that is the foundation of the physical and psychological worlds of human experience. Traveling through life unconnected from our Creator is like being a light bulb without electricity, or a fish without water. They are not complete or functioning as their designer intended.

Here are some of the major questions that people ask in relation to Christianity and the existence of God

• Isn't God Simply An Invention?
• Why Can't I See God?
• Doesn't Believing In God Require Blind Faith?
• Don't Science and Religion Conflict?
• Is God a Sadist?
• Why Do I Need God?
• What About Other Religions?

Isn't God simply an invention?

This is the kind of question many have asked themselves at some point in their lives. Is there something or someone beyond the here and now, beyond the world I can feel, touch, taste, see, or hear?

If you were in your mother's womb when someone described the world next door, you may well have said; "I know there is something out there but I can't see it." A bit like living in a swimming pool at night with the lights out! However when you were born you discovered a whole new world existed. It must be said that because something is out of sight, it does not automatically mean that it doesn't exist.

If the idea of God or Jesus was an invention, it must be the greatest invention ever made! Generating book sales that have never been surpassed by any other book, the Bible has consistently been the No. 1 best-selling book throughout history.

The inventor would have had to invent thousands of prophecies revealed in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible fulfilled in the life of Jesus, as well as the prophecies yet to be fulfilled in what the Bible describes as the end times. They would have had to create and organize an incredible paper trail with medical, archaeological, scientific and historical evidence to be discovered centuries later by scientists, mathematicians and scholars in many fields of research.

Why can't I see God?
Seeing the spiritual world involves the opening of another set of eyes known as the 'eyes of the human spirit'. 'Seeing' happens on a number of levels - seeing in a purely physical dimension, seeing with the eyes of the human spirit and imagination, seeing in the world of dreaming, seeing intellectually ("It dawned on me! I see it now!!"), and the seeing of intuition or perception that connects with other personalities

The glasses we see God through can be colored or can create a distorted view for many different reasons. It may be due to an environment surrounded by skeptics who shut down any idea of searching for God with statements such as "Don't go all religious on us" or "Science has disproved God." It may be a bad experience with a so-called Christian. We can't see clearly because all we can see is the judgmental, condescending, pushy attitude from those who claim to know their Creator. It may be the sheer number of things on your conscience: things that haunt you from the past, people you've hurt, habits formed, and things you know have offended God. These things, like dirt on the windshield of a car, make it difficult to see the road ahead.

Doesn't believing in God require blind faith?
Blind faith is a part of a rational person's; everyday life. For instance, have you ever checked the brakes or steering column of your car before driving? When you ride in an elevator you exercise blind faith in the cables supporting the elevator. It could even be said that some of these daily acts of faith are not totally blind, but based on rational thinking concerning the bigger picture. For example; our knowledge of government safety requirements for car manufacturing and regular testing gives us a rational basis for faith in cars.

The same reasoning can also be applied to faith in God - that it is not in fact 'blind. It simply requires the rehabilitation of another set of senses that enable us to see, feel, hear, and walk in things which are of a spiritual nature.

Don't science and religion conflict?
Science and faith are not in conflict. In fact, science has never disproved the existence of God. On the contrary, science is now more and more pointing to the reality that this world must have some kind of designer behind it all.

We can't do without faith in the field of science. Without these prior 'leaps of faith' we call hypotheses, we cannot begin scientific research. The scientist has a spark of imagination, a hunch there could be 'something out there'. They then commit themselves to hypothesis, experimentation, and the discovery of evidence.

Trying to see God through the eyes of science may give you a break-down of the design, chemicals, substance, and forces of a world God has made, but not necessarily the ability to introduce you to God in person.

Is God a sadist?
The same accusation being made against God could also be leveled at the couple who have decided to have a baby: "How can loving people allow an innocent little person to be born into this world of so much pain and suffering? How could you use your power to procreate in such an unloving way?"

Love is more powerful than the fear of suffering. The desire to experience the love and warmth of a child is far greater than the thought of that child or even the parents' potential suffering. When a couple decide to have children, it's mostly out of love and a desire for relationship with little thought of the possibility of suffering.

This idea of love motivation is like God's motivation for giving birth to us in the first place - knowing full well the suffering we and He would experience as a result of making us in His image. Suffering was never a part of God's original design. However, for God to have offspring, suffering could never be avoided. God knew that to create individuals with freedom to make up their own minds and create their own actions would result in suffering.

Without individual freewill we would be robots. Our ability to love and experience love comes from this complex power of choice. The power of love is found in our power to choose. True love simply wouldn't exist without this power to reject. Therefore, because of the existence of love, we have freedom of choice. Then, because of freedom of choice, we have the power to create good and evil resulting in happiness or suffering.

God didn't create evil, but simply presented the possibility which had always existed in the history of the universe.

Why do I need God?
It could be said that being dependent on God is a crutch, or it could be said that it was a part of our original design; to be plugged into the Creator was the way we originally functioned at our best.

You could say that my leg is a crutch but it's more sensible to say it's an important part of my original design. Spiritual life or our need to be plugged into the Creator is as real a need as food and water.

If you're saying "I'm a good person," it implies that you believe that bad is not good, and that your definition of good may be better than the other person. The very question "I'm a good person - why do I need God?" shows an assumption that there must be a standard of good out there somewhere in the universe!

In a world of so many views, values, beliefs, and philosophies sold as 'good' or 'the truth', the real questions are "Who's right? Where do we draw the line and who holds the standard?!" What's the process for determining correct principles? Hitler probably though he was a good person! So who determines goodness and on what basis?
If it's true, and there is a God that created the Universe, then He rightfully owns everything, and has an absolute right to be the law-giver.

When we realize that from the Creator's perspective wrong-doing is defined as anything and everything that violates love, we have the wide-angle view of where healthy and correct principles or laws originate.

What about other religions?
The Creator deals individually with human hearts. It doesn't matter what religion a person is, He responds to the communication of their heart, to the prayer of those who recognize their need to be plugged into their original life source. This is the beginning of a relationship, not a religion.

Christianity and other world religions have a lot in common. This is why people get confused. When it comes to ethics and morality, most of the world's religions teach for the most part, the same things. Therefore people conclude that they are all working to the same end. This is primarily true for the areas of basic character and ethical behavior.

However not all religions claim to lead to God. Each religion teaches many things completely opposite from the other. All may be wrong, but they cannot all be right, for the claims of the one will exclude the other.

Christians cannot get rid of their founder's claim to be the only door to the world next door. Either we find and accept the evidence that Jesus was the Son of God, or we number Him among the world's power hungry lunatics and liars. None of the founders of the other religions of the world have thought of themselves as Jesus did, nor have they made His claims. None of the other religions claim to have a savior. These questions are the starting point for the genuine explorer, someone open to the possibility that the universe is more than a closed, one-dimensional material system. It will be the beginning of expanding the boundaries of your world view by asking some serious questions, and being prepared to 'think outside the box'.

The depth of friendship you can find with your Creator will outstrip even the deepest relationship you have experienced on earth. Once you acknowledge the possibility that there may be a world next door, you are stepping down a pathway that will transform your life forever. You have everything to gain by searching further.

~Used with the courteous permission of WestLife Church, Springfield Australia