1/19/24 

1,125 words (5 minutes reading time)   

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary says that the definition of believe is “to accept something as true”. So, for me, the first step was to figure out if I could believe in the Christian perspective on God.

John Lennox is a professor of mathematics at Oxford University.  Dr. Lennox is also one of the leading proponents and thinkers of Christianity. He has successfully argued the case for Christianity in public debates with the leading atheists of our time. In a recent discussion on the podcast Unbelievable? Dr. Lennox stated that “… by faith I don’t mean a leap into the dark. I mean a step into the light that is evidence based. And it’s exactly the same kind of commitment in science. We believe certain things about the universe because we have evidence. Now, in Christianity it’s exactly parallel.” Dr. Lennox went on to say, “Real faith is a commitment, a step based on evidence. It’s got to be evidence based or its blind, and Blind faith is extremely dangerous, particularly in the sphere of religion.”

Its interesting to note that God is central to all belief systems, even atheism. When we search for answers to the big questions about life, where did we come from, why are we here, is there life after death, etc. , the answers are dependent upon whether we believe in one God, multiple gods, or no god(s). Each belief system has its own viewpoint on those topics, none of which have been empirically proven, ergo, no matter which viewpoint you choose, they all are taken on faith not fact.

As a side note before moving along: In the western world the institutions of science and education have maintained a strangle hold on the world view of most of the population by supporting their atheistic philosophy with the science of materialism, evolution and big bang. It has been typical throughout our educational systems that these theories are taught as if they are truths rather than theories in most school systems at least through the 12^th grade and in most universities as well. That would be fine if other theories were taught with equal rigor. However, theories such as Intelligent Design are not given much, if any, consideration in the curricula of most schools. As a result, most of us have not been given the opportunity to examine alternatives or to form our own opinions on these topics. This hijacking of our individual worldviews and corruption of available options is tantamount to coercing the broad population into a state of blind faith in the dogma of the atheistic philosophy.

Once you are able to look outside of the thinking on God that is prevalent in our current institutes of science and our current public school system and seek alternative ideas on things like the creation of the universe and the origins of man the evidence for God becomes quite compelling. Today there are many prominent scientists who have, through rigorous scientific methods, amassed a lot of information that refutes the old ways of understanding the creation of the universe and origin of mankind, i.e. Darwinian Evolution, Natural Selection, Survival of the Fittest, and the Big Bang theory, that have been dogmatically promoted in our public schools and clung to in our halls of science to the exclusion of other equally well researched ideas like the Intelligent Design theory.

Suddenly, God has become endorsed by leading scientists. With the evidence in favor of God piling up we are now free to include the possibility of a Supreme Being in our consideration of the big existential questions, not just in the “God of the gaps” kind of way (only use God as an explanation for the things current scientific thinking can’t explain), but as a viable truth that can be used to inform our thinking on all matters.

Proverbs 9:10 says: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding”. In contemporary thinking the phrase “fear of the Lord” creates an unpleasant viewpoint. When we initially think of fearing something, the something we fear is malevolent and intent on doing us harm. But another way of considering this phrase is as a component in another idea, that of respect. When you combine a strong feeling of love with fear you come up with respect. As very young children we obeyed our parents because we did not have the power to impose our will on them in times when we were intent on doing things that would harm us, like touching a hot stove. With enough correction we learned the meaning of a stern “no” from a parent. In our initial learning phase, our fear of the reprisal of our parents deterred us from harming ourselves. As we grew older we learned that our parents loved us very much and we responded to their admonitions out of respect for their wishes. As we learned about parental love we were able to understand that although we still needed to fear our parents for what they could ultimately do to us, we were not governed so much by fear of them as by respect and the understanding that they loved us and only desired our improvement. But, as we may have learned as teenagers, when disrespected, our parents were still to be feared. So too, to begin learning about God and access the knowledge and wisdom He provides we first must believe in the power that He holds. Recognition of this power and its potential impact on our lives will naturally bring fear. But as we grow in the knowledge and understanding of God we become familiar with the love and good intentions he has for us and how much He values each of us. The fear we felt in the first phases of our learning was necessary for us to gain a true perspective of God’s dominion and ability. But as our understanding of God grows the need for us to fear His wrath gives way to the understanding of the need we have to do what is best for our overall wellbeing and our willingness to follow His rules out of respect and the knowledge that those rules are in place for our own good and development. Fear is a learning tool that is sometimes necessary for us to gain an understanding of something important.

Circling back to belief, if we do not believe God to be all the things the Bible tells us He is then the teachings in the Bible don’t make sense and you are not in a position to gain the knowledge and wisdom available from God. And the first thing about God that one needs to believe is whether or not God is real. Once you become reasonably comfortable with the idea that God exists then it gets easier to begin accepting the other truths about God. For many believers this first item of belief has been satisfied by a simple act of communication. They have asked God to show them that He exists, and He has answered them. For those of you who are conflicted on this, just try asking God to show you He is real.