I can't prove a thing. I know that my Redeemer lives.

[Tomswife]

This reflection was written by Frederick Buechner

God

THERE MUST BE A God because (a) since the beginning of history the most variegated majority of people have intermittently believed there was; (b) it is hard to consider the vast and complex structure of the universe in general and of the human mind in particular without considering the possibility that they issued from some ultimate source, itself vast, complex, and somehow mindful; (c) built into the very being of even the most primitive man there seems to be a profound psychophysical need or hunger for something like truth, goodness, love, and—under one alias or another—for God himself; and (d) every age and culture has produced mystics who have experienced a Reality beyond reality and have come back using different words and images but obviously and without collusion describing with awed adoration the same Indescribability.

Statements of this sort and others like them have been advanced for several thousand years as proofs of the existence of God. A twelve-year-old child can see that no one of them is watertight. And even all of them taken together won't convince anybody unless his predisposition to be convinced outweighs his predisposition not to be.

It is as impossible to prove or disprove that God exists beyond the various and conflicting ideas people have dreamed up about him as it is to prove or disprove that Goodness exists beyond the various and conflicting ideas people have dreamed up about what is good.

It is as impossible for man to demonstrate the existence of God as it would be for even Sherlock Holmes to demonstrate the existence of Arthur Conan Doyle.

All-wise. All-powerful. All-loving. All-knowing. We bore to death both God and ourselves with our chatter. God cannot be expressed but only experienced.

In the last analysis, you cannot pontificate but only point. A Christian is one who points at Christ and says, "I can't prove a thing, but there's something about his eyes and his voice. There's something about the way he carries his head, his hands, the way he carries his cross—the way he carries me."

-Originally published in Wishful Thinking

 

[Colleen15]

Amen.

 

[wmilo]

Thanks for posting this, Kathy.

The mystery of faith. The Pharisees witnessed the miracles of Jesus, and yet refused to believe. Others saw the same acts and believed in the moment.

At one point in my life, I imagined the history of the Earth and humanity's brief presence here. It seemed to me that without God, human existence would have no meaning, and I could not accept that. As Paul wrote, the Gospel is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.

How blessed are those who can say, "I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

 

[Clearwater AL]

You shall dwell in the house of the Lord. I hope so.

I hope the 8.2 billion others who deeply believe their Hinduism,
Buddhism, Judaism, Islam and the three religions in China that
go back hundreds of years before Christianity find the same
reward of their God. Or God the Almighty.

And what about the millions of Agnostics who live good, giving,
productive lives… will a loving God (as we’ve been taught) just
cast them away?

What about the fast growing number right here that ‘believe’ but
do not go to church, don’t pray everyday, don’t read the Bible,
don’t refer to scriptures for answers. (?) They too live good, giving,
productive lives.

Is Heaven just for Christians? If so, someplace else is going to
be huge!

Wmilo, I'm glad your deep faith gives you peace and comfort.

 

[wmilo]

Thanks, Al. My hope is that everyone will find and share in the peace and comfort that comes from deep faith in God.

I had to laugh at your observation that if Heaven were just for Christians, someplace else is going to be huge!

Regarding what happens to people of other beliefs, atheists, and people who are trying to live a good life, I don't claim to know. I don't think there is a monolithic view among professing Christians about the condition of non-Christians after death. It varies from "everyone gets in" to "straight to the fiery furnace". Even among Christians, some feel that you only get in if you are dunked in baptism or take the right Communion wafer or say the right prayer and so on. Christians can be pretty narrow-minded, I'm afraid. I do believe what the Bible says about it but I do not claim to have a full understanding.

What I do claim - because of my faith - is that whatever happens will be completely fair and just, and no one will feel that they were treated unfairly. And I also proclaim that the righteousness of God is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

 

[Tomswife]

Al.
I have missed you.
Kathy