Why do I believe? An article by Steve Cass, founder Why do I believe? Well, the short answer is because I feel compelled by God to believe. This is what being drawn by the Father (John 6:44a) is all about. I don't think that I'm any more special because I feel drawn, I think everyone can feel this way. The other part of this short answer is that because I feel drawn, I have faith that God's Word in the Bible is true. I don't know how it's true. But I believe that it's true, and it's the blueprint for life. I think that it's true regardless of human interpretations. It contains everything we need to know on how to live. It does not matter to me what "logical" data a non-believer presents me to try and disuade me otherwise. The Bible is proof that a cohesive story of creation and life exists about man. And it is a very cohesive story. I'll get to that below. Where's the logic? I mean, isn't science disproving this God thing? Well, that's a huge question!! First off, no, science is no where near disproving God's existence, and is quite literally proving the opposite. However, there are many scientists who have already made up their minds. So what?? So there's been old bones found, what difference does that make?? There are some remarkable gaps in the fossil record that can't be explained by science. You need to realize that the fight between extremists on both sides has turned more ugly and more political as time as marched on. Through the years, extremists have published philosophies and very little fact. When Sir Isaac Newton appeared, then we started really defining the laws of physics, and that paved the way to the wonderful discoveries of Einstein and Hubble. With my limited scientific knowledge, I can only touch on some of their observations. Let me just say that the next book you should read is "The Fingerprint of God" by Hugh Ross. This book is a fairly easy read for the non-scientists and clearly shows proof of how modern science has proven the existence of God, and is categorically dismantling athiest and agnostic belief systems about the beginning of the universe. It won't matter what discoveries are made in the future because it's a foregone conclusion to today's science community that the universe had a definite beginning. So, ya say, what about all these fossils and hominids and dinasours and such? Doesn't this go against God's Word in Genesis about the story of creation? No! Rather than get into a deep discussion about the creation account vs science, let's talk briefly about the creation account with science: Genesis 1 says the universe was created in 6 days. Einstein's equations on relativity have been proven. We've been able to prove that the speed of light is constant, yet time is relative according to the density of gravity and according to relative viewpoint. In other words, imagine you are on a planet 1 light-year away from Earth and you were able to watch it spin in space and rotate around the Sun. From your view point, it would take much less time than a year for you to see the Earth rotate around the sun. Enter the Big Bang Theory. Do you realize that the Big Bang theory has finally given proof the creation account in Genesis is correct? Thanks to Einstein and Hubble, astronomical scientists have settled on the age of the universe and say it is approx 15 billion years old, give or take a billion. To review the theory, the Big Bang says that there was an initial point in time where nothing existed but a singularity and then at sometime after this point all of creation exploded outward from this singularity. Are "Let there be light" (Gen 1:3) familiar sounding words? We know that from our viewpoint that the expansion immediately began to slow down and continues to slow down because of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. Which means that time is also decaying according to our perspective. The exponential nature of this entropy finally makes sense now with Genesis. There are a couple of references in the Bible (Psalm 90:4 and 2Peter 3:8) that refer to God's time being different than our own. And why not? So, Genesis says that the world was created in 6 days. The latest theory on Big Bang entropy and Genesis go hand in hand and are illustrated by the chart below. Please draw your own conclusions: There will be some who will interpret the 6 days of Genesis to mean the length of our current day. That's ok. It's unimportant as far as a persons salvation goes. If they wish to feel this way because they believe that God's word is true in this literal sense, let them interpret this in this manner. What matters is that God's word is true, no matter the human interpretation. Evolution There are many other interesting scientific offshoots of this discussion. Just to touch on them: Macro Evolution, the theory of how life started on Earth and how the various species of plant and animal life got here. Big disagreement! "The primordial soup theory", the theory that all the right elements just came together by chance is completely preposterous and mathematically impossible, not just improbable. I won't spend any time here but to say that an accepted principle of mathematics says that if the chance of an event occuring is less than 1 out of 10 to the 50th power, then that event considered impossible. The mathematical probability of spelling the phrase "The Theory of Evolution" by randomly picking letters is 1 chance in 10 to the 32nd power. How likely is it that the correct sequence of only the simple amino acids necessary for life came together by chance? Scientists who acknowledge that Einstein and Hubble are correct also acknowledge that the universe isn't old enough to allow sufficient time for this to occur by random chance. Wow!! We haven't even begun to calculate the chances that the next step of the correct enzymes coming together and the subsequent gene sequences, not to mention the forming of the highly complex DNA and RNA matrices took place. Let's face it: Macro Evolution is a very weak argument that God does not exist and contradicts science. There's no argument that micro evolution, that animals adapt and change to their environment, is viable. But neo-Darwinism, the theory postulated that this is how life began on the planet, is dead folks. Death by mathematics. The theory of Macro Evolution has its roots in this, and those who hang their hat on this are doing nothing but rejecting God and Christianity. Walking by faith, not by sight Science has begun to prove what the Bible has been telling us all along: that we live by faith, not by sight (cf 2Co 5:7, Ro 8:1, Gal 5:16). Some of our every-day actions come automatic and we need empirical data. When it comes to the meaning of life, however, my faith is walking with my Creator and listening to what He has for all my days. I'm telling you, to believe in Macro Evolution when that is completely impossible requires more faith than the most devout of Christians. There are very persuasive books out there on the proof of God's existence and how the Bible undeniably and beyond mathematical probability have accurately predicted the prophesies regarding Jesus Christ. Check out Josh McDowell's massive treatise "Evidence that Demands a Verdict" vol's 1 and 2, and his shorter paperback entitled, "More than a Carpenter". Another good one is by Norman Geisler called, "When Critics Ask". But the bottom line is that we walk by faith because that's what God requires us to do. See John 20:29. But don't believe any of this because of what I say, or because of what some preacher says. Just listen to your heart, and you will know. See Romans 8:9-11. Why should I say I believe if I'm not quite sure? All you need to do is invite Christ in to your life. He'll do the rest But I've done so many rotten things! I'm not a very good person! Besides, what'll the neighbors say? It does not matter whatsoever. Just know that He is with you and will never leave your side. He'll renew your heart from within. Good things (God things) take time, so don't rush. See Romans 12:2. The neighbors aren't going to see some overnight change unless you want to do something like that. That is strictly between you and Him. Okay. So you say that the Bible is a cohesive story. What are you talking about? The Bible is THE most widely published and distributed book in the entire history of this planet. Its history and original writings have been painstakenly preserved. Even though we now have several different interpretations of it, they don't vary but in certain linguistic "corrections" and the basic story and cohesiveness remain. In a nutshell, the story goes like this: God created the universe, man and woman with FREE WILL; man and woman chose to disobey the only law that He had given them. Therefore he cursed all of man. Since man chose to disobey, the serpent (the devil) and man and woman were cursed to live through pain. We could no longer live in paradise because we disobeyed God. All of our afflictions stem from this. The Israelites became enslaved by the Egyptians, and you know the story. So upon their freedom, God handed down the 10 commandments (and from these sprang many, many more laws). God gave these laws so man and woman could attempt to worship him properly until the appointed time that the Word (Jesus the Messiah) would arrive. This is known as the Sinaitic Covenant (the tablets came down from Mt. Sinai). Jesus arrives, fulfilling hundreds of Old Testament prophesies, and says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22:37-40. We also learn further about what Jesus means with teachings from Paul the Apostle in the books of Romans, Galations, Colossians, Corinthians and Thessalonians. The basic idea here is that Jesus came to free us from trying to uphold every single letter of the law (this was the only way to be perfect and pleasing before God since we defiled ourselves in the garden), and gave us these two in it's place. He says that all we have to do is believe that He is who He says he is, and he will be our mediator before God. Amen! Do you believe that this story is just an old time myth and a fantasy? That believing this stuff is a weakness and a proof of how people just lean on religion because they can't answer any questions logically? Are you possibly one of those people who think that modern science will any day uncover the meaning of life? Or if you're just athiest, do you believe that Christianity is for those who need to lean on something because they can't lean on themselves? Care to comment on what I've written? If you'd like to ask me a question or you have a comment, please click on the image below to send mail to me. Hey, the bottom line is this: Just go ahead and believe in God and in Christ. If you've had a bad experience in the past with religion, don't get religious!! Just believe in God. Religion is nothing more than rituals. There's a big difference between being religious and having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and the personal relationship is what's important. If your feeling uneasy in the church where you are now, find another one!!! Don't let any person tell you how to worship!   Send me mail at steve at solidwalnut dot com, subject Science and the Bible!   Got Jesus? | Record Co. 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