The message in this graphic, kindly offered up by an atheist internet community, makes me smile. It’s a common notion in our culture, that people of faith are close-minded.
So stick with me as I advance some notions that might leave you wondering….
I asked questions about the universe; how it began, where did the planets (especially Earth) come from. My mind was open to all kinds of ideas.
After checking them out, reading about them, debating them with other open-minded people, I came to (what is for me and for many others), the logical conclusion: God began the universe. God created the planets.
I asked questions about how Earth seemed so perfect for life to form and thrive. Once again, I read up on the theories and talked to people.
After that, I came to the conclusion, as so many others have, that it was the work of God. No other explanation seems as logical.
My mind pondered the mysteries of human behaviour (and misbehaviour). Why do we act as we do? When and why do we fail to act? How did “right” and “wrong” come about?
I travelled back down the familiar road of reading the various viewpoints, talking to various people and thinking, thinking, thinking. My conclusion? God created right and wrong. God created freewill. And we humans have done many horrifying things with that gift.
What about life after death? My mind, opened by wonder, read all kinds of things about this. Some said it doesn’t exist. Other said it does and explored a myriad of possibilities.
I pondered those possibilities, discussed them and then came to the conclusion that’s shared by millions upon millions of others: after we die, there’s more to come. And what that “more” is depends on us (and how we’ve used the gift of freewill).
I wondered about this dude called Jesus. Did He exist? Was He who he claimed to be? Did He die on a cross as a sacrifice for all the bad things we’ve done and the good things we’ve failed to do? Did He come back to life after three days? Is He still active in our world?
I pondered these questions. Boy, did I ponder. I read articles and books, watched videos and heard church sermons. I had long discussions with people. In other words, I worked like a miner through this mountain of questions.
In the end, I understood that not all my questions could be answered about Jesus. But enough of them could so that I could easily make the leap of faith and become a follower of Jesus.
When I did that, my life changed for the better. I saw the wonder of God’s creation in a new and glorious light. I saw the wonder of His gift to me (Jesus, offered to every person on this earth, regardless of race/creed/gender/behaviour). I gasped at the wonder of what is to come when this life ends — and how it will be amazing and more, because I accepted the gift of Jesus.
What do you think of this gift? Post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.
(P.S. A mind open to wonder means a mind open to belief.)
Frank's Cottage 
Your search sounds much like mine, and we’ve come to the same conclusion. Blessings, Frank!
Dear Frank,
I can relate to many of the questions and your answers. I give you credit for posing those questions and giving us your personal conclusions.
I think that most answers pretty much sum up the Christian position – yet in my opinion sometimes not the real questions are being asked. Let me give you some ideas and observations:
– “questions about the universe”: The real questions that are not being answered by accepting the God hypothesis are: Why is there something rather than nothing, e.g. why is there a God at all (in case there were one… why one and not many)? Why does He have certain qualities (like e.g. being jealous instead of generous)?
– “the mysteries of human behaviour (and misbehaviour)”: You say God created right and wrong. Let’s stick with jealousy. Does this make jealously a virtue just because He happens to be this way (see above) or is it a virtue independent of Him (then right and wrong would exist independent of Him and He didn’t create it in the first place)? Or is being jealous perhaps not even right? How about hate, is this right because God (Jesus) says we should hate and make war:
—
Luke 14:25-26
25 And there went great multitudes with him and he [Jesus] turned and said unto them, 26 If any man come to me, and hate [miseo!] not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
—
and
—
Matthew 10:34-36
34 Think not that I [Jesus] am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
—
Concerning free will: Most suffering in this world has nothing to do with free will (think tsunamies killing innocent children, earthquakes crippling good people, viruses like Ebola and so on and so forth). Also just look at nature and how much suffering is there. This is the so called problem of evil.
– “What about life after death?” In case the Christian narrative were true all kinds of problems start to appear: Will we lose free will then, or can we still switch sides back and forth several times? Is there really a Hell? Why should we be punished infinitely for a finite sin? Is believing in the “wrong” God a sin (again: a jealous God)? Would you, Frank, have gone to Hell before you came to Jesus in your 40s? If yes, would this have been just? What about the six million Jews who consciously rejected Jesus as a false prophet and who were consequently (i.e. for being Jews) butchered and gassed by Nazi Germany – are they now in hell, i.e. martyrs for all of eternity? Even in this new life can we rule out that there is yet another after-afterlife? Is there perhaps an Übergod who will hold God accountable for His thoughts and deeds (like killing nearly all life in the Biblical Flood, drowning being a very horrible death)?
– “this dude called Jesus”: First I don’t like Jesus being called a “dude” but I think that He really existed. The biggest question I have is when He really were God why did He make false prophecies like this one (which is unequivocal enough):
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Matthew 16:28
28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
—
When this is to be interpreted completely differently (as religious people will no doubt tell you) why wasn’t He able (or willing?) to communicate more clearly?
– “When I did that, my life changed for the better”: I believe you, yet with me it is the other way around: When I became a (spiritual) agnostic my life changed for the better. I think this is almost a truism: When people become more settled and established their life often becomes better.
Finally I think we can agree that we both don’t know the answers to these big questions for sure (because no mere mortal can). But, dear Frank, while you seem to be content with what you found so far I consider myself still a searcher for the truth (acknowledging that I will perhaps never be able to arrive at it finally).
Thank you for reading this and take care
h
You ask far too many questions for me to even try to answer them all. So I’ll pick a few…
1. I’m puzzled; where does Jesus tell us to make war? The Jesus I follow says when someone hits you, turn the other cheek. And love your enemy.
2. I can’t answer about how the natural world works. As for natural disasters, we self-centred humans only call them disasters because we get in the way. What happens when a tsunami sweeps over an uninhabited island of rock; is that still a disaster?
3. Free will also decides where we live. This world has all the resources it needs to move people away from volcanic or tsunami-prone areas. That we don’t do so (or that people refuse to move) is our fault, not God’s.
4. If I had consciously rejected God’s gift of His Son, then when this life ends, I absolutely would have been separated from God for eternity. (If some folks want to call that Hell, go ahead.) Another result of the gift of free will. I have no idea what happened to the Jews, gypsies, gays and political opponents who were slaughtered by the Nazis.
In the end you ask all kinds of questions that will never be answered in this life. I have all kinds of similar questions. But ye know what? When I’m finished with this life, none of those questions are gonna matter.
In the meantime, I weighed the information that is available to me and decided to give God the benefit of the doubt (see “The Benefit of the Doubt”: http://wp.me/p2wzRb-8c). And I’m a better person for it. 🙂
Dear Frank,
Thank you for your answer. You are right, I wrote too many things at once. So I will only ask you something concerning your first point about which you said you were puzzled (and I think you have every right to be):
Could you please explain Luke 14:25-26 (see above) to me? The original greek word Jesus uses here is “miseo”. You find its meaning over at Bible Study Tools: http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/miseo.html
Jesus literally teaches us to hate our fathers, mothers, wives, children and our own life. You cannot be His disciple if you don’t become a worse person towards your own family.
– Why is He teaching us to love our enemies but hate our own family and our own life?
– Why is He teaching us to “love less” instead of “love more” anyway?
– Is this God afraid there could not be enough love left for Him?
– Is He jealous not only of other Gods but also of our own families?
– How does this square with “the Jesus you follow”?
Thank you again
h
Well, Jesus does NOT “literally teach us to hate our father, mothers, wives, children and our own life”. Jesus is clearly using hyperbole here, just as he did when he told people “And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.” That’s in a section called Mark.
Do you really think he was telling people to remove an eye? And with your point, Jesus was using hyperbole to make the point that following Him should be the most important thing in your life.
Ah, Thank you Frank. I am relieved that God doesn’t really mean what He says and you know what He *really* means 🙂
So in a nutshell you found out that the bad parts Jesus says are hyperbole and the good parts (like “loving your enemies” and “turning the other cheek”) are meant literally. I guess Matthew 10:34-36, see above, is hyperbole too: so when He writes “sword” and “not peace” He in fact means the opposite, i.e. “ploughshares” and “peace”?
I have a question for you Frank: Don’t you think that it is a little bit careless of a Supernatural Being to give us stuff like this where you have to kind of study theology before you finally get it. The people He created could misunderstand the bad parts (like Jesus meaning “hate” and “sword” when he said “hate” and “sword”) and use that for, well, crusades to kill each other…?
To be honest with you I think there is ample room for improvement concerning His communication strategy! It all seems a little bit too improvised considering that He had all of eternity to plan the whole plot.
Was He not able to communicate any more clearly or was He not willing to?
Thank you again, Frank
It looks like your interpretation of things is distinctly different from mine. It sounds like you are an atheist person. If that’s the case, please be aware that Frank’s Cottage is not meant for atheists. It’s written for people who are open to spirituality.
Thank you, Frank.
Your worries are unwarranted: I am a spiritual person like you and I humbly ask you to answer my question.
It’s simple. If your worldview relies totally on science and is opposed to a creator (especially one who loves His creation), then you will read into the Bible that point of view.
If you have a worldview that appreciates science, but allows for mystery and faith, then you will read that into the Bible.
When I think about my creator, I always try to start from this fact: God is God and I am NOT – that means I need to remember that first and foremost, God is a mystery. I’m fine with that; I know many others are not.
Dear Frank,
Thank you again for your reply. I have read our whole conversation here again and it is interesting to note that you have turned by 180 degrees: You started out criticizing that „It’s a common notion in our culture, that people of faith are close-minded” (your words). Now you are telling us that it is basically not about reality or truth or about the Bible but about your personal starting point, i.e. about yourself: You are starting out with a certain picture of God in your mind and “then you will read that into the Bible” (your very words). Give me a better definition of close-mindedness.
At the same time you are playing the mystery card to get yourself out of intellectual trouble concerning the bad things Jesus says (still no answer from you why Jesus says that He has not come to bring peace but the sword). But Frank, the danger is that the more you use mystery as a carpet under which to sweep inconvenient facts, the more vulnerable you become to deceit: deceit by both others and especially by yourself.
And I bet you that in your next post you will have forgotten all about the mystery part again and you will tell us all kinds of fantastic things and specific good qualities your personal God possesses – qualities that you, as you admit, start out from and that “you read into the Bible”.
So please put the following caveat under every post: “I don’t know anything about God, He is a complete mystery to me but I like to believe that He is good and loving and therefore I read my personal interpretation of Him into the Bible”. That would be honest and it would be true – true to us and true to you.
Thank you and all the best
h
Thanks for your opinions. God is absolutely not “a complete mystery to me” so I would never add this to any Frank’s Cottage blog. You, me and anyone else who’s interested can know lots of things about God through His Son. What a blessing that is! 🙂
As for Jesus saying he came as a sword, I wrote an entire blog on this part of the Bible: https://wp.me/p2wzRb-kf.
Meanwhile, I’m a long, LONG way from perfect (just ask my wife), but I trust the message of this essay will reach the people whom God intends it to reach. 🙂
I think about abundance life with JESUS CHRIST FOR “ETERNITY” AMEN!