Faith. It's a much maligned word these days. There are plenty of militant atheists who will say that faith is self delusion and that the world is better off without it.
There was a time when I would have said that I was an athesit too. At secondary school, I learnt that the Big Bang was true and that science had effectively proved that God doesn't exist. It didn't occur to me at that stage to doubt my teachers. It was only when I was a student at college that I met people who thought otherwise.
Faith is said to be a cop out because it involves believing in something or someone you can't actually see, but is that a reasonable conclusion?
There are many things we cannot see and yet still believe in and slot into our understanding of everyday life: air, magnetism, sound, love, gravity, life, death, power, electricity, democracy.... I am surprised, just writing that list, about how easy it is to think of things!
So in 1980 I went from being a person who believed there was no God, to someone who believes that God is real. The process was a combination of logical weighing of the evidence and experience of the effects of God in my life.
I believe in electricity because I had it explained to me at school (not that I understand it even so!) and also because I can see its effects.
It was the same with coming to faith in God. I looked at evidence for the life of Jesus, for the historical basis of scripture and at how the universe displays a design that seems more than accidental. It seemed to make sense. But just as electricity would stay as head knowledge if you never switched on a switch or plugged in an appliance, I had to experience the effects of God in my life in order to know for certain that he is real.
Looking at my list-
- I have breathed the air and felt the effects of not being able to breathe it underwater.
- I have felt love for my family and experienced their love for me.
- Gravity pulls me and other objects towards the ground.
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