WHICH IS IT, FAITH OR INDISPUTABLE EVIDENCE?

I just got back from church. One of the junior ministers at my Methodist Church was filling in for the senior pastor. The junior minister places great importance, apparently, on the need to KNOW the existence of God and Jesus. I find it interesting that many, if not most; Christians give so little necessity to FAITH, and so much to indisputable evidence. Modern day evangelical Christians insist that you must “know” God exists and Jesus defeated death and rose from his tomb, and you’re just dumb if you don’t profess this with absolute certainty. It is compelling to me that the foundation of Christianity is based on faith…and, really many modern day Christians place very little importance on it. What is faith if it’s indisputable evidence? It’s really not faith at all is it?

Many evangelical Christians do not have a clue that those outside our belief look at us as arrogant. Why? Because we go around insisting we KNOW this and that. The fact of the matter is we don’t know this or that. We BELIEVE this and that. “Believing” is what Christianity is all about. You have to take Christianity on faith. We want to treat those unbelievers as stupid, but they’re not stupid at all. In fact, they’re the ones taking the logical argument. As much as my Christian friends and family may demean this argument…it really isn’t logical that someone can come back to life after being dead three days and continue to live two thousand years later. It’s not illogical of those who say this can’t happen to come to that conclusion…they just don’t believe. Non-belief on its own is not stupid at all…it’s completely logical. That’s the way Christianity is supposed to work. You have to believe it without the facts to assure you.

We need to stop treating anyone who doesn’t believe like we do as though they were ignorant animals. From my perspective belief in God is a bit richer if I believe without proof as opposed to knowing as indisputable God’s existence. It’s the difference in doing “good” for goods sake rather than doing good because you’ll get a reward for doing good. I’ve often said I wouldn’t even go into work if they didn’t pay me…but, I’ll go play golf or play with my grandchildren even when I know I won’t get paid. Why…because I love my grandkids, and in a lesser sort of way love to play golf, or tennis or any of the things I like to do even though there’s nothing in it for me. My guess is a lot of Christians might not be interested in the faith at all if they didn’t think there was a reward at the end of their lives…heaven.

This junior minister noted that even the “demons” know. Probably true! That’s the difference, we mortals don’t know…we just have to believe. That’s exactly the way it’s supposed to be. If we had indisputable evidence it wouldn’t be faith…it would be empirical evidence. No faith is required for indisputable facts. You don’t need to believe in gravity…you only need to throw a rock up into the air.

All religions need to recognize that generally speaking they all serve the same God. So, why is it that they use their particular organized sect as a “team” that is supposed to defeat, even unto death, the other teams who…as I said before, worship the same God. Jews, Christians, and Muslims all worship the same God if you take the history of the Torah, Bible and Koran as historically accurate. The only difference in the organized religions is those who serve the monotheistic God, and those who are Polytheistic. So those who profess that there is only one God are basically on the same team…they just follow different prophets and place greater importance on the prophet they follow.

Unfortunately for reasons well beyond the tenets of their respective religions many of those followers think they have been instructed to destroy the followers of the competing prophets. However, isn’t it interesting that of each prophet’s teachings compassion for all God’s creation is at the core. Whether we’re Jew, Christian, or Muslim, we’re told to treat others like we want them to treat us. Every religions scripture has a similar instruction somewhere in its text. So, why do they choose to pursue destruction of the other’s religion…I’m going to go out on a limb with my thinking here and suggest “GREED.” It has nothing to do with the pursuit of their faith and everything to do with the pursuit of POWER.

Atrocious things have been done in the name of serving God. Every religion whether it be Judaism, Islam, and yes, Christianity (those crosses the KKK were burning didn’t connect them with the Hindus). Criminals on this earth have used God to excuse murder, prejudice, slavery and many other abuses of humanity. The perpetrators always want us to believe they are doing God’s will…that God told them to do whatever. Well…they aren’t doing God’s will…they’re serving their own purpose. Harboring child molesters in the name of saving a denominations perceived (or what’s left of it) good name is neither Christian or virtuous. And, how can a Christian with any conscience at all scoff at the idea of reducing nuclear weapons by 33%, and pledging not to attack a non-nuclear state with our nuclear weapons (the way Sarah Palin, the darling of the evangelical Christian right, did). Does she realize that a nuclear weapon will kill and maim children as well as any misfit government? Here again…it’s not about what God might be saying to anyone…it’s about the lust for power. God didn’t talk to George Bush anymore than he talks to me…and, God never lead me to believe that invading Iraq was his will. It was clearly George and Dick Cheney’s will.

There is not an explainable reason other than the lust for greed and ultimate power that prevents the world’s religions from getting along, and even working together. What religion wants to see a child suffer…whether it is by molestation of the clergy or nuclear holocaust?

We, in the Christian faith, have seen our religion hijacked by the commercialization of Christianity, mostly by conservative politics. It’s become the standard answer for why we go to war, why we shouldn’t pay taxes, why we shouldn’t provide healthcare to everyone, why we shouldn’t be good environmentalist, and why we need to believe totally in capitalism and nothing else. Modern evangelical Christianity and Roman Catholic churches are making plenty of money off commercial conservative Christianity. Why else would the Roman Catholic Church excuse child molestation in an effort to save face of the Roman Catholic Church…it’s about power, it’s about greed, and in Sarah Palin’s case of criticizing the reduction in nuclear weapons it’s about scoring what she thinks might be a political point. But it has nothing to do with anything God has or will say about anything to any particular person, religion, or denomination.

I am a believer! I’m a believer because I choose to be a believer. Those who choose not to believe are no worse or better than I am. I have no right to treat them indignantly. I may be wrong. They may be wrong. It’s to all of us who are Christians to give up our arrogance and realize that faith is absent fact. Because it’s absent fact we need to be at least willing to hear another point of view…in all humility. Who knows…God maybe talking to us!