In polls writers claim the majority of Americans still
believe God exists though they see him in a deistic form – he created the
universe then bowed to the background and hasn't and doesn't really concern
himself with physical or worldly things. This means they do not believe God is
personal – meaning he may be of spirit form, but not a being. You cannot have a personal relationship with
a deistic God which is why a great number of modern/postmodern people find it
difficult to accept Christianity since a focal point of the faith is a personal
relationship with God’s son, Jesus.
This brings us to another difficulty, and that is belief in events that oppose our knowledge of science—the virgin birth, resurrection. You could list God becoming human or Holy Spirit empowerment at Pentecost, but by nature these are supernatural and could not logically be evaluated scientifically. So in our current age, choosing to be Christian is typically not something one becomes simply by virtue of family heritage.
This brings us to another difficulty, and that is belief in events that oppose our knowledge of science—the virgin birth, resurrection. You could list God becoming human or Holy Spirit empowerment at Pentecost, but by nature these are supernatural and could not logically be evaluated scientifically. So in our current age, choosing to be Christian is typically not something one becomes simply by virtue of family heritage.
There are a significant number of people who believe in God
and have accepted their family’s religious heritage. But at some point each has
to come to terms independently with one’s own faith. And whether a person believes in God or not – each
is a position of faith because neither is actually provable.
What I hope to do through a series of posts is to relate how
I have come to terms with my own faith. So I begin with a question and a
statement two different persons shared with me some years ago.
“Have you read the Bible?”
“It is okay with me if you believe in God, if it helps you
make sense of the world.”
