BELIEF AND UNBELIEF

Some thoughts to ponder

MAN’S WORD:

“I do not believe in a personal God.”  -Stephen Hawking,  Theoretical Physicist

“ I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true; for if so the plain language of the text seems to show that the men who do not believe, and this would include my Father, Brother, and almost all my best friends, will be everlastingly punished. And this is a damnable doctrine.” -Charles Darwin,  English Naturalist, Evolutionary Thinker 

"Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence." -Richard Dawkins,  Evolutionary Biologist, Professor, University of Oxford

GOD’S WORD:

 "The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display His marvelous craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make Him known. They speak without a sound or a word; their voice is silent in the skies; yet their message has gone out to all the earth, and their words to all the world..."

-Psalm 19:1-4

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."

-Romans 1:20

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

-Hebrews 3:12-13

And Jesus said to him, "'If You can?' All things are possible to him who believes."  Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, "I do believe; help my unbelief."

-Mark 9:23-24

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

-John 20:29

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

-Hebrews 11:1

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

-2 Peter 3:9

 

BECOMING LIKE LITTLE CHILDREN

BECOMING LIKE LITTLE CHILDREN

A Christian Missionary I know once commented that in the mission field they have no difficulty of sharing the Gospel to ethnic groups or tribes once they have immersed themselves in their way of life and establish communication with them, but they find sharing the Gospel more challenging when they face the intellectuals.

 

This is naturally to be expected. The mind is the battlefield, and the Word of God has been breaking down strongholds of unbelief even among the intellectuals.

It is amazing, said this missionary, that they have no arsenal of human knowledge in dealing with this type of people. They are ordinary men and women  without superior talents or education. They only trusted the pure unadulterated Word of God to open the minds and hearts of the intelligent and the wise. They are amazed of the lives that have been changed by the power of the Gospel of Christ.

Before becoming a Christian I thought only simpletons could embrace Christianity, or even any form of religious conviction. I realized later that the Christian faith can stand honest intellectual inquiry.

The challenge of the modern secular mind, against the Christian faith are not necessarily overwhelming.  It is true that many great minds are steep in unbelief, but many great minds are believers as well. The growth of anti-religious prejudice and atheistic advocacies, spearheaded by academics and intellectuals like Richard Dawkins, and the world famous physicist Stephen Hawking, has been hyped up by the secular media. But the other side of the fence who have come to embrace faith, are full of intellectual giants as well. Intellectuals like C.S. Lewis, Lee Strobel, Josh Mcdowell, and Atty. Frank Morison, have become committed Christians. Dr. William Craig and Dr. Norman Geisler have raised the level of intellectual debate, as Christian apologists.

The great Apostle Paul, Christ’s servant of no ordinary intellect, in his exhortation to the Corinthian converts, declared: “Brothers think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”(1 Corinthians 1:26-27) The Apostle further reminds us even today in this wise: “Do not deceive yourselves. If anyone of you thinks he is wise, by the standard of this age, he should become a fool so that he may become wise.”(1 Corinthians 3:18)

What this Saint is saying is, intellectual arrogance darkens the heart, and blinds the mind of spiritual discernment.

If there is one thing the unbelieving intellectual giants of this age need, it is the humility of becoming like a child. This is the first step. A little child accepts everything by faith.   

The words of Jesus Christ still reverberates to this day.

 “And he said, I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  (Matthew 18:3)

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