Why I Believe in God

I got a text the other night from a friend asking why I believed in God. This sent me into 24+ hours of thinking why I do actually have faith. What I came up with is below. 

I am not an apologist, and sometimes not good with explaining things that are really personal to me. Ask me about the different theories of atonement and I could go for hours. But ask me about my faith and I get tongue-tied. So here it is, in all its inadequate glory. But maybe it will help someone or point them towards others who are much better at explaining these arguments than me (William Lane Craig and Ravi Zacharias are good people to start with).

So here we are. Feel free to add your own insights to this in comment form below.

Why do I believe in God?

1. One of the biggest things I hear from non-believers is 'if there is a God why is there so much evil in the world?' The thing is, how would we know what was evil if there wasn't a higher understanding of the good that should be? In other words, if this is all there is, why should it be any different? Evil and suffering, if morality is invented by humanity, is just part of everyday life. We wouldn't be shocked by it, argue against it, or think that people should act better. But the fact that we DO get shocked, argue, and think people should act better is because there is a higher moral standard that is above our own. It is one that says some things are inherently right and other are inherently wrong and that there SHOULD be something better than this.

If humanity is the one who creates objective morals then morality is relative depending on who you are talking to, the culture they are in, the time in history that they are born etc. So when people say that morality is relative then when a Hitler kills millions Jews and says it is right in his eyes, we should be ok with that because his morality is just as 'right' as anyone elses. Yet we don't say that. We say that he is wrong. This to me points to a higher objective morality, ie God.

2. Everything that begins to exist has a cause, the universe began to exist therefore there is a cause (the cosmological argument). That cause would be a god.

3. Humanity is hardwired to worship something. If it isn't a god then it is mon

ey, ourselves, science etc. This to me points to the fact that we are made to point to something and worship it as the foundation of our lives.

WHY I BELIEVE JESUS IS THAT GOD.

1. Historically speaking, the gospels have far more evidence for them being historically acurate than any other manuscript ever. We don't argue the existence of Alexander the Great, yet there is more evidence (within and outside of the biblical cannon) for Jesus than any other major ancient figure. So he did exist. And not only did he exist but he claimed something that no one else has ever claimed, to actually BE the same as the monotheistic God of the Jews.

2. The radical change from devout Jews who believed in a monotheistic God to including Jesus AS that God is astounding and calls for a serious consideration of the claims that Jesus was actually who they say he is. The eye witness accounts to miracles etc (all written within one lifetime of Jesus) would show that there is something at work here that needs to be considered.

3. The 'stickability' of Christianity throughout the ages, despite persecution and politics, would testify to the truth that people found in it. Even today the accounts of personal experiences with Jesus are vast and varied but at the same time hold similar elements of facts about forgiveness, peace, and hope. This is true in the majority world (also known as the Third World) as in the West where the church seems to be dying.

4. My own story of healing and deliverance cannot be scientifically explained, even though my doctors tried. I have seen my life changed at the power of his name, I have experience the hope and freedom that comes with believing in Jesus (and you have told me of times past where you have to). It is particularly poignant to point out that when I was healed I was anti-God, anti-Jesus, angry, and not wanting anything to do with him. This wasn't my own mind making things up. I cannot deny what I have been through, what I have seen in my own life and in others. This lead me to Christ, all the other arguments cemented my faith for me.

Manipulating the Spirit

I posted the other day this article on a social networking site about Benny Hinn, the infamous televangelist. Apart from his extremely suspect theology (seriously, research him one day) he is also widely known for his healing conferences and for people being 'slain in the spirit' (which basically means falling over under the overwhelming presence of the spirit) when they are around him.

When I posted this article I got a very interesting response. Someone said to me that we shouldn't, as Christians, be putting down other Christians if their ministry is working and healing people.

Well, I tell you, this set off some MAJOR warning bells in my head for several reasons.

1) Do Not Judge.

It is a common thing in this postmodern (pomo) Western world that we live in that we are told that all people's views are of equal value and we should never judge anyone. As there are phrases like 'Do not judge, lest you be judged' in the Bible, the church has adopted this policy hook, line and sinker. But the church as a people that claim the truth are, by their very nature, laying down a line that claims that on one side is the truth and on the other is not. Throughout the history of the church that line has had to be argued, researched, and reclaimed as new beliefs and practices came to the fore and challenged the way the church worked. Sometimes these challenges changed the church (for example when the Protestant church formed out of the Catholic church in the Reformation). At other times the challenges have been rejected by the church as anti-gospel and labelled a heresy.

IT IS OUR JOB TO JUDGE TRUTH CLAIMS.

It is our job as people of the Truth that we judge other claims to truth. It is essential that we are analysing and holding to account the people who claim Jesus name as their motivating factor for their ministry. It is vital for the faith that we discuss what we see happening in other churches, that we research it, and that we weigh it up against Scripture.

If we don't do this, if we fail to hold each other to account, to judge ministries by Scriptural truth, then the Truth of the Gospel gets distorted, cults form, and we have no backing to say that Mormonism, to take one example, is not Christian.

I am not going to go into the theology of Benny Hinn here, but if you hear people you know saying that such and such a preacher is dodgy, then do your homework, engage in debate, and don't shy away from saying "But what they say here is totally against the Bible..." when you know that the Truth is being distorted.

2) When 'the spirit' is not The Spirit.

Benny Hinn, as I said before, is widely known as a faith healer and a man who works in the ecstasy of the Spirit. What this means is that at his meetings there will always be prayer times where people fall over, convulse, and in other ways appear to be under the control of some other power. I knew a young woman who was healed at a Benny Hinn conference. She was my flatmate for a year and was healed 2 years before I meet her from a brain tumour. Unfortunately in the year I knew her the cancer came back and she died at the age of 22. I know her story was genuine. I also know that she was a Bible believing Christian. I don't doubt her faith or that God healed her.

But here is the crucial difference. God healed her. Benny didn't. As someone who has also experienced a dramatic healing, I can testify that God can, and will, work even in experiences where people weren't praying for healing (as in mine). If God is gonna heal, it is gonna happen.

But back to the point.

The Bible says in Matt 7:21-23:

 21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

Jesus doesn't say that they won't be able to do miracles, these people who didn't know him. Moses in Egypt faced sorcerers who could do many of the things that God told him to do. When Jesus talks about the end days (also in Matthew) he says that many false teahers will come in his name performing signs and wonders and yet will not be from him. 

What we can see here is that there are people who will be able to do stuff like healings and deliverance ministry in the name of Jesus and yet still not be ok in their ministry.

So how do we know the difference between them? How can we spot the preachers who do miracles for God and those that do them for themselves?

That brings me to my next point.

3) Misunderstanding the Spirit.

Something I notice about Christians in NZ is that a lot of us have no understanding of who the Spirit is. We don't think of the Spirit as a person on equal footing with Jesus and the Father. We don't really talk about the Spirit well, making it sound like it is something we 'plug' into when we pray for the 'Jesus hit'. And it is this misunderstanding of the role of the Spirit that I believe has lead us to be afraid of speaking out when someone is manipulating it because we don't know when that is happening. (Let me just qualify that I don't think someone can actually manipulate the Holy Spirit, but rather they manipulate our understanding of it.)

The Holy Spirit is as much God as Jesus and the Father are. It is not some strange force that floats around us and we have to say the right words or go to the right church to 'feel' it as it moves among us. It isn't manifested through the right words or the right musical chord or anything else. 

Rather, it is the Spirit of the living Christ that dwells within us! It is what gives us faith, and peace, in our walk with Christ. It is what connects us with the risen Christ and makes us holy in the eyes of the Father. We don't 'recharge' on the Spirit, we live in it. Being in Christ and Christ in us is all about the Spirit and it's work within us. Sometimes this can be shown through moments of ecstasy and prophecy and healings and the like. But it isn't hovering waiting for us to plug in before those things happen, it is with us all the time and sometimes decides to move through us in strange and mysterious ways.

I am tired at the misunderstanding of the Spirit being used by churches and preachers to convince people that what is being done is from God and not humans. 

We can know whether or not it is the Spirit moving by the fruit that is produced by the people 'working' in it. Is that person, like Mother Theresa, self-sacrificial, loving of all people, have a heart for the broken, giving all they have, recognised for their love? Are they humble and always pointing to God rather than to themselves? Or is that person, like Benny Hinn, preaching that God will give you all you want, money, possessions, etc? Are they living in a humble manner or are they taking the glory?

We can know the difference between people who are working for God and those who are working for themselves. We can tell in the way the preach, and whether it stacks up with what it Bible actually says. Miracles may still happen, but Jesus told us to watch out, to be smart, and to know our Bibles well enough (with the help of those who have gone before and our communities) so we can recognise and speak out against this stuff.

Don't be suckers, be on guard.

Will You See God??

Last night I preached (prought??) at a church on Matthew 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."

I had soooo much fun; there was laughing, I pretended to be a sneaky Jesus, and there was even reference to the Trinity doing a Jewish dance with one of them held up on a chair. Nearly heretical but not quite and that makes all the difference :p

Anyways, here is the transcript. Have a ready if you would like :)

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Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.

I know you have been looking at the beatitudes for the last few weeks, which I think is great! I love the beatitudes, they make me feel pretty good when I am in pretty bad places. Like knowing that I am blessed when I mourn, when I am persecuted, when I am struggling to make ends meet with money. It makes me feel good, makes me happy to know that God has an eye out for the weak and suffering.

Like I have this friend Albert who is a homeless guy. He lives in the city and use to sit outside where I would work. I got to know him pretty well as I would sit and share my lunch with him and it made me feel good that God had his eye on this young man whose life had been so hard. I would walk away each day knowing I left him in the best hands possible – God’s.

But this one, this verse, I find harder to talk about, harder to feel good about.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Being poor or mourning or persecuted are easy to see, easy to feel that those people deserve their blessing.

But who of us are pure in heart??

I mean really? Can any of you say that during an average day you don’t have naughty thoughts? That you don’t think of that guy or girl in a way that you would be embarrassed to share about? That you don’t think nasty thoughts about teachers or people who pick on you? Can you honestly say that those thoughts don’t sneak up on you in a ninja attack in such a way that you hope no one can read your mind?

Being pure in heart is a really big ask, and how can anyone actually be pure or even know that they are? 

Does that mean none of us will see God?

Maybe looking closer at what Jesus was saying will help us. Maybe if we step into 1^st century Israel there will be a loop hole or something.

So let’s go back in time a little.

We are standing on a hill by the sea. The air is warm with the multitude of bodies that surround us and press into us. Everything is dusty, dust hangs in the air and clings to our clothes. The smell of salt and body odour fills your nostrils and all around you is the noise of people murmuring and being shushed, bodies shifting their weight from foot to foot, children crying, and above it all, the sound of a lone male voice calling out that those that are pure in their hearts will see God.

His statement shocks you. You look around and see your own shock on the faces of those around you. You have been a good Jew for years, gone to the temple to atone for your sins, prayed and given tithes. And you know with certainty that no one at the temple or synagogue preaches like this. The holy men that you get out of the way for in the street are pure because they keep the hundreds of purity rituals. But you can’t do that, you have to work, you have to get your hands dirty and sometimes you break the rules a bit even though you try not to. You know you aren’t pure.

And this claim that people like you could see God is laughable!!! Not even the priests get to see God, because seeing the face of God, as every good Jew knows, means death. It is because no one is pure that God cannot be seen. So what this preacher man is saying doesn’t make sense. He makes it sound like that there are people who are pure in heart and, even more astoundingly, that people can see God!

What Jesus said that day in front of the crowd wasn’t just nice sayings that made people feel good. They were radical statements about the nature of humanity and the person of God. He effectively was turning the religious teaching of the day on its head. He couldn’t have been more radical!

But since then we have had 2000 years of people explaining Jesus’ words to us so the impact has worn off a little bit. Now his words seem like nice, feel good sayings to remind us that everyone is valuable.

But what if it meant something much much more? What if this simple saying could changes lives?

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Many of the things I read around this passage went something like this: “Live life seeking purity, living well and holy, and you will end up seeing God when you die.” Nice sentiment, but I think this is really off the mark.

For example, has anyone thought about how totally ironic Jesus is being here?! Think about it. There he stands, God incarnate, telling people who are sinners, who are broken, that the pure in heart will see God. Yet he is God! The very people who are impure are looking at God! What seems impossible is happening that very day!

How is this possible? The thousands that came to hear him are not all pure in heart! And yet there they stand looking at the face of God.

There must be something that they, that we, are missing, some vital link that Jesus forgot to explain.

Jesus, as he often does, is drawing on a story that is much bigger than the time and place which he finds himself in at that moment. Underlying all his words is the great story of God and his people. We can see that throughout the Bible story people try to see God.

They build a tower at Babel and get scattered over the earth.

The wrestle with a man from heaven and are given a lifelong limp.

They ask to see God’s face and are given only a glimpse of God’s back.

They try to be pure through their actions, their laws, their words when the temple is rebuilt.

 And they fail over and over and over again.

They are like us.

We try hard to do our “Sunday best”.

We try not to swear, to think badly about others.

We try to forgive and to love.

And yet we fail, repeatedly and often in a spectacular fashion! No one has managed to get it right, to live pure.

We are so good at trying to make rules and laws about how we should live in order to be pure that we miss the bigger picture. We forget that no matter how hard we try we will fall down. We forget that to love is much more important than to follow social conventions. We forget that it is not about keeping up appearances before each other.

We forget Jesus.

God took the initiative in something that he knew we would never accomplish. God stepped down into our history as a man that told people that it wasn’t about their actions, it was never about the actions, it is about their hearts.

And because we will never get our hearts right, Jesus sorted that out to. It is through him that we are made pure. It his through his life, death and resurrection that our broken sinful nature is made clean. Paul tells us that we are now holy, yet still being made holy. We have been proclaimed pure, and yet still striving for purity.

It is the miraculous and wondrousness of God that through his Son he sees us as sinless though we are still sinful!

Wow! That sounds totally complicated and ridiculous. At best it sounds like I am talking in circles, at worst that I am a crazy person!

I spent ages trying to figure out how to explain this better, and really I can’t do it by telling you all the theological who-ha, but more through examples.

The Message Bible states this verse like this: “You are blessed when you get your inside world – your mind and heart – put right. Then you can see God in your outside world.”

There is the story of Princess Catherine of Hungary who took pity on those who were poor and dying and so gave up her life of luxurious wealth to feed the hungry, clothe the poor, and wash the dead in preparation of burial. She believed in Jesus as the Christ and his message changed her heart. And through that change she started to see God in the faces of the poor and starving that lived in her country.

Then there is the story of the black woman in South Africa whose son was killed during the years of apartheid by a young white man. At the trial later she asked not for retribution but rather that the young white man would come live with her and receive the love that she would have given her son. She said that the message of Christ changed her heart towards the young man.

See, she had let God s message of love and forgiveness change her heart and as a result she saw God in the face of the man who killed her child. Forgiveness for the senseless act that ripped her family apart meant that her heart and her mind weren’t filled with hate and anger. She had forgiven those who had hurt her and, though the hurt was still there, saw that everyone, even the man who had hurt her the most, was a child of God, someone whom she could love and who could learn to receive that love.

She saw reconciliation where others saw retribution.

She saw God where most people would see despair and death.

She saw love where others saw hate.

Or even my own story, one that has been filled with anger and hate to the point where I was at the point of drinking myself to death. And then I decided to give Jesus a go to see what he could make of me. I am no longer angry, no longer hate filled, and I have learnt to love those that I meet and see around me.

When the message of Jesus and the Spirit enter your life change just happens. When you let go of the need to be in control and let a man who loved and who forgives get inside your head with his ideas then your heart starts to change; towards God, towards others and towards yourself.  When you begin to accept the idea that God has proclaimed you pure, your actions begin to reflect that purity.

Although it is impossible for us to have a pure heart in and of ourselves, we can have a pure heart by the grace of God. What is impossible for man is possible for God. A pure heart is a gift from God, and it comes by a new birth, by a new creation, and by the Spirit living in us. We will never be perfect. But the message that Jesus gives us isn’t that we have to live to a strict set of rules to makes us perfect.

The greatest blessing and the noblest goal of the Christian life is to know God, to experience His presence in our daily life, and to live for His glory. Paul made this the goal for his life, as he said:

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him … I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death (Philippians 3:7-10).

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are you, for Christ died to make you pure, and through him, you can see God.

Blessed are you for accepting Christ, for it will change the way you view your world.

Blessed are you for acting out of the faith in your heart and seeing the image of God on the faces of others.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Let’s pray

May God help us to strive for a purity of heart that transcends the division between interior and exterior that we so readily construct in order to guard our true selves from others and to appear different than we really are.  May God help us to live honestly and transparently before others.  Most of all, may God help us to acknowledge and depend upon him as the only one who is truly pure, the one in whom we place our trust and in whom our hope is found.