Dear atheists, not all Christians are judgmental -- dear Christians, atheists aren’t the enemy. It is April Fools' day and too many Christians will go on Social media today spouting that “April Fools' Day is the holiday for atheists.” I’m guessing there might be some banter going both ways for today’s “holiday.” Christians are called to a higher standard though.
Sadly, not all people who believe in Jesus act like Jesus and the critical ones are not great representatives of Christianity. Just because you believe Jesus is real doesn't make you a “believer,” especially when you misbehave acting like you are soooo much better than everyone else. You look desperate and it makes many atheists whom you put down look morally superior too.
The amazing existence of cognition & our conscious, the overabundance of our intelligence which exceeds far beyond the need to hunt/gather/reproduce, the information-rich sequencing of DNA, the “Goldilocks” positioning of our planet to the sun and our sun’s own Goldilocks position in our galaxy, and our galaxy being the right type to even allow life, these facts and others add up to more than an inexplicable cosmic coincidence to me -- something a random non-intelligent material universe alone cannot explain. On the other hand, why does God allow what He allows to go on here on earth and how exactly do you explain the idea of a God who has always existed, who can just speak the universe into existence, and who can be everywhere at every moment?
What’s the problem? A god who can be fully explained or totally understood wouldn't be much of a god to worship. Also, to say the universe simply sprang into existence, unguided, not only denies the first law of thermodynamics it’s an unsatisfactory answer as well. I get why there are doubts & doubters.
We all believe despite having doubts. To say we don’t believe in God isn’t to say we have no beliefs or we do not place our faith in anything. We either trust in the supernatural or the natural. Both the natural and the supernatural take a leap of faith, make no mistake about it.
We all believe in something, even the skeptic believes in their personal ability to discern facts from fables. The humanist, for example, believes in our autonomy, claiming mankind is the highest power for good in the universe. The Christian believes there’s eternally more to reality than what can be tested with our five senses, while the atheist believes there’s no need for & no such thing as “God.” Those poor souls known as agnostics really suffer -- they want to believe something but they can’t seem to find enough evidence one way or the other to believe in anything.
I have solid answers justifying my faith in God, ones that are way better than Darwinism for example, but if I’m not willing to admit I might be wrong about the whole idea of God, how can I expect an atheist to consider they might be wrong as well? Both camps seem to be lacking humility and an openness to alternate ideas. Maybe we are too busy talking over each other and not spending enough time listening to each other?
We are all doing our best to figure out this glorious experience called life and its complex mysteries, those who claim to believe in God and those who disbelieve in God. The world would be a better place if we stopped demonizing each other and we trusted each other’s motives in regards to matters of faith, both believers and nonbelievers. I trust logic & truth will prevail and I trust people when they say they are sincerely searching for answers -- it is foolish to live otherwise.
Originally published 4/1/22 Times News:
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