Three kinds of people ask this question:
- Some people ask this question to pick a fight. They have made up their mind about their own belief in God, and they are trying to push my buttons. They want me to engage them in debate. Sometimes I do.
- Some people ask this question to put up a smoke screen. There is something about belief in God that scares them. They know they are leaning toward belief, but they are afraid of it and use this question as a smoke screen to redirect the conversation into something else. Usually, the smoke screen tactic leads to the debate tactic, but the motive was different.
- Some people ask this question because they are honestly interested to know the answer. I’m writing this post for them.
For those who want to know the answer to this question, it usually boils down to two other questions: Can a rational person like me believe in God? Should I today make the choice of faith today?
On Sunday, I dealt with the second of the two questions, but I didn’t get much time to deal with the first of the two, so I’m planning to post a few ideas to the first question here on my blog.
Can a Rational Person Believe in God?
I consider myself to be a rather rational person myself. In fact, I have often said that if God hadn’t grabbed my life as early as he did, I might never have come to him. I had a personally convicting experience about God when I was three, and that puts me in a very interesting place.
You see, I’ve often wondered about the level to which my upbringing has predisposed me toward a belief in God, and so I’ve personally wrestled with many different approaches to the question above. Can I as a rational person believe in God or is my belief entirely based on my upbringing?
Today, I feel very satisfied in my answer, and I’ll just share my own thinking with you.
However, I need to do it in a few different posts… Sorry about that. Stay tuned, I’m writing the first one now.
How can I believe thT od of infinate glory would care about mje as an individual?
Well that’s a big question isn’t it? I really can’t answer that all right now, but I can say this: we start with the question of God’s existence. Is He there? If he is there and we are still here, then he is chosing to keep us around, and that means he wants us here. Thus, on some level at least he cares about us. The same goes for you. If he is in charge, and you are still around, he must care for you.
Finally, it’s hard to know why but the bible tells us it’s true!