The E-Vangel Project

In the first part I stated that God exists. It is an important starting point. For some, it is a difficulty – not because there is no evidence to support my statement, but because they do not regard the evidence as sufficient. This is not clever wordplay on my part. It is an important distinction that is easy to miss.

I can claim that I believe in invisible unicorns at the bottom of my garden – but if no-one is going to produce any evidence, however slight, to support my claim; then no-one is obligated to even be agnostic towards that proposition.

I find atheism an interesting proposition, partly because it can be dismissed as a Bronze Age superstition which was rejected as morally bankrupt by philosophers at that time; or at least that’s my interpretation of Psalm 14. This means that I reject a pseudo-Hegelian view which seeks to force an arbitrary evolutionary framework onto the development of religious thought, despite the evidence to the contrary.

However, I find far too many self-identifying atheists have come to the position as an emotional reaction – not from serious scientific or philosophical discourse. I would not advocate that in order to profess atheism, its adherents would need to pass a rigorous academic test to determine whether they are truly naturalistic materialists, or really crypto-pantheists.

This is fun. I shall continue this in my next post.

There is always a build-up of excitement at the start of a new venture. Part of it is the adrenaline rush of uncertainty. This always puzzles me – we talk about faith involving an element of risk – launching yourself into the unknown. And yet, at the same time we refer to faith as being certain of what we do not see. we talk of a guarantee that we possess by faith, of being firmly convinced that what we have seen has already been inexorably fore-ordained by an all-powerful God who has revealed His will to us. If we genuinely feel like this – and we do; then why do we get those butterflies? Why doesn’t my body agree with what my soul and spirit have already accepted as fact?

It’s an interesting question. It cannot be dismissed with a casual, “You must have more faith.” The amount of faith is not in question – a mustard-seed’s worth is all that is required. The answer lies at the root of what we know to be true. We act in faith because we are convinced that God will fulfil His promises to us. If He does not bless what we perceived to be His plan, that calls into question whether we truly have a relationship with the Creator of the universe, or are merely deluding ourselves. Doubt of this nature is good – it calls us to purify our motives and ensure that the source of our inspiration is not a desire for self-aggrandisement.

For some, doubt is an enemy which must be opposed at all opportunities. To be fair, they have a point. The serpent sidles up and whispers, “Has God said…?” But there is a key difference between unbelief and determining the source of revelation – commended in the Bereans and urged by the Apostles Paul and John. The serpent cannot resist the temptation of slipping in an untruth. “Has God said you cannot eat from ANY tree?” – We however, have experienced the purifying power of truth in our lives. We are already convinced of the truth of Jesus’ claims about Himself, not because they sound nice, or fit into a pre-conceived view of how the world should be – after all, for many of us it was quite the reverse.

Our experience of Jesus transforming our own lives has led us to believe that He is capable of doing the same for others, and that by grace, He has chosen us to partner with Him in His work of transformation. The key question to ask at the beginning of a new enterprise is therefore, what will this do in terms of communicating God’s love to others?

To answer this question is to build faith in what is good, and simultaneously sow doubt in what is not productive.

Grace means a new start. More importantly, it guarantees that should you stumble, that isn’t the end of the story. A second, third, fourth (who’s counting? see Proverbs ch.24 v.16) chance are all available – provided your heart is in the right place.

The essential prerequisite in all this is the state of your relationship with your Creator. We are reminded in multiple places in the New Testament (Galatians ch.3 v.6, James ch.2 v.23, Romans ch.4 v.3 and Romans ch.4 v.22) about the turning point in Abraham’s life, where he put his faith in the One who could transform his life, and in return was granted an intimate relationship with his Creator. That same depth of relationship is available to us now, through Jesus’ death and resurrection – not just for a few special people, or a special nation, but for all – to transform the whole of humanity into a nation of priests.

In the same way that this life-defining moment did not suddenly make Abraham a perfect, faultless being in all his thinking and actions – read the story, count the many mistakes, failings and outright sinful blunders he wilfully entered into; from fear, pride and faithlessness – we too will stumble. We too will experience frustration, problems and discouragement, but the guarantee still stands in Psalm 37 v.24 – no matter how many troubles we face, we can be confident that there is One who is greater than them all, who can transcend our temporal problems and transform them to His glory. We may not understand it all, but we can be sure of His guidance as He brings about His plans, His purposes through His power to provoke His praise in His people.