Monday, April 21, 2014

PZ : Faith

Although Christians often use the argument that macro evolution doesn't exist because the greatest factor within it is "billions of years," we would do well to remember that on this day we claim to believe in something that happened a number of years ago as well; that we are trusting in the historical account and whatever empirical evidence supports the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

On the other hand, if macro evolution is not true, the worst that could happen is a few professors lose their jobs and many people now have to come up with another way to understand how we got here and what the meaning of life is. But for Christians, if Jesus was not raised from the dead then we are ruined. Without hope. Lost.

Once a person responds in faith to Jesus and experiences new life, the alternatives are somewhat gloomy. Sure, someone on the outside looking in can easily say that Christians are brainwashed, supported by a crutch, or even just too "simple" to get the grander story. And to some degree, they'd be right. Christians don't know the whole story. We recognize our need for a Savior. And when faced with incredibly confusing and painful situations I have to say that the alternatives to a loving God who paid for our sins and offers new life don't really measure up.

As our journey has now brought us to deep dark places of emotional undoing, I can't imagine going through it without faith. And I know that I cannot "prove" that my faith is real or that God is real to those who wish to disregard it, but I can say that the alternatives simply do not bring any hope.

Being a Christian doesn't make sense. The irony in it is that one must lose their life in order to find it. Being a Christian means we don't have all the answers, don't understand all the complexities of life, and don't feel we have to. This isn't being naive, it's being real. Who in this world ever could know everything! By trusting in Jesus we release our need for control and in so doing we find that our lives begin to make more sense. While embracing mystery we discover that God tends to do things a little different than our wisdom might suggest; He asks us to trust Him and when we hand our lives over He gives us a peace that is unexplainable.

I believe that Jesus died on the cross and took upon Himself the sins of the world; that on the third day God raised Him from the dead; and after showing Himself to His followers He ascended to the right hand of God. Call me what you want, but I cannot imagine life without faith in Jesus Christ.

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