mpendwa789
JF-Expert Member
- Dec 31, 2013
- 226
- 110
Whether you believe the Bible or not, it makes one thing very clear in its teaching - namely, that neither outward ‘evidence’ (miracles) nor intellectual argument will truly persuade anyone of God’s existence.
Though I may sympathise with those who seek to ‘prove’ God’s existence in these forums, I am nevertheless surprised that they think such efforts will be genuinely successful, particularly when many religious arguments tend to be just about ‘point scoring’. I am surprised for the following reasons.
The scriptures record that Jesus Christ had done many mighty works (healings and miracles) in Chorazin and Bethsaida, but the ‘evidence’ of miracles had not led the people to repentance – it didn’t change their thinking or their lives at all. It had not led them to a true belief in God or convince them of their need of salvation.
The Pharisees’ claim that they would believe in Jesus as the Son of God if He miraculously came down from the cross was simply self-delusion (Mtt. 27:41,42), it showed complete ignorance of the self-deception and corruption of the human heart.
They would not have believed Him or repented if He had miraculously come down from the cross! They would have simply said it was some ‘trick’ or that the soldiers hadn’t really crucified Him with nails etc. etc. The thing people fail to recognise is that…
the basis of revelation of God’s being to the human heart is not intellectual, it is moral.
Jesus Christ Himself brings this truth out very clearly in the parable of the beggar, Lazarus by name, and the rich man. The rich man lived in pleasure and Lazurus in penury.
When they died, Lazarus went to ‘Abraham’s bosom’ and the rich man went to hades. The rich man eventually pleads for Lazarus to be raised from the dead and sent to his family in order that his five brothers be warned about what would happen to them if they didn’t believe.
Abraham answers the rich man by saying that his brothers have (the writings of ) Moses and the prophets, so let his brothers believe them. The rich man says, “No,…but if one went unto them from the dead, they will believe.”
Here the rich man expresses the mistaken belief, not to say the self-deception, of many - namely, if only I or others were shown a true miracle, a convincing argument, then we would believe. Abraham speaks the fundamental truth when he answers the rich man and says, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” (Luke 16:19-31).
The idea that ‘if I heard a convincing argument or saw a genuine miracle, then I would believe’, is an exercise in self-deception. It does not accord with the nature of things, or the nature of many of our own selfish hearts.
Whatever you think of the parable above, one thing is undeniable: the parable teaches this principle, this truth - it is not arguments or miracles that lead people to faith, repentance and the knowledge of God. This truth is again confirmed in John 12:37 where it says this: “But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him.”
Neither do you find anywhere in the New Testament (or in the Old for that matter) that fear of eternal judgement is or should be the basis or catalyst for believing!
The basis of revelation is moral, not intellectual, not fear. It has to do with the condition of a person’s heart, not their intellectual capacities, or lack thereof.
Jesus brings this truth out when He says that ‘they that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’ (Luke 5:31-32). God our Creator will not be ‘put in the dock’ by us to meet our demands upon Him to ‘prove’ Himself to us. It just doesn’t work that way.
We cannot act as judge and jury on Him. He made us. He made us with a conscience that was geared to recognise Him and His truth, but man’s pride, sin and selfishness hardens his conscience into rejecting God and the knowledge of Him.
(Romans 1:20-22,28). Fundamentally and in the final analysis, the rejection of God’s existence is not intellectual, but moral, that is, it is to do with the condition of one’s heart.
In the play Hamlet, a citizen of Denmark says, “There is something rotten in the state of Denmark.” In other words, he recognised that there was deep corruption at the very heart of the government of Denmark.
And it is this kind of recognition, this understanding that is the beginning of the path to revelation of God and His salvation. Namely, for a man or woman finally to recognise and admit to themselves that in spite our ‘goodness’, our fine intentions and our best efforts, there yet remains in our hearts deep corruption and darkness.
Jesus told us what defiles us, what makes us unclean – it’s not what we eat but “that which comes out of the man, that defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” (Mark 7:20-23).
How can a person who is honest with themselves not recognise that such things are at work in their heart. And it is for this reason that Jesus says, “I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” While we think we are OK, we are ‘right’, we are ‘whole’, then no amount of evidence, arguments or miracles will convince us of the existence of God. It doesn’t work like that. We don’t work like that.
There is enough about yourself to humble you, to lead you to know that there is something wrong in the foundations of you; that there is corruption there. I am not talking about so-called low self-esteem or the results of some kind of psychological pressure from society.
I am talking about being honest with yourself, about yourself. God made us with a conscience so that we should recognise such things. Pride and self-will deaden the conscience of a person and make them hard against the word of God to them.
He reveals Himself not to the clever, but the humble – those humble enough to be honest about their need to be ‘saved’ from what works inside of them. This has nothing to do with psychological or emotional weakness looking for a ‘prop’ to lean on! He who understands the corruption of his heart and that he is ‘lost’, understands he is in need of a deep inner salvation and transformation - not some kind of emotional ‘prop’ or some religious fantasy to cling to.
From the many things I could relate that God did in my life when I truly turned to Him for salvation (and since then), one thing comes to mind. My father had so relentlessly criticised me during my upbringing that – it is very sad to say – I ended up consciously hating him with a deep bitterness.
The day after I repented of my own sins and God brought salvation to my soul, I thought to myself that I must now forgive my father for my hatred of him. But the astonishing thing was that as I was about to forgive him, I was aware that there was no feelings of hatred, bitterness or hurt left in me at all concerning my father any more.
Not only did my heart feel completely clear of any such thing, but I found a compassion and love towards him. I could hardly believe how this could have happened so suddenly and without my having done anything. No auto-suggestion, no amount of psychotherapy or medication could have done for me over any period of time what God did for me and in me in a moment of time.
It was indeed a miracle of grace. God’s salvation in my life saved my relationship with my father, which had been on the verge of final collapse at that time. My father didn’t change, nor did his criticisms, but for the next 20 years I was able to love my father without any animosity or bitterness at all.
God had cleansed my heart. Human (horizontal) relationships are only truly restored and empowered by grace when we put right our (vertical) relationship with God. For about 40 years I have been able to lay my head down on the pillow to sleep without any anger or bitterness towards anyone on earth, without being kept awake by worry of circumstances.
And this is not the result of religious fanaticism, ‘detachment from the world’ or delusion. It is the fruit of an ongoing day-by-day personal relationship with the living God, with the Father and the Son, who are more real to me than I am able to express, and who have done so much more for me than I can here relate.
Christ came to fill the hungry with good things (Luke 1:53). He resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. It is to the meek that He reveals His truth and Himself. It is an honest recognition about the state of one’s own heart that leads one to the beginnings of revelation.
To recognise that there is something fundamentally wrong in me that is beyond my powers to put right and that isolates me from Him who is Eternal, Holy and Love – this honest contrition of heart leads one ‘to hear’, truly to hear with the ears of the heart the Gospel of God’s love and salvation. No one can be forced into such a self-recognition; no one can be persuaded into this kind of self-awareness of one’s ‘lostness’ – not if it’s going to be genuine.
“At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in your sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, except the Son, and he to whomever the Son will reveal him.
Come unto me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:25-30).
When Peter answered Jesus’ question by saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”, Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you, but my Father who is in heaven.”
The basis of revelation is not intellectual, but moral. When I say it is not intellectual, I don’t mean it is anti-intellectual or irrational; I just mean intellectual capacities and arguments are not the basis of the revelation of God to our hearts - it depends on our heart’s response to who God is, to what He has declared and to what He has done for us.
Do not think you lack evidence. It is the state of your own heart that is the evidence and that determines so much.
I had had a dilemma. How can you genuinely believe when there is no clear proof – particularly when there a competing claims from different religions and systems of thought regarding God and Truth. You can’t just plunge into one of them and say you ‘believe’ when you very well now you don’t. I sought the truth in different religions both Western and Eastern, and practiced transcendental meditation for some time – but nothing touched or changed my soul, my inner being. Nothing brought me to a genuine knowledge of God or a sense of genuine closeness to Him.
In the end, I realised my personal endeavours were fruitless. I also realised that I couldn’t put God in the dock. It was a recognition of the dark state of my inner being that then ‘led me to the cross’ where Someone had already done something for me, and I found not just forgiveness there but a transformation of life and the revelation of God to my soul.
Now although you might believe that the above is religious propaganda or nonsense, I share these things as something that may be for a future time, for a time when you might genuinely recognise that there is something rotten in the state of the government of your own heart, and it is not so much your ideas that need changing, but rather that you yourself need a change to take place deep inside of you. For such a time as that, here is the message, here is the truth:
God doesn’t come to you with arguments about His existence. His actions on your behalf speak louder than any arguments.
Whether you recognise is to or not, Someone died for you, Someone actually gave their life for you. He knows your name, and He died for you. God could not have shown His love for you more, or paid a greater price than giving His only Son to die for you that you should be His. Such a sacrifice not only demonstrates the immeasurable extent of His love for you, but also points to the nature of the problem.
The problem is in us, in our very nature. That explains the reason for the cross. He bore our sin, He bore that corruption on the cross so that He could not only change us inwardly but come to live in us by His Spirit.
The issue, the debate is not about religion. The question is this and remains this: what will you do with the Jesus who died for you?
Jesus did not come to give us a set of beliefs to mentally or fanatically adhere to. In the scriptures it is the religious people who rejected Jesus. Down through the centuries it is religious people who have sought wealth and power, to wage wars, dominate, kill and persecute people.
They have shown by their actions that they serve another who is not God. In this sense, religion can be the greatest enemy of the Truth.
Jesus said that He has come to give us Life, and to give us Life more abundantly. It is a life of union and communion with God Himself. We were created by God, for God, and it is He alone who can quench our thirst for the reality that otherwise eludes us.
I have offered no evidence for the evidence of God’s being, but it would be untrue to say that what I have written is not written with the object of drawing you to believe in the One who has utterly transformed my life from the inside out and remains with outstretched arms to you and for you.
Jesus has not come with well-reasoned logic and arguments; He has not come with force, with an army, in divine power to overwhelm you and force you to believe in Him. No, behold, the Son of God dies in weakness for you. There is no one like Him!
Dear reader, if you have read thus far and understood the above, you will realise that I will not engage in endless religious debate and point-scoring. Am open to genuine discourse though.
Though I may sympathise with those who seek to ‘prove’ God’s existence in these forums, I am nevertheless surprised that they think such efforts will be genuinely successful, particularly when many religious arguments tend to be just about ‘point scoring’. I am surprised for the following reasons.
The scriptures record that Jesus Christ had done many mighty works (healings and miracles) in Chorazin and Bethsaida, but the ‘evidence’ of miracles had not led the people to repentance – it didn’t change their thinking or their lives at all. It had not led them to a true belief in God or convince them of their need of salvation.
The Pharisees’ claim that they would believe in Jesus as the Son of God if He miraculously came down from the cross was simply self-delusion (Mtt. 27:41,42), it showed complete ignorance of the self-deception and corruption of the human heart.
They would not have believed Him or repented if He had miraculously come down from the cross! They would have simply said it was some ‘trick’ or that the soldiers hadn’t really crucified Him with nails etc. etc. The thing people fail to recognise is that…
the basis of revelation of God’s being to the human heart is not intellectual, it is moral.
Jesus Christ Himself brings this truth out very clearly in the parable of the beggar, Lazarus by name, and the rich man. The rich man lived in pleasure and Lazurus in penury.
When they died, Lazarus went to ‘Abraham’s bosom’ and the rich man went to hades. The rich man eventually pleads for Lazarus to be raised from the dead and sent to his family in order that his five brothers be warned about what would happen to them if they didn’t believe.
Abraham answers the rich man by saying that his brothers have (the writings of ) Moses and the prophets, so let his brothers believe them. The rich man says, “No,…but if one went unto them from the dead, they will believe.”
Here the rich man expresses the mistaken belief, not to say the self-deception, of many - namely, if only I or others were shown a true miracle, a convincing argument, then we would believe. Abraham speaks the fundamental truth when he answers the rich man and says, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” (Luke 16:19-31).
The idea that ‘if I heard a convincing argument or saw a genuine miracle, then I would believe’, is an exercise in self-deception. It does not accord with the nature of things, or the nature of many of our own selfish hearts.
Whatever you think of the parable above, one thing is undeniable: the parable teaches this principle, this truth - it is not arguments or miracles that lead people to faith, repentance and the knowledge of God. This truth is again confirmed in John 12:37 where it says this: “But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him.”
Neither do you find anywhere in the New Testament (or in the Old for that matter) that fear of eternal judgement is or should be the basis or catalyst for believing!
The basis of revelation is moral, not intellectual, not fear. It has to do with the condition of a person’s heart, not their intellectual capacities, or lack thereof.
Jesus brings this truth out when He says that ‘they that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’ (Luke 5:31-32). God our Creator will not be ‘put in the dock’ by us to meet our demands upon Him to ‘prove’ Himself to us. It just doesn’t work that way.
We cannot act as judge and jury on Him. He made us. He made us with a conscience that was geared to recognise Him and His truth, but man’s pride, sin and selfishness hardens his conscience into rejecting God and the knowledge of Him.
(Romans 1:20-22,28). Fundamentally and in the final analysis, the rejection of God’s existence is not intellectual, but moral, that is, it is to do with the condition of one’s heart.
In the play Hamlet, a citizen of Denmark says, “There is something rotten in the state of Denmark.” In other words, he recognised that there was deep corruption at the very heart of the government of Denmark.
And it is this kind of recognition, this understanding that is the beginning of the path to revelation of God and His salvation. Namely, for a man or woman finally to recognise and admit to themselves that in spite our ‘goodness’, our fine intentions and our best efforts, there yet remains in our hearts deep corruption and darkness.
Jesus told us what defiles us, what makes us unclean – it’s not what we eat but “that which comes out of the man, that defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” (Mark 7:20-23).
How can a person who is honest with themselves not recognise that such things are at work in their heart. And it is for this reason that Jesus says, “I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” While we think we are OK, we are ‘right’, we are ‘whole’, then no amount of evidence, arguments or miracles will convince us of the existence of God. It doesn’t work like that. We don’t work like that.
There is enough about yourself to humble you, to lead you to know that there is something wrong in the foundations of you; that there is corruption there. I am not talking about so-called low self-esteem or the results of some kind of psychological pressure from society.
I am talking about being honest with yourself, about yourself. God made us with a conscience so that we should recognise such things. Pride and self-will deaden the conscience of a person and make them hard against the word of God to them.
He reveals Himself not to the clever, but the humble – those humble enough to be honest about their need to be ‘saved’ from what works inside of them. This has nothing to do with psychological or emotional weakness looking for a ‘prop’ to lean on! He who understands the corruption of his heart and that he is ‘lost’, understands he is in need of a deep inner salvation and transformation - not some kind of emotional ‘prop’ or some religious fantasy to cling to.
From the many things I could relate that God did in my life when I truly turned to Him for salvation (and since then), one thing comes to mind. My father had so relentlessly criticised me during my upbringing that – it is very sad to say – I ended up consciously hating him with a deep bitterness.
The day after I repented of my own sins and God brought salvation to my soul, I thought to myself that I must now forgive my father for my hatred of him. But the astonishing thing was that as I was about to forgive him, I was aware that there was no feelings of hatred, bitterness or hurt left in me at all concerning my father any more.
Not only did my heart feel completely clear of any such thing, but I found a compassion and love towards him. I could hardly believe how this could have happened so suddenly and without my having done anything. No auto-suggestion, no amount of psychotherapy or medication could have done for me over any period of time what God did for me and in me in a moment of time.
It was indeed a miracle of grace. God’s salvation in my life saved my relationship with my father, which had been on the verge of final collapse at that time. My father didn’t change, nor did his criticisms, but for the next 20 years I was able to love my father without any animosity or bitterness at all.
God had cleansed my heart. Human (horizontal) relationships are only truly restored and empowered by grace when we put right our (vertical) relationship with God. For about 40 years I have been able to lay my head down on the pillow to sleep without any anger or bitterness towards anyone on earth, without being kept awake by worry of circumstances.
And this is not the result of religious fanaticism, ‘detachment from the world’ or delusion. It is the fruit of an ongoing day-by-day personal relationship with the living God, with the Father and the Son, who are more real to me than I am able to express, and who have done so much more for me than I can here relate.
Christ came to fill the hungry with good things (Luke 1:53). He resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. It is to the meek that He reveals His truth and Himself. It is an honest recognition about the state of one’s own heart that leads one to the beginnings of revelation.
To recognise that there is something fundamentally wrong in me that is beyond my powers to put right and that isolates me from Him who is Eternal, Holy and Love – this honest contrition of heart leads one ‘to hear’, truly to hear with the ears of the heart the Gospel of God’s love and salvation. No one can be forced into such a self-recognition; no one can be persuaded into this kind of self-awareness of one’s ‘lostness’ – not if it’s going to be genuine.
“At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in your sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, except the Son, and he to whomever the Son will reveal him.
Come unto me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:25-30).
When Peter answered Jesus’ question by saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”, Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you, but my Father who is in heaven.”
The basis of revelation is not intellectual, but moral. When I say it is not intellectual, I don’t mean it is anti-intellectual or irrational; I just mean intellectual capacities and arguments are not the basis of the revelation of God to our hearts - it depends on our heart’s response to who God is, to what He has declared and to what He has done for us.
Do not think you lack evidence. It is the state of your own heart that is the evidence and that determines so much.
I had had a dilemma. How can you genuinely believe when there is no clear proof – particularly when there a competing claims from different religions and systems of thought regarding God and Truth. You can’t just plunge into one of them and say you ‘believe’ when you very well now you don’t. I sought the truth in different religions both Western and Eastern, and practiced transcendental meditation for some time – but nothing touched or changed my soul, my inner being. Nothing brought me to a genuine knowledge of God or a sense of genuine closeness to Him.
In the end, I realised my personal endeavours were fruitless. I also realised that I couldn’t put God in the dock. It was a recognition of the dark state of my inner being that then ‘led me to the cross’ where Someone had already done something for me, and I found not just forgiveness there but a transformation of life and the revelation of God to my soul.
Now although you might believe that the above is religious propaganda or nonsense, I share these things as something that may be for a future time, for a time when you might genuinely recognise that there is something rotten in the state of the government of your own heart, and it is not so much your ideas that need changing, but rather that you yourself need a change to take place deep inside of you. For such a time as that, here is the message, here is the truth:
God doesn’t come to you with arguments about His existence. His actions on your behalf speak louder than any arguments.
Whether you recognise is to or not, Someone died for you, Someone actually gave their life for you. He knows your name, and He died for you. God could not have shown His love for you more, or paid a greater price than giving His only Son to die for you that you should be His. Such a sacrifice not only demonstrates the immeasurable extent of His love for you, but also points to the nature of the problem.
The problem is in us, in our very nature. That explains the reason for the cross. He bore our sin, He bore that corruption on the cross so that He could not only change us inwardly but come to live in us by His Spirit.
The issue, the debate is not about religion. The question is this and remains this: what will you do with the Jesus who died for you?
Jesus did not come to give us a set of beliefs to mentally or fanatically adhere to. In the scriptures it is the religious people who rejected Jesus. Down through the centuries it is religious people who have sought wealth and power, to wage wars, dominate, kill and persecute people.
They have shown by their actions that they serve another who is not God. In this sense, religion can be the greatest enemy of the Truth.
Jesus said that He has come to give us Life, and to give us Life more abundantly. It is a life of union and communion with God Himself. We were created by God, for God, and it is He alone who can quench our thirst for the reality that otherwise eludes us.
I have offered no evidence for the evidence of God’s being, but it would be untrue to say that what I have written is not written with the object of drawing you to believe in the One who has utterly transformed my life from the inside out and remains with outstretched arms to you and for you.
Jesus has not come with well-reasoned logic and arguments; He has not come with force, with an army, in divine power to overwhelm you and force you to believe in Him. No, behold, the Son of God dies in weakness for you. There is no one like Him!
Dear reader, if you have read thus far and understood the above, you will realise that I will not engage in endless religious debate and point-scoring. Am open to genuine discourse though.
