Los Alamos Church of Christ
Ten
Reasons Why I Believe in God
Introduction
It was the summer of 1973 that I first realized my need for apologetics. I'm not sure I knew the word at the time, but I really wish I had, had some. A buddy of mine and I were working at the Blytheville Air Force base in Blytheville, AK at the commissary, bagging groceries. It was a pretty high paying summer job, in between my freshman and sophomore years of college. We were doing all right. After work, one afternoon, we went to the library. There were no Starbucks in those days and it was Blytheville, AK, so the best chance we had of meeting girls was at the library. I know that is sad.
Sure enough, we found one and began to chat. Early in the conversation my friend told the girl, "Tim is a Bible major." I'm not sure why he said that; just coming up with conversation starters, wanting to cut me out of the competition, or just to see what we would say. Anyway, the girl took off on a speech about how she did not believe in the Bible, or God, she believed in peace, love and saving the whales or whatever. When her speech, hammering everything I believed in, came to an end, she looked at me with an expectation of me defending my faith. I had nothing. And, in that moment, I realized, as never before, my need for apologetics.
However, from that moment on, I have valued knowing why I believe what I believe. I have worked hard, over the years, to never be without my apologetics. You never know when your Starbucks moment is going to happen; or in my case, the library moment.
Throughout 2010 I have been working on the theme of "A Reason for Hope" in order to help us get some apologetics. We have worked through the Jesus Body List and have learned 10 reasons why we believe in Jesus. They are right there on the list, you can whip them out anytime someone asks, "Hey, You don't believe in Jesus, do you?" As, part of our Jesus list, we spent 10 weeks looking at the Resurrection of Jesus, because it is the crux of the matter. It is the heart of Christianity. In the resurrection Jesus passed the sign of Jonah test validating all he claimed to be. We need to know all about why we believe in Jesus, so we can share the hope we have!
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While you are sipping your Venta Cherry Mocha Frapacino at Starbucks, or looking for girls at the library, you may be challenged in a different way. You may be asked to give a reason for your belief in God. I got to think, here in Los Alamos, we have more than our share of atheists, agnostics, or those who like to argue/debate/discuss theology or their lack of theology. Odds are you may be questioned about your faith in a creator.
So, this morning, just to make sure we are all ready for that possibility, I am starting a new series… "Ten Reasons Why I Believe in God". You may want to ask, "Why didn't you do God first?" It does seem logical to talk about God first, then the Bible, then Jesus, then the Resurrection. And that would be okay to do it that way. It is sequential. But, that is not the way it happened, originally. Christianity began with the Resurrection. Then Christianity moved to who Jesus really is and that lead to who God is and then the Bible was written to document all that. So, that is the order of my series. Beginning Jesus, interrupted by the resurrection, then the rest of Jesus, now God and hopefully we will have time this year to do… "Ten Reasons why I believe in the Bible as God's word".
Note: All the reasons for Jesus, particularly the Resurrection, are also evidence for God. If Jesus did miracles by the power of God; then God exists. If God resurrected Jesus then God exists… Setting that all aside, over the next couple months, we are going to look at, "Ten Reasons why I believe in God."
We had the Jesus Body list to help us remember the 10 reasons we believe in Jesus, in this series we are going to have the Tree list as our pneumonic device… Quickly, let's go over them so you can begin to get the Tree list then we will put the reasons on the list. Then you will have them embedded forever in your subconscious.
Tree, light switch, stool, car, glove, six shooter, dice, skate, cat, bowling…
I have handouts in the back if you need help with memorizing.
Let's get started… with a question.
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Sometimes we wonder:
"Where is God in all this?"
"If God really exists, why doesn't he just show us?"
"Is God tricking us by making us hunt and search for him?"
"Why isn't the evidence for the God obvious?"
In his book, Contact, Carl Sagan sarcastically asks, "Why God doesn't place a glowing cross in the sky at night to serve as irrefutable proof of Jesus' resurrection?"
"If God would just appear to me and tell me what to do, I would do it. Why is it so hard?"
The question many people wonder is…
Why doesn't God just tell us he exists? Why not blow us away with his Almightyness?
This argument is called the “Hiddenness of God”. Basically the argument goes something like this:
1. God is all powerful
2. God is all loving
3. God wants all people to know about him
4. Some people don’t know about him
5. Therefore, there is no God.
(elab)
How do we respond to that? Why doesn't God just tell us he exists? Why do we need to memorize ten reasons why we believe he exists?
Let's work through that question as an introduction to our series and then ask a few other related questions. This will set up our thinking for the next ten sermons. I want to employ several metaphors to answer these questions.
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1) The Stuck Window Metaphor
A window stuck open is as useless as a window which is stuck shut. For a window to be functional in allowing air in or keeping air out, it needs to be open some of the time and be closed some of the time. If it is stuck in either position it is not a very useful window. It is the same with your brain. If your brain is stuck open such that every new idea, every new doctrine, every new thing that is going round hops right into your brain and you believe it; you are in bad shape. But just as bad is your brain being stuck shut where you don't every change your mind or think at all. That is a dangerous way to be. We need to use the brain God gave us to process and evaluate.
Given this tendency, to either, have our brain stuck shut or stuck open, how clear does the evidence have to be before people would universally believe in God? Would a cross in the sky actually be sufficient to convert Carl Sagan? Or would he keep his brain shut and explain it away as a naturally occurring phenomenon. Would the performance of an undeniable miracle be enough to convince everyone? However impressive such feats would be, the records of history show that some people choose to ignore whatever evidence they have, no matter how clear it may be.
- During the wilderness wanderings, the Israelites, who crossed the Red Sea and ate the manna and saw the fire and the smoke, still built a golden calf.
- The miracles performed by Elijah weren't enough to convert Ahab and Jezebel.
- Jesus healed the lame and the blind and even raised the dead, yet the Jewish leaders, who could not dispute the genuineness of His miracles, wanted to kill Him.
-Remember what Abraham told the rich man in torment?
Luke 16:27-31 "He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' "Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.' "'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' "He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"
How much evidence is enough? What would God have to do to blow us away with his almightyness? It depends upon whether a person is a stuck window or an "Honest Seeker". I like that thought; honest seeker. It strikes me that God is not attempting to reach all people, but rather he is interested in honest seeking. That leads me to the thought, "Could God have reasons for not making his existence blatantly obvious?
2) The Cop with a Radar Gun
Metaphor
If you see the police officer with a radar gun, what do you do? You slow down. If God made it so blatantly obvious such, that he physically appeared and scared the Whoopi-john out of everyone, why would people serve him? Out of fear. There would really be no choice. Is that what God wants? Perhaps, because he is love, he offers us love as a choice.
If God reveals himself too much, he takes away our freedom to make morally-significant decisions. If God stays somewhat hidden, he gives people space to either, respond in faith, or avoid him. God places a high value on people having the free will to respond to him in faith and love. If he shows too much of himself, he takes away our free choice, because once he is too overt about his existence, people will just feel obligated to belief in him.
If God is the Big Cop in the sky with the obvious radar gun in his hand, we would not have the choice to love. Forced love is not love at all. God wants us to love him, truly.
So, what has God done? How much does he reveal himself? There is no specific way to answer that but, it is like…
3) The CSI DNA Metaphor
There is evidence of God’s existence; like DNA. On most episodes of CSI the investigators go to the crime scene and look for evidence; fingerprints, blood, fluids and most importantly, DNA. If they can find some DNA, then they get their perp. If we look around us, as honest seekers, the "DNA of God is everywhere. Throughout this series of sermons I am going to explore ten sets of DNA evidence that to me is enough for faith.
In each of the Ten Reasons we will learn a bit more
about God.
1) Beauty: Nature's beauty speaks to our hearts. God is beautiful.
2) Ought: Our sense of morality points to God. God is just.
3) Existence: Mind created matter or matter created mind. God is almighty.
4) Design: Eyes, brains, and mouse traps point to God. God is intelligent.
5) Creativity: Art, Music, Games, Invention point to our inherited creative nature. God is creator.
6) Sacrifice: Self-sacrifice mimics God. God was willing to sacrifice himself.
7) Odds: - What are the odds of everything being right for our existence? God is kind.
8) Babies: Just look at a baby. God is our Father.
9) Purpose: We all feel a sense of purpose. God has a will for us.
10) Worship: We all have a need for worship; a God shaped hole. God is worthy.
Each of these reasons is amazing DNA of God's existence. You won't want to miss any of these Reasons. But these reasons can lead us to feel guilty of our questions of our doubt. So we need another… metaphor.
4) The Antibody Metaphor
A life without some doubt is like a human body without any antibodies. It's like I was before I met the girl in the library. Up to that point in my life I had had no doubts about God or Jesus or my faith. I had no antibodies. Antibodies are formed when we are exposed to a disease. Our bodies fight off the sickness and that leaves us with these antibodies for the rest of our lives. Like the H1N1 swine flu thing. Those of us who were old enough to have been exposed to a similar flu back in the 50's didn't get sick with it this time.
So, our doubts work the same. Our windows are not always shut. We are exposed to different ideas, challenges, questions and we have to think. We have to struggle. We may even become spiritually sick for a while. But then when we recover, we have the faith antibodies.
Several years ago I struggled with a friend over his doubts about the resurrection. We had the JCR1 flu bug. That is the Jesus Christ Resurrection Number 1 problem flu. Unfortunately, my friend died from it. That does happen. But I now have the antibodies. My faith is stronger. My resistance to the JCR1 bug is pretty solid. I know Jesus was raised from the dead and I can tell you why. Our series on the existence of God will attempt to inoculate you; to create these antibodies. So, your faith can be strong and resistant. But the point is doubt can be good because it leads to faith. Questions can lead to faith. This is what God wants. He wants honest seekers not shut windows. One more metaphor to show how important this can be,
5) The Net Metaphor
There once was a trapeze artist who explained to a reporter about the net. "The nets," he explained, "Were not simply there to save our lives. Rather, without the nets they wouldn’t attempt many of the dangerous acrobatics they performed." The nets allowed them to go beyond their abilities to do greater stunts. It is the same with our faith. When we have the net of real faith, we can depend upon God and are able to do greater things; ask greater questions; go without fear into any situation. Our faith should inspire us to fly! That is what God wants; people of faith who trust him enough to fly!
He is not so much interested in people who have to see it to believe it or who never really believe anything at all, but people who have a faith that has been molded by questions and doubts and answers and experiences, who have learned to love and believe. That is the kind of faith I want to have!
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Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
