The most important question?
I have read many books on God & heaven for
over 15 years. Not a long time compared
to people that dedicate their lives for the pursuit of God, J but I thought it was important to
write about what I have found in my search. I tried to condense 15 years in a
few pages. If there is an eternity, to
me there is no more important question that we can ask ourselves. Is there a
God that loves us? I hope this letter will prompt you into asking
some important questions and seeking out more answers. Turns out I have broken about every rule in
the bible, and this has been a long journey, so maybe you can relate. :-) It
is written out of care and hope that my experiences & homework just might
help someone. If you know someone you
think might be interested , please pass this on.
Einstein,
said
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though
nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
Let’s start at the beginning. The
creation of the universe.
The science:
Physics
states there are possibly 10-26 dimensions and we cannot access them all. There
is more that is unseen in our universe than what we can see with our eyes.
(Why?)
You are a
miracle. Statistically, i.e. mathematically, you should not exist. You are Stardust
that somehow has come alive and became conscious. Let that sink in. We take
that for granted but should not.
They
physical world is wonder filled phenomenon.
Let’s look
more at the Physics and some of the numbers we take for granted.
The big bang started with a mass the size of a
pencil tip. (The entire universe from a pencil tip, try and take that in. J
)
If the
amount of anti-matter vs matter created during the big bang (quarks and anti-quarks)
were equal, there would have been complete annihilation right after the big
bang, but for every billion pair of quarks and anti-quarks, there was 1
extra quark. This exact about of asymmetry lead to the creation of the
universe that expanded precisely as we need it to for us to exist. (More positive than negative, a life lesson
hidden there J
)
What about the
weight of the particles that make up the atom. It has a design too. If that
design if changed a bit, it changes the entire universe and again, none of us
exists. Like building a house, you need
a very specific building plan and materials list.
Weight
Neutron = 1
proton = .9986
Electron=.00054386734
So now we
have the big bang creating atoms and the original 4 elements of the universe. Hydrogen, helium, lithium, berilium.
Subsequent supernova created the remaining 88 element of the periodic table. (Gold
was actually changed into lead, bummer). Oxygen and Hydrogen would create
water. The rare characteristic of water ( a solid, liquid, and gas) had far reaching consequences.
It would be an ideal carrier for our circulator system, but also make it an
ideal medium for moderation temperature changes that would allow our planet to
support life.
The same laws
that govern ten thousand billion billion stars among the hundred billion galaxies
of our universe stretching 15 billion light years, also govern the chemical
reaction of the .001 centimeters of a cell.
But why do those laws exist? And how did the come to exist?
The floor
you are standing on is not solid. It is almost completely vacuous space. If you
made the nucleus of and atom 4 inches, the cloud of electrons around it would
extend to 4 miles away. Iron is 99.9999xxxx%
free space made to feel solid by ethereal fields of force. The bit of matter that actually exists in the
atom is not really matter, but instead made of energy. (Einstein discovered
that the basis of matter is really energy.)
The insights
of molecular biology have revealed a complexity at every stage of life’s
processes such that if we were forced to rely on random mutations to process
them step by step, “eternity would not suffice” according to scientists.
Your brain
has a “million billion” dendrites. . 1,000,000,000,000,000 (that number is so
big, it would take you thirty million years to count them)
More things
to consider……..
DNA is the
blueprint of life.
Your DNA is
found in every one of the trillion cells of a newborn baby (except red blood
cells) .
If the dna in your body was placed end to
end, it would reach the sun and back over 600 times
If all 3
billion letters of human genome was stacked 1 millimeter apart, it would reach
a height of 7000 times the empire state building.
A complete 3
billion base genome would take 3 gigabytes of storage space
DNA is
designed to make you unique. Why? For
sex to work, each of parents DNA must be willing to relinquish half. The
process witch DNA is halved is call meiosis. Don’t lose sight of the fact that
this is all molecules at work. There is no brain. The wisdom in built-in. Why?
There is
much more evidence in molecular biology as well, but I think you get the
point. J
Every
snowflake is unique? Why? Why does a caterpillar turn into a butterfly? Who
would believe a mixture of every color in the rainbow is white? J
All this
complexity stacked on top of more complexity.
I have heard
it describe this way. If you jumble up a bunch of letters, you might get random
words, but you never get full sentences.
They give stats on odds of getting complete sentences to form a novel. The
problem is every time you rejumble the letters, you lose the words you had.
That is why the odds of all of these complex things coming together to form
intelligent life are basically 0. We have left out many level in between the
big bang and you reading this. There are
just too many complexities stacked up in a row for me to possibly surmise this
is all an accident. From atoms, to laws
of gravity, to DNA, to the way our cells work to the distance our planet is
from the sun.
I guess that
is why the bible says that ever since the world was created people have seen
the earth and sky, and through everything God has made they can clearly see His invisible qualities, his eternal power and
divine nature.
While
science alone cannot prove or disprove God’s existence, I think it takes
more faith to believe all this is an accident than to believe there is a God whose
knowledge greatly exceeds ours. J
The
story of the watch
A man finds a watch lying on the ground if the forest. He concludes the
watch has a maker because is it so complex. But the hand that picked up the
watch is made of cells, designed by complex DNA, and made up of dust of an
exploding star. The dust is in turn made up of atoms created to exact
specifications. The atoms are really
just wave particles of energy. It is so much more complex than the watch. Why
would we think the watch has a maker but the hand does not?
Questions to
ask ourselves at this point: Why would
we not believe a higher power created all this?
Have we given it proper consideration? Are out beliefs because of a person’s
or group’s actions in history or in our life?
Something someone said? Please take time to reflect and examine if you
have doubts what they really are. Doubts are normal, but do we understand why
do we have them and what they really are?
Can we list the top 3 doubts? Has
someone else ever had the same doubts but answered them? Have we fully investigated and gone further? How
would our life’s change if we found out God & eternity are real and his
love for us is true?
Religion: I have heard a common
belief “Major religions have different Gods”
Not true.
Muslim, Judaism, and Christians all believe in the same God. Jesus is a historical figure and not just
from the bible. Jesus was Jewish. Muslims believe in the Virgin birth of Jesus
Christ as do Christians.
Also, many people get faith and religion confused. Jesus was very critical with the religious
leaders. I believe God wants us to have faith and a “relationship” not “religion”. So I am mostly speaking about
faith in a loving God that created the universe and all that we see, and more
importantly all that we don’t see. I
personally don’t believe in blind faith, which is why I went on a fact finding
tour. It has been said that doubt is a component of faith, and I agree. In the
end, we need to put a puzzle together without all the pieces and have to come
up with an educated opinion of the complete picture. The Bible is a good book
that helps with the puzzle. I also think
love and the beautiful and miraculous things we can see help us with the puzzle
of life as well.
What about the atrocities of all the
religions? They have killed many people
in the name of religion.
This is sad
and true. Evil people are everywhere, even in church. Unfortunately a few bad people can spread a
lot of evil, and drive people away from God. But those atrocities are from man,
and have existed outside of religion as well. Political groups, wars over land,
etc have also done the same thing. Even the Indian
tribes in North America before we came to this content with religion had wars.
The key constant is man.
Gandhi was
quoted as saying,
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.
Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
That is sad,
but there is some truth in it. However, Gandhi also once said "I am a Hindu, Muslim and
Christian" as well.
So on the flip side, there are also many more
people saved all over the world every day by good people of faith. I recently boarded a plane in Houston that
had 4 unassociated groups going to help people in a foreign country. Doctors and Nurses and others who could have
been going to Hawaii, :-) but instead were going to the poor and sick to help
and heal. People can choose to be good or evil. (That “free will” thing). The
Church exist to teach about God & love & spirituality. If your
church does not teach love, I would be careful. That means if you know someone
who is white, black, red, or purple, straight, gay , had a sex change, has
tattoos, belly button rings, drug addict, married, single, divorced, a prostitute, or a crooked tax collector, we are still supposed to love that person and treat
them how we want to be treated. Difficult
task, but a worthy one.
The Church is God’s plan for us to learn about Him and
ourselves. We do this with a community of others to help each other. We all have issues :-). I used
to skip going to church, and thought that was not a big deal. I tried a few
times but could not find one I liked. I had all sorts of excuses to not
go. J
I finally found a church that I liked, and after going for many years
now, I realize that Church is the
place where I can get help to learn about life, heal, find new friends, and
grow spiritually as a person. (Plus
get doughnuts.) J One hour a week it
not a lot, but it can change everything for you and your family and friends. I only wish I started earlier.
We went to school all day for years to learn to read and
write, and a lot of information we will never use. (Insert algebra or many
others here.) :-) I
guess I am saying it is well worth going to church 1 hour a week. We don’t grow without effort. We learn faster
with mentors. I think spiritual growth
in today’s fast pace society unfortunately seems to
get a low priority.
Another question of all the pain in
the world?
A man says
to God, “I don’t think you even exist. If you do, why you don’t save all the
starving people in the world? Why
don’t you just help them? “ God answers
him saying “I did help them. I sent you. “
Many have
said, most of the pain in the world in cause by humans to other humans. I think there is evil in this is fallen
world. Contrast this with Love that is the opposite of evil. The bible tells us to love and that we are
loved more than we can imagine. If we could only all become the person with the
qualities the Bible teaches.
Love, Joy,
Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-control.
Every time
you are kind to someone & give love, you make the world a better place. We will never know why all the pain exists,
but with choice, people can choose to be bad as well as good. God gave us the
ability to choose to love, and Jesus showed us that love by dying on the cross
for us. There is no greater love.
The testimony: The eye witnesses
Is the story
about Jesus trustworthy?
Peter said “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are
all witnesses of it”. Most of the apostles were tortured and
murdered. You will die for something you believe in, but no one will die for something
they know to be a lie. So why were all
the apostles willing to be die for Jesus and the fact he was resurrected and
they saw him? This was years later, so they would not have been under some
emotional rush of the moment. In fact,
their first reaction right after he was crucified, was that they scattered in
fear, so they were not your “brave warrior” types. J What gave them this new courage to now die for
him? I believe, based on my research, it was the resurrection of Christ that
did this. And how is it that what Jesus did changed the
world more than anyone in the history? Jesus was not a rich leader, he was a
carpenter from a small village.
Remember also that biblical story about Jesus was not just a story, but
an event in history. There is documentation outside the bible about this. In that time, some said about Jesus that his
body was stolen, or that he was not really dead when he was crucified. It is not
that he never existed or that the tomb was not empty. The real question is “how did the tomb become
empty?” , so
the resurrection is a matter of who you believe about the events that took
place. This is tough for most of us, because unless you have seen a miracle, it
is naturally hard to accept. The logical mind looks for logical explanations,
or at least, mine did. ( “Case for Christ”
is a pretty good book on this subject written by a man who did not
believe in God, but wanted his wife to stop going to church J, so he did a
yearlong study of the subject to disprove Christ, and ended up becoming a
Christian)
I have been to Ephesus (see acts in the bible.)
It was an amazing city. These people were very advanced for their day.
Libraries, shops, doctors’ offices, 2 coliseums, indoor heating. It was amazing to see. After going there, I realized the people that
wrote the New Testament were much more advanced than I had previously thought. So
I could not use the excuse that these people were just easy to fool. And since
these miracles are still happening today with our modern science as well, it
lends credence to their testimony. And what about all the testimony over the
centuries of people that have seen angels, miracles, Heaven or the risen Jesus?
This also goes against our logic. How can there be so many with these
experiences?
Then there are people who have not seen any miracles, angels, etc, but does that mean we dismiss the testimony of the
people that did? If you did not see a
car accident, and you were not at the scene, does your testimony contradict
there was a wreck? Or would you believe
the people that saw the wreck if they were credible? People that have had these experiences are
doctors, lawyers, professors, etc. Many
whom have shared their experiences had to deal with ridicule or even death. The sheer amount of this type of testimony is
a factor as well. I grant that some cases are not true, but many are true and
verifiable.
In the book
imaging heaven, many people that have clinically died ( NDE)
said they are asked one question. “What have you done with the life I gave
you?” I think I need to ask
myself that question every day. :-)
People from
all over the world who have died and been resuscitated have had similar
experience. There was even a Harvard brain surgeon who did not believe in God
or these experiences until after he had his NDE.
One common
thing I read in books about heaven, is that it is more beautiful than anything
we can imagine and there is more love that words can communicate. That
testimony of love that Jesus had for us, and the love in heaven can be life
changing.
The Bible.
I have read
it multiple times and am not an expert, but if I was to sum it up for you in a
few short sentences, it might go like this.
We are not
perfect, God is. God loves us. He
wants us to love him, and love others. So much so,
he sent his son to die on the
cross, then raise again just to save us. But he gives us a choice (free
will) to do so, meaning we can choose to love or not love Him. He also provided his word so that we would
know what he wants for us, and a universe that points us to him.
I believe
the choice we make with all this info has eternal ramifications. I would ask that we all at least
read the New Testament to find out what Jesus did and what he said for us. (I have also studied the Koran, Bhagavad Gita,
and the philosophy of Taoism along with others)
Atheism or Agnostic?
I have read books
and articles about atheism too. But there are 4 major problems with the logic that
I have.
1) Summarily dismissing all the eyewitness
testimony of millions of people who have had experiences with God throughout
the centuries.
2) Not all, but many seem to have a god,
we just seemed have swapped God’s role with Science, and faith in God for faith
in science.
3) Skipping the question of who created the “pencil tip”
that started the big bang and where did all the original “laws” of the universe
emerge. You can’t start the story in the middle. :-)
4) Misusing science as philosophy. Science
was meant to examine how the universe is built, and not meant to answer “why”
the universe exists or why it is as it is.
There is no
way to disprove God exists, but there is plenty of testimony that He does exist.
For scientists who believe there is only science, why would they ignore the
evidence? When the human genome project mapped our DNA, the world’s most prominent
atheist Anthony Flew recanted his atheism for a belief in a higher being. He
said he followed the evidence and it was overwhelming that there had to be
intelligent designer for the design. Why
do the laws of nature and of the universe lead to intelligent life? It did not have to be that way. How sad is it
that he convinced thousands of impressionable young people at college
throughout the years to not believe in God, only to later admit he was wrong.
If we had a
trial to determine if there was a God, would we dismiss all the eye witnesses &
testimony for God? Why is it ok that
atheists do this out of hand?
Life Lessons
What is the
meaning of life? Have you ever thought
of why are we conscious enough to even ask that question?
In the book “Hiking
Through”, Paul thought that himself and his wife Mary would work hard, get out
of debt, retire early, and enjoy life. But within 4 months of retirement, his
wife was dead from cancer. He felt when he needed God, That God was not
available.
Sometimes
people get bitter because they have lost someone, and Paul had to deal with
those emotions too. For me, after reading “Imagine Heaven”, that vision became more real because of people
sharing their experiences. I fully believe that people who have a relationship
with God who have passed, are in a place more beautiful and loving than we can
possibly imagine. That make sense to me because whomever created all that we
see and don’t see could easily create a heaven as well. It seems to me death is
merely a transition, not an end.
Later when Paul
went hiking the Appalachian Trail, he found that God was trying to speak to
him, but he had always just been too busy to hear. He had been living too fast, too busy to see.
“The
stresses of life blind us. Our eyes behold, but we do not grasp the greatness
of what God placed here for our enjoyment. “
How often has
God placed people in our daily path that can help us, or that we are supposed
to help, but we are just too busy. Sometimes,
a few kind words can change someone’s day or path in life.
No one has a
guarantee of Tomorrow. Tell our loved ones today how we feel.
I think CS
Lewis summed this up very well when he said “Aim at heaven and you will get
earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.”
Is there good and evil?
I think we
have evidence of good and evil in the world, (just think Hitler) and so I think
we have to choose about God because our choice affects others as well as ourselves.
Not making a choice is deciding.
There
is an old joke: Jesus was on one side of a fence and the devil was on the other. There
were 100 people gathered there. Jesus spoke of love and eternity, the devil
said it was all a lie and he was just crazy. Right “Now”, this life was all
there is. At the end they each asked people to come to their side and follow
them. 50 people went to Jesus’s side of the fence, 49 went to the devils
side. They wall walked away. 1 man sat
on the fence. 2 hours later the devil came back and said “come with me”. The man said “wait, I have not made up my
mind”. The devil said “yes you have. By not choosing a side, you have decided.
“
It has also
been said.
“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't
exist.”
I think the
idea here is to spread love. Love will overcome evil in the world. Every day we
can make the world a little better by spreading love to someone, somehow.
Summation – Love
I believe
there is overwhelming evidence for me to have a reasonable faith in a loving
God who created the entire universe and created me and you for 2 reasons.
1. To have
free will so we can choose to Love God.
2. To love
others.
I hope this
gets your thinking and you take some time to really ask yourself what you believe
and why or why not. Then what should or could you do about it?
Let me ask
you this. How many miracle do we need to see or hear about before it makes sense
for us to believe in God? 1, 10, 100, 1000, 1,000,000? Those numbers exist. There are many
documented cases of these miracles with many eye witnesses. So I think the real
question is “what or who is at the core of our doubt”?
Just today I
saw a story on the news where a man died in a hospital and was pronounced dead.
His heart was stopped for 50 minutes. A pastor was praying over his dead
body with the man’s son, and his heart started beating. The doctors and nurses
said it was a miracle. This happened in a major hospital in Chicago with tons
of witnesses.
Still I read some people who posted
about this article that said it must just a mistake by the doctors & nurses.
It is easier for them to believe that professionally trained doctors, could not
tell a man was dead & that the equipment attached to the man also somehow
failed. Then just coincidentally it
started working after the prayer. It was interesting to me that they made up
evidence that did not exist to change the story to what they wanted to believe
vs accepting the facts reported by multiple people in the hospital.
These type of things have been
happening throughout history. In the bible there is testimony to many miracles
that Jesus performed and these miracles are still happening around us every
day. So whatever number of miracles we need to believe, that numbers
exists. We just need to do the
research. J
I think God
has placed plenty of evidence all around us that is sufficient for us to
believe in him. The question seems more to be “Will we take the time to look
for God”.
If you do
believe in God, but have wandered away or not sure what to do, maybe you could
ask Jesus right now to come into your heart?
Any words will do as God knows your thoughts. J
Example: “Father, thank you for sending your son Jesus to die for my sins and to
show me just how much you love me. Please give me wisdom to guide me to you,
forgiveness for my mistakes, and help me to better love both myself and others.
”
I wish
you peace, joy, love and light. Please pass this on
to someone who might need to read it.
Remember, there is no guarantee any of
us will be here tomorrow so please love someone today. I hope you have a blessed day :-)
Some books I
recommend.
Hiking Through,
The Hidden Face of God, Imagine Heaven, Mere Christianity, The Language of God,
The Holy Bible
Your friend
even if we have never met.