Is your faith strong enough to NOT believe in God?
Before I became a Christian, I used to believe that anyone who believed in Jesus wasn't using their brain. I thought they were simply following their religion blindly, either because they were born into it or driven by emotional feelings. However, now that I'm a Christian myself, I can confidently say that while faith is of utmost importance, it doesn't require us to abandon logic, common sense, or science.
Just the other day, I was listening to this Bible sermon about John 5:1-32. It talked about how using our minds to examine the evidence for God's existence can actually make our faith stronger. And from my own experience, that has definitely been the case.
There is a wealth of evidence supporting the authenticity of the Bible and the truth of Jesus as the Messiah who came to save us all. Evidence demonstrating the Bible's accuracy can be found in archaeological discoveries, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as historical accounts from sources unrelated to the Bible. One of my favorite resources that explores these matters is J. Warner Wallace's website, ‘Cold Case Christianity’ where he, an atheist-turned-Christian detective, presents compelling information.
Moreover, the Bible contains numerous prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. Professor Peter W. Stone, an expert in mathematics and astronomy, has calculated the odds of one person fulfilling just 8 of these prophecies to be 10 to the 17th power (1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000). To put it into perspective, the odds would be similar to covering the state of Texas with silver dollars, 2 feet deep, marking one of them, and then asking a blindfolded individual to find the marked silver dollar. As wildly unlikely as it would be for this scenario to happen, astonishingly Jesus fulfilled not just 8, but hundreds of Biblical prophecies!
So yeah, being a Christian doesn't mean you have to toss your brain out the window. Faith and reason go hand in hand. In fact, the more I look into the evidence, the stronger my faith becomes in Jesus Christ.
If you are struggling with having faith in Christ, I encourage you to pray for God to reveal Himself to you while also examining the evidence for yourself. Some of my personal favorite sources are J. Warner Wallace’s book “Cold Case Christianity” and Lee Strobel’s “The Case for Christ” which is also available as a movie.
Lastly, for those who are already followers of Christ, I strongly urge you (as I strive to do myself) to continue learning as a means to strengthen your faith and draw closer to God.
To help everyone get started with reading and researching, I am excited to offer two free custom-made bookmarks as a way to help you get started in style! Click the link below to claim yours!