I want to share a little bit of
something that's been on my mind for a while now. As many of you
know, I'm a Christian. I'm sure that this comes as no surprise to
the 7 of you that read this. Right now, I'm just hoping that quoting George Michael for the title of this blog doesn't move me out the express lane in Heaven. I think the one thing that most of you
appreciate about me is that I don't try to force my religious
opinions down your throats. I think this is a common misconception
about what it means to be a Christian. Anyways, I want to talk about
faith for a minute. I know that many people don't like to read much
anymore, and if I were to get a picture of kittens and make a meme,
it would probably be a lot more effective, but just be patient with
me for a little bit and I'll get to the point.
As I said before, I wanted to talk
about faith. The reasoning for this self-exploration is because I've
been able to have quite a few conversations with Christians and it
always comes to the point of trying to prove that Christianity is the
right way to live. There's always derivations from scripture and
speculation. Then all of this is wrapped into a pretty little bow
and touted as fact. Now, this is where I get a little bit confused
because despite my agreement to everything that this person has
presented, everything that he has given me is still based on my
faith, not on fact. The Bible says that, “without faith it is
impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must
believe that he exists...” The Bible also says that faith is the,
“conviction of things not seen.” If this is the case, then
regardless of how awesome anyone is at linking historical facts to
the Bible and making convincing arguments based on the relationship
between multiple sources and references in the Bible, nothing can be
proven because it's all based on things that we cannot see.
My frustration lies with this whole
viewpoint of if I don't agree with you then I am not a real
Christian and I'm not being true to the Bible. I'm tired of people
downplaying my devotion to my faith because I accept the fact that I
cannot prove anything. I can't prove that Jesus died on the cross
and rose again three days later. I have faith that he did, which is
why I'm a Christian. But the second I try to prove that to another
person, I'm not acting in faith that God will reveal Himself to them.
I'm not believing that God will use my words to reach those who have
ears to hear and eyes to see. I'm not acting in a way that shows
that I believe that I am enough for His plan because I feel that I
need more proof to convince because deep down I don't feel that faith
is enough. I'm not sure if anyone has ever explained it this way to
me, or anyone else for that matter. How am I acting in faith if I
don't believe that God has given me all that I need to be successful.
The cool thing about us is that God gave us free will. He gave us
the ability to choose, to reason, to make the best decision for our
lives. This means that we have the freedom to make bad decisions too.
Why is this ok in every other aspect of our lives except for our
spiritual lives? Why can't we Christians understand that we can't
make other people believe what we believe? The great commission says to go
and teach all nations. It doesn't say go make them learn. One thing
that I've come to understand as a teacher is that I can teach to the
best of my ability, I can come up with the best analogies, lesson
plans, assessments, and assignments possible; but if a student
doesn't want to learn it, there's nothing I can do about it. If a
student doesn't have ears to hear and eyes to see, what more is my
responsibility. I'm not saying give up on teaching them, I'll come
up with another plan, or bring someone else in to help and say it a
different way. But at the end of the day, it's that person's choice
to learn, believe, accept, convert, etc.
So as one Christian to the universe,
let me begin this conclusion with I love you all. I pray that you
all will experience the joy that I have in the relationship that I
have with my Savior. I pray that the shortcomings of us Christians as humans does
not keep you from experiencing the amazing love of God. I also pray
that Christians will begin to have faith that Jesus will use their
words to touch the hearts of those with ears to hear and eyes to see,
and that there is no amount of proof in the world that will create a
conviction in the things that are not, and cannot be, seen. The sad
fact is that when you can prove it, it'll be too late. Sorry if I've
upset a lot of my Christian friends, but I'm just thinking out loud.
