Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: ajm@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au (Tony McGregor) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Is there a God? Message-ID: Date: 9 Mar 91 03:46:31 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Caulfield Campus, Monash University, Melb., Australia. Lines: 91 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article stevem@solbourne.com (Stephen Matson) writes: > Lately I've been having disturbing doubts about the existence of God. [I think you really need to read the rest of Stephen's article to put this in context.] I know _just_ how you feel. I really can't go far towards answering your questions but here are some thoughts from my own life. o The Bible predicts that we won't always find it easy to be Christians. It uses the dramatic language of war to describe the struggle we are caught up in so don't think that your doubts are in contrast with the way a `true Christian' should feel. If God is for real they are a part of Christian life that you will grow through. Remember faith doesn't mean pretending it's true when you think it's not. o Christianity is a relationship. You are human so in many ways the relationship is a human one. In a marriage there are times when you have to remember the good times and take action to get past a problem in the relationship. It's the same with God. In particular you need to set aside time to be with God, like you did when you felt close to him. This time it will feel dry and dead, at least for a time, but do it because you remember the fellowship and want it back. Be prepared to keep it up. I think this kind of action is part of the meaning of the word faith. o God has promised to help us in our need. Ask him to make himself real to you again. Faith is a gift from God; ask for it. Do it daily. Be prepared to go on asking for a while. When I did this after about 2-3 months something happened that removed my doubt. It was a simple quiet thing that wouldn't convince a non-believer (because they wouldn't know enough about me and the situation) but was exactly what I needed. o Look at your life. Is there anything you know God, if he's real, would be unhappy with. If so so something about it. Do it because what you remember about a relationship with God is worth it. o Some of your problems have been adequately dealt with by others. For example I have read some good books about the historical likelyhood of Christ having lived. I believe that almost all scholars accept that he did live and that the general record of the Bible is accurate. There are, for example, structures in Jerusalem that are described in the Bible but were not discovered until comparatively recently. You might enjoy looking around a Christian bookshop. o Be prepared to work with an imperfect model of God/Christ/the Bible/the Church etc. After all we will be wrong on some of the things we believe. Our knowledge is not complete. Concentrate on the core of the gospel and how you can know God and what he wants you to do in your life rather than on peripheral issues like whether he has created life on other planets or even if Genesis is meant to be understood literally. Perhaps your Church is a fandamentalist Church. It may be that `the word of God' when spoken through an imperfect person is inerrant in all respects but that is not the essential quality of God's' word. There are some Christians who are not able to understand God and the Bible in quite the same literal way that a fundamentalist would. One group or the other has an imperfect model of the Bible and, no doubt, is missing some of the richness of God. But our God is an abundant God and he blesses us despite our frailness and our sin. There are many who have a close relationship with God on both sides of this particular fence. Don't give up on God because you have a different view of him from those immediately about you. o You have many other specific questions. You should ask God about them. Christian people _have_ found plausible answers to most or all of them. We could be wrong, of course, but the basic question is "Is there a God." If there is the other questions become challenges to our understanding of him. The answers throw light on his nature. You should be prepared to proceed with some unanswered questions though. After all you don't know everything about computers but can work them quite well. You know there are answers to the other questions because of your experience with computers you just don't know them yet. I hope this helps a little. I know just what it feels like to have had a relationship with God, to want it back but to find you're not sure if you believe at all. I, like others on the net, will be praying for you. God bless you Tony. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tony McGregor ( ajm@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au ) Department of Robotics and Digital Technology, Monash University PO Box 197, Caulfield East, Vic 3145, Australia Phone: +61 3 5732014 Fax: +61 3 5732745 ----------------------------------------------------------------------