Ten hard Questions by a Sceptic. #3
Welcome to my blog post entitled "Unveiling the Zeitgeist". Recently, I had the privilege to answer 10 questions from a friend about the nature of God and spirituality in general. I am sharing the ten-part Q&A with my friend's permission. I have titled this very first series "Ten hard questions by a Sceptic". I hope that this blog post series helps all the skeptics out there that wrestle with the existence of God in their minds and in their hearts. Friends, It's time to leave the fence!
So, the creator, foreknowing this would happen, weaved into history a wonderful plan of redemption.
#3 How do we know religion or faith isn't a concept made up by humans? That feeling of "God spoke to me" or "I know and feel that this is what God wants from me" - how do we know that's not reality created by our minds and we believe it because it feels good?
Let’s keep the 10-ton gorilla metaphor in play. I call it the organized institutional church and the man-made church with all of its negative connotations from historical exploits of the Templars, the Spanish inquisition, and indulgence. This is what people remember and that is what weakens the church. However, remember the humble beginnings. God the ancient spirit defines himself as God “I am” because He (and the Trinity) marks the start of consciousness of “coming to be” since no one was there before Him and no one created God: He is the very first. This God longed for the restoration of a broken relationship to His creation. His own creation, neglected the relationship and eventually broke the rules that protected the relationship (“Don’t eat the apple in the middle of the garden”). So, the creator, foreknowing this would happen, weaved into history a wonderful plan of redemption. The world was traveling down the rabbit hole of transgression and lawlessness and sin grew rampant and therefore compounded debt that demanded a costly price. Since sin and holiness (God =Holiness) do not mix, the relationship grew apart further and faster. God the Almighty, never created but upholds His own creation within the span of his finger and God has so many names and attributes, decided to lower himself to the eye level of his fallen sinful creation. Why?, You may ask. It is because God is absolute and since His words are always infallible and consistent, He can’t break his own rules and covenant. One of God’s rules is that for the redemption of sin an animal had to be sacrificed because the blood of the animal was a requirement as a sin offering. This was the law. Righteousness was only attained by keeping every law all the time. The Trinity sent God in flesh as Christ or Messiah (the redeemer or the rescuer) to this fallen world. Holiness enters sin voluntarily which is reason enough to show unfathomable humility on God’s part. God’s plan was to sacrifice Jesus in lieu of an animal for its sacred blood to fulfill the requirement and not circumvent His own law. So, the heavenly God in human form came to die for the sins of His own creation. How it went down, we all know. It was a brutal slaughter that ended on the cross. The creator died at the hands of His creation. To what end? Restoration of a broken relationship and to give hope for the future for those that believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Hope for life on this earth but also in the life everlasting.
This cannot be made up even by thousand generations in their collective effort. The level of consistency in the story was captured in the bible which to this day is the most accurate book in history. ** Therefore, it cannot be a man-made or a human construct born from our mind. Throughout history, the gospel was always readily accepted by the poor, broken, contrite, and the weak. The intellectuals, the proud, the wealthy, and the powerful have no tangible need for redemption nor need hope in this life and eternity is an afterthought. Unless there is a crisis in life that is when the afterthought becomes the search! What holds true is that faith can be rejected in so many ways possible but intellectual contempt for the “faith” is a common one. If someone can establish an argument that faith is an output of human endeavor, God’s existence can no longer be justified.
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