My Thoughts On Deciding

The biggest thing in choosing to believe or not, in my opinion anyway, is to never close your mind to the idea that He does exist.

Never decide with absolute certainty that God is not real. Because won't you be pretty damn sorry if He is and you blew Him off because the world was telling you so?(Romans 12:2-Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is- His good, pleasing, and perfect will.)

Here's a scenario for you:

Let's say God's not real for a moment. That we're just on the earth because there was a big bang and all of sudden it happened. There's no greater power out there. We evolved from the animals and monkeys and here we are. Human beings. We're not perfect, we make mistakes, and lately a large percentage of us seem to suck.

Why is it necessary for you as a human to not have an open mind about a greater power? If you think about it, it wouldn't really affect you in any way at all in the end. If there's no greater power, if there's no God, then when you die.. you die. You won't have to answer for anything you've done or haven't done. You won't have any reason to explain why you believed in what you believed in, or didn't believe in.

So why would you close your mind to there being even the slightest possibility that there is indeed a god? Now I'm not even talking about The Alpha and Omega here, I'm just referring to a divine being in general. If you believe there is no cause for us to be on earth, then why do literally anything? If God isn't there to judge what we did while on earth, why would you not go around killing anyone you want to? Or stealing anything? What's the worst that can happen.. you go to jail? When you die there are no repercussions, right?

So I'm not saying you have to convert to Christianity because I say so. I'm not saying you HAVE to believe in God right now this instant.(Although in reality, my hope is some of you will)

I am saying that believing we are here because we are---is more or less a lazy answer.

Believing there's nothing to believe in, well that just doesn't seem to make sense to me. 

So moving back to my original point....

Don't close your mind to the idea that there is something-someone out there who put us here. Who decided we would roam this earth. That gave us personalities and a conscious and wants and desires and fears. Maybe you need more convincing before you become a Christian, fine! But believe in something. Believe there's a greater power. Believe there's a divine being. Believe.

That being said, your openness to believing in something should hopefully bring you to an understanding that God is real. That God put us here, that there is hope in our humanity, in our generation, in the generations to come. Maybe you're not ready to believe in the one true God. Maybe you're not ready to open up. Maybe you're not ready to accept that sometimes life just isn't fair. But don't you owe it to whoever-whatever you think put us here to at least try?

Do you think that if God is real, you're gonna regret not knowing Him? You're gonna regret not accepting the truth? You're gonna regret every time you walked past a church or an opportunity to learn about God and had that feeling of maybe it is real? or  what if? but pushed past it because you had something more interesting to do? So don't have regrets. Don't wake up one morning and realize you had countless opportunities to at least open up and hear what we Christians are trying to share with you.

The phrase I would use to summarize this tangent filled post is this:

Believe in what you want to believe, that's the beauty of free will. But, if you choose to believe there is nothing out there with greater power, who will it hurt to keep an open mind?

*The point of this post is not to convert you to Christianity. It's not to shame you for not believing in God. But if either of those things happen, do you think maybe it happened for a reason? 
You tell me. 

So Here's What I Think

I don't have all the answers.

No one does. I'm going to try my best to do what I can, with God's help. 

You may not like it, you may not agree with what I'm saying, but I feel it's necessary to tell you what I think. So here goes.

Some of the yaks: (for reference)

"I'd love to go through my long line of questioning that led me to atheism but nobody has ever been able to answer them, and your arguments are already familiar. But certainly not all bad things come from us. Plenty just happens. Someone innocent dies in a fire. Someone drowns in a flood, etc. And if you'd argue that these horrible things are part of God's plan, I want nothing to do with a god that chooses to include such awful things in his plan. And if you'd argue that bad things are a trial through which we must persevere and keep faith, that god seems more like a psychopath than a loving guardian."

I'd agree.

Those things are incredibly awful. Innocent people dying, causing their families, friends, and loved ones to suffer. Worlds become shitty, war ridden, and unbearable. And how do we explain it? How can we live in a world where these things happen, and just believe that they're 'for a reason', and that 'God has a plan'? It's hard. It's damn hard.

There are many things I can't even begin to think about explaining, let alone fathom them. How would you explain why people die for no reason? How can you explain why there are millions of people right now who are being affected by the events in Paris and Beirut? I have no idea. I do know what I believe to be true, which is that there indeed is a plan. 

But people make decisions we don't see coming. They decide to believe in their choices. They believe the words in their heads, seeing what they're doing as right and correct and good. They think that what they are doing is for the good of the world.

So you're right, I have no real answers, I have no proven facts. I do have faith.

Faith that we are made to do good works.

We are made to go out and help those who need help.

I have been given life, so that I may help sustain life in others.
We are called to be the help the world needs.
I have a house, a family, a bed, an income(albeit small), friends, you name it. I believe I was given all these things so that I can use them to do God's work, whatever it may be. If there is someone who needs something that I can provide for them and I feel that God is calling me to do so, you better believe I'm going to do that!

God's original plan may not include a house fire taking the life of an innocent child.

But I choose to believe that He does have a plan that includes many, many people coming together to support the family of that child. That child, who's now in Heaven, partying it up with God Himself. And I know you may not agree, and I'm sorry for that. I hope you find this interesting at least. That it's something to continue to think about, not just blow off.
Reflect on it, give it thought, prayer even-- if your up for it.
Don't make up your mind, be open... and just wait, hope, and see what happens.