Random thoughts on Christianity


Let's start with this assumption: The Bible is not the truth, and when we die, we die and there is no afterlife. Even if this hypothesis is true, to follow what the Bible preaches still gives great wisdom and insight for living life. Albert Einstein, who did not believe in a personal God, had a great respect for the Bible and its teachings. The highest principles for our aspirations and judgements are given to us in the Jewish-Christian religious tradition.

Christianity is funny in that since it was meant for everyone, different people respond the Bible differently. And I think that is why we have so many different denominations. Some Christians put more of an emphasis on the literal interpretation of the Bible, and perceive the Bible as a set of rules which we must live by. Others, put more of an emphasis on a relationship with Christ as the basis of Christianity. My hope is that people will not judge Christianity on the actions of others, because everyone is different, and noone is perfect. Christianity is for everyone, but everyone must understand the Bible in their own unique way. After all everyone is a unique individual; no two people are the same.

Words cannot justify my motivation or anyone's motivation to become a Christian. God gives faith alone, faith cannot be attained. So, this is not a justification of my actions for myself, for I have seen the truth; this is my feeble attempt to relay what I have experienced, and what I know, and what led me to become a Christian.

I am of the opinion that we as humans know very little about our life, our existence, the universe, etc. And even if we do know something about the universe, it can only be described by sensory perception and reason. Einstein said, “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.” He also described our intellectual inadequacy as:

The human mind is not capable of grasping the Universe. We are like a little child entering a huge library. The walls are covered to the ceilings with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written these books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. But the child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books--a mysterious order which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects.

Imagine if you were born into this world blind, and you never knew there was such a thing as vision. How would you perceive the world? You could not even perceive what the word "color" meant, or even imagine that there was a sun which emmitted light. Now compare that with us, who have five senses. What if we had one more sense? We could not even imagine what that sixth sense would let us realize, let alone imagine what amazing things we could learn about our universe.

If this is true, even being a scientist, I would have to say that we are in no way even close to being able to describe the universe. Therefore, by reason of lack of intelligence about this universe, I must choose to blindly believe something. That religion which I decide to believe is another question. I think that you can group religions into certain categories, maybe Omnipotent single God beliefs and all others. More on this...

Even if I had a lifetime to search for the truth, I would never find it. I would have to at some point say, these arguments outweigh these other arguments, so I am going to pick Christianity over Atheism or vice-versa.

“...many of the world's greatest philosophers and scientists have gone beyond deductive assent to the confidence that God exists because they have experienced Him. Were Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Newton and the great social reformers of the nineteenth century victims of infantile wish fulfillment? Did some psychological whim motivate St. Francis and George Fox to expend their lives in protest against economic elitism? Was Louis Pasteur, who labored against great physical handicaps to achieve scientific breakthroughs to benefit humanity, simply mistaken in his motivation to do so for the glory of God?”

Why Christianity, why not another religion?

What makes Christianity better than others religions? It is true that I haven't experienced all religion before making my decision to be a Christian. I spent alot of time in undergrad as an agnostic, searching for truth, what is life? why are we here? And it led me to searching out many different types of religion: Taoism, Zen Buddism, Metaphysics... The reason that I believe in Christianity has nothing to do with what proofs I can give for its existence, and everything to do with how being a Christian has changed my life.

Evidence of Christianity by Observing Others

And by the way, haven't you heard many amazing stories that Christianity has turned people around. Most people reject Christianity because they base Christianity on the actions of Christians, and not on what the Bible says. Hence, “the single greatest cause of atheism is people who acknowledge Jesus by their lips and deny Him by their lifestyle.” I know people who don't believe in Christ, and even those who consider theirselves Christians, mock people that go around saying "praise the Lord" and make fun of people that have all the Christian bumper stickers on the back of their car. Again, you can't base the existence of God on the actions of humans. Your future is at stake, you could be facing ETERNAL imprisonment in a place much worse that any prison we could image.

“But most rebellion against God is not intellectual. I have met few genuine atheists who would argue passionately that there can be no God; instead the preponderance of objections are moral and personal” -- Charles Colson in _Why_I_Believe_In_Christ_.

Einstein put it this way: “Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.

A Good Story

My five year old second cousin was in a boat accident and was in a coma. when she came out of the coma, she said that she had talked with my Grandfather (who passed away a few years ago. she said she really liked where she went, and a very nice Man told her that it was not time for her to be there permanently and that she must go back. she did not want to go back. when asked what grandpa looked like? she said what she experienced was not like on earth, it was as if their minds were communicating directly.

Evidence of Christianity based on the Origin of Time

Does it not say something about Christianity, that our origin of time is based on the birth of Christ? Something big must have happened around that time for someone to decide that time would be based on the birth of Christ.

My advice to others

And there might be people who say, I have tried Christianity, and I felt nothing. I would have to say to them that they did not do something right then. God's existence presents itself when we are obedient to Him. So if someone truly wants to experience Christianity, they must forsake all and trust Him. That means, if you are a Grad student in school and the Bible says "rest on the 7th day", then you rest, no matter if you have three finals the following Monday. That is trusting God, and you will find that by being obedient you will be incredibly blessed and if it is God's will for you to be in school and do well in school, then He will help you through.


Wesley H. Brewer <wesleybrewer@lycos.com>
Last modified: Mon Oct 20 17:23:16 CDT 1997