WHY BELIEVE IN GOD?

It is not possible for anyone to prove the existence of God to anyone else beyond doubt. However, if you are willing and open to the possibility of the existence of God, then He will prove Himself to you which is really good news. The reason for this is that God has given us free will and He wants us to come to love and trust Him without getting in our faces.

Scientifically speaking the Big Bang Theory and the Theory of Evolution are both equally incredible accountings for the whole of creation; as is the idea of a pre-existent, self-created God who guided the whole of that creation. The fact that we are here at all is actually pretty remarkable but here we are! So, how are we here and does everything exist because of some giant cosmic accident or was there guiding intelligence behind it?

Once you accept that there could be this guiding intelligence, the next question is which one because, let’s face it, there are many different religions. When you look at it, it would appear that humans have a great need to believe in a God as every culture on the planet has had some belief in one or more gods. Furthermore, it would seem wise and safe to discount the religions that worship things like the sun or the rain.
Whilst these things are important to life, there is no intelligence in them.

It is also fairly safe to say that the religions that promote multiple gods are seriously flawed. The reasoning behind this is that these religions always seem to show that the different gods are always fighting and disagreeing with each other. In this case, something as intricate as the creation that we see around us would be a real mess. So, we are left with what are termed the monotheistic (or one god) religions. When you look into this a little deeper, there are actually very few of these.

So, why would you choose the God of Israel? Well, the logic for this is also very simple, in every other religion you need to work your way to god but the God of Israel reaches out to us. The impossibility of us being able to reach up to the standards of some perfect god should be obvious. The fact that the God of Israel reaches out to us and provides ways for us to reach His standards should also be fairly evident.

What we are left with are three very well-known religions, Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The simple fact is that all three actually worship the same God! The difference is in how they view Jesus. In the old Mosaic law, (Old Testament, Torah and Quran) people could be cleansed enough to come into God’s presence through acts of sacrifice and ritual cleansing but this was never sufficient and had to be repeated time and time again; so a promised Messiah (chosen one of God) was prophesied and hoped for; one who would cleanse and restore us once for all.

The main difference between these religions is that the Jews (Judaism) believe that we are still waiting for the Messiah. The Muslims (Islam) believe that Jesus was just another prophet preceding the prophet Mohammed and Christians believe that Jesus was and is the promised Messiah. It has been said that Jesus was either mad, bad or God because of what he claimed about himself. If he was mad or bad then he could not have been the prophet Islam claims him to be whilst his life, teachings and the many prophesies he fulfilled
point to him actually being the Messiah.

That’s the logical argument over with but still it leaves the question of why bother? What’s in it for us? There are many rewards in store for those who decide to follow Jesus and it’s not all just pie in the sky when you die. As soon as we invite Jesus to come into our lives, He starts to transform us. He makes available to us a love, joy and peace that only He can give. You might remark that many Christians do not seem to have this but that is our own failing, not God's! Whilst God, through Jesus, makes many things available to us, it is still up to us to claim and use the gifts that He offers and, because we are still human, fallible and able to use the free will He has given us, we do not always take advantage of these things

On top of this we also have the reassurance of being in God's presence eternally; even beyond our life in this realm. Now, as mentioned earlier, there really is no way that we can ever hope to reach the perfection needed to have a relationship with a perfect God, not on our own, and God knows this. His answer was to send Himself in Jesus so as to make this relationship possible. His plan was for the fully divine to come amongst us as fully human and to take upon Himself the consequences of our rebellion and rejection of him, what we call our sins, dying as a man under a curse and then to rise again from the dead.

Now some people may doubt the very existence of Jesus but a little research shows that his story is not only recorded in the bible but also in contemporary Roman and Jewish writings of the time. Some of these writings even question the death and resurrection of Jesus. However, others (including the bible) record that at the crucifixion a soldier pierced the side of Jesus and water and blood flowed out. Today we know (rather more scientifically) that when the blood stops moving in the body, the plasma and blood solids often separate, a fair indication that the heart has stopped beating. And then after the crucifixion we have the story of the empty tomb and that Jesus was then recorded as being seen by many people over the next 40 days including both sceptics and believers.

If you have read this far then there is a good chance that you are open to the final part of this which is what does God want of us? The answer is as much of a conundrum as God Himself. He asks for very little, and He asks for everything.
We begin by praying honestly that we are sorry for all that we have done that has separated us from God, thanking God for what Jesus has done to put that right and then asking for Jesus to come into our lives as Lord and Saviour. That's it, no if's, no but's, no costs.
Then your Christian journey begins, and as your relationship with God grows, He will put other things on your heart that you might take part in His work. Often these may be just small things to change your life; sometimes they may be bigger things that will really stretch your faith. Yet you will always still retain your freedom of choice but the more you say 'yes' to Jesus, the more He becomes part of your life, bringing that peace, joy and love we mentioned earlier. The choice is yours and God will love you just as much no matter how much you say yes or no to what He asks of you.

We hope that this has helped you understand a little more about where we are coming from, where we are going and why we do what we do. It’s not about being better than anyone else or simply feeling good about ourselves. Christianity is a way of life that many Christians over the last two thousand years have found to be the best and most rewarding way to live.
If this has touched you enough to consider praying the simple prayer of confession and acceptance suggested above then we recommend that you go to a Christian church as soon as possible and make yourself known. Whilst we would love to welcome you to St Andrew’s, we realise that our style of service does not suit everyone so a different church might suit you better. However, if you are reasonably local, why not come to us first; we'd be delighted to help guide you to the most appropriate place as you begin your Christian journey.