Hi Lorrie,
You have many questions, so it will take two posts. Sorry to make you read so much.
I’ve been struggling with my faith a lot lately because I find myself constantly questioning God’s existence. All the things we hear on the news (babies being raped, people being brutally murdered, etc.) I’m wondering how such a loving God can allow that to happen?
No one really knows the answer to that question, but we do have information in our lives to draw upon. We have example after example of good coming from something actually or seemingly tragic. Things like parents losing one child only to reform the bonds they had lost with other children. People finding a faith they didn’t believe they ever would; people returning to a faith they’d forsaken. Those in addictions seeking treatment. Societies changing their whole outlook or mores, such as with slavery or civil rights, for example. You could go back in each of those and find moments or events that appeared to be nothing short of complete evil, yet what we believe is that all things happen for a reason, and that plan, the complete plan, end-to-end, is not ours to know or see. Even when Jesus was asked for the date of His return, He deferred to things known only to the Father. We also know from Jesus’ teaching that eternal life is “where it’s at,” so to speak, and that what happens in this world is of little consequence in the long haul, disbelief being the exception.
Do we have concrete proof that He exists?
Concrete proof is a subjective term; it means something different to each of us. There isn’t a litmus paper against which you can hold God and have it turn blue or pink, if that is what you mean. The evidence we have is sort of like evidence for wind thousands of years ago. You couldn’t actually see or measure the wind, but you could see its effects… trees leaning, leaves blowing, etc. We can see it in the lives of people who believe and try to grow in faith. Some look for more profound things, such as the many miraculous cures and things of that nature.
Evolution seems logically possible, even the Big Bang Theory seems logically possible. Are we supposed to simply have blind faith?
No, we are not supposed to have blind faith. In fact the New Testament calls for us to “be able to give a reason for the hope that lies within” us. You can’t do that if you are simply an “I believe” sort of person without any depth to that belief. We use the word “belief” to describe our relationship with God and Church, but that is just a term that does not adequately cover the whole deal. The whole point of that belief is to have a relationship with God, a personal one, where those doubts you are speaking of have vanished and have been replaced by a surety and a conviction that the relationship is true and worthy of both God and you. Thus when you pray, it has meaning. When you worship, you are fully aware of the holiness of that Being you take the time to worship.
I don’t know if you’ve ever loved someone, really loved them, and they didn’t love you back, or not. If you have, it might give you some insight into God’s relationship with us. He’s everywhere, loving us every minute, extending His hand to us with the key for true meaning in our lives if we will but just accept it. Those who do, amazingly, seem to find that meaning and cherish it. Those who don’t imagine every good thing, every success in their own lives is
their doing. Then when calamity strikes, when hard times come, they are left without an answer because
they didn’t do it.
We see this scenario in the classic example of people in the music industry who rise meteorically to fame and fortune, and often are not equipped to deal with the baggage such wealth and notoriety bring with it. As soon as their recordings stop selling and their latest video is scorned, they begin to replace cheering fans with cocaine, heroin, or other unhealthy substitutes. The common man doesn’t enjoy the wealth those stars have, wealth that allows them to assemble whole teams of enablers that help them grow sicker and weaker under the guise of being their friends. One day, the money runs out or some “friend” jacks up the medication a bit too strong and all that’s left is a memory of what was once a bright, shining light. Think what could have happened in some of those tragic stories had those individuals had a faith, a belief, a relationship with God that would help them keep their head on straight and not fall prey to the weaknesses and temptations that would take the very life right out of them?
Good things happen to people, is it God or just good luck swinging their way?
God’s divine plan encompasses everything, good and bad. We don’t have the blueprint and are never likely to get it. What we do have is a God who created us. We, that is, mankind, are not perfect like Him, we are imperfect, and as such when given the free will He gave us, we often use it in ways that aren’t in our best interest, at least long-term. We fall to temptations, we lose our temper and say rash things we regret later, etc. But because of His infinite love for us, He reached out to us, not us to Him, and offered us a way to come back into community with Him when we err and fall out of it. That is the entire significance of Jesus’ coming into the world and going out of it in the way that He did. He died for us, but equally importantly, He LIVED for us. Now we know how to get home again.
How do we know the Bible is the absolute truth?
There are many approaches to this question. If you believe in God, and that Jesus is who He claimed to be - and He said, “I am the Truth…” - then that pretty much answers whether the writings in the Bible are true. If you begin with no belief in God, you have to work the problem a different way. You first have to decide how we came into being. Accident? Deliberate act? Then you get into all the philosophical questions about first cause. That is, every “thing” is caused by something. If you work it backwards, you end up with two possibilities… either that set of dominoes extends backward for eternity, or somewhere there was some “thing” that was the first… that is, did NOT have a cause. You can research that or search on here, I’m sure it’s been discussed, but the thing is you have to decide one way or the other. Saying “Big Bang” was the start only answers part of the question… where did the matter for BB come from? Why did it suddenly explode one minute when it was perfectly happy to be a superduper compressed dot of something the second before? The questions are infinite.
