Faith

Faith is very tangible to me. It is something I count as a gift which isn’t too far fetched considering Ephesians 2:8, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–.”This gift has brought me through life. I can’t say I’ve lived a difficult life, or that I’ve suffered much loss or pain, but I can say that without faith I would have no hope. In middle school faith brought me out of losing every one of my friends without going into depression. Insert long story here about how we got kicked out of a Christian School and my friends refused to talk to us anymore. Let it be known that the principal has since apologized, but she will never know how it rocked my world. I was there from kindergarten to seventh grade and then we were gone without the ability to say goodbye. We homeschooled the next few years and I chose to move on happy– to accept what had happened and move on. In tenth grade I then moved to the school I met my future husband (and many others I’ve kept in contact with thankfully!). Without the first incident I can’t say I would have ever met him, or that my life would be the same. In college faith brought me through many sciences classes with a deeper faith in God -the creator- instead of less of one. In Evolution class I looked at everything they credited to evolution and credited it to God. I’m not sure what affect this had on my professors as they read my papers, but my grades did not suffer and my points were not discredited. In marriage my faith brings me closer to God and my husband. In child rearing my faith helps me explain many challenging questions to include, “where did we come from,” ” why are there bad people in the world,””what happens to us when we die,” and so on. In my career my faith helps me stress less and trust God more. When something isn’t working we try something else. When the husband’s work changes positions on him we trust that God has a plan, when we’ve been trying to conceive a baby for 11 months with no positive test we trust that God has a plan (and will be happy with the beautiful children he’s already given us), and especially when I see evil things in the world I will put my faith in Christ. Faith is my reason to hope. There is no hope without it, only closed doors.

I am not really sure why some believe God can not exist if evil exists. It is because evil exists that I am thankful for a good God, and the hope that only He can give. I get the argument that if there is a good God, who can control everything, He would put a stop to evil, but God did not create moral evil. Moral evil exists because men choose to do evil, and not because of God. Moral evil is apart from God and God can have nothing to do with it! But it is because moral evil exists that God offers hope. He sent His son to conquer death and offer us eternal life. So it is because of a good God that we may live and die in an evil world in yet still have hope in eternal life with God after death. If evil exists (and it does because we see it all around us) then we have a good God for offering a solution. A non caring God would not offer hope in death, and no god would equal hopelessness and despair in death. Evolution offers a circle of life, so I hope that those who put their faith in evolution can find hope in the fact that their loved ones have turned back to the earth, never to be seen again. It amazes me, however, that most would say their loved ones are in heaven upon death. The question then is who made the heavens? Who rules the heavens? You see if you are to believe that there is no God then how can you believe there is heaven? Or is it that you believe you were a good person and so a good god would let you in? If you believe this then you must answer what is good? What is good enough? How do you know your loved one was good enough? The Holy Bible says there are none that are good in Romans 3,“None is righteous, no, not one.” This is quite the dilemma here. We have people who believe the creator God created heaven and will take care of them after death, but did not create life to begin with, and therefor has no say in how they live their lives. In essence you have a child who continuously disrespects, belittles, and shames his parents then demands inheritance upon their deaths. You say, “well I am a good person I never belittled god.” What do you think it is to deny the creator praise for your creation? To look around at the beauty around you, the intricacy of life, and say, “there is no god.” Or to think that god created a heaven for you to go when you die but not the earth you currently live in? This does not make logical sense to me. It seems you have created your life, your terms, and your perfect ending. You might as well be god except…. who created you?

There are a few things you must consider in faith. There is a creator God who created you and therefor can set the terms for life. Just as a parent raises a child in love. This God offers a solution to evil in the world. Upon death a Heaven awaits those who believe in Him with no suffering, no pain, no death, and no evil. The devil will burn in a lake of fire and evil with him. All that this God asks is that you believe in Him. Romans 10:9 says, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” This grace is given through faith. Faith is the vehicle that gives us hope. Death does not have to be the end, nor the suffering of this world. Without this hope I am not sure how I could ever cope with the evil around me. It is difficult to understand the evil some have within their hearts. It is hard to watch other nations murder each other for land or religion. To watch people die for simple things, or to hear of murder in cold blood, animal cruelty, or child abuse. If it were not for my hope in a righteous judge who will take justice into His own hands, and save those who believe in Him, I do not know if I would care to live in this world. I certainly would not want to die with no hope. Honestly if I die with this hope I will be happy. I have nothing to lose! I know there is a God, I know it with every fiber of my being, but for those without a belief in God you have everything to lose. You see, if there is no God then I will die with hope and lose nothing. If there is a God, and you have not lived by faith in Him, then you will not see hope in death–nor life because you see evil with no light at the end of a tunnel. You will continue to live in evil. John 3:36 says, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” To me that is a scary place to be, and it’s not worth the gamble. So for me I choose to live by faith. As Hebrews 11 states, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” In God I place my faith, and I hope for life without evil after death!