I was amused this morning during prayer. As I was very
peacefully abiding in the love of God it suddenly occurred to me that atheists
think I have faith because God is an explanation for what I do not
understand. I started to laugh as I
realized that I would believe in and love God even if this faith explained
nothing! Yes, God is a convenient explanation for everything we do not
understand, but that is not why I believe in God. I suppose those who do not
have faith need an explanation for why others do have faith and, so, God as
explanation for the mysteries of life makes sense to them. It is really too bad
that believers have allowed unbelievers to think this without challenging it. The
truth is, we accept this analysis and even throw it in their faces. Believers
challenge unbelievers all the time with cries of “How can you explain this?” “How
can you explain that?” “See, God exists! I told you so!”
Think about it for a moment. If I ask you if you believe in
God because this belief helps you to explain things you would not otherwise be
able to understand, the clear answer is NO! Contrary to atheism, there is no
explanation for faith, other than the love and tender mercy of God and
receptiveness to the gift on the part of those who believe. Ask any atheist why they do not believe in
the existence of God and you’ll, normally, get a trove of reasons. Even for
those who may not have a trove of reasons, there will be a rational
explanation. Atheism is always arrived at rationally, faith, although never
contrary to reason and often aided by reasoning, never is. Belief in God, for
me, makes much more sense than atheism, but that is not why I believe. I
believe because God has given me the gift of faith. God is the explanation for
religious faith and that makes perfect sense to me even if it makes no sense at
all to an atheist.
I do not need reasons to believe, and all the reasoning in
the universe will not cause an unbeliever to accept the truth of God’s existence.
We need to continue to demonstrate the reasonableness of faith. This builds up
our faith, but we should stop thinking we are going to convince anyone. Only
God can do that! When the gift of faith is offered and received, it transforms
the mind and heart as only God can do.
One of the points here is that faith is not simply an
intellectual understanding. I think there are very many people who believe God
exists because that makes sense to them, but they do not have the gift of
faith. Faith is so much more than a mere intellectual conviction. It resides in
both the mind and the heart and that is why it can be so strong.