12 – 12 – 17 Why I Believe in God (5 minutes)

If someone asked me why I believed in God what honest answer could I give them that would also be a good reason? I’m not saying you need a good reason for doing a good thing to be a good choice, but if you’re trying to convince someone else to dedicate themselves to that path it seems more necessary.

I think a large part must be simply that I was raised to. That certainly provides a bias off the bat. Or does it? I see just as many kids that hate church because they think they know it well as those that hate it out of fear and total ignorance. Throw in the instinct to rebel and move away from the views of one’s parents during adolescence and it seems that the difference in probability of being an adult in the church may come far closer to netting out to zero than we’d think intuitively.

There was certainly part of me growing up that wanted to disagree with what my parents believed on general principle. I think the question of whether being raised in the church makes one more likely to be a Christian as an adult depends largely on that person’s relationship with their parents and their own disposition and independence of mind.

Could I say it’s because God has greatly blessed me? This would be true, but I see no correlation, or perhaps even a negative one, between the degree to which people are blessed and the degree to which they believe in God. Even in the scriptures there is this current of God being for the poor and lowly more so than the powerful. But you’d be hard pressed to hear someone say they believe in God because they are so miserable. So it doesn’t seem like my life conditions could be a good argument either.

I have had visceral experiences in prayer that make me feel as though something is really happening. From just a slight tingle through my arms and legs to the feeling that my body is becoming lighter and being lifted up directly from its center of mass. On these occasions my head will tilt back without me noticing, so that I feel I am reaching for the sky with my frontal lobe. God has been very generous to me in prayer, one of the first times I genuinely tried it, I think I was 16 or 17, I had one of these physically engaging experiences. Yet still, I wouldn’t pray! I remember at the time thinking it was incredible that I would still refuse to sit down and spend time with God when every time I did was so gratifying, energizing, and comforting.

I still don’t pray nearly as much as I should, and I have trouble stilling my mind. I think, though, that the more important thing than doing it well is doing it, so I’ve tried to make prayer a habit in the hope my mind will adapt to the stimulus.

While this may be a good reason for me to believe in God, I don’t think I could be convinced away at this point simply as a result of the experiences I’ve had, I think it hardly works for evangelism.

While I believe one can come close to making a logical argument for God I’m not sure you could ever have an ironclad one that would hold up in court. Where then would be the room for faith? A man is not faithful or excellent in any way for believing what can be demonstrated to him beyond a shadow of a doubt. Again, if my intent was to proselytize, I doubt how much success I could garner this way.

What I can speak to is the fact that when I try my hardest to live in accordance with God’s will my life is better. I sleep sounder, have more energy, and am happier. I succeed in more earthly measures, feel more fulfilled in my relationships, and rarely feel guilt or shame.

And I do mean “try” when I say try! It is not that I am so pleased with myself when I do well, it is that (I believe) God encourages/rewards the attempt with these good feelings, this energy.

But besides that, even if God did not do this we would still feel better. Because His Word is not valuable, not true, only because it is His Word. It is the ultimate truth, it would be true were there no God. Indeed, this makes a lot of sense if we see God as benevolent. He is not simply trying to impress His rules upon us, He is trying to teach us the rules of the universe and life and love. I suppose it is similar to the difference between a teacher and a drill sergeant.

I am struggling so much in my desire to continue my ministry. I just never imagined I’d have to work so hard at advertising and exposure. I thought that the spiritual and artistic work would be the harder bit. Well, I suppose they are the harder bit, but also more gratifying and fulfilling so they don’t feel so burdensome.

I think it is because I still feel this threat that I’m only doing it out of pride. That I only sermonize because I think I know better, because it’s a way to prove my intelligence and superiority. I suppose that’s always a threat and will only grow more so if I ever find any success in this venture. So I might as well disregard it now since I’ll have to disregard an even greater and more realistic threat later (maybe). 

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I think the short version of the answer that I've come to believe for this question is this: I believe in (follow) God because it is the most joyful and sustainable way I've found to live.