whataboutgod.com - BIG QUESTIONS

BIG QUESTIONS

Does God exist?

Who is God?

Why is the world so messed up?

If God's creation is so good, what went wrong?

Who is Jesus and what makes him important?

Does God exist?

Does God exist? Big question. Two answers. "Yes" or "No." If someone were to ask you that question, what would you say? Your first instinct might be to say "no." There has been no voice from heaven. There have been no true God sightings. We have had a few, but they just end up being some nutcase who either cons people out of their life savings or leads them to some tragic end. We can't discern God or a god by our senses. Can't see it. Can't hear it. Can't taste, smell, or touch it. How can God exist? Maybe God doesn't. You certainly can't prove it.

But if you are willing to say that there is no God, you have to be willing to accept the logical conclusion that we are all accidents. With no creator, no higher power, no Supreme Being, no plan or map for our existence, that is exactly what we are... accidents. Our existence is the result of a series of uncalculated events. Came out of nowhere, out of who knows what. No plan. No purpose. No meaning. No value.

An atheist is a person who believes himself an accident. - Francis Thompson, Writer

The deep core that wants to scream out, "I am important! My thoughts and ideas are valuable and should be respected. My life counts" has no real value. The life we hold so sacred is a created value just like gold and silver. It is valued so long as it is useful. The part of you that hurts at a person's harsh word, that longs to be heard and understood, that believes we have "inalienable rights" is no more valuable than vacant lot. There is nothing that sets us apart. You have no soul.

Soul: The essential being of a person, regarded as immaterial and immortal. - Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, " 1988

BUT, and this is a big but (that's "but" not "butt"), if you don't like the idea of being an accident, then you have to come to terms with the fact that you were shaped, molded, pressed, and stretched according to a plan. There is a part given to you that cannot be pinned down by science, something that exists outside of your physical makeup, an essence, a soul. For this to happen, there has to be something out there. Bigger than us. More powerful than us. That something is God. We found that out, not appealing to a higher authority, but simply looking inside ourselves. God's existence is proved everywhere. We just need to look for the fingerprints.

Now as for WHO God is, that is another big question. If you're interested, go and look. If you have something to say or question to ask you can do it now or just keep looking around. Go and look at what other people have to say in the "Your questions" section.

Who is God?

Who is God? Another big question. If you were to ask someone that question, there is no telling what you'll get for an answer. Everyone has an "idea" of who God is or might be, but no one can give you a clear picture. The best thing that you can do is to go right to the source of the problem. God. Story has it that on a trip to Africa, an American woman was talking to tribal leader and the subject of God came up. He talked about how he grew up praying to gods located in animals and trees but now he refused. He said, "I want to pray to the God who made this." And he lifted up his hand. He saw his hand as such an extraordinary tool that could not have been made by a tree or an animal. Gods that were made of wood and stone BY PEOPLE could not make it. So he prayed to the true God, his creator, even though he did not know exactly who it is.

Sometime try going straight to the "true" God even if you are not sure who it is. Circumvent all the religions and what they say and go straight to the top. God can speak for himself. Then take a deep breath and simply look around. As the creator, God's fingerprints are everywhere. You can tell a lot about an artist as they speak through their work but never actually see the person. What does God say through his work?

What do you see when you look at nature? Mountains. Trees. Oceans. Sunsets. Sunrises. The Sun. Icebergs. The expanse of the sky. The colors of flowers. The human body. Your hand. Your eye. A duckbilled platypus. A wildebeest. An acorn, which starts so small, but grows and grows until it becomes a great redwood tree. A tree that not even fire can destroy. Babies. You see massive power. A sense of humor. An eye for beauty. A scientist.

The cells change completely every seven years. That's so your skin doesn't keep the bruises where people touch you and hurt, you can start again fresh - Dennis Scott, "Time Pieces"

What do you see in yourself as one of God's creations? He created not just your body, but your emotions. The ability to feel joy and sadness. The ability to give love and to receive it. The desire to be loved unconditionally. He gave you the desire to want good things. The ability to be frightened and scared. The desire to protect those around you. The ability to be hurt. The ability to forgive those who hurt you. He gave you life. Just as we have the ability to love our children and see the good in them no matter what anyone says, God sees the good in us. God must know all these things to have put them in us. God creates good things. So often we blame God for the bad, but we forget the good.

But that is not all. Our search for God many times stems from the question we carry in our hearts. "If God exists, does God care?" Did God just create the earth and leave it alone, watching from a distance? If God cares, then why does the world suck? If God created everything so good, what went wrong?

I find it interesting that the meanest life, the poorest existence, is attributed to God's will, but as human beings become more affluent, as their living standard and style begin to ascend the material scale, God descends the scale of responsibility at a commensurate speed. - Maya Angelou

More questions. More pages. If you have something to say or question to ask you can do it now or just keep looking around. Go and look at what other people have to say in the "Your questions" section.

Why is the world so messed up?

You and millions of other people have asked the question, "Why is the world so messed up?" That question alone and the doubt that it raises can make it pretty hard to trust God. Watching and feeling the pain that we inflict on one another can make us angry. A lot of times we direct that anger towards God. Robin Williams in the movie "Patch Adams":

You [God] create man. Man suffers enormous amount of pain. Man dies. Maybe you should have had just a few more brainstorming sessions prior to creation. You rested on the seventh day, maybe you should have spent that day on compassion. (Looks off cliff, contemplating suicide) You know what? You're not worth it.

That statement reveals a pretty pessimistic view of God. Pretty angry too. Maybe that is where you are right now. But so many times when things go wrong in our lives period, whether it be with a class, school administration, work, family, anything, the first thing we tend to do is find someone or something to blame. One of the hardest pills to swallow is admitting you screwed yourself. Realizing that you had the power to change the situation or it was your mistake. God has always been a favorite scapegoat. God doesn't talk back. The problem doesn't lie with God. The problem lies with us. The entire human race and the choices we make in life. We either choose to help people at our expense and for their advantage or hurt other people at their expense for our advantage. There are good choices and bad choices. Sometimes we blame God for the choice another person made. The choice to pull a trigger. The choice to end a relationship. The choice to be a jerk. Winston Churchill once said, "If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another." The problems in the world can be directed towards us.

For best results: wash in cold water separately, hang dry and iron with warm iron. For not so good results: drag behind car through puddles, blow-dry on roof rack. - Laundry instructions on a shirt made by HEET (Korea)

At this point you might ask, "If God is the one who created us, why did God give us the ability to hate and do evil? Why not love and good 24/7? Why give us the choice?" For the same reason love potions never work in the movies or on TV. Love that is given with no other options is hollow and not real. God doesn't want our love by force, but by our choice. We know this by looking at ourselves as a reflection of our creator. Each one of us has a deep desire to love and be loved. It pains us when someone doesn't return our love but the feeling of someone choosing to love us for no other reason than for who we are is indescribable. In that love we find joy, peace, comfort, trust, and security. God already loves us. As an artist loves his work or as a parent loves a child, God loves us because he made us and sees himself in us. God is just waiting for us to love him back.

You can see all of this play out in the Bible's story of creation, when the world began. If you are familiar with the story you might be interested in the fact that IT WASN'T THE WOMAN'S FAULT! Keep reading to find out whose fault it really was.

If God's creation is so good, what went wrong?

All religions have a story about this time period, all are a little far fetched, but this one is different because it is about relationships, ours with God and with one another. It helps explain why we are the way we are.

God had just finished creating all of nature. Sun. Moon. Oceans. Land. Plants. Animals. Bugs. Then God created humans. One man. One woman. Adam (Hebrew for "man") and Eve (Hebrew for "Life" because she is the mother of all the living). God set these two in a garden he planted and told them that it was theirs and to have fun. The man's job was to take care of everything in the world, including his wife. God was with them there. Walking with them and talking freely like old friends. Peace. Joy. Trust. Security. Love. But as we know, love with out choice isn't real. God planted two trees. One was the tree of life. The other was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. These two trees were off limits. God told them that they could of any fruit in the garden (which, being in its pure state, no pesticides, no worms, no bruises, perfect every time, must have been pretty good) BUT they could not eat from those two trees. If they did, they would die. Not because of poison but because God is the source of all life and to turn away and separate yourself from God would mean turning away and separating yourself from life. No life = Death. Pretty simple. Adam and Eve now had their choice and the free will to make it. One good choice. One bad choice. Live forever, happiness, pure love, romp around naked, never knowing pain or die, only pain, evil, and clothes made out of wool. They were duly warned. Hmmm. What to do, what to do? I think you know what choice they made.

You know that voice in your head that tells you to do something you know you really shouldn't? It tells how good it will feel. Even though its bad, it is somehow good for you. Almost like convincing yourself you need a new car but you have no money. The voice tells you how much better your life will be, how all the girls that will like you, then $20k in debt, huge monthly payments, and no girls, you realize it was a bad decision. The voice lied. Something you knew all long.

Man is a complex being; he makes the deserts bloom and lakes die. - Gil

Adam and Eve were standing there looking at the tree and the voice came, in the form of a serpent. "You know if you eat of the tree you won't die. God just said that. God knows that if you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will know good and evil. You will be like God." Hmmm. You can here the gears turning in their heads. Be like God. Not a bad proposition. Eve took the fruit and bit into it. She handed it to Adam and he took a bite. They rejected God. Immediately their eyes were opened and they knew they were in deep sugarsmacks.

Before we go on, earlier it was said that it was not the woman's fault. That is true, even though she took the first bite. Do you remember what God's will for Adam was in the Garden? He was to look after everything including his wife. He stood there and watched her eat. He didn't do his job. If he had, we wouldn't be in this mess today. He wanted her to eat it. The fall of all mankind falls on Adam. Through him death entered the world and is a reality for all of us. Because of him we know both good and evil. Because of him our relationship with God was fractured and torn. They hid from God because they were afraid. They had broken God's trust and didn't want to take responsibility. They preferred darkness instead of light because in the light of God, what they had done was plain to see. Maybe if they hid in the shadows God wouldn't find out.

Human beings are the only animals of which I am thoroughly and cravenly afraid. - George Bernard

That wasn't the only relationship damaged. The relationship between Adam and Eve was damaged. Gone was the trust. The joy. The comfort. The security. We find this out when God found them. Adam became the first person to blame God for his problems. God asked him what happened, and Adam said, "It was the woman. Which YOU GAVE ME!" The woman blamed the serpent. Just like us. Blaming God and others for decisions we make. We would rather sit in darkness than come out into the light. No longer belonging to life but slaves to death. But where was God during all this? Why didn't God stop it? What happens now? Where does Jesus fit into all this?

More questions. If you have something to say or question to ask you can do it now or just keep looking around. Go and look at what other people have to say in the "Your questions" section.

Who is Jesus and what makes him important?

This is going to require you to open you mind, listen, think, and respond in some manner. It doesn't mean you have to accept it just think through it and process it. We could listen to or read a million different opinions, each one less satisfying than the last. Four books have been written about Jesus by his four of his followers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They give eyewitness testimonies to his life. They have the events of his life they saw first hand. They have recorded words that he spoke that they heard with their own ears. If you want to read the books in their entirety you can to www.blueletterbible.org with no commentary or you can read the following synopsis.

When reading these books, several things become clear. Jesus was a great teacher. You can list him with Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Confucius. You could make the argument that he exceeded them. He had hundreds of followers called disciples. His "Sermon the Mount," is still considered one of the great teachings of all time. Some of the most famous sayings can be attributed to him. You might recognize, "Love your neighbor as yourself," "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone," or "Judge not, lest you be judged." He was a great teacher in that he made the most complex truths simple so all people could understand. He spoke with an authority that no one had seen before. He knew what he was talking about and he was able to communicate it.

Jesus was a rebel. He rebelled against the religious institution of his day, Judaism. He spoke against the religious leaders' hypocrisy. This may sound all too familiar. It was a religion based on God's love and forgiveness for all people and how God wanted mankind to love each other. No social classes. No race issues. Everybody is the same in God's eyes. But somewhere along the way, the religious leaders stripped their faith of love. They turned it into a long list of rules that needed to be followed or God would be angry with you and would and punish you. It became exclusive. Jesus sought to turn this religion back into the faith of his forefathers. A faith based on the God given principles, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind," and, "Love your neighbor as yourself." He never turned to violence and hate. He didn't want power and control. He lived what he taught. He led by example. He had compassion on all people and cared for them. He taught us how to love God and how to love each other.

Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. But not just the Son but also equal to God and one with God. This is the hardest thing for us to believe. Only a lunatic makes claims like this. But to prove it, Jesus did miraculous things. He drove out demons proving that he had ultimate power in the spiritual realm. Demons cowered with fear at his mere presence. He cured people of illness and disease, making people whole again. He fed thousands. He raised people from the dead. He not only showed his power and authority over the spiritual and physical but over life and death as well. That is a power attributed only to God.

Jesus is God coming to us in person. He lived with us. He felt our pain. He knows what it means to be human. But his coming was more than God simply slumming it for a while, like a president spending a couple of hours in the ghetto and then going back to his fancy house and servants and saying that he "understands." Jesus lived a full lifetime here. He was born and raised in a working class family. He had brothers and sisters. He was oppressed with the rest of the Jews by the Roman government. He saw friends die. He cried. He was cut down in his prime. Jesus is God understanding humanity. But that is not all.

Jesus...told people that their sins were forgiven....This makes sense only if he really was God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin. ...I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic-on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg-or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Jesus came with a mission. Not to understand us. Not to bring reform. His mission was to restore the relationship between God and mankind that was broken by Adam and Eve. In the previous section "How Did the World Get So Messed Up?" you can find out what happened between them. God had told Adam and Eve that if they turned away from him and rejected him they would die. Not because God was angry but because when you turn from the source of life...you die. Plain and simple. If you step out of car going 70 mph, you die. Staying in the car means you live. Plain and simple. But Adam and Eve rejected God and made death a reality to us all. We are our parents' children. Each of us conceived by sinful people and born with it. Each of us destined to die. But God never stopped loving them or us. If we die, we are taken away from him forever. So God came up with a plan. Someone needed to step in and take our punishment for us. A sacrifice. A perfect sacrifice. One that did not deserve to die, one that never turned from God and his love, one who could be counted with us as a human.

Enter Jesus. Jesus was there at the beginning of time and creation. He knew the score. Only God could be perfect. But only a man could be our substitute. So Jesus came to be with us. He lived a perfect life, never turning from God even though he knew he would suffer and die. He was unjustly accused and executed on a cross. All for the sins of the world. All for us. He paid our debt to sin. He restored our relationship with God. But then, why don't we live forever?

After Jesus died and was buried, the most miraculous thing happened. As he predicted, he rose from the dead a few days after he had died. The power of death could not hold him. He changed the meaning of death forever. It no longer means an end. But now it means a beginning. If God is with us, death can't hold us anymore than it held Jesus. Jesus went back to heaven and promised that when he comes back he will take with him to heaven everyone who believes in him. He will raise the dead for eternal life. A life that isn't messed up like the ones we have now, but lives with God and the way it was intended to be back at the time of creation. Perfect.

How do we get eternal life? How do we get to go to heaven? Believe in Jesus. That's it. Believe that he loves you. Believe that he is still alive. Believe all that he said about himself. Believe that he died for all of your sins and mistakes. Believe that you are forgiven. That's it.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." It's through him and him alone that we get to God. It's through him that we find truth. It's through him that we find a fulfilling life here on earth and eternal life with him in heaven. That is what Jesus why Jesus is so important.