What is my support for Christian faith?
Here is a draft of a defense of my faith. Beginning with some definitions and closing with my personal choices.
Definitions
These are some definitions that will help me share my ideas
- Faith - Foundational belief of what is true--given available evidence.
- Religion - Rituals, traditions, actions, and way of living driven by faith.
- Christianity
- A belief in God of all things seen and unseen, outside of time, outside of space. May appears to be entirely separate and distant from humanity. However, in
- Jesus Christ, is realized fully as God and fully as man. First, demonstrates what righteous living looks like in his ministry, that includes serving the suffering, healing the sick, and proving himself as God through miracles. Then sacrificed (ending the need for Ancient Jews to sacrifice animals to atone for their unrighteousness) and raised from the dead as assurance that death and evil is conquered (a conceptually challenging idea).
- Death and resurrection demonstrates an act of unconditioned love, providing life and spiritual liberation to all those who believe.
- The Bible - Composed over thousands of years, including prophesy for and the life of Jesus.
- As a note: I spent decades believing that the Bible is myth. Then, I decided to read it, partially to refute it. This video helped me understand its purpose: Story of the Bible
Understandably, there is a lot to actually believe and this research is the culmination in a 10+ years of personal searching and experience, not blind faith. I was anti-religion and anti-God for most of my life. My thoughts shifted when I decided to understand and participate in the community that believed in this unconditioned love.
Personal beliefs on evil
I believe that spiritual warfare and evil exists manifesting as forces that create propaganda, meaningless wars, senseless violence, and inhumane suffering. These forces paralyze, create hopelessness, helplessness, and lack of purpose. The question of why evil exists is an important one for how I decide to choose what I believe.
Thus, it becomes a matter of faith in either case: (1) God is not real or (2) God is real and the message of Jesus is real. Each decision has had effects on how I live.
Decision to not believe
The first case is that God is not real, the Bible is fabricated. Jesus is not real, lied, or was documented falsely. With Buddhism, purpose centers around striving for wisdom, compassion, understanding, and self-betterment; all noble and virtuous ideals to live by. Yet, these choices for living did not fully answer and handle the weight of what I felt as hopelessness, evil, and darkness in the world.
Decision to believe
The alternative, is then, to believe in an infinite and loving God that demonstrates what that love looks like as human, documents it in the Bible, and invites us to participate in that love in the world fully. Rooted first in belief, then with with striving.
Then, the ultimate message becomes believing in a perfect love that penetrates the darkness, conquers evil, and breathes life, hope, empowerment, and purpose into every facet of my life and being.