I’m agnostic…

An anonymous person made the following comment recently…

The difference between placing your faith in worldly concepts and people is that more often than not there is some kind of observable evidence for that which you place your trust in. …there is currently no verifiable observed evidence that God- especially not your Judeo-Christian God- exists, and moreover that he gives anything approaching a damn about us. People do not have a "need" to believe; they have a need to fill gaps in their life…Which is fine, until they start trying to tell me I should believe as well. I speak this as a former believer. I am currently agnostic.

Many people are functionally agnostic, because they just are not sure and are looking for convincing evidence. Many who call themselves Christians can operate as unsure agnostics as well. So I’m not surprise when people slip back and forth between believing and not believing.

No question was asked but the question lingers in the statements. The author is looking for verifiable observed evidence for the existence of God and that He cares. Since none is found it leaves a question mark in the “God” space.

Faith, belief, and knowing are words that are not well understood. If we are looking for fact to prove God, then I would have to agree with the comments above. Let me take a moment to work through some classic logic that will demonstrate that we can’t compare un-similar items.

Facts (observable and verifiable things) are wonderful when we trying to verify the truth regarding gravity, crimes committed, and the balance of your bank account.

But when we want to know “Truth”, then we need different criteria than facts. Facts are cold hard evidence that can prove something. Yet there are great truth’s that are not proven, but believed. We also call them principles by which we guide our lives and our actions. We simply believe in them or we don’t. They are above facts.

Do we believe in something called “Justice”, or “Peace”? Is “Equality” or the great American ideal “Freedom” a high value in our lives? The declaration of independence begins with the statement; we hold these “truths” to be self evident. They are either believed or they are not believed. There are no facts or evidence for the validity or rightness that can be tested and verified.

If God were a rock we should use facts and observation to determine what is real about Him. But God is not a rock. For God to be observed and tested would mean He would have to be less than what the high principle of “first cause” postulates. There is only one kind of God that is worthy of consideration and that would be the all powerful, all knowing, and all present God which means that our ability to observe, and verify would be inadequate for such a test subject.

Fortunately there is more than one way to know something and someone. We can take some things on faith. This can be a very rational and well thought out faith, but in the end it has to be faith in a high ideal.

The coming of Jesus Christ purposed by the Bible is the attempt of God to reveal His nature, and His desires for us. That Jesus was an actual historical figure is beyond question by any serious historian. Most accept He was a wonderful teacher but some have a hard time accepting that He was the Son of God. The trouble with this position (which C.S. Lewis points out) is that He can’t be both a great teacher and make claims to be the Son of God. He was either God in the flesh, or He was certifiable nuts, which eliminates the great teacher role.

Jesus said of Himself that He is “the way, the truth, and the life.” The amazing claim He was making was that truth is not just a debatable philosophy but a person who has a will, and power of its own. That truth is going to exist whether we believe or don’t believe, but the only way to gain knowledge of that truth is to place our faith in that truth.

This is confusing because there are many Christians who are caught up in religion rather than faith. Religion is an attempt to appease or control God by our actions. Christ came to show us another way. He came to show us that it is only by faith that we can really know Him.

“Gaps” are good description of our lives and we all have them. We are all believers in something. Some believe in facts to lead them to reliable and predictable outcomes, but others doubt that facts can be trusted to that extent (e.g. René Descartes). Perhaps a fresh look at faith as a way of acquiring great “truths” and “principles” that have shaped all the great cultures is worthy of consideration.