There are at least a hundred reasons that I believe in a personal God who came to us in the form of a man, died on the cross, rose again, and lives in his followers as the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, though, my faith doesn't seem to make any sense when I start hearing constant messages about how faith is at the root of wars, faith makes no sense, faith is blind, everything can be explained by natural means, etc.

I've just finished reading an excellent book, What's So Great About Christianity, by Dinesh D'souza. I am continuously feeling very encouraged by it. He tackles issues that many Christians have begun to believe are weak points in our faith because of what we hear all around us. He first explains how Christianity and Christian ideals formed the base of many of our treasured values in western culture, including a separation between the functions and power of the church and of the state, the importance of every individual instead of just the intellects or the wealthy, and the importance of using our minds to understand the universe and even our faith. Now, he's got whole chapters on some of these issues, but if you think back to ancient Greece, where the history books tell you we got the foundations of our democratic society, being a good citizen was synonymous with worshipping the local deity and even the great thinkers and moralists generally ignored the poor.

He also addresses some prevailing thoughts among atheists & agnostics using statements from some of their leading thinkers and a little logic. For instance, he shows that humans must consist of something more than pure genetics that are selected for through the process of natural selection, demonstrating that either we have a "soul," something more than just our bodies that allows us to make decisions on what is right or wrong, or we couldn't have gotten here thorugh evolution. Of course, now I need to sit down and read The Selfish Gene and perhaps another Dawkins book, since I certainly don't want to go discussing this with atheists if I don't actually know what their side of the conversation really thinks, so that's one unexpected result of this journey.

Oh, but one of the biggest reasons I loved this book? The author believes that the variety and systems of life that we see could very well have come about through evolution, simply with a creator initiating that process and guiding it as he saw fit. He also points out several of my favorite theologians throughout modern history like C.S. Lewis who felt the same way.

But mainly, after reading through this book, I have had my eyes opened to see that I have no reason to apologize for my faith. I don't need to go around believing the prevailing opinion that Christianity is responsible for all these problems in our country and our world, or apologizing because the Christian worldview can't hold up to intellectual rigor. I'm in a scientific field, love mathematics, and have an interest in physics (as long as I don't have to do too much with it. Me and physics have a rather troubled relationship), so I come into contact with these issues quite a bit. Now I know that I belong in those groups, though they may not want me hanging around too much if I speak up.

I did find a couple of arguments rather silly in the book, but seriously only one or two, and the rest were quite helpful. So, anyone who has an interest in getting a better understanding of how Christianity makes sense in a modern world, check this guy out. He's phenomenal.

So, we're born, we live, we die.
And in that in-between part called life, it seems like we're always fighting. We fight to get that colorful toy, the nicest crayon, or the cool cubby. We fight to stick up for our friend with the mismatched socks and funny-looking glasses, and to stick up for our right to play on the playground with the cool kids. We fight to defend our honor when the teacher accuses us of something we didn't do. And as we grow up, the fights get bigger. We fight to keep our sanity in an insane world. We fight to pay the bills on time every month. We fight to have the time for our loved ones while still making a decent living. We fight with people in every part of our life because we never win at having enough time for everyone. We fight because we're scared, we fight because we're hurt, and we fight because we've been doing it all our lives.

So in walks the Prince of Peace, Jesus. Everyone was drawn to him and knew he was something different. But he didn't have it any better. He fought with the priests & the leaders about the right way to live, he fought with his own family because he spent too much time with other people, and he fought for his sanity when the world around him just felt like too much, too overwhelmed with sadness and oppression and evil. So what is his peace? What is the hope that we can hang onto, that drew the crowds to him and made them want to give him their children to just touch them and bless them? What is the peace we have to hang onto in a world where all we know how to do from the time we're infants is to fight?
All I can do is hang onto two things. The first is that he understands. He went through the struggle, grew and lived in a harsh place with people fighting for their freedom, for their ability to worship, for their survivial. And the second is that he didn't just fight, he won, and he won where it counted. He didn't win at getting the high life where he could settle down and watch the rest of us struggle through the rat race. He beat death, and he beat every temptation and sin. He says he overcame the world, for himself and for us. So even though we lose a lot of our battles in the mean time, he says we can be at peace in our hearts because the victory he won for us can never be taken away; we have a hope of being changed to be like him, of having a home with him after we die, of experiencing his final peace & victory with him. It seems like after he died & rose, Jesus was always at peace. I like to think about that.

So where is he when I'm fighting? I guess he's fighting with me when I'm following him, because he wants to give me the same power to win where it counts. He's fighting for my marriage every day, for me to do the big things he gives me dreams about, for me to keep my sanity in a world that makes no sense, where people are always hurting and broken and needing so much, where nothing works out the way we want it to and dreams seem futile. He's right there in the middle of it, if I'll just open my eyes.