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.
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