Discussing Faith

Yesterday I read an interesting piece in The Wall Street Journal written by actor and comedian Ricky Gervais. It was titled,  Why I'm an Atheist. 

Many believers would be turned off by such a title. Call me weird. I was intrigued. I consider myself a believer in the Bible, God and salvation through Jesus Christ but I wanted to understand why someone of relative intelligence would conclude that there is no God. What would lead a person to this conclusion? 

Although I can't agree with everything Mr. Gervais wrote, I  was actually quite impressed with his arguments and I respect him for being so logical and clear.

Mr. Gervais wrote about his childhood of poverty. He recalled how his mother taught him about Jesus so he would be "good" and stay out of jail. When his older brother challenged him by asking, "Why do you believe in God?" little Ricky embarked on an hour of deep thinking and decided that God didn't exist. He's held this position throughout his life. 

He discusses science at length and I admit that some of it goes a little over my head. 

When confronted with the question, "Why don't you believe in God?" Mr. Gervais counters with, "Why do you believe in God?" He says the burden of proof lies with the believer. Okay. I can accept this. 

Why do I believe in God? It's quite simple really. I am a finite being and have limited access to the realities of the universe. I am actually quite comfortable with my lowly status. For example, I don't know how the earth floats in this one tiny section of the vast darkness called space. What makes it revolve around the sun? What makes it rotate at the speed it does every 24 hours? Why is it located at just enough distance to support life? Or bringing it closer to home, what kind of energy keeps my heart beating? Maybe Mr. Gervais would say something like, it's all science and mankind hasn't figured it out yet.  

Honestly, admitting I don't know everything there is to know frees me. It means I don't have to pine for answers to the unanswerable. It means I can relax and enjoy the ride, fully accepting that there are mysteries I'm not privy to. It's called faith and I'm okay with that. Apparently Mr. Gervais is not and I'm okay with that too. 

Kathleen Pooler discusses her faith on her latest blog post. She iterates how it has sustained her during some very dark times. She says one of her favorite quotes comes from Robert Hodgson. 

Some things have to be believed to be seen.

I agree. 

What do you think? And rest assured, your beliefs are safe here.