You read that right. How could I, a Christian, make such a blasphemous claim? I’ll explain my answer in regard to each statement individually, the first of them being that “God doesn’t exist.”
The most common argument against the existence of a God that I encounter is the abundance of pain and suffering in the world. There is no denying, from the most miniscule annoyances like stubbed toes and skinned knees to the larger scale issues like world hunger and child abuse, suffering is everywhere. Often times you will hear believers refer to “God’s plan” and how we shouldn’t question it. While there is some truth to this, I can fully understand how this “explanation” fails to convince anyone. I mean, how could there possibly be a loving, caring God who would knowingly allow these kind of tragedies and refuse to reach down his powerful hand and intervene? The answer is: There isn’t. That’s right. The God that most of us were raised to believe in does not exist. The truth is, most of us were taught about this “Santa Clause” version of God whose only purpose is to grant our wishes. Denominational Christian religions have been reinterpreted through centuries of generations, leaving us with a skewed understanding of God and faith in general, especially if you were raised Catholic. The God who does exist blessed us with free will, because He believes in us and our desire to do what is right, to be kind, and to serve each other. He trusts us not to abuse this gift. The sad part is, we don’t trust Him enough not to abuse it. Just as a mother cries when she has given everything for her child, only to watch him hit his sister, or sneak out at night to beat someone up, or drink and drive and end up killing another driver, God is devastated when he sees us do things to hurt ourselves and others. And while a mother may attempt to intervene when she sees these bad behaviors and will probably never give up on her sweet baby, she eventually will accept the harsh truth that her precious child is a human being with thoughts and feelings and ideas of his own and simply cannot be controlled. God already knows this. Of course, He still tries to intervene with signs and believers, and He will never give up on us, but just like the angry child, if we refuse our Father, His efforts are futile. Yes, we can render the Almighty God helpless. Not because He can’t control us; because He won’t. Why? Because intervening would mean transcending His gift of free will, and that would be cheating. And God doesn’t cheat. When a child is beaten or starved, or an innocent person is framed, or a corrupt church steals money, it doesn’t prove that there is no loving God; it only proves that the common understanding of Him is a tainted and inaccurate one, at best.
Which brings me to the next true statement: “Prayer does nothing.”
That is correct. The mainstream image of praying for something you think you need and it magically dropping from the sky is as nonexistent as the God who doesn’t give it to us. Prayer was never intended for us to just ask for stuff when we need it. God gave us the gift of prayer because He genuinely wants a relationship with each and every one of us. When you ask Him for something, He always hears you. But like all conversations, it goes both ways. Think about it. It’s hard for God to answer our prayers if we aren’t listening for a response, isn’t it? Furthermore, God doesn’t do all the work on His own. There is plenty of biblical evidence that He works through people, and that hasn’t changed. Any disciple today will tell you about experiences where they felt inexplicably compelled to do something out of character which guiding them to someone who was in need. Typically, it’s someone whom, without God’s guidance, we never would have noticed. See, we disciples pray daily for those opportunities to serve Him through serving others. We offer ourselves as living sacrifices to be used for His purpose. If we were to just ignore His little nudges and only gripe about being set off course, we would miss these opportunities. That wouldn’t mean that God didn’t hear or care about someone’s prayers; it would mean that one of us wasn’t listening for His answer.
We all have dreams, and it's human nature to have a picture perfect image in our minds of how we would like our prayers to be answered, where we want them answered, and when we want them answered, but when we allow ourselves to have this type of faithless understanding, we only deny ourselves the opportunity to see what amazing things God has in store for us. When you open your mind, and you begin to see the way He spins together intricate webs of lives all in need of each other, you will realize that there is something so much bigger, more beautiful, and more creative going on than any human being could ever dream. Just being a “good person” is great and all, but it goes so much further when you work with God, instead of denying Him. To be part of such a thing is the most mind-blowing high you could ever imagine, and when you fill your life with these experiences on a regular basis, there is just no room left for doubt.
The most common argument against the existence of a God that I encounter is the abundance of pain and suffering in the world. There is no denying, from the most miniscule annoyances like stubbed toes and skinned knees to the larger scale issues like world hunger and child abuse, suffering is everywhere. Often times you will hear believers refer to “God’s plan” and how we shouldn’t question it. While there is some truth to this, I can fully understand how this “explanation” fails to convince anyone. I mean, how could there possibly be a loving, caring God who would knowingly allow these kind of tragedies and refuse to reach down his powerful hand and intervene? The answer is: There isn’t. That’s right. The God that most of us were raised to believe in does not exist. The truth is, most of us were taught about this “Santa Clause” version of God whose only purpose is to grant our wishes. Denominational Christian religions have been reinterpreted through centuries of generations, leaving us with a skewed understanding of God and faith in general, especially if you were raised Catholic. The God who does exist blessed us with free will, because He believes in us and our desire to do what is right, to be kind, and to serve each other. He trusts us not to abuse this gift. The sad part is, we don’t trust Him enough not to abuse it. Just as a mother cries when she has given everything for her child, only to watch him hit his sister, or sneak out at night to beat someone up, or drink and drive and end up killing another driver, God is devastated when he sees us do things to hurt ourselves and others. And while a mother may attempt to intervene when she sees these bad behaviors and will probably never give up on her sweet baby, she eventually will accept the harsh truth that her precious child is a human being with thoughts and feelings and ideas of his own and simply cannot be controlled. God already knows this. Of course, He still tries to intervene with signs and believers, and He will never give up on us, but just like the angry child, if we refuse our Father, His efforts are futile. Yes, we can render the Almighty God helpless. Not because He can’t control us; because He won’t. Why? Because intervening would mean transcending His gift of free will, and that would be cheating. And God doesn’t cheat. When a child is beaten or starved, or an innocent person is framed, or a corrupt church steals money, it doesn’t prove that there is no loving God; it only proves that the common understanding of Him is a tainted and inaccurate one, at best.
Which brings me to the next true statement: “Prayer does nothing.”
That is correct. The mainstream image of praying for something you think you need and it magically dropping from the sky is as nonexistent as the God who doesn’t give it to us. Prayer was never intended for us to just ask for stuff when we need it. God gave us the gift of prayer because He genuinely wants a relationship with each and every one of us. When you ask Him for something, He always hears you. But like all conversations, it goes both ways. Think about it. It’s hard for God to answer our prayers if we aren’t listening for a response, isn’t it? Furthermore, God doesn’t do all the work on His own. There is plenty of biblical evidence that He works through people, and that hasn’t changed. Any disciple today will tell you about experiences where they felt inexplicably compelled to do something out of character which guiding them to someone who was in need. Typically, it’s someone whom, without God’s guidance, we never would have noticed. See, we disciples pray daily for those opportunities to serve Him through serving others. We offer ourselves as living sacrifices to be used for His purpose. If we were to just ignore His little nudges and only gripe about being set off course, we would miss these opportunities. That wouldn’t mean that God didn’t hear or care about someone’s prayers; it would mean that one of us wasn’t listening for His answer.
We all have dreams, and it's human nature to have a picture perfect image in our minds of how we would like our prayers to be answered, where we want them answered, and when we want them answered, but when we allow ourselves to have this type of faithless understanding, we only deny ourselves the opportunity to see what amazing things God has in store for us. When you open your mind, and you begin to see the way He spins together intricate webs of lives all in need of each other, you will realize that there is something so much bigger, more beautiful, and more creative going on than any human being could ever dream. Just being a “good person” is great and all, but it goes so much further when you work with God, instead of denying Him. To be part of such a thing is the most mind-blowing high you could ever imagine, and when you fill your life with these experiences on a regular basis, there is just no room left for doubt.
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