1 John 4:16<\/strong><\/p>\n So, if God loves us, he does not want us to suffer.\u00a0 If nevertheless we do suffer innocently then it\u2019s because it can\u2019t be prevented.\u00a0 To me that\u2019s clear.\u00a0 Whether that means there is a malevolence like the devil or a cold lifeless random universe outside of God\u2019s purview then that\u2019s what there is.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t have to understand everything.\u00a0 I just need to know that I\u2019ve got someone out there who cares for me and mine.\u00a0 And who has interceded to provide help and knowledge and maybe even tip the scales a little in our favor whenever he can.<\/p>\n To me that\u2019s the nature of a personal God.\u00a0 He is a father to us and we have some of His spirit in us too.\u00a0 And that\u2019s not all that different from feeling the influence of the parents and grandparents that raised us and taught us and gave us understanding when we needed it.\u00a0 And that is like the ancestors who passed along the laws that we live by.\u00a0 God\u2019s spirit allowed them to see how his people must live and so they wrote down these laws and provided the leadership needed to teach the people how to live.<\/p>\n Today many people will say that all of this can occur without God existing, that a tribe will coalesce around a leader whose mind naturally resonates to the needs of his people and will formulate the laws they need to thrive.\u00a0 I know no way to prove otherwise.\u00a0 But that is unimportant to me.\u00a0 I do not seek to convince anyone.\u00a0 I believe that there is a force in this world that impels us to do good.\u00a0 And what seems like a proof of its existence is that it works against the flow of the world, the flow of which, if it does not actually work to achieve evil at the very least is completely unaffected by the suffering of humanity.\u00a0 Countless stories exist of individuals laying down their lives to save a stranger from harm.\u00a0 This impulse is a direct contradiction of animal nature which except in the case of parental love would put self-preservation ahead of any other consideration.<\/p>\n God\u2019s exact nature can only be inferred by His effect on those that experience Him.\u00a0 But I think that where genuine communion is experienced the effect is remarkably positive on the individual involved and even for the surrounding community.<\/p>\n The problem we are experiencing today is the lack of actual Christians in the churches.\u00a0 Many of the leaders of the churches are not Christians.\u00a0 They do not actually believe in God and their congregants sense this and are confused and angered by the hypocrisy.\u00a0 And for the young this is amplified by the atheists that they meet up with in school and elsewhere that ridicule faith and accuse it of bigotry.\u00a0 These young people are under enormous pressure to denounce Christian morality in order to avoid condemnation by the LGBTQ gatekeepers in school and the workplace.<\/p>\n But the first step is to re-establish the existence of God.\u00a0 That takes two things.\u00a0 First, convince yourself that there is no logical reason that precludes His existence.\u00a0 That I\u2019ve tried to provide above.\u00a0 Then find belief in God within yourself.\u00a0 That you have to find yourself.\u00a0 But it\u2019s definitely something that should be explored.\u00a0 As I stated earlier there is a strong urge in humans to find the force in the universe that resonates with our happiness.\u00a0 If you find a quiet spot and look inside yourself you might be surprised what you find.\u00a0 Start out by not calling it God.\u00a0 Start out by looking inside yourself to see what\u2019s there.\u00a0 Then take it from there.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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