What would the consequences be?
Have you ever thought to yourself what the consequences of your beliefs would be – if you REALLY lived them out? I’m talking about what you claim to believe, not what you show you believe by your actions. What would really happen if you lived out your truth claims to the fullest?
I got to thinking about this because of some recent discussions (arguments?) I’ve observed about the existence of God. Seeing folks talk about the issue got my thinker to thinking. One thing that I’ve long contemplated is, what is so great about unbelief? What if the atheist could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no god and managed to convince every single person on earth of that truth? What would change about the world we know? How would the world be a better place? Imagine seven billion people who suddenly, unanimously began to act as though they were mere accidents of chance and circumstance and impersonal forces that coincided to cause them to exist meaninglessly at a certain time and a certain place in a universe devoid of design or meaning? What would the result be? What would restrain certain people from imposing their will upon others by brute force? We would indeed be living “the law of the jungle”. Each person would suddenly realize that all they can hope for is whatever they can get during the fleeting moments of their pointless life. They would realize that there IS no meaning, no point, no reason for being other than to obtain whatever they could obtain for whatever reason they should wish to do so.
On the other hand, what if you were to be able to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that God DOES exist and that He DOES care about us and is active in the world today? What if you could convince people to obey Him and follow His design in their life? What would the world look like then? Imagine a world where every one treated each other in the manner in which they wished to be treated. Imagine a world where serving each other as service to the Creator was a manner of life. Imagine a world where people began to use the talents and resources that they had at their disposal to create a better world around themselves.
I still see nothing attractive about unbelief. Under such a belief system life would be but a useless, pointless striving – to what end? Knowing that all there was to life was 70 years or so of existing while waiting for the lights to go out would point me towards a dark depression – and who knows what else the dark recesses of my being would conjure up. But as I look around at the hand of God manifested in His creation and see Him active in my own life and the lives of others it is with joy that His plan is contemplated and His will sought. What joy to know that as we teach people to not only know that God exists but that He is active in the world today and He is eager and willing to help them to live a fuller life , their lives change for the better and they find true joy and happiness. Lives are turned from darkness to light, homes are restored, children are given a frame work within which they can grow and mature, individuals find a real purpose for their life and God is served by people serving others in His Name. That is the attraction of belief in God – seeing the results of that belief lived out not only in my own life but also in the lives of those whom God has allowed and helped me to influence.
Posted in
No doubt there would be some Atheists who would object by saying that there is no need to have beliefs in a non-existent being in order to exercise self control. But, with out a doubt the underlying message of Paul in this article is undeniable.
I agree that if people were to let Christ transform them from the essence of their being, beautiful things would happen. How many people would feel devastated to know that no matter how much they pray, they would never be heard because God is nothing more than a fairy tale.
Now that would be Hell here on Earth!!