"(…) remained firm, as if seeing the Invisible." (Epistle to the Hebrews, ch. 11, v. 27b*)
As a Christian, you've surely encountered the challenge of explaining to a skeptic why you believe in God. One of the main arguments atheists present is that science and empirical evidence suggest that God does not exist and that the world created itself. For atheists or people who are unsure if God exists or not, evidence or something tangible that can be touched, felt, and seen is required. In fact, this need applies to everyone in the world. We are no exception. Faith in God requires first confronting our own human biases and mental limitations that tell us that since we don't see Him, don't hear Him physically, since there is death and destruction, then... then... then... evidently God is fiction.
We know that faith is "the assurance of what we hope for, and the conviction of what we do not see." (Epistle to the Hebrews, ch. 11, v. 1*, bolder font is ours) This means that faith can be supported by what you see (nature, the goodness in people, circumstances lining up in inexplicable ways), but can also be challenged by what is seen/heard (wars, diseases, death, poverty, injustice). It turns out that our physical senses are not key when it comes to faith. We cannot trust what we perceive from the physical world when we need to maintain our faith in God during difficult times. What can encourage us and fill us with confidence that God is strong, powerful, holds everything under full control, loves us with all His heart, and will fulfill everything He promised? This is where the second reality that exists within us as believers comes in.
There are two parallel universes that we simultaneously inhabit, if we can explain it that way. Due to the clash of the spiritual and material, believers in God often appear and sound crazy – they are calm when others tremble, cry when others celebrate, limit themselves when others indulge in pleasures, forgive when others have not even asked for forgiveness, rejoice while suffering. It doesn't make sense, does it? Here's what Apostle Paul advised the believers in Corinth nearly 2,000 years ago: "What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away." (First Epistle to the Corinthians, ch. 7, v. 29-31*)
One reality is the physical world we live in. We sleep, eat, drink water, work, cook, clean, create with our hands and minds. Our physical bodies wear out and at some point start to show signs of pain, weakness, or illness. Ultimately, with each passing year, we approach something else, another world. This other world and the transition to it would be terrifying if we didn't already live in it here on earth. When Jesus dies and conquers sin and death on the cross, He doesn't just "give us a ticket to paradise." He directly opens the gates of the Heavenly Kingdom for us here on earth and says: "Just believe!". The battle and victory over the world is in this: to believe in Jesus Christ and to know that here is not our home and that what surrounds us, which we can see, feel, hear, touch, and experience, is not the full truth and will not exist forever: "everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" (First Epistle of Apostle John, ch. 5, v. 4-5*) What does it mean to overcome the world? We overcome sin, the lusts of the flesh, overcoming the power of the physical by not letting it dictate our thoughts and influence our faith. With this victory, we are transferred to God's kingdom here on earth.
"Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus answered them: "The Kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is within you." (note: or "among you."; Gospel of Luke, ch. 17, v. 20-21*)
Dear friend, you are a bearer of the Kingdom of God because of the Holy Spirit whom God has sent to live within you after your repentance. Be strong, even when there is a contradiction between what you see and what you believe, even when the two realities in which we simultaneously live collide. Let your faith be nurtured by the Holy Scripture, not by all the other human writings you encounter. Do not trust your eyes, ears, feelings, and fears. Here's what Jesus promises you: "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, because He is with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans – I will come to you. In a little while the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live." (Gospel of John, ch. 14, v. 16-19*, bolder font is ours)
*Biblical quotes are according to the text of the Bible, New Translation from the Original Languages © Bulgarian Bible Society 2013.
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