What About Them?

I've mentioned before how I was raised in the faith. My dad is a pastor, and my mom is a Christian. I've gone to church weekly my whole life, participated in youth groups, went to church camp every year, and just grown up with all of that influence. I have such a strong foundation, and it's been building up over the course of my entire life.

Not to mention the good fortune of where I was born: the United States, Land of the Free. We all have freedom of religion here, but even though we can practice whatever dang religion we want to practice, our country was founded on Christianity. Even our money says "In God We Trust."

It's safe to say the majority of Americans, about 70%, identify themselves as Christians, and even those who aren't Christians have still at least heard of Jesus. If you aren't a Christian in this country, it is most likely because you have heard about it and chosen not to follow that religion.

'Merica.

I don't know if you guys have heard of the Romans Road to Salvation, but it basically goes like this:

1. Everyone falls short of God's standard (Romans 5:8).
2. Penalty for sin is eternal death (Romans 6:23).
3. God sent Jesus to take on our penalty (Romans 5:8).
4. "If you confess 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9).

I hate to be this blunt, but according to my interpretation of what this says, if you don't do that last step, you will not be saved.

As I said, in the United States, if you don't follow Jesus, it's your choice. People here who have been given the opportunity and consciously rejected it are not saved, and I can live with that because they have chosen that for themselves. 

In other countries of the world, there is no freedom of religion. In other countries of the world, there are people who have no idea who Jesus is. In other countries of the world, people are raised in other faiths and are taught about other things that happen to them when they die. In other countries, people can't consciously reject the Christian faith because they don't know about it. 

What about them?

It doesn't seem fair to me that a person who has never had the opportunity, who has never had the chance to learn about Jesus, or who has been raised in another faith is going to spend all eternity burning and suffering in hell.

I'm not gonna lie, the idea of this makes me very angry. I mean, wouldn't the innocent still go to heaven? That would make sense, but the Bible says that you have to believe in Jesus in your heart and say you believe in him or you're not going to heaven.

I couldn't seem to come to terms or understand this, so, since he is clergy, I asked my dad.

He said,

"Good question. The important thing to realize is that God alone is to judge. So it's not up to me to say who goes to heaven and who doesn't. I can only say from what I think I should do. If freedom of religion is ever taken away from me, I would still be encouraged by scripture to speak up for Christ. Also, no one deserves to go to heaven. All of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. Scriptures say that Jesus died for the sins of the world. Those who don't know Jesus, I am sure will be treated lovingly and mercifully, but it really is up to God. CS Lewis said something like hell is reserved for only the people that want to be there. He said 'Hell is locked from the inside.'"

So what my dad is saying is that he feels that God would be merciful on the people who didn't have a chance, but really we can never know because ultimately, God is the final judge.

There are religions similar to Christianity, such as Islam. The Islamic faith also includes beliefs in God, heaven, hell, angels, spirits, a resurrection in the future, and even Jesus (although they think he was a great moral teacher). I often wonder if they will make it into heaven. It seems to me that they would, because they believe that they are. However, again, the Bible says you have to confess that Jesus is Lord and not just a great moral teacher. I really don't know what will happen to them.

Things like this are difficult to understand because God doesn't give us a straight answer. The reality is that God can do whatever He wants because He is ultimately the judge, and He doesn't have to justify Himself to us because His reasoning is beyond our own understanding. 

The Joker on Caffeine

Caffeine is a fabulous thing in life. It can increase memory, prevent skin cancer, help muscles recover faster, detox the liver and colon, and help us stay alert when we don't sleep enough. It's great.

Unless you're like me. For me, caffeine is evil. At first when I drink it, it wakes me up, I get hyper, and it's great. However, after an hour or so, sometimes faster depending on what I'm doing, something horrible happens. Caffeine increases insulin in the blood and lowers the blood sugar level. Then, yada yada yada, caffeine does weird things to my brain and makes my depression and anxiety worse. Normally, despite having anxiety and depression, I have trained my brain to think pretty positively in most areas of my life, and I manage to be decently happy and sort of upbeat most of the time. However, my brain on caffeine is different; my thoughts reach their lowest point, where nearly every thought is negative.

I drink decaf tea every day, just because I love the stuff and I can't get enough. I ran out of tea today, so my roommate gave me some that she took from the dining commons. It had medium caffeine content. Well, I really wanted tea, and, since it wasn't highly caffeinated, I decided to drink it. Bad idea. I was sitting in class like a half hour later, and I basically started to hate my life. All of a sudden, I hated Bible class. When I left class, I wanted to eat dinner alone because being around people was stressing me out way more than usual. Unfortunately, people sat and my table anyway and I was sad that I couldn't just be alone. Then I was sad that I couldn't talk to them because I just wasn't feelin it. I felt anxiety because I wasn't saying anything, so I scarfed down my food and left. As I was walking away, I had anxiety that they were talking about how worthless I was for not talking and running off, and that no one likes me anyway because I'm just boring and unappealing. They must have actually been relieved that I left.

Now, a few hours later, I know that that's probably ridiculous, they probably didn't talk behind my back, and they probably don't think I'm worthless.. Probably.. But that's just what I think because of my depression and anxiety, especially when caffeine messes with my brain. It's not just bad for people with mental disorders. When people have too much caffeine, it can keep them up at night or even kill them.

It just goes to show how something good can also be evil.

I'm sure you guys know Batman and the Joker.. Well, did you know the Joker was initially good, too? He started out as just a normal guy. Supposedly, he worked as a chemical engineer at a plant, and then he quit to follow his dream of being a comedian. He failed, and in trying to provide for his pregnant wife, he decided to rob the chemical company he used to work for. His wife and child died in a car crash, Batman chased him until he fell into some chemicals, and then he came out all white-faced, green-haired, and psychotic. Again, something created good became something evil. 

I'm just sayin', since the Joker obviously has some kind of mental disorder, I'm pretty sure that if the Joker had caffeine, he would be right up next to Satan himself. 

Like caffeine and the Joker, all of God's creation was created good. In Genesis, God created everything and saw that it was good. Humans, he actually saw as "very good." 

So if God created everything to be good, why does evil exist? Did God create evil?

My youth leader once compared it to the light and the darkness. Darkness doesn't exist. There is no source of darkness. Rather, there is a source of light, and darkness is just the word we use to describe the absence of light. In the same way, evil doesn't exist. There is no source of evil, but rather, evil is just the absence of good. Therefore, God didn't create evil. God only created good.

Evil became a thing because of Satan. You see, Satan isn't some creepy red monster with horns. Satan's name used to be Lucifer, and he was the most beautiful angel in heaven. God created Lucifer to be good. At some point, Lucifer tried to take his power to the next level; he tried to be like God. By doing this, he was up to no good, and that's when he became evil. God cast him and his followers out of heaven, and now they tempt us. 

In the same way, humans became evil when Eve tried to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. By using the fruit to gain this knowledge, she was trying to be like God, and that made her evil. 

Evil just fits into our lives like the shadows. It's just there and there's not really much we can do to avoid it. God did give us a solution, though. Because Jesus is the Light of the World, with him, we can cast away the darkness. 

The Placebo Effect

"I can say that I believe in God because I have felt him tugging at me in some of the most precious moments of my life. Therefore, I think that since God exists, everything the Bible says simply must be true. Right?"
-Me

I base God's existence on the fact that I have felt him. Actually, I feel him quite often. There is something I describe as that thing in my chest, the tugging of my soul, or that glow that flares up inside me. I quite literally feel a physical.. thing.. in my chest. It's the most amazing feeling I have ever felt. It's there when I worship, when I feel morally conflicted, when I write this blog, when I pray, when I feel strongly led to do something, when I'm happy, and when I do service.. I notice it there a lot. Maybe its my soul, maybe it's the Holy Spirit, or maybe it's both; I don't really know.

An important time where I felt it strongly recently was on Monday, October 5th. There was a shooting threat on the Philadelphia area colleges that mirrored a threat that happened before a shooting in Oregon a while back. There was this creepy post on 4chan, a social media site, and everyone lost their minds. None of us had experienced something like that before. The idea of a shooter coming into our school was something we only heard about on the news; we didn't think it could ever happen to us. Police were everywhere, a lot of students went home, some classes were canceled, and several people skipped classes that weren't. It was good for everyone to do what made them feel safe, but oddly enough, I found that I  already felt safe. I had the glow in my chest comforting me. If I was somehow put in a position where there was a gun pointed at me, I was mentally prepared to die, and I was not afraid. I remember telling my roommate, "I'm not skipping class; the worst they could do is kill me." The glow inside me kept me strangely calm throughout the experience, and even though ultimately nothing happened, I'm glad I was able to not worry much even though I have anxiety. This thing in my chest is a huge part of my life, and a central reason that I continue to believe in God so strongly even as I face my doubt. 

The scariest doubt I have ever had came to me as I considered what exactly the feeling in my chest is. 

In my Psychology 101 class during my senior year of high school, we talked about mental tricks our mind plays on us. Our brain allows all kinds of weird stuff to happen, like optical illusions and false memories. While last week I explained evolution to you, on this segment of "Vanessa Makes Science Sound Simple," we're going to talk about The Placebo Effect. 

So, doctors prescribe us medicine, which we take, and then we feel better. A placebo is essentially a fake pill which is often made out of sugar and doesn't have any of the real medicine in it. Often times, when we are given the placebo, our sickness gets better just like it would if we were taking the real medicine. Because we think that it is the real, we feel its effects. The fake medicine shouldn't actually do anything because it isn't real medicine, but, as this picture shows, the real medicine and the placebo could both cure illnesses because of the Placebo Effect. 

What if I just thought that God was real, so my brain created the feeling in my chest? What if it's the placebo effect; what if I've been taking a fake religion with no real religion in it, and now I feel its effects? What if I think I should feel something and so I do? 

I think I'm going to puke. 

Well, all I can do to put my mind at ease with this is remember that my faith is not only made up of the feeling in my chest. There are many of my Christian friends don't relate to the feeling I describe, so I know it is possible to have faith without it. Even if the feeling isn't real, I still know that Jesus performed miracles and died for my sins. I still see the things that God does in people's lives. I still recognize the perfect proportions of the earth and its alignment, and I see the beauty in the intricate design of DNA. With or without the feeling, God still just has to be real. 

In the beginning...

Since I'll be addressing each of my doubts and questions along my faith journey, I figured I might as well start at the beginning: the creation story in Genesis 1 and 2.

I'm a student at a Christian college, so this video just got me thinking about what it is I really believe. Some guy apparently interviewed some students at a Christian college, trying to find out what they believed about evolution. It's a really cool thing everyone is in a different part of their faith journey, and that everyone has a different perspective on the topic. The idea that what you believe partly depends on where you came from and how you were raised really caught my attention as I watched this video. I'll attempt to answer most of the questions from this video throughout this post.

 

Do I believe in Evolution? 

I didn't used to believe in it growing up. Mostly because, as this video hints, I was raised to believe that it was totally ridiculous. People come from monkeys? Yeah right. However, as I actually learned about it in my Bio class my sophomore year of high school, I found that the theory of evolution makes a lot of sense.

The central idea of the theory of evolution is that all life on earth came from a common ancestor millions of years ago. It's sort of like a family tree; each generation changes and further diversifies. New species are formed because they adapt to their surroundings, and the species that don't adapt die off. This process just happened over and over again until things got to the way they are today. No, humans did not come from monkeys; rather, humans and monkeys both branched off from a common ancestor. Fossil evidence shows stages in bone structure as species adapted. It explains why whales have little feet bones when they don't have any need for them. It explains why those finches that Darwin found all have different beaks.

I like the idea of the theory of evolution, but it's important to keep in mind that it is just that: a theory.

Is the creation story metaphorical or factual?

For years, this is how creation always made sense in my head:

The Bible says the earth was created in seven days. The Bible also says, "With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day" (2 Peter 3:8). I figured this is just an expression, that it doesn't necessarily mean literally a thousand years. I applied that to creation, thinking that rather than the Earth being created in seven literal days, it was seven periods of time. During the first period of time, which could have been over the course of millions of years, God created the heavens and the Earth and the light and the darkness. Then, in the second period of time, he created the atmosphere, separating the waters 'n' junk. In the third period of time, He separated land and sea, and then so on and so forth all the way to day seven. During all that time, he totally could have used a Big Bang to create the earth. He totally could have used evolution to create animals in the fifth and sixth periods of time. See, it just makes sense. 

If there's one thing I've learned for sure in all my years of church, Sunday school, youth groups, and Bible camps, it's that each time you read the Bible, you pick up something new that you didn't see the first two or fifty times you read that passage.

My theory fell apart one day in Bible class because I picked up on this recurring little phrase: "And there was evening and there was morning." Dang it. If there was an evening and a morning every day of creation, then they couldn't be periods of time; they would have to be actual, literal days. So which would I believe? Scientific evidence of the earth being created over millions of years, or the Bible?

Being raised in the faith, I have the tendency to take the Bible as absolute truth. I decided, alright, the the earth had to have been created in seven literal days and God just used his power to do millions of years of work, just fast forwarding the process so it all fit in seven days. That, to me, also makes sense. He still could have used the Big Bang and Evolution. It all still fits! I was set. 

It's not that easy. 

It seems like just when I've got it all figured out, something always sends me straight back to where I started. I forgot about a detail in Genesis 2:7. "Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." Dang it. How can evolution be true if God created Adam from dust, not from some other species? Unlike my conclusion about creation, I couldn't make science make sense with this one. Honestly, I'm still not sure what to believe. 

I do, however, still have that tendency to side with the Bible. My reasoning for it this time is a little different. I enjoy the poetic idea of man being created from dust. In the next chapter of the Bible, God says "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return" (Genesis 3:19). Something about that is beautiful to me, that when we die we just decay and turn back into dust, right back to where we came from. I haven't reached a verdict on any of this stuff, but that just sounds appealing. 

Also, I wonder if maybe all the evidence of evolution doesn't point to a common ancestor, but rather a common creator. Being an artist, I've found that a lot of my artwork looks similar to my other artwork in the soft way my brush strokes flow and in the gentle form of my shapes. It's easy to tell apart a Picasso and a Monet because both artists have their own individual style. If we were created in God's image, maybe it's possible that God has his own artistic style as well; that is why so many beings have so much in common.

Why does it matter? 

If you think about it, creation doesn't really have anything to do with the essential parts of faith. Jesus died for my sins, and that's what is important. We will never, at least not in this lifetime, really know for sure all the details of how our universe came to be, but that doesn't effect our belief in Christianity as a whole.

Or does it? The whole reason I'm writing about this is because it has taken a shot at my faith. Where it gets me is the uncertainty of whether or not it is true. There are areas where Science does contradict the Bible. When we start doubting if something in the Bible is true, we begin to wonder what else in the Bible could potentially be false, and that is my main struggle. For me, the entire bible has to either be completely true or I won't know what else out of it I can't take as truth. If the earth wasn't created the way the Bible says it was, then how do I know Jesus really died the way the Bible says he did?

Looking back at that moment around the campfire that I described to you in my first post, I can say that I believe in God because I have felt him tugging at me in some of the most precious moments of my life. Therefore, I think that because God exists, everything the Bible says simply must be true. Right?