By Ada Brownell
I wasn’t surprised when atheists responded to tweets about
my book, Facts, Faith & Propaganda.
They usually want to argue. I always tell them “argument only
proves who is best at debate.”
In several of my books that speak about faith and in all my
writing I emphasize we decide what we
believe.
You can’t prove
whether God exists, and atheists can’t show he doesn’t. There’s a reason for
this—faith in necessary for salvation. We
can’t please God if we don’t have faith.
The Bible says, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6 KJ).
I met a woman from Sweden in the airport and we discussed
faith after my husband told her I’m a writer and gave her my card and a
bookmark.
“I don’t worry about whether I believe in God, and I’m
letting my children grow up and make their own decisions,” she said. “I’m a
good person, and that’s all that’s necessary.”
She was nice, but as her daughter lay nearby reading I
explained, “Belief in God is a decision. As he traveled the world, Billy Graham
called people to the altars to ‘make a decision for Christ.’ If you ignore God,
you decided not to accept His
sacrifice for sin so that you could live forever. It’s the choice you already
made.”
I talked to her about evidence for faith and the need to choose
Jesus as Savior.
She smiled. “You’re messing with my head. I’ll need to think
about this.”
Here are some facts about faith.
What is faith? “Now
faith is being sure of what we hope for and confident of what we do not see”
(Hebrews 11:1 NIV).
God has given each
person a measure of faith (Romans
12:3 KJ). Often people who don’t think they believe cry for God’s help
spontaneously in crises.
Faith comes through
hearing the Word—the gospel (Romans 10:17 KJ). Because faith is necessary to be redeemed
from sin and to have our name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, God
“breathed” truth into writers He chose to pen His love message to humankind. It
is through that love letter—the Bible—we gain knowledge of Him and why He
allows us (anybody) to accept it and love and obey Him (See 2 Timothy
3:15-16 NIV).
We must voice our belief. “For with the
heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to
salvation” (Romans 10:10 NIV)).
Our brains may be made to believe in God. In a CNN report by A. Chris Gajilan on
April 4, 2007, Dr. Andrew Newberg, neuroscientist and author of "Why We
Believe What We Believe," says the human brain
is affected during prayer and meditation. He suggests brain scans may prove our
brains are built to believe in God. Because of this God-shaped place within,
nearly every person worships something, even if they create it themselves.
Faith comes through
the will. We decide whether to believe God’s Word, a false religion, or atheism (everything
about who we are, why we are here and where we are going takes faith). Yet it
takes a leap—a decision. “...Choose you this
day whom ye will serve. (Joshua 24:15 KJ and John 3:16 KJ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believes
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Jesus is our only hope.
“Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name
given among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts:4:12 KJ).
Salvation is a Gift we receive: “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of
God is eternal life through Jesus Christ his Son” (Romans 6:23 KJ).
Don’t wait to decide what you’ll
believe. Remember much of what atheists and agnostics think they chose to
believe, is based on propaganda. If you would like evidence of that, read my
book, Facts, Faith, and Propaganda which can purchased at https://www.amazon.com/author/adabrownell
Read the first chapter free. The book provides beliefs from
both sides without preaching. Just the facts. Remember, however, Peter wrote “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables” (2 Peter 1:16 ).
©Ada
Brownell
