By Chris WittsWednesday 13 Nov 2013Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
I like the story about a man who went to the barber to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber started to work,they began to have a good conversation,as often happens. They talked about all sorts of different subjects. And one of the topics was God. The barber was quite emphatic “I don’t believe that God exists” . “Why do you say that?” asked the customer. “Well,you just have to go out in the street here to realise that God doesn’t exist. Tell me – if God existed,would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed,nobody would be in want – nor would there be suffering or pain. After all,I can’t imagine a loving God would allow all of these things”. The customer thought for a moment,but didn’t respond because he wasn’t keen on having an argument. The barber finished his job,and the customer left the shop. Just as he was walking down the street,he saw a man with long,stringy,filthy hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked a bit unclean and obviously didn’t look after himself too well. The man now had an idea. He turned back and went once again into the barbershop. He spoke to the barber ..”You know what? Barbers do not exist”. “How can you say that?” said the surprised barber. “I am here,and I am a barber. And I just worked on you”. “No” said the customer. “Barbers don’t exist because if they did,there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards,like that man outside”. “Ah”,said the barber ..but barbers do exist. That’s what happens when people don’t come to me”. The customer drove home his point …”Exactly. That’s the point. God,too,does exist. That’s what happens when people don’t go to God and don’t look to God for help”.
It’s a simple illustration – but reminds me that God can be found by anyone who is looking for Him.. Deuteronomy 4:29 says “You will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and your soul”. Maybe that’s why surveys have shown that 97.5% of the world’s population believe in a higher power. That leaves only 2.5% as atheists.
Sigmund Freud maintained that what people call “God” is simply their wishful thinking projected outside themselves .. I don’t accept that theory ..
Although in many aspects of our lives we require hard factual evidence before we will say that we believe or have faith in something,there are other areas and issues that we accept simply without any concrete evidence. For example,the air that we breathe cannot be seen but because we keep breathing we believe it is there. Similarly,we believe that love exists simply because we feel it towards another person,although we cannot point to a physical object of love and say,”that is how I know love exists.” The same scenario is true in terms of an individual knowing that God exists.
There are those religious people who will say that they know God exists “because the bible tells me so.” In reality,this answer is too simplistic. For instance,two people can read the same words and come to different conclusion. One will say that they believe the words and another that they do not. Therefore,knowing God exists is more than simply reading the words that state this to be the case.
“If you can’t see God,how can you believe in Him?” There are a lot of things we believe in that we cannot see. I believe in gravity. You can say you do not,but if you jump off the top off the Sydney Harbour Bridge,you’ll be in big trouble. Some people assume that in order to believe in God we have to shelve our brains and take a blind leap of faith. God has never asked us to have a blind faith. He invites us to come and consider Him and His truth,”Come let us reason together,” He says.
We can’t exactly draw a picture of God for the sceptic,but we can give them some logical proof of His existence. One of the proofs we can use for God has four points-remember CADO and you will always have an answer for the hope that is in you. Or CODA,easier to remember.
Creation – every time you see a piece of machinery,you see an engine,a motorcycle,a car,even a bicycle,you know it has a creator.
Art – every time you see a piece of art,you know it has an artist.
Design – every time you see a wrist watch,you know it has a designer.
Order – every time you see order,like ten coke cans lined up on a counter,you know it has an “order-er.”
When we look around at the universe,what do we see? We see creation,art,design,and order. If everything else has a creator,artist,designer,and order-er behind it,isn’t it reasonable to expect that behind this incredibly intricate,complicated,and marvellous universe there is also a Creator,Artist,Designer,and Order-er behind it?