By Chris WittsWednesday 20 Sep 2023Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 1 minute
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Transcript:
I read of a debate where people were asked this question, Do you believe in God? As you would expect there were a variety of answers, but I’m interested in what some said who do believe in God. Let me read a few for you:
I do believe in God. All of us are blessed with lots of beautiful things and moments each and every single day. Someone is looking out for us. That’s why miracles happen and people heal and why the prayer has so much power. This is all because of our heavenly father.
And then someone else wrote this:
I do believe in God. I admit that sometimes I do have my doubts and I’m unsure. However, It’s so important for people to believe in a God of some kind. We need to keep the faith in order to help us get through life and the difficulties of life. Sometimes it gets hard, and we need faith to turn to. I am sure this question, Do you believe in God? is the most important question of all time.
Rolling Stone magazine did an interview with Bill Gates and asked if he believed in God. He said:
I agree with people like Richard Dawkins that mankind felt the need for creation myths. Before we really began to understand disease and the weather and things like that, we sought false explanations for them. Now science has filled in some of the realm — not all — that religion used to fill. But the mystery and the beauty of the world is overwhelmingly amazing, and there’s no scientific explanation of how it came about. To say that it was generated by random numbers, that does seem, you know, sort of an uncharitable view. I think it makes sense to believe in God, but exactly what decision in your life you make differently because of it, I don’t know.
What Australians Believe In
In December 2009 The Sydney Morning Herald wrote on this theme, especially about how Australians feel: Do they believe in God?
A poll has revealed that most Australians believe in God or a similar universal spirit, but a majority also believe in miracles, life after death and angels, and many believe in astrology and UFOs.
The surprising findings from a Nielsen poll for Fairfax newspapers show Australia is a credulous nation, willing to mix and match religious faith with belief in other phenomena.
Although Australians are widely considered to be a secular people, nearly half of the population believe in psychic powers such as extrasensory perception, while 41 per cent believe in astrology. The research shows that Australians are more religious than we might have thought—68 per cent of us believe in God or a universal spirit. But atheists and agnostics also had a strong showing in the national survey of 1,000 respondents, taken early some time ago. Almost one in four Australians (24 per cent) do not believe in either God or a universal spirit, and seven per cent are not sure or say they ‘don’t know’.
But God is not the only thing Australians believe in. They place their faith in a range of other phenomena. For example, 63 per cent believe in miracles, and 53 per cent believe in life after death. Angels are also popular, with 51 per cent of respondents saying they believe in them, slightly more than the 49 per cent who hold faith in psychic powers such as ESP (Extrasensory Perception). Forty-one per cent of people believe in astrology. Thirty-four per cent of Australians believe in UFOs and 22 per cent think witches exist.
The great convert to Christianity, the Apostle Paul wrote,
There is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords’), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and here is but one Lord, Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 8:4-6)