Seeing is Believing? Believing is Seeing?

Such bitterness. The way you speak, each word rooted deep in a hatred I cannot understand. A hated of something so perfect, so pure, so wonderful. A hatred shared by so many others. What did man do to make you so angry at God? You call yourself agnostic. You say there is no way to know whether or not there is a God. I have no respect for that. I can respect other religions besides my own, the devotion involved and the good intentions, even if I don't agree with it. But if one spends their whole life wondering and asking questions and searching, but never committing or taking any action, then what a waste of a life! I know you wonder about it. That's why it's always on your mind, that's why you always argue. Sometimes I even think you now the truth, but that's when you fight even harder against it. You are like the scientists searching so hard for the answer to the creation question. Their lives are based around finding absolute truth. But when they disprove evolution and the Big Bang and their other theories and are left with no alternative but a higher power, they refuse to believe. Their statement being, "I am left with no other explanation but that there is a higher power, however I refuse to believe that therefore I support the theory of evolution." Why do people fight so hard against the truth. The truth is eternal, never changing. No matter how many times it is fought or covered up, it is constant. God is truth. You scoff at faith. You mock the idea of believing blindly and call anyone who does a fool. I wish you knew how much I pity you. There is nothing blind about this faith that defines my life. There is nothing foolish about this trust that has never been broken. For you, seeing is believing. You want proof, the kind of proof Thomas had. And you call God unjust because he won't give you that proof. Thomas said he would not believe that Jesus had risen until he put his finger through the holes in his hands and seen the place where the spear was in his side. Jesus said to Thomas, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" John 20:29. The problem is, you don't know God, and you wouldn't accept or recognize proof if it was staring you square in the eye. Which it is, everyday. God is working right in front of you, but you can't see it because you can't believe it. A person could go through life denying the existence of wind. They could refuse to believe it was there because they couldn't actually see it. With that mindset it would be possible to go through life without ever directly seeing the wind. However, everyone would consider such a person to be an idiot. They are looking for wind in all the wrong places. One must believe in the possibility of wind before they can see it. But then they see it everywhere. In moving tree branches, in waves rising and falling across the ocean, in billowing snow storms. And not just see it, but they will feel it as well, like a cool breeze across one's face on a hot day. Once you believe the wind is there you begin to see it and feel it everywhere and then you would never dream of claiming it's nonexistence. Another analogy is the sun. We cannot look directly at it, our eyes are not meant for that, it is always there, even when there are clouds in the way and we can see everything it touches. It is the same with God. I don't know if anyone today can rightfully claim that they have see God, a visible, tangible, God. We cannot see God directly right now. That time has past and has not yet come around again. But God can be seen working in others, performing everyday miracles through people or coincidences or leaping out at someone through a verse in the Bible. Oh ye of little faith, how empty your life must be. You were prophesized about, and you are not alone. "You will be ever hearing, but never understanding; ever seeing, but never perceiving. For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes" Matthew 13:14-15. You call me close-minded. You hate Christians for hating homosexuals and drunks, and pregnant teenage mothers. But those people are not Christians, because those people are not emulating Christ. Sunday school principle : God loves everyone, he just doesn't love what they're doing. You would laugh at that, tear it down with some sarcastic remark, so I'll bring it down to a level that is relatable. Let's pretend that I came to my parents one day and told them that I am dropping out of University to become a prostitute. They would still love me, but they would hate that decision and hate what it would mean for me because they know there is something out there better than that for me. But they would never stop loving me. Love is a choice, and once you choose to love someone then the only option is to continue loving them completely and eternally. Perfect love does not end or fluctuate, because it is whole and complete and holds nothing back. God is love. And he has poured out his love for you in more ways than you can imagine and will continue whether or not you ever return that love. All he asks for is a little faith. Even the smallest amount of faith can make miracles. "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to the mountain ' Move from here to there' and it will move" Matthew 17:20-21. That sounds cliché doesn't it? You can move mountains if you just believe. We're not talking literal mountains, (although I believe it is possible), because what good would that be if mountains up and moved all around the world. God's perfect natural balance would be disrupted, the world would be in mayhem. No, we're talking mountains even more difficult to conquer than a climb up Everest. Overcoming one's disbelief, fighting addiction, loving others when it's most difficult, learning humility, finding peace with death, letting go of pride, accepting help, admitting faults and growing closer to God in relationship. Those are the kinds of mountains one can climb with a little faith. Right now you have nothing. You have nothing to fight for, nothing to believe in, nothing to make your living worth living. But there is still a purpose for your life you have not yet discovered. I firmly believe God has much work left to do in you. Even Saul, one of the most resolute persecutors of early Christians went on to do great work on earth for God's kingdom. "At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked 'Isn't this the man who destroyed those who called on God's name in Jerusalem? And hasn't he come here to take them prisoners to the chief priests?' Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ" Acts 9:20-22. Perhaps one day you too will see the blinding light and here a voice resound inside your heart. "Why do you persecute me?" Acts 9:4b. "Stop doubting and believe!" John 20:27.