Two choices in life. That is all we have. On these two choices hinge everything else. Either there is a God … or there isn’t. And it is a matter of choice, a perspective on reality that impacts everything we think and do.
God, at least the God of the Bible, never attempts to prove Himself. He simply acts. But that’s the problem. When He acts He uses normal means, regular people, life circumstances to execute His will. You never know for sure. Was it God? Or was it circumstantial? That all depends on your perspective.
You say there is no God and live accordingly. Do as you please, live for today, develop your dreams, reduce the consequences. You go around only once, so enjoy life for all it is worth. Since there is no God, there is no tomorrow. This is your heaven; this is as good as it gets!
But hold on … there is more to this issue. If you will go to the Bible in search of tangible evidence you will soon discover a unique perspective. The Bible never attempts to prove God; it just takes Him for granted.
The New Testament book of Hebrews tells of men – Noah, Abraham, and Moses – who knew God on a personal level. God spoke to them, and used them, in ways we find unbelievable. And yet, the writer goes on to say they did not receive “what had been promised since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us they would be made perfect.”
Come again? Yes, you read it right. They did NOT receive that which had been promised, at least not in this life. They also had to live by faith, without provable, tangible, evidence that God was there. But they stayed the course, they kept the faith. They chose to believe.
And, they discovered that God did not play them for fools. He had the audacity to send His own Son to settle the issue for them and for people like you and me. He gave us Jesus, and Jesus is all the evidence anyone needs. Everything our finite minds can understand of God, you will see it in and through Jesus Christ.
Unless, of course, they don’t want to believe. In the words of Philosopher Thomas Nagel, “It isn’t that I don’t believe in God, and naturally hope that I’m right. It’s that I hope there is no God. I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that” (The Last Word, p. 130).
Life without God, however, is no cake-walk. Without the limitations God imposes, we self-destruct. “After desire has conceived,” the Bible says, “it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” Recent suicides by people who seemed to have it all tells me there is truth to that. Life without God is a dead-end street, a journey to nowhere.
I began life with two choices. To my good fortune, and with the encouragement of godly parents, I chose to believe in Jesus and the God He came to proclaim. In the words of the Apostle Paul, written just a short time before his execution by the Roman Emperor Nero, “I have fought the good fight. … I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord … will award to me on that day.” That is my dream as well … and I can hardly wait!