Is Christianity a blind faith?
Many non-Christians love to point out how Christianity is nothing but a “blind faith”. They say that because God cannot be seen, heard, or touched, we cannot ever know for sure that He exists. Since there is a lack of physical evidence of God, then any rational minded person would never believe in God and, therefore, we just blindly believe what we were told.
Websters defines blind faith as:
belief without true understanding, perception, or discrimination
A common way that it is defined is to say that someone believes in something without any evidence. You believe because you are told, and that’s it.
So I have given this subject a lot of thought because it’s important. If God is real, and He interacts with us like the Bible says (i.e. Jesus, the cross), then there should be evidence somewhere that He exists. Or do I believe everything that I believe simply out of blind faith?
After thinking about it for a while, I realized that there are a few things I believe in blindly.
Heaven, for one, is something I have a blind faith in. I have absolutely no proof that heaven exists. It doesn’t affect my life, I can’t reach down and touch the streets of gold and I don’t know anybody who has been there and come back to tell me about it. But I believe in heaven because the Bible says it is true. I do realize the weakness of that argument, so I must continue my search. Is everything I believe about Christianity just blind faith?
Then I thought about angels. There are stories all throughout the Bible about angels. Angels that fight behind the scenes, and even ones that appear to man. But I have never seen an angel, nor have I ever interacted with one. And as they are not part of the natural world you really can’t test for them. So I realized I also blindly believe that angels exist.
But the single most important factor of Christianity to consider is God. Everything hinges around Him. If He doesn’t exist, then my faith is completely worthless and I’m wasting my life on this Earth.
So the question: Do I blindly believe in God?
I have never seen him, never felt Him physically. I have never heard his voice or seen His hand write on my wall. So at first I would say that I do believe in him blindly.
But then I thought about my wife. Do I only believe my wife exists because I see and hear her? Or is there something deeper?
I can’t see God like I can see my wife, but even if I were blind and could never see her I would know she is there. It’s the same with any of the physical senses. I don’t need to hear or feel her to know that she is in my life. I can see the impact that her presence has on me, both in how it changes me and how it changes my environment.
And it’s the same with God.
How, exactly, has God affected my life in such a way that I know He exists? The biggest reason is how God has changed me to be more like Him, which is completely contradictory to my own nature.
There have been times in my life where I have been hurt and betrayed in terrible ways. I was hurt so badly that I swore I would never forgive them. I would even get pleasure from thinking of harm being done to them. This, is me. This is my heart. You hurt me and I couldn’t care less what happens to you.
But that isn’t the heart of God. And as I follow God, He changes me.
If you are not a Christian it is almost impossible for you to understand or believe the change that I’m talking about. I’m not talking about religious change that comes from me trying to follow a book. I didn’t read in the Bible that we need to completely and utterly forgive people and then try my best to forgive these people that harmed me. I wasn’t trying to be a “good” Christian because I read some laws and did my best to follow them.
No, as I seek God and draw closer to Him, He changes me. A change that is very real, and can be explained by nothing other than supernatural power. A change so complete that I’m brought to my knees instantly knowing that I did wrong, and not just knowing what I had to try to do to forgive these people, but instantly I had the ability to forgive them. My heart was changed and it could only happen because of God.
But it goes beyond just a changed heart. I managed to get through high school without falling into any major temptation that is common among teenagers. Not just that, I managed to get through high school without falling into any temptation that I wanted to fall into.
I can promise that I didn’t avoid drinking, drugs, and being intimate with a girl because I had a wanted to be a good little kid. Don’t get me wrong, I did want to be a good kid, but those desires quickly get overruled when you face peer pressure or when a cute girl starts making obvious passes at you.
As I have grown older I have seen how much pain is caused by giving in to such temptations, and I’m so thankful that God gave me the strength to withstand those temptations. Because I know my heart and I know that in my own power, I’m not strong enough to resist temptation.
Pornography is such a problem in our culture today that over 70% of men and 30% of women confess to viewing pornography. Over 43% of all Internet use is for pornography, with related subjects being the most searched for terms on Google and other browsers. [1] [2]
These issues plague not only our culture but our core humanity, and we give in. Because it’s so easy, it’s pleasurable, and because we are increasingly being told that there is nothing wrong with it. In some places that I have worked pornography is talked about openly and it is fully accepted that “everyone does it”. To not partake makes you the weird one.
Yet, by God’s power alone, I have been able to escape these traps or avoid them altogether. Not by human power because someone gave me a list of rules to follow.
I have prayed to God for guidance and seen Him answer prayers. I have seen how God had healed my sister, who had burns all over her body to the point where the doctor cancelled the skin graft operation, after our pastor prayed over her. I have seen friends obsessed with sex in high school turn their lives over to God and their heart became completely transformed. I have seen 2 Corinthians 5:17 in action.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV)
And there is even more real evidence of God in my life. I have felt God’s love. I have had my heart broken for things that God’s heart breaks over. I have felt the presence of God when going through tough times. Feelings that are not of me, that don’t exist in my own heart apart from God.
These things are real, not just the attempts of a mere man trying to follow religion and do all of the right things. I know my heart, I know what I’m capable of. And I praise God that He doesn’t just write me off as a lost cause but that He, the maker of the universe, cares about me and helps me. He changes me.
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (Ephesians 2:10 NLT)
So no, there is no way you could ever convince me that God is not real. My faith in Him is not blind. Because God changes lives.
But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you… (1 John 2:27 NLT)
Do you have a story to share about how you KNOW that God is real? I want to hear about it.
I was so shocked not to see a single response to this article. So let me be the first to say thank you definitely touched me and at the end I was so excited to hear others stories and to my shock nothing so here is mine.
Although I was saved at a young age I allowed some tragic things that no kid teenager should ever have to go through take me down the wrong path. But several years ago while reading my favorite poem that I have known since around 5 “Footprints (I can not recall if in the sand goes at the end ) but regardless I realized God had carried me honestly through a huge portion of my life. At 5 I almost drowned and was saved by a stranger, at 20 I was saved from a very serious attempt at ending my own life, (my husband of only 4 years left me for another women) I was saves from a overdose at 20 and had the strength to get clean and stay clean after 9 months of doing drugs (this is too long too put in here put God got me clean I definitely give him all the credit! ) During the 9 months I was on drugs I had a gun to my head once almost stabbed in the stomach and almost had my throat slit. But I can tell you that entire time I somehow felt safe and only realized why later. I could go on because I have had a rough crazy life some because of my decisions and some I wish I knew. The most important thing is God, Jesus Christ has always been in my life and even when I did not know it in the moment I felt Him. I am just grateful that now at 37 I feel him with me everyday. I see him in everything the air we breathe the trees and flowers we see the way everything in the world works together as one I see Him there not just in my life. I see what he does for those around me stories of his awesomeness all over the Internet and tv. So many people only see the bad I encourage people to look for the good and focus on this instead of seeing all that’s going wrong. We as Christians no why it’s getting bad so let’s choose to focus on the good.
I am not a good writer so I apologize and my whole story would require a article which God willing I may write someday.
Sounds like you have had a rough life. It’s amazing the different things God has brought us through and how He still protects us. Thanks for sharing. 🙂