Conversing with Students

So a student emailed me with a question, "why is it so hard to believe the bible & God, when things around us go so wrong."

So i wrote back to her and this is what i said. It is not profound, but i enjoyed the chance to just think and write so here it is.


Without a doubt what is in the bible seems very far out there.
Sometimes it is hard to even comprehend that all of that that happened a long
time ago even applies to us today. I guess maybe lets look at life. What
are the things the bible answers about us. LOVE, DESTINY, INTIMACY, really
our SOUL'S deepest cravings. So lets take the bible out of the equation. LOVE it
seems it drives us to do some incredible things. It seems that to be loved
is as important to us as loving somone. So where did that drive come
from?DESTINY is something all of us think about. Where am i going in life,
is my life going to matter, will my dreams ever come true? If we don't
allow these thoughts to be in our life we seem to kill a part of our soul.
If we don't allow ourselves to dream or pursue something in life our hearts
shrivel and we feel there is nothing worth living. INTIMACY so often is
associated with either love or sex. But truthfully intimacy is that part
of our heart that knows we are secure. Secure that who we are matters more
than what we do. Intimacy can be filled on short levels with people in our
lives but a soul filling intimacy is filled on a much deeper level. So
with all these things where does our soul learn to long for these things?
It must be a part of us from day one. How did it get there? If God's
grand design in life is for us to experience him & life to the fullest then
we must allow our souls to experience what they were designed for?

Ok so hold that thought for a second while we look at this.
The bible does have holes in it? I mean there are a lot of unbelievable events that
occured in people & places.

There are a lot ofpeople that throw out facts about the bible. It is
the most historically accurate text out of all religious texts. It is one
of the most accurate texts to look at for people that acheologists have found
documents about. It was written in 3 different languages with over 20
different individual authors with each book or document all saying the same
thing. God loves people & has a plan of salvation for people. To some
people these facts and others are enough to believe...but what about
us.

For me i do have a hard time believing or understanding the bible.
But i do understand that life has more to it than we realize. I think it
is good to wrestle with questions that you have. I think if we don't have
questions of doubt or wrestle with things that we don't understand we are
basically puppets on strings that just do what we are told.

So back to the beginning.."feel like there is no God" to quote you from the
last message. Lets take God out of the equation of life. Is there
still love, destiny, intimacy, desire for a full life? Is there still
pain, anger, hurts? Is there still life that we are living that we want to
make the most of? Are there still questions of life, eternity and
everything in between we need answers for?

You get where i am going...
When we feel like there is no God, or God
is distant it is in those moments are souls are wanting something to happen so
bad so our deepest questions & longings are answered and met with
satisfaction. It is in those moments that we feel most "dead" but i think
in those moments we are most alive. We are looking & seeking for God,
we are looking to see if this life is really all it is cracked up to be.
And if we do look at the bible we see the same thing in the lives & hearts
of men & women there. We see people crying out in pain,
excitement. We see people questioning the working of God. We see
people unsure about this whole Jesus is the savior of the world. But
through all of that & now we see God moving. In our hearts, souls
& through those around us.