One of the things that shook me is that I found his
reasons to be completely and overwhelmingly illogical. The essence of it is that he said he approves
of homosexuality and porn, and since the bible says that God does not, he has
decided that he cannot believe in God.
Now, first of all, being the analyst that I am, this kind
of statement, from anybody, disturbs me because it’s illogical, unscientific
and flat-out stupid. It’s an emotional
reaction treated as if it’s a logical, rational conclusion. This person has fallen into the same trap
that we all fall into at some point in our lives and that is we approach the
idea of who God is philosophically rather than scientifically.
Now, what I mean by that is this. Philosophy asks, “How do you feel about it?”
while science asks, “What is it?” The
reality of the situation is this. God,
whoever He, She, They, It or the non-existence of said deity is, is who God
is. Nothing you, I or anybody else
thinks, believes, says or acts upon can change that reality. If Allah is God, then my believing in the
salvation of Jesus Christ is absolutely pointless. If Allah wants death to the infidel, then no
matter how strongly I may disapprove, that’s irrelevant. If Buddha was right, then the Islamists are
completely messed up. If life was seeded
on this planet by aliens who were not created, but accidentally formed billions
and billions of years ago, then that’s what happened and any idea of a supreme
being is worthless. If there's some sort of God we haven't figured out yet who's up there saying, "What do I care? Do you what you want. You were an unplanned pregnancy and it doesn't matter what you do, everybody's going to end up the same way." then nothing any of us does matters. And if YHWH is the
one true God and He sent His son Yeshua HaMaschiach, or Jesus the Messiah, and
that’s the only way to reach Heaven and YHWH, then if you don’t accept Him you’re out of
luck. If YHWH is real and He says that homosexuality is wrong, then a vote okaying it by the board of Deacons isn't going to change anything. It’s as simple as that. Once we find the reality of who God is, we are forced to either live by His system, or actively rebel against Him, but at that point we can no longer deny Him.
Now, with that in mind, on our hunt for God, the idea
cannot be, “I’ll take a look at all the options and decide what suits me and my
selfish desires the best.” That’s idiocy
at work. That's us at our height of laziness, not our height of intellectual maturity. It’s the equivalent of saying, “If
I want 2 + 2 to equal 42, then so be it.
That’s what I like, and therefore I'm going to ignore mathematic principle and declare it to be so.” You can say, believe and act upon that all
you like, but the fact of the matter is you’re wrong. No, the way we HAVE to approach God is
this. “I’m going to diligently search to
find out what is, and once finding that I’m going to acknowledge it even if it
doesn’t fit what I want to be.”
Science, true scientific principle, does just that. It acknowledges that something already exists
and we just want to know what that is. As
a Christian, I’ve never had a problem with science. I’ve had a problem with many scientists who are
ignoring facts that displease them in an effort to support their own religious
beliefs. (It’s ironic that the greatest
religious nuts in the world today are atheistic scientists, but that’s another
story.) I am a believer in YHWH today
partially because science, math, archeology, prophecy and logic, just to name a
few, all back this up when taken in their purest form.
But here’s the problem. None of that really matters. I could easily debate the so-called proofs
that atheists present in their defense, but it wouldn’t do any good, because no
matter how much atheists want to declare that their decision is purely a
rational, scientific one, it’s not. The
intellectually public side of it is only there to comfort them by deceiving
themselves into thinking they’re ok. The
real issue is that the issue itself is 100% self-gratifyingly emotional. I said that I'm a believer in YHWH partially because of the factual evidence I can analyze. The greater reason is because I've met Him. YHWH is real and He's made Himself real to me. He has filled my emotional void and He has proven to me that He loves me and is constantly working to make me better and draw me closer to Himself.
The reason my friend’s decision shook me so much is that
I realized I had taken his life in Christ for granted. I had become something that disgusts me. I had become publicly lukewarm. I was not revealing Christ in my life. I was not His ambassador. I was not the set-apart prophet, priest and
king that I was meant to be. I was just
one of the guys and that was all. You
see, my friend has rejected God because he’s got a hole in his heart like we
all do, and that hole can only be filled by God. Without it he’s incomplete and searching for
what can fulfill him. He was told that
it was God, but he went to church and saw for himself how empty and hollow it
is. He was told that that emptiness was called
discipline and dedication and it was just the way God wanted us to be. He was told that there was life and power,
but he never, ever saw it or experienced it, and he was told that that’s just
the way it was.
He was lied to and now he’s paying for it. There is a way that seems right to a man that only leads to death. My friend believes that he's seen that God is a dead end road, and so he's chose a path he believes will fulfill him, but it only leads to death. And I, in my small way, was a part of that
lie. Because I haven’t sought God with
everything I’ve got, connected with Him in a greater way each and every day,
and then turned that love around and spread it through everybody I come into
contact with, I essentially told my friend that God was really nothing
special.
Why am I involved in this comic? It’s certainly not for the money or the
fame. It’s because I want to be more
than I am now. I want reach somebody on
a level that includes logic and reason, but goes beyond them into something
more real to each of our hearts. I want
Him to be my Lord and not just my Savior, and so I want to be faithful to what
I believe he’s calling me to do and to stop acting like my journey’s been
finished for a while now.
If you consider yourself a member of the body of Christ,
my challenge to you (and please keep in mind I'm yelling at me too) is to wake up. We
are NOT being what He meant for us to be in this day and age. Where is the power? Where are the miracles? Where is the love? Where is the passion? Where is the personal sacrifice? Why are we so focused on the physical pleasures of this world as if that's God's will for us? Where is the search for who He truly is and
letting absolutely nothing get in the way?
Where is the real fruit of changed lives? God never told us to bring them to
church. God told us to go into the world
and love them. Where is the get up and
go?
If you consider yourself an agnostic at best, my hope and
prayer for you is that you realize that every failure you’ve seen that you’ve
attributed to God should actually be attributed to men. He's perfect. We're not. I hope and pray that you’ll see and then you’ll
experience His real love and power. Only
He can fill the void in your life. And
if in my life I have already come across your path, I wish to now give you my most
sincere and heartfelt apology. I was
probably not revealing YHWH at the time.
Please forgive me, and please don’t hold that against Him. Jesus has set us free. Those whom He has set free are free
indeed. Please don’t look at the chains of religious duty
that man has added and think that He did it.
My friend never saw the life in God. All he saw were the rules. Some were God's. Some were fabrications of man. Yes, there are dos and don'ts, but the ones that belong to God are the dos and don'ts of a loving parent that sees what you can't comprehend and not the smashing blows of a tyrannical overlord. This was meant to be a passionate, loving relationship and it can be if you want it. The joy and life that He offers is far greater than any evil you're asked to avoid.
There’s a real adventure to be had in the journey. It’s anything but boring, and it’s definitely
fulfilling. Because God is spirit, it’s
very difficult to see. I hope in this
comic we’re helping to reveal the tiniest fraction of what it is.
Scott A Snyder
