Belief and Unbelief

There are some people who do not have even a minimal foundation. They simply do not believe. And they do not want to believe. God gave us free will and it is irrevocable.

I beg of you still follow me as I wade through the murky waters of faith and unbelief. Suspend judgement for a while and ask for the openness of heart and mind to look again and see.

I am not asking you to be mindless, but rather to be mindful. Leave God’s existence as an open question to be pondered. A mystery to be contemplated.

There are others who would like to believe. They grew up Catholic and their parents handed them a version of the faith.

For them, unbelief and doubt are growing every day. It is now easier to see the world without God than with God. The chasm of doubt is too wide to cross and there are no signposts or paths that can easily be found.

Many of these would like to believe but cannot find the intellectual or spiritual reason for that next step. They wrestle with belief and unbelief, and it drives them crazy. They seek but find no answers; knock but do not find any open doors.

One young man sent me a song, expressing his desperate desire to believe. It is heart wrenching.

Marcus Jamal Hopson (stage name ‘Hopsin’) is a rapper who struggles with belief and unbelief in its most raw and provocative ways. In “Ill mind of Hopsin 7”, comes up against God with anger and rage. He wants to believe but cannot find the bridge across the chasm of doubt, despair, and unbelief. He sings:

“But I can’t buy it, it’s just too hard to stand beside it

I need an answer and humans can’t provide it

I look at the Earth and Sun and I can tell a genius man designed it

It’s truly mind blowing, I can’t deny it

Is heaven real? Is it fake? Is it really how I fantasize it?

Where’s the Holy Ghost at? How long it take Man to find it?

My mind’s a nonstop tape playing and I can’t rewind it

You gave me a Bible and expect me not to analyze it?

After gut wrenching prose of despair and desire for God he gives in to:

We are you, and you’re us, stop playing games

My life’s all I got, and heaven is all in my brain

And when I feel I am in hell, my ideas are what get me through pain

Do as you please, and I’ll just do me, I’m a human, I’ll stay in my lane

Ill mind”

Even in his capitulation he continues speaking to God. He may have concluded that God is irrelevant, but not that God does not exist. Even if He only exists in his brain.

Some 72 million people looked at the song. It expresses a common cry for a generation.

Over the next few weeks, I would like us to journey with this question, not as a judge judging reality, but rather as a humble seeker who wants to know the truth.

Jesus asked the man, whose son was possessed, do you believe? Answer with this man: “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.”

If you cannot reach to that point, just answer: “Lord, I want to believe. Help me.” Or, at least, “Lord, I don’t know if You exist or not, help me.”

Key Message:

No-one can prove to you that God exists. They can point the way, to show it is more reasonable to believe than not to believe. If we want to know, we must approach the question of God’s existence in humility, not as a judge judging God.

Action Step:

Reflect on this for the week, look at your attitude to the question about God. Are you in judgement over God? Or are you humbly observing, seeking, and asking the difficult questions?

Scripture Reading:

Mk 9:14–29