7 Amazing Ways God Reveals Himself To Us

The 1st in my series: The Top 10 Objections to Christianity Answered.

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God reveals Himself to us, He just doesn’t do a very good job of it. That’s what many seem to think. In fact, I’ve sometimes thought that myself. I’ve wondered things like: Why doesn’t God make it more clear that He exists and His plan for humanity? Why be mysterious? Wouldn’t it be better to make things obvious? Why make people take a step of faith to believe?

So today I’d like to address those questions.

This is the first article I’ll be writing in a countdown of “The Top 10 Objections to Christianity Answered.”

I’ll give my answer in two categories:

1. Why God reveals Himself to us more subtly than we might like. 2. How God reveals Himself sufficiently for those who are willing to receive and love Him.

1. Why God reveals Himself to us more subtly than we might like.

Let’s consider “what if.” What if there was more proof?

a. If God bowled us over with evidence, it would negate love.

Imagine if God reveals Himself to the point that everyone “has to” believe in Him (if it would be possible). The problem with such a scenario is that there would be no love relationship with Him, it would be forced relationship.

The philosopher Soren Kierkegaard imagined a king who loved a humble maiden. He had all the power to force her to come to his palace, marry him and be crowned the queen. But that would not mean that she loved him. It would probably mean the opposite.

The king could easily overwhelm a cringing maiden. But that is not what he wanted. He wanted her love.

In a similar way, God wants our love. He has certainly displayed His power through creationand given plenty of evidence for belief, (see my points below). But most of all He wants us to love Him.

He wants us to say with the Apostle John “We love him, because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19 KJV)

Love doesn’t come through pressure; it comes through desire.

b. Even if God revealed Himself more dramatically, many or most would still refuse to believe.

Some people seem to think that if God did a miracle, then they’d believe. Maybe they would. However, virtually no manner of miracle would convince those who refuse to believe and receive God’s love.

That’s exactly what happened when Jesus lived on earth. He did many amazing miracles. Yet most still didn’t believe. In fact, they eventually screamed for His crucifixion.

If God did miracles, some would think:

• It’s an illusion

• I must be hallucinating

• Someone’s playing a trick on me

• I mustn’t be hustled by a conman

For those who refuse to believe, virtually no amount of evidence will convince.

2. How God reveals Himself sufficiently for those who are willing to receive and love Him.

While it is true that some would refuse to believe no matter how much evidence is presented, there are others who will believe if given evidence. So, what is the evidence for God?

Here are some of the amazing ways God reveals Himself to us:

a. The existence of the universe.

The universe came from somewhere. It proves the existence of a Creator as expressed in the following bullet points:

• Something exists.

• You do not get something from nothing.

• Therefore a necessary and eternal “something” exists.

• The only two options are an eternal universe and an eternal Creator.

• Science and philosophy have disproven the concept of an eternal universe.

• Therefore, an eternal Creator exists.

b. The complexity of nature.

Not only does the universe exist, life is incredibly complex.

Lee Strobel converted from atheism to faith in Christ and gives this explanation:

“Essentially, I realized that to stay an atheist, I would have to believe that nothing produces everything; non-life produces life; randomness produces fine-tuning; chaos produces information; unconsciousness produces consciousness; and non-reason produces reason. Those leaps of faith were simply too big for me to take, especially in light of the affirmative case for God’s existence … In other words, in my assessment the Christian worldview accounted for the totality of the evidence much better than the atheistic worldview.”

God reveals Himself through the obvious design of creation.

c. The remarkable character of God’s written revelation, the Bible.

I’ve written elsewhere some of the reasons we can love and trust the Bible.

Here are a few more reasons:

• It is historically accurate

• Archaeologically confirmed

• Proven through fulfilled prophecies

• Jesus affirmed the Scriptures

• It covers beginning to end. The first words are “In the beginning God created.” (Genesis 1:1). The last book (Revelation) tells us of our eternal state.

• It gives God’s moral standard—the foundation for our laws

• It reveals Jesus, the answer to sin and death

d. The mind-blowing life of Jesus.

Jesus’ coming was foretold by amazing prophecy. Before Jesus was born there were 60 major prophecies written about the coming Savior. They were explicit and most were impossible to deliberately fulfill, such as the town of birth for the Messiah: Bethlehem.

Professor Peter W. Stoner wrote a book now available free online called Science Speaks. He did calculations to determine the chances of just eight of the sixty being fulfilled in any one person in all of history. He calculated that the chances that one person might fulfill eight of the prophecies is one in 10 to the seventeenth power. Written out that is the number 1 with 17 zeros behind it. Obviously, God did something.

The odds of any person fulfilling all 8 of these prophecies is the same as if you took the state of Texas and filled it two feet deep with silver dollars. Imagine if you then put a checkmark on one of them, threw it in and stirred the whole thing with bulldozers. If you then had a person blindfolded take one pick, the chance that he would pick the checked silver dollar is the same as anyone fulfilling just eight of the 60 prophecies.

God clearly identified Jesus as our Savior!

e. The resurrection of Jesus.

As noted in my article “Four Powerful Proofs Jesus Lives,” Thomas Arnold, Oxford University professor and author of the three-volume History of Rome stated: “I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence…than Christ died and rose again from the dead.”

Harvard law professor and author of A Treatise on the Law of Evidence Dr. Simon Greenleaf wrote: “All that Christianity asks of men is that they would be consistent with themselves; that they would treat its evidences as they treat the evidence of other things…the result will be an undoubting conviction of their integrity, ability and truth.”

If we treat the evidence the same, we believe in the resurrection. God reveals Himself through it!

f. The impact of Christ on humanity.

The positive impact of Christ through Christians is off-the-charts. Study the book What if Jesus Had Never Been Born by D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe and you’ll see what I mean.

In summary, Christ’s impact spans:

• Relief for the poor

• Education

• The value of human life

• Prosperity many enjoy

• The existence of the USA

• Civil liberties

• Science

• Health and medicine

• The arts and music

For more details, I wrote an article based on that book which you can see HERE.

g. The impact of Christ on individual lives.

Perhaps the most profound way God reveals Himself is when people open their lives to Him fully and He transforms them.

Some have been transformed dramatically. Mel Trotter (1870-1940) was an abusive alcoholic who swore he wouldn’t drink again after finding his only child dead one day. Yet two hours later he was drunk again. He even sold his shoes to buy a drink. Believing he was responsible for the death, he decided to end his life.

Drunk, broke and shoeless in the snow, he heard about the love of Jesus for sinners at The Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago. He became a Christian there, gave up alcohol and went on to lead a rescue mission himself. Subsequently, he helped start 67 more missions. Jesus Christ has transformed thousands of alcoholics on skid row through his ministry.

• Take away Jesus and you have the suicide of a miserable drunk.

• With Jesus, you have a transformed life that helped multitudes!

For more wonderful stories and videos of lives remarkably changed by Jesus click HERE.

If you’re not a believer in Jesus, may I suggest a next move? Find out how to know God personally today through Jesus Christ, by clicking HERE!

If you’re not ready yet to surrender to God through Christ, then I have an alternative suggestion: a prayer. I suggest you pray honestly, “God, if you’re there, please reveal yourself to me.” If you pray that prayer honestly and seek Him, He will reveal Himself to you.

Additional resources about related subjects on this site:

• 4 Reasons You Can Love and Trust the Bible Today

• How Digging in the Dirt Proves the Bible is Reliable

• Four Powerful Proofs Jesus Lives

• Have You Written Your Own Bible?

• The 3 Best Explanations Why Jesus’ Resurrection Never Happened

• 3 Trees That Explain Suffering (a series of 3 articles)

• What if God Eliminated All Suffering?Why is There so Much Pleasure in the World?

• What Does God Owe Me?

• 5 Keys that Help Unlock the Mystery of the Trinity

• How to predict the Future

• Podcast: Where do dinosaurs fit in the Bible?

• Podcast: How do we know we have the right books in the Bible?

• Podcast: Why do some Bible versions omit certain verses?

NOTE: Facebook is random. Email is reliable. Subscribe via email and you won’t miss any of my articles, podcasts or videos. You’ll also get my eBook: 10 Prayers to Unlock Heaven on Earth

3 Biblical Reasons Racism Is Sinful And Silly

The Bible speaks clearly against racial discrimination.

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Racism was only a small, subtle problem where I was raised. I grew up in the all-white, middle-class town of Reynoldsburg, Ohio. Everyone was Caucasian: everyone in our schools, our neighborhood, our stores and our church. Finally in high school, about five African-Americans were “bussed” in from nearby Whitehall, apparently to add variety to the racial scene.

Thus, there was not much racial tension—there was no one to be tense with! But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t hear some racial slurs and learn some subtle racism. I’m ashamed of that now.

After high school, I attended Moody Bible Institute in downtown Chicago. There the racial situation was quite different. I was given a Practical Christian Work assignment in a high-rise tenement building on the south side of Chicago. We went to the home of a dear elderly African-American woman who invited in the children nearby for our little Bible class.

I began to realize that racism is sinful and silly.

Still, I didn’t have opportunity for a lot of interracial interaction. But after becoming a full-time missionary in 1998, I’ve been blessed to work in 60 countries on every inhabited continent of the world. I’ve met and ministered with believers from many nations and races.

Often the Christian passion, zeal and sacrifice of all the other ethnicities have impressed me deeply. They usually have less money, education, opportunity and freedom. Yet their commitment to Christ is immense. When I travel I often think of the words of Jesus, “So the last will be first, and the first last.” (Matthew 20:16 ESV)

I’ve come to realize that for a Christian, any racism is wrong.

Here are 3 biblical reasons racism is sinful and silly:

1. God’s love does not discriminate racially.

The Bible is explicitly clear that God loves everyone, from every ethnicity, race and skin color. The most famous verse in the Bible says, “For God so loved the world….” (John 3:16) The “world” means the entire world, every person. Salvation is available for the entire world—all who will receive it! To learn how to receive salvation please click HERE.

Not to love those whom God loves is downright sinful and silly.

Those who receive Jesus will live together in the same neighborhood (heaven) for all eternity. The Apostle John had a vision of this great neighborhood and recorded it in Revelation 7:

“After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands.” (Revelation 7:9 NLT)

Note that the vast crowd is from “every nation and tribe and people and language.” No one is left out, no one is discriminated against.

Other verses also make God’s nondiscrimination policy clear:

“Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear Him and do what is right.'” (Acts 10:34, 35 NIV)

“Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people.” (Revelation 14:6 NIV)

“And [God] has made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.”(Acts 17:26 KJV)

God said to Abraham, “And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed….” (Genesis 22:18a NLT)

It could hardly be more well-defined. God’s love doesn’t discriminate racially! For Christians to discriminate in the face of this clear teaching is not smart.

2. How we treat others is how we treat Jesus.

Matthew 25 has some clear and gripping teaching from Jesus. He describes those who will go away to “eternal punishment” and others who will go to “eternal life.” The difference is what is done for the less fortunate: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, helping the sick, etc.

Jesus equates the less fortunate to Himself, saying: “I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.” (Matthew 25:45 NLT)

Two important points about this passage:

1. Jesus wasn’t saying that we earn our eternal salvation by doing good works for others (see Ephesians 2:8-9).

2. Jesus was saying that loving others is loving Him and mistreating others means mistreating Him.

It doesn’t matter who the less fortunate are—even if they are “the least.” To mistreat another, or to despise another, is to despise or mistreat Jesus.

How we treat others is how we treat Jesus:

• To discriminate unjustly against others is to discriminate against Jesus.

• To slur others is to slur Jesus.

• To despise others is to despise Jesus.

• To enslave others is to enslave Jesus.

• To abuse others is to abuse Jesus.

When we realize that racism against others is racism against Jesus, we know how sinful and dumb it is.

3. True Christians live by “The Golden Rule.”

Jesus gave His summary of the entire Old Covenant when He taught, “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.”(Matthew 7:12 NLT)

This principle is often called “The Golden Rule.” If practiced universally, it would eliminate all racism.

A great article titled “What is the Golden Rule” explains that this teaching is unique to the Bible. Other Eastern religions have similar teachings, but they are negative: Don’t do anything to others that you wouldn’t want them to do to you. This is sometimes called “The Silver Rule.”

But biblical teaching is positive and proactive: do to others as you would have them do to you. Based on Leviticus 19:18, it also predates the teachings of the Silver Rule by about 1,000 years!

We should ask, if I was born in that person’s skin, how would I want to be treated? Then we’re to treat the other person in that way.

Doing this eliminates all possibility of racism, prejudice and discrimination.

Living this way is not optional for Christians. In fact, it is the mark of true Christians: “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” (John 13:35 NLT)

Conversely, not loving others is a mark of not being a true Christian: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20 ESV)

In conclusion, we understand that there is absolutely no biblical justification for racism. In fact, just the opposite, racism is entirely contrary to the Bible’s principles. It’s sinful and silly. Anyone who claims to be a Christian but practices racism might be proving that they’re indeed not a true Christian.

An ironic footnote: If you look at the Reynoldsburg Wikipedia page, it lists four Notable people from our little town. Of the four, only one is Caucasian. A lot has changed  since I grew up in all-white Reynoldburg!

Additional resources about related subjects on this site:

• The Koran Says to Kill Infidels, the Bible Doesn’t

• How to Survive Rejection and Find Acceptance Today

• 3 Proofs Jews, Muslims and Christians Don’t Worship the Same God

• Podcast: Is Christianity willing to make peace with Islam?

• Podcast: Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God?

• Podcast: Why did God allow such violence in the Old Testament?

• Podcast: Isn’t Christianity arrogant to claim to be the only way to heaven?

• Podcast: Does salvation come only through faith in Christ? (exclusivism)

• Video vlog: Have You Been Pecked At?

NOTE: Facebook is random. Email is reliable. Subscribe via email and you won’t miss any of my articles, podcasts or videos. You’ll also get my eBook: 10 Prayers to Unlock Heaven on Earth

4 Reasons Why 90% Believe God Exists

God’s existence is obvious to most.

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Virtually all Americans believe God exists. They disagree about many other issues, sometimes quite vehemently. But one subject that there is virtual unanimous agreement on is they believe God exists. This is true despite the attacks of the “New Atheists,” the development of modern science and the often liberalizing trends of society.

Per research done by The Gallup Organization, about 90% believe in God. Worldwide, the percentage of atheists is about the same—only about 10%.

Recently, I learned of an extended family member who is questioning belief. Raised in a Christian home, it seems the doubt might be just an excuse for living a non-Christian lifestyle. Of course, this is quite disappointing for my wife Carolyn and me. But learning about it got me thinking about why the overwhelming majority believe God exists.

So, here are my top 4 reasons why most people believe God exists:

1.  Nature shows us there is a Creator.

We often call nature “creation” because life is so obviously systematically designed and created. This is in line with biblical teaching:

“The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship.” (Psalm 19:1 NLT) See also Romans 1:20.

Atheism seems to ask us to believe unreasonable ideas about nature:

a) Atheism asks us to believe that matter brought itself into existence

Atheists have no answer to the question of where matter came from, so they evade the question and attack believers.

When I Google searched “where do atheists think matter came from” the top two articles were by atheists who had no concrete answer. One admitted “We really don’t know” in THIS article. The other said that answering this question is “not our responsibility” in THIS article.

It seems that most people don’t have enough faith to be atheists. Most find it more logical to believe God exists and brought matter into existence.

Christians know from the Bible that God is eternal and brought creation into existence (Genesis 1:1).

b) Atheism asks us to believe that complexity almost beyond comprehension happened spontaneously and accidentally.

My guess is that most people find it too fantastic to believe that the complexities of creation somehow just happened, as atheistic evolution suggests. They see evolution happening on a smaller scale (micro-evolution) but unreasonable on a large scale.

2. The logic and justice of an ultimate Lawgiver.

People have an instinctive sense of right and wrong. We automatically know that it is wrong to kill, wrong to lie, wrong to steal and so on. Additionally, most seem to logically understand that where there are laws, there is a Lawgiver. That the laws written in our hearts come from God.

It seems that most people also have a sense of accountability—that one day they’ll give account to the Almighty for what they have done.

Furthermore, when they think of Hitler, Stalin and other horrible people, they long for justice from that Lawgiver. People want the source of right and wrong to judge.

This sense of justice and accountability is spoken of in Romans 2:14-16 (NLT):

“Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right. And this is the message I proclaim—that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone’s secret life.”

3. The sense of eternity in our hearts.

Most people also believe God exists because they have a sense of the eternal nature of our spirits. They believe in an afterlife; a heaven with an eternal God and a hell. Most find it challenging to believe that when we die, everything is completely over.

The Bible affirms this sense of the eternal saying God “…has planted eternity in the human heart.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT)

When Carolyn’s sister Gwen died a few years ago at age 57, the hope of heaven sustained her. She focused on her eventual heavenly eternal reunion with Gwen, rather than the earthly loss.

Rather than “wishful thinking” this is the assurance for those who know and love the Lord Jesus:

“For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:1, 4, 8 NLT)

4. The meaninglessness of the atheistic view of life.

To be an atheist means to believe that human beings are just molecules and matter—another accident of the evolutionary process. Therefore, life has no ultimate meaning.

Atheism means that:

• Your past was simply the result of pure evolutionary chance.

• Your existence is just an accident.

• You’re of essentially no more value than any animal or tree or plant or rock.

• You have no ultimate eternal purpose.

• You have no future except to die and rot in a grave.

I don’t think people find these conclusions very appealing!

Furthermore, informed people understand that not only is atheism very unappealing, it is very dangerous. The full title of Charles Darwin’s book which launched atheistic evolutionary theory is The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life.

Notice the last part of that title, “The preservation of favored races in the struggle for life.” Does that sound like Hitler’s idea of a “master race?” Indeed, his Nazi philosophy was a direct outgrowth of atheistic evolutionary thinking. It led to the slaughter of about 25 million victims.

Karl Marx, the father of communism, asked Darwin to write the introduction to his book Das Kapital since atheistic evolution provided the supposed scientific foundation for communism. Communism in its various forms has resulted in the slaughter of 100 million people, more than any other ideology in history.

Thus, atheism is the philosophical foundation for immense, almost unfathomable suffering. Most people find this disturbing and they should!

Instead, they believe God exists. And if they know the God of the Bible, they know that instead of suffering and emptiness He provides:

• Meaning

• Purpose

• Hope

To find out how to know God personally today through Jesus Christ, please click HERE!

Additional resources about related subjects on this site:

• What is the Meaning of Life?

• What Does God Owe Me?

• 4 Reasons You Can Love and Trust the Bible Today

• My Classmate Bart Ehrman’s Hopeless Response to Suffering

• Podcast: What do Christians believe about creation and evolution?

• Podcast: Where do dinosaurs fit in the Bible?

• Podcast: What made God want to flood the world?

• vlog: Creation demands a Creator

NOTE: Facebook is random. Email is reliable. Subscribe via email and you won’t miss any of my articles, podcasts or videos. You’ll also get my eBook: 10 Prayers to Unlock Heaven on Earth