Defend your faith, not God

 I’m not actually mad at God. I don’t believe in the fucker.

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I am sure if you are a Christian and on the internet you might have read these words more than often. Words that might just piss you off or at least that is what the author originally had in mind. Most of the time what usually follows is that Christians often try to justify God in his actions. They sometimes give excellent rationale and at other times they say something dumber than dumb. Most Christians and I am talking about some hardcore Christians, might just turn back and give the same dosage of abusive language to the author. But in all of this, what Christians do not realize that at the moment they tried to justify God’s actions, they ended up in a trap.

Lets face it, you cannot defend God, convincingly. You can offer explanations and all that but the truth is no one is bound or obliged to believe how you think your God is good. To an atheist, a Muslim praising his God, a Buddhist praising Buddha and a Christian praising Jesus is all the same.  Most atheists display a remarkable ignorance of faith and its inner working. And so very often if you are going to quote your bible, my bet is it is not going to work because to the atheist it is a “crap load of fabricated stories”.

Regardless of what you believe, he is entitled to his opinion. But my point is, do not step into something you can not achieve, and that is you can not defend God and the truth is you are never asked in the scriptures to defend God. There is a difference, you are called to show how God changed your life. Don’t be pissed off, do not be angered, frustrating as it may be, do not give into it. God is more than adequate to defend himself, for that he doesn’t need you. But your faith is something that only you can defend and that is something you should always remember.

Courtesy of Hartelyfoundation.com

Paul said “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” That my friends, is paramount. Where is your faith? You have zeal and you have passion, but do you have faith and do you know how to defend your faith? Most of the time, we think we have faith but all we have is passion and one day you might run out of it. But faith does not work like that. It is the seed which is sowed in good soil and there it has roots. Faith can not be rooted out because it is deep within your soul, it becomes a part of you.

Anger and disgust towards atheists will make the soil of your heart, stony and then you might confuse your passion with your faith and then it will be like the faith which did not find true ground and when the sun came up, it withered away. Not because he was saying something wrong about God, for the truth is, when we say God loves all, we mean it, we are not telling a lie, but the fact that that faith withered away was because it did not find ground in Christ’s love. Its roots did not go deep enough and it missed the waters of life which would keep it watered at all times. That love was replaced by hate and disgust, anger and revenge, passion and unrest. While some of these qualities are good to have, e.g passion for God, remember your passion for God, should sprout from your faith in God. For some people its the other way around where their faith sprouts from their convictions and that is wrong for it will ultimately lead you back to what you find good to believe.

True faith means, having to be at peace within yourself. And that is the only time when your light will actually shine, when your love will be shown. If you are not at peace within yourselves, how could you hope to convey that peace to someone else? Faith is something worth fighting for, but our fight is not with flesh and blood.

Defend your faith, not with blind courage and utter confidence but by totally trusting God and let going of the things you can not control. Trust God, even when you have your doubts, let his love guide you than your utter convictions in dogma, denomination and what your parents taught you. Resist the urge to fight back to man, when that is all that is given to you as a choice.

There is a reason why Christ is called the cornerstone, he is the cornerstone on which your faith must rest for he is the rock that shall never move. I am asking you look within yourself and ask this question, where does your faith rests? Is it on Christ or is it on your Bible, your convictions, your mentors? Does your faith sprouts out from a intimate relationship with God or just something that was instilled in you when you were small. Are you at peace? do you have your doubts cleared?

Know this, if you are not at peace with God in yourselves, you will probably not be the shining light to the world. I encourage you to examine you faith. Apologetics is a minefield if your faith has still to find its roots in the waters of life. If you find yourself revolted by something someone said about God and Christ. Take a step back, do not be angered or frustrated. Look up to heaven and know that God is listening and he is more than capable to defend himself.  And I can assure you He is not concerned about what was said against him, he is concerned about how will you respond. If you have doubt about something, ask others, do not let your doubts just slide-by. Be strong in your faith. And if you do not know what to do about it learn, pray and let God worry.

Having faith means to be the light, be the love and be the one who shows wisdom and clarity. Living faith demonstrates itself and wisdom is justified by its actions. But that will only come when you trust Christ completely, not because you were taught to but because you know him, you abide in him and he abides in you. That is the good fight of faith, my friends, to know where your faith rests. You have a testimony, you are a witness to what God did in your life and that is enough my friends. That is all that was asked of you. You can not convince someone just with rationality but you can be a witness and show them how God loved you and why you believe in him and that is best done when you let the love of Christ be shown through you. People do not always change because they see the logic of your argument, they change when they are treated with the grace of God, just as you were.

Bottom line, faith is about fighting with your own fears, your own doubts, it does not mean to fight with people. Don’t get me wrong, I am not asking you back down out intelligent discussion or apologetics. I am asking you to know where you stand before you engage and how can you deal with it. I encourage you to be firm and be faithful, be strong and be rational, be prudent and be logical but above all, remember the spirit you belong to. It is a spirit of Christ, it is the spirit of love and grace, it is not the spirit of judgement and revenge.

Remember, you are the light of the world, just shine and let God do the rest.