Are There Good Reasons To Follow God If A Skeptic Or On The Fence?

By Mike Edwards

I bet I know what most readers of this blog hope their legacy to be. They will say something like “I want to be known for treating others well.” Few if any will wish they had been a little more selfish. I have a hunch on my deathbed that I will be reminiscing how I hope to be remembered in my relationships. Who doesn’t need help in being who they want to be deep down? 

God may be who you hoped for 

God can help! No, God isn’t audible or visible but God somehow has found a way to be a quiet influence in billions of lives. It is natural to tune out influences that you don’t respect. No adult child is going to listen to their parents if they don’t “walk the talk.” No God is worth following if they aren’t the perfect lover. Don’t believe everything you hear about God! See here.

Hope for life after death 

I use to think I would age like good wine, but then I aged and begin waking up sorer and sorer. Faith in God doesn’t necessarily keep one from thinking this aging process sucks. Is their hope after life on earth? I can’t prove there is a heaven. But you can’t prove there isn’t a heaven. If there is a God who can create, I have a hunch God can offer life after death. Faith isn’t knowing but hoping. I draw great comfort that I may be reunited with my loved ones without limitations of this old body. Seeing isn’t always believing; believing is seeing! 

Meaning and a moral compass for life 

Believing there is an actual Creator can suggest we were created for a reason. It sure seems we were created to love one another. It doesn’t seem we were created to simply chant God is great all the time. God obviously created us with the freedom to follow or rebel against God and their ways. Forced love isn’t genuine. The God I know gives me a purpose and morals to live by.

Following God isn’t complicated 

If you want your legacy to be that you were selfish and treated others like dirt, why are you reading this? I bet you want to be more like the person you desire to be deep down. I am convinced God can help with that. You may have heard that you have to say a magic prayer and have certain beliefs to follow God. I doubt it. Even the Bible in one passage doesn’t declare faith a set of beliefs but hope in what you can’t see. (Heb 11:1) Why can’t a God follower be one who hopes/believes in a good God and seeks encouragement to be a better person? Challenge God to be make themselves more real. Consider the journey that can result in a life of quality lived here on earth!

Mike Edwards has been writing for Done with Religion for some time and has been a great addition to the site. Mike also has his own site where he writes that can be found at What God May Really Be Like  He can be contacted by email at: medwar2@gmail.com

Be Loving in Your Actions

by Jim Gordon

In our world today there seems to be a lot of talk in the Christian world of standing up for our beliefs and doctrines. It seems we feel this is the best way to show our devotion to God and be a witness for Him.

I am not so sure we are going about this in the correct way. As Christians we are getting to be known more for what we are against and being unloving rather than showing the love of God to others.

As Christians, many people go to a church building on Sunday to sing and smile and listen to a sermon. By doing so, they think they have fulfilled their duties for the week. All day they are feeling good and close to God and think everything is good.

Then Monday hits and off they go to work with a frown on their face and feeling down. They may be in a bad mood and snap at fellow employees trying to make them feel as bad as they do.

It seems we forget that Christianity is not a religion or a one day a week life. As followers of Christ, we are to let Christ live through us in the strength of the Holy Spirit. We are to let his love flow out of us to touch those we come in contact with throughout the day.

Rather than try to win people to God by our words, or by pointing out their mistakes or condemning them, we should allow the love of Christ to touch them by actually being loving and kind in the way we treat them.

While Jesus lived in bodily form on earth, he constantly spent time with those the religious crowd would not even think of being around. He spent time doing things that the religious leaders’ thought were wrong and against their religious laws. They could not even accept him as the messiah because he was so different from them and what they thought was a godly way to live.

Jesus accepted people for who they were, just the way they were and did not show condemnation toward them. As followers of Christ, we are to do the same. It is not our job to be the judge of others, pointing out their sins and mistakes and treating them like second class people. We are here to be Jesus to all people, loving, accepting and treating everyone with love and respect no matter who they are or what they believe.

In our world today, with all the discrimination and unloving ways of the world and even of the church, we are to allow the Holy Spirit to love through us. We are to let the love of God touch others and let them know they are accepted and cared for. We are to remind them that in God’s eyes they are loved beyond measure. Love is the way of God because God is love.

Stop the unloving and condemning attitudes and let those you come in contact with each day know they are loved and accepted. Do not do this in word only, but in actions and good deeds.

Jim Gordon and his wife left the institutional church after spending over fifty years within the system. Jim wanted a way to express his thoughts and concerns about the religious system and why he and his wife decided to leave the institution but not their faith in God. Jim can be contacted by email at: jimgordon731@gmail.com