Why we need God

I've seen a number of things in the last week that I find interesting, as they point out a few truths from the Bible, and how we need God, even if we don't want to admit that.

There have been a number of 'displays' created by atheist groups, joining in the nativity, menorah, etc. displays around the country. I find it interesting how as these groups explain what they are doing, that they feel they need to convince people that we are 'past the religious superstition of the past'. The atheists recognize that people (and this is from all culture groups and countries) seem to always seek after some 'myth' that leads to greater explanation of what is going on... While some of the 'myths' have been answered by science (which I think is the premise of the atheist argument - that science has provided answers for all the reasons that people seek religious explanations) there are a number which have not - we don't know just how the universe began, we don't know how awareness in humans comes about, and we don't know why humans in particular enjoy some things like music.

I also read an interesting article about 'humanism' as a 'religion'. This is a growing movement to provide the rituals and fellowship that are found in a church, without being religious (other than perhaps worshiping humanity...). This also points to a huge need within people to be part of something larger - that we aren't satisfied being alone, and weren't created to be self-sufficient. The 'Humanists' seek the relation, but don't want religion (yet, they are creating something like a religion in providing the framework for the relation...).

This need to be part of something larger is really our (humanity's) desire to be in right relation to God. We were created to be with God (look at Genesis 2, the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden). Because of sin (see Genesis 3) we can't have that relation. That need is 'written' into us - it is part of our being, it is made clear, as in Romans 1-20:

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

(read Romans 1-3 for a really great explanation of how this need for relation exists, and why we can't have it - Romans 4-8 talk about the solution).

So, if the explanation to our 'obsessive and irrational need' to be in something greater, which leads to the perceived need for religion and ritual, is found in God, why isn't that obvious to all? Because we (humans with free will) have again (and continue to) rejected God.

Romans 2:5 - But because of your stubborness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgement will be revealed.

Those who seek to be free from God will :

Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.
Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.
- Isaiah 6:9-10

If we refuse to accept God, we will not be able to understand His ways and His doings, and will not be able to see the mercy which He has for us. This is the missing piece in the above examples - people who have consciously separated themselves from God (the definition of an atheist) cannot see the work of God, and have to seek within Human knowledge for why things are the way they are - when the truth is that God placed them there. Why do humans enjoy music? So that they may encounter God in music, and because He loves music. Why do humans feel a need for religion? We were created to worship God.

If you don't understand what I've written here, maybe you need to find a way to relation with God. Because of our sin, only one way exists - through knowing the rising Jesus as your Redeemer and Savior - He who dies as a sacrifice for your sins, so that you may approach God as holy and blameless...

Does Religion == Stupid?

So, going through my news this morning I find this post on The Register : "God makes you stupid, researchers claim". The basic premise of the research is a 'casual' link that intelligent people are less likely to believe in God (or that less intelligent people are more likely to believe in God). This is based on the low percentage of academics who believe in God.

I have to say that, as a born-again Christian, I have some problems with this. I feel that I qualify as an intelligent person - Masters degree in engineering, successful career, multiple patents to my name - not exactly a poor half-wit seeking solace in religion. The question that I bring up is whether or not the study which is referenced actually is drawing out the right conclusion about the cause of the link. I will admit that few people in academia (university settings) seem to profess a believe in God (or any other supreme being - pick your religion...) - and that those who do have religious beliefs seem to be looked down on (see Expelled as a case that religious seeming thoughts are not tolerated very well). But, is it really that case that religion is only satisfying to those who are less intelligent - that smarter people are able to see beyond the 'mumbo-jumbo' and think for themselves?

Looking from the other side of the fence - as an intelligent person who firmly believes in God and Jesus Christ as my Savior - I see something different underlying the link. Intelligent people, especially the people who are in Academia, tend to rely more on their own abilities to solve problems and see through. They become proud of their intelligence and self-reliance - they do not need other people, and especially do not need God. Jesus said in John 6:44 - "No one can come to be unless the Father who sent me draws him" - that only through the work of God can we understand and see the wonder of Him. In John 6:65 Jesus says "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him".

Maybe it is rather that the more intelligent people, those who are proud in their abilities and have no need of God, have so offended God that he does not enable them to see Him? Their sinful pride blocks their ability to truly experience God - just as the Pharisees were blocked from truly seeing God (and his Son). When we are self-reliant, God has no place in our lives, and is not able to work through us - he leaves us alone. That is a true tragedy, for there will come a day when God will judge all men, and those who know him (and his Son) not will suffer in eternity.

Don't take this as another rant from a religious nut-case, as I said (and hopefully you'll see in later posts) I consider myself quite intelligent - an engineer familiar with how things in this world work. This intelligence, with God's enablement, allowed me to see the emptiness in a humanistic view of the world, a world without God, where we are only the by-product of primordial ooze. While in a place of doubting what the world has to offer, and my own value, I was introduced to the living Christ, and met Him truly. I attend a church which has many Mensa members and professors in attendance - surely we are not deluded into religion, but have entered into it with careful consideration, seeking a relationship with a living Person, and not just solace or an explanation for things we cannot understand.

The moral is to be careful of the assumptions that are placed onto research. Even if a connection between two things can be proven, the cause of the connection may not be what you expect. Here, maybe the intelligence isn't the source of the connection, but the pride associated with it.