A Loving God

[Primordial Bisque]

When I get on an airplane, I'm handing my life over completely to the pilot.  I first had to be convinced in my mind that the airplane is dependable and that the pilot is well-trained and isn't suicidal or whatever.  I'm handing it all over to that person.  I'm not doing it blindly, but have assessed the situation first.  When the plane is in the air, if the pilot tells me to put my seat belt on because of turbulent conditions, I don't try to connect to the Weather Bureau and verify if he's right or not, I just do it.  We've all put our faith and our lives in someone or something beyond ourselves.

When I first joined this forum, I was a christian, but really didn't have faith or trust in God.  I had read scripture and had been taught about God and Jesus Christ, so I declared myself to be a christian.  I was never challenged much on my views.  I decided it was time to test my beliefs, by taking every rocket and arrow that could be thrown at me.  I wanted to really know for sure that my faith was well-founded.  After a while of having my previous suppositions challenged and refuted, I was getting pretty shaky about my christian faith because you all were knocking my foundation apart.  I had no pull at all towards atheism because it just didn't make sense to me.  I was very drawn to general theism or deism, but finally just could not accept the existence of a god who would just make a universe and then not car; that he would make people with spiritual inclinations and not relate to us.  I heard a bible teacher say a couple times that being a christian isn't about reading the bible and deciding it's right and following it.  It's about havingChrist.  That's when it all came flowing in.  God lives in me in the Spirit of Jesus Christ.  I not only know God, but I possess his Spirit.  Every minute I spend, he is here with me.  That is when I realized what it means to give myself over to God.  It's not like he tells me when to brush my teeth or whatever, but rather as long as I walk according to the Spirit, within me he is part of all my decisions.  He is involved in every decision I make.  That's how you put your faith in God.

I see what you're trying to say in the first paragraph here, but it's not a great lead-in to what you state in the second. An airline pilot is, in no way, beyond ourselves. They may have a skillset that you or I do not posses, but they are still human, and very real. The trust we may place in them is necessary and worthwhile, because if they screw up, there's a good chance that we're toast.

You continue by comparing a mundane scenario to an invisible security blanket. I do notice where you state that Atheism makes no sense, and you were inclined to lean toward Deism. That tells me that you need to believe that there is something beyond us, whether it is real or not. What your mind is doing is attributing a natural sensation (ex. emotion) to something that you want/need to believe exists, but is not really there. It's called Anthropopathism. Christians do it; Muslims do it; Hebrews do it; Hindus do it; and pretty much every devotee of every deity throughout the history of humankind has done it. Now ask yourself this: what is the general consensus in regards to the existence of all but a few of those deities now?

This is a bit off topic, but I'm going to be honest here, and say that this is a very good and interesting thread. It's also the first thread in which I offered more than a quick quip or joke, so I'm happy about that too.