“If it can’t be tested and
studied and proved, it must not be real.” This is a common mantra of those who
choose not to believe in God, or a life beyond this one. It’s true we cannot
prove the existence of God empirically, but neither can one disprove His
existence. In our material world there is no methodology for quantifying the spiritual.
“There is no evidence,” the
atheist declares. “It’s fable, fantasies, foolishness, fiction, fairy tales!”
(Notice the convenient use of “f” words?) The non-believer insists what can’t
be seen, touched, heard, observed or measured can’t exist. Only things tangible
and testable are real, they contend. Thus, we must bow with unquestioning obedience
to the scientific method. On the other hand, devout followers of Christ
are as certain of His existence as they are of leaves on a tree, the rising and
setting sun, or a mother bird hovering over a nest containing her newly hatched
babies.
 |
| This unborn infant, at the end of its first trimester, cannot imagine what lies six months hence. |
In a mother’s womb were two babies. One
asked the other, “Do you believe in life after delivery?” The other replied,
“Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to
prepare ourselves for what we will be later.”
“Nonsense,” said the first. “There is no
life after delivery. What kind of life would that be?” The second answered, “I
don’t know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our
legs and eat from our mouths. Maybe we will have other senses that we can’t
understand now.”
The first responded, “That is absurd.
Walking is impossible. And eating with our mouths? Ridiculous! The umbilical
cord supplies nutrition and everything we need. But the umbilical cord is so
short. Life after delivery isn’t logical.”
The second insisted, “Well I think
there is something and maybe it’s different than it is here. Maybe we won’t
need this physical cord anymore.”
Indignant, the first baby replied,
“Nonsense. And moreover, if there is life, then why has no one ever come
back from there? Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery there
is nothing but darkness and silence and oblivion. It takes us nowhere.”
"Well,
I don’t know about that,” said the second, “but certainly we will meet Mother
and she will take care of us.”
To this the first reacted, “Mother? You
actually believe in Mother? That’s laughable. If Mother exists, then where is
She now?”
The second said, “She is all around us. We are surrounded by her. We
are of Her. It is in Her that we live. Without Her this world would not and
could not exist.”
The first womb-mate sniffed, “Well I
don’t see Her, so it is only logical to conclude that She doesn’t exist.”
To
which the second replied, “Sometimes, when you’re in silence and you focus and really
listen, you can perceive Her presence, and can hear Her loving voice, calling
down from above.”
Jesus, nearing the end of His
earthly ministry, was interacting with His listeners: "’Do
you hear what these children are saying?’ they asked him. ’Yes,’ replied
Jesus, ‘have you never read, '’From the lips of children and infants you, Lord,
have called forth your praise?”’" (Matthew 21:16).
The Scriptures also
assure that what the future holds for His followers is something far beyond human
imagining. “As it is written, “What no
eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived"
-- the things God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
The prophet Isaiah added, “Since ancient
times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides
you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4).
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