“I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining. I believe in love even when I am alone. I believe in God even when He is silent.” Unknown

Why don’t people believe? I’ve made up and heard plenty of excuses, none of them good, for why we reject God. 

The list below comes from “9 Reasons People Don’t Believe is God” by Vince Antonucci at City On A Hill. I paraphrased his answers. 

He said people don’t believe because we … 

• Grew up in a faithless family.
• Stopped our belief in religion because it felt prescribed, not personal.   
• Questioned our faith after hearing different beliefs, and we felt foolish.
• Challenged the many unanswered questions.
• Hurt emotionally because of issues like abuse in church and unanswered prayers.  
• Desired unity instead of standing up for what Jesus said. 
• Wanted to continue doing what we wanted without answering to God.
• Struggled with Christians who judged sexual issues.
• Resisted differing political views we decided didn’t align with faith. 

My question is, what will it hurt for us to believe? 

In the face of every argument against believing, what if we believed anyway? What if we pushed through faithlessness, forced faith, foolishness, unanswered questions, pain, religious inequality, our desires, judgment, and political views and we put Jesus in their place? 

What if …  

What difference would it make if we believe and find out we’re wrong as opposed to not believing and finding out we’re wrong? 

It’s the distance and the difference between heaven and hell. 

I used to never acknowledge hell, but pretending it doesn’t exist doesn’t make it go away. The truth is, no one will go there except by choice. We choose hell when we don’t choose Jesus. My pastor emphasizes, “Absolutely no one is in hell because God sent them there and no one is there because of their sin – not one single person. Not Hitler, not anyone.” 

The road to hell isn’t paved with good intentions like I grew up hearing. It’s paved with resistance to a relationship with Jesus. Old man Wrigley had it right in Brooks & Dunn’s song “Believe.”

What do we have to lose by believing in Him?

In This Together,
Kim