Three Important Questions

I regularly get to interact with people from across a continuum of spiritual development -- from unbelief to new belief to obedient discipleship, and many points in between. While I can become intellectually & spiritually exhausted at times, every single relationship is truly a privilege. I have a host of teachers.

In recent months I've contemplated a lot upon the journey that many experience from complete unbelief to belief in Christ, and I've felt sadness for those who's journey is unlikely to lead to belief which leads to faith which leads to hope. The more I've thought about it, three key questions keep coming to mind, and each of these questions have implications.

*1* Is there a God or, more succinctly, a Creator?
Countless arguments have been made for God's very existence. Centuries ago, philosophers argued in favor of a prime mover. In other words, who or what set all this in motion? Someone, they argue, had to turn the universe on. Today, Christian physicists have marveled at contemporary theories for the universe indeed having a beginning, and scientists like Francis Collins argue that our hunger for transcendence is embedded in our DNA. That is, as hunger is linked to food and as sex is linked to intercourse this hunger for divinity must have an eventual point of connection at the other side of the human urge as well. Even if debatable, these are intelligent arguments. Simply put, is there God?

*2* If we conclude that it is more than likely that a Creator must exist, then another question looms in our imaginations. How does God reveal himself to his creation? If we are created being and if there is a Creator, then we are most fully human when we encounter this Creator. When we seek God, we are also in search of our own humanity because when God reveals himself, he is revealing the source of our very being.

*3* Did Jesus raise from the dead? This is unlikely to be the first question that pops into someone's head emerging from unbelief. However, it is a question that we must make a decision about. If he did raise from the dead, the most obvious explanation is to validate the claims of Jesus. If he raised from the dead and validated his identity with God as a result, then to know Jesus is to encounter the fullest revelation of God accessible to us, and the early witnesses of the fact are informants of a profound revelation of God. Much discussion for nearly 2000 years has gone into Jesus' resurrection, and N.T. Wright has written a convincing 900 page text on the topic during the last decade.

Is there a Creator? If so, we are created beings and would do well to yield to the Creator. How has he revealed himself? Understanding his revelation is a realization of what is most real about our world if he is indeed at the source of its existence. Did Jesus raise from the dead? If so, Jesus very identity seems to be validated, and that's a pretty big endorsement.