my response

i just wanna write this to the person who tagged my board with a link to a site questioning the existence of God... i've taken the liberty to remove your tag from my board not cos i wanna run away from a different opinion or anything but cos i dun want my other friends vising that site from mine.. from my perspective, i could debate the claims made by the author and the examine them and still arrive at where i stand now in my faith, but some of my friends may not be able to do that so i'd rather save them some confusion which they might have...

yes, it's possible to debate the claims but i won't go into that.. cos at the crux of it all, it's not just about some theory or theological dogma that proves whether God exists.. it's whether He's real... and He's certainly real to me.. He's told me things about others that i later found out to be true.. He's even told me things about myself hidden in the deep recesses of my heart that i was surprised even to hear.. and yet i know that they were true.. no theological dogma can do that to you.. i've read briefly about the "jug of milk" example and the difference between God and a jug of milk is that God still speaks and God still works directly.. you won't hear a jug of milk saying "no" but i've heard God say "no" to me on a number of things cos it was in His wisdom that i don't go in that direction.. and many times i disobeyed cos i rationalised that "it won't be so bad" and ended up suffering the consequences.. sadly, many Christians don't believe that He still works or speaks directly today... they have some form of piety believing in a system, but not in a Person...

But i have a friend.. my God is a Personal God.. His Name is Jesus.. and He listens.. He has His own will, makes His own choices and decisions and lets me know about them.. He doesn't leave anything to any natural consequesces but allows everything to fall in order.. my obedience to Him is completely voluntary (though it's not as perfect and there are times i don't obey) but it is also out of love cos i know He loves me and won't ask me to do anything against my own good even if it seems painful at first... one of the recent examples in which i let Him down is in staying on to read the site that you gave me in the first place.. cos i have a friend, the Holy Spirit.. He's a Person, not a vague being, force or spiritual question.. and He lives in me.. and when i started to read that site, i know that He's grieved... it's not the voice of my conscience cos the voice of my conscience is more cruel cos i tend to be so hard on myself... but His voice is clear but gentle...

Like yesterday when i was in church and something happened and i was momentarily sulking because of it cos i didn't like what i saw someone doing.. The Holy Spirit spoke to me saying "don't judge Me by My people"... Many people get victimised by the dead religious dogma and overbearing leadership in certain churches.. or perhaps by previous experiences with Christians.. perhaps they may have been victimised by a form of control or manipulation... and some are at diferrent levels of having been transformed by God compared to others.. we're not there yet.. but that doesn't mean God isn't either...

I'd like to leave you with this Pascal's theory which i read in a magazine yesterday... If God doesn't exist, and we live like He doesn't exist, we have nothing to lose... If God doesn't exist, but we live like He exists, we also have nothing to lose.. in fact, we'll have something to gain by following family values, etc.. If God does exist, but we live like He doesn't exist, then we lose big time.. But if God does exist and we live like He does exist, then we have everything to gain.. :) i guess that shows us how important it is to consider the question of God huh... to me, He does exist and He's showing Himself more real everyday... if you'd like to know more, you can email me at christian_russell@hotmail.com...

God bless! :D