Investigate

 

    When it comes to faith you should investigate.  Read the Bible.  Learn the culture of that time to understand some of the context.  Learn a little about humanity and other cultures today.  Study other religions to know the differences for yourself.  It is really the only way to understand what you believe and why.  When you understand what you believe and why, then you can defend it in a way that does not insult other people intentionally.  Being naive or willfully ignorant is not an excuse.

    Some people believe that if bad things happen to other people it is because of their or their parent's hidden sin.  That may be true, but it can also just be because they live in the fallen world.  The judgmental mentality may be self-gratifying, but it displays sin in the heart of the judger.  Sometimes God allows bad or unwanted things to happen to work in hearts of observers (even strangers).  God has the answers, not you or me or anyone else.

    When entering into the mysterious spiritual world and searching for answers, you need to pray.  Prayer gives you protection and sometimes answers.  It helps you get used to praying through every situation in life.  Things are almost never black and white.  There are layers to people which give situations layers.  Sometimes we just have to accept and pray through what we can't accept.

    Jesus did good deeds on the Sabbath, one of those good deeds was healing a man born blind.  That man accepted the gift whole heartedly because he had been persecuted his whole life for something he had no control over.  He understood persecution, so when the church persecuted him to give up Jesus he was not overly concerned about it.  He found his freedom .  He understood the gift in a way that most could not because suffering can bring clarity.  He understood that Jesus was not a prophet, but the Lord.  His life brought glory to God.

    Jesus' miracle condemned him in the eyes of the church because it technically broke the religious laws.  Since Jesus is over all the laws set by God it concludes that people twist those laws to suit their own personal desires.  We can't hold other people accountable for things that God never intended.  Luckily Jesus shows us how to address people like that.  He publicly condemned them for being spiritually blind.  Jesus is the light in the world.  The spiritually blind can't see that.

    Some people do not believe in Jesus or the miracles that he did.  Some people will not believe until they have proof.  They may be able to find their proof, but that defeats faith.  There is a difference between investigating to understand and hunting for proof to prove your own point.  

    The church got so mad at Jesus that they banned anyone to enter the church that acknowledged Jesus was Christ.  The man that was born blind, but now could see.  He refused to reject Jesus, so he was banned from the church.  This only proves that they had hard hearts that were not wanting to see the truth set before them.  They investigated, but only to support the outcome that they wanted.  If you are going to investigate, then you need to be open to learn or face new things.  

    Faith is believing in Jesus.  It is an easy choice to make: accept or reject.  The fact is when you do walk out in faith you do change, but who you are does not.  God created you to be who you are for a reason.  He loves every inch of you.  He loves the way you look or he would not have made you that way.  He loves your mind and personality.  However, we do have a responsibility to take care of what he created.  The best way is to try to love yourself as much as he loves you.  Open your eyes to see where you have sin, so that you can rid yourself of it and be more like the person that God created.

John 9