Lighthouse Ministries

A Gentle Word to Agnostics and Atheists

 

 If you consider yourself an agnostic (one who believes that there is not enough evidence to prove the existence of God) or an atheist (one who believes that God does not exist), is it because you feel that science has logical, rational answers for just about everything, and that these things are all explained without having to resort to God? Are you perhaps angry at God for some things that have happened in your life or in the world? Do you feel there is no proof that God exists and so there's no reason to believe in Him?

Whatever your reasons for not believing in God, please pause for a moment and at least acknowledge in all honesty that you could be wrong. After all, nobody has all the answers, so there is a possibility that you are wrong about the existence of God. Before becoming Christians, we realized that our spiritual beliefs at the time might somehow be wrong, so we asked God to reveal Himself to us, and He did. He will do the same with you. God says you will "find me when you seek me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13) and that He "rewards those who earnestly seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6). Believe it or not, God will help you find Him if you are honestly looking for Him. He is not going to tap you on the shoulder and say, "Here I am!," He wants you to be willing to look for the truth and be willing to accept the truth once you find it.

 

 

What Are Your Spiritual Beliefs?

If you already have some type of spiritual beliefs, have you ever taken a good honest look at them? For example, where did you get these beliefs? Was it from someone with a lot of charisma who got your emotions all stirred up, was it from a friend, was it from a book, was it from a TV show? What proof or evidence is there for believing what you believe? These are important questions for all of us to ask ourselves because our beliefs have an influence on our eternal destiny. If we allow ourselves to believe in the wrong things then there will be severe consequences. You may be assuming that Christians believe in God based on blind faith without any proof, but are you doing the same with your beliefs?

If you have spiritual beliefs already, did you know that God is a spirit? If you are interested in spiritual matters, why not explore Christianity a little bit? It certainly can't hurt anything if you read some of the Bible, and if you do then you will find that it spends a lot of time focusing on spiritual matters. Give it a chance, it might be just what you have been searching for. You see, if there really is a Supreme Being out there who wants us to understand Him, then it makes sense that He would reveal Himself to us. That's what the Bible is, God's book about Himself.

 

 

Does Science Have All the Answers?

Maybe you don't want to believe in God because you feel that science has all the answers.

Science has made possible remarkable advances in medicine, technology, etc., but can it answer questions about God or about the origin of the universe? Most scientists will admit that proving or disproving the existence of God is outside the realm of science because God is not a physical entity, He cannot be measured or studied using physical instruments. The "Big Bang" theory attempts to explain and model the physical universe from microseconds after its creation up to the present and beyond, but scientists are unable to explain what caused the Big Bang in the first place. Due to a number of problems with the Big Bang theory, some scientists are proposing alternate theories, but none of these theories can conclusively explain where all of the matter and energy in the universe came from. In fact, there is an absolute, unbreakable law of science which states that matter can neither be created nor destroyed (for example, when you burn a log you have not destroyed any matter, you have simply converted it into other things such as smoke, heat, light, ashes, etc.), yet the matter and energy in our universe had to come from somewhere.

 

 

Are You Willing to Look at All the Alternatives?

The last time you bought a new car (or new house, new major appliance, etc.) you probably shopped around, asked questions, compared models or brands or builders, etc., so that you would have plenty of information with which to make your decision. Isn't your eternal destination vastly more important than a new car or new appliance? You will only be on earth for a few decades, then you will spend eternity in one of two places. Are you sure you want to put more thought into your material purchases than in your eternal destination?

Have you ever noticed that people have a tendency to believe what they want to believe and reject what they don't want to believe? Consider this scenario: I don't want to believe that there are any cars on the highway, so I'm going to cross the highway with my eyes closed. BAM! I am dead. I didn't want to believe in that car being there, but it was there anyway. I was punished by death for my unwillingness to open my eyes and look to see if a car was out there. I'm sure you get the analogy: what you don't know can and will hurt you. If your loved ones were in a house that was about to catch fire, would you be able to sit idly by and watch them burn alive without even trying to warn them and get them to safety? If they told you to leave them alone because they don't believe there's any fire coming their way, wouldn't you at least make several attempts to persuade them? That's pretty much where we're coming from, the Bible tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves, so you, dear friend, are a loved one and we are making that attempt to persuade you to at least search for God for yourself and don't just blindly dismiss Him.

As we said earlier, science cannot prove or disprove the existence of God because He is not physical, He can't be measured using physical instruments or scientific experiments. Therefore if you do not believe in God, do you see that your unbelief is based on faith and not on any evidence? This is what Christians are accused of doing, yet in reality Christians have taken the time to examine the evidence and have discovered that God is real. If you are just assuming that God does not exist or you don't want to believe that He is real, the problem is that if God really does exist then you have rejected Him and made yourself His enemy. He loves you and cares deeply about you and wants you to come to Him, but if you remain His enemy then according to the Bible you will have some awful consequences to face.

 

 

Are You Afraid?

Before becoming a Christian, if I had thought about it I would have said that I was afraid to believe in God, afraid that He might actually exist. I was basically trying to ignore the whole thing and hoping it would just go away. I knew that if God exists then at some point I would be held accountable for my actions, and that's not a pleasant thought. Think about a time when maybe you were pulled over for speeding. You knew you were speeding, but it probably made you mad that you got pulled over and were held accountable for it! In the back of my mind I knew that if God really is out there then I probably should find out for myself so that I don't end up on the "losing side," so to speak, but the thought of becoming a Christian made me keep putting the whole thing off. I thought that if I became a Christian I would have to get up early on Sundays and put on my uncomfortable suit and choke myself with a tie and go to church just to spend an entire hour sitting through endless hymns and speeches. Who wants to do that? And somehow their inner radar would tell them that I don't belong there because I don't know when to stand up and when to sit down or how to do any of their rituals that they may be doing behind those closed doors. They'll peg me in an instant as an outsider and then they'll converge on me and try to "convert" me. I thought that if I became a Christian I would have to be happy all the time and do good deeds and watch my language and my behavior and be totally stifled with rules and regulations.

It's kind of like when you start having some type of pain in your body and you're not sure if it is serious or not, but you're afraid to go to the doctor because you might find out that it's something serious and perhaps even terminal. You know that you should go to the doctor, but you're afraid to go because you're not sure if you can face the answer. In the back of my mind I knew that I should find out for myself about God, but I was afraid of what the answer might be. Life would be so much simpler without God (I thought) because I could do whatever I felt like doing (not that I would go out robbing and murdering people or anything like that, I felt I was basically a good person) because there would be no ultimate authority always looking over my shoulder and judging me.

When I finally became a Christian (and believe me, it took years before I was convinced and ready to let go of my fears and prejudices against Christianity. Please don't wait that long, dear friend, you may not have that much time!) I discovered that it's not about rules and regulations and rituals and "religion," it's all about knowing Jesus personally. People go to church because they want to, and their attitudes and behaviors change from the inside, it's not forced on them from the outside by a bunch of rules and regulations. It's not anything like what I expected or what I was afraid of because I discovered that when I became a Christian, Jesus became a part of me, God Himself is in my heart, I have an intimate relationship with Him, I know Him personally. It's an intimate relationship based on love and it changes your life and brings great peace and great joy. Suddenly you want to go to church, you want to become a better person. Your changed life and your personal, intimate relationship with Jesus are the ultimate proofs that God really does exist.

 

 

You Have Been Warned

A common question goes something like: "If God is so loving then how could He send people to eternal punishment in hell?" Think about this: If my son asks me, "Daddy, I want to go out and play, why do I have to stay inside?" I would say, "I warned you that if you did (whatever it was) then you would be grounded." So whose fault is it that my son is grounded? I would hate having to punish him, but he knew the rules and he was warned, so in reality he brought it on himself.

What God is doing at the present time is holding His hand out in love to you through people like us. When the time comes for judgment against sinners it is going to break our hearts because many of you reading this will have continued rejecting God, making yourselves His enemy (notice that He is not making Himself your enemy), and you will receive that awful judgment and punishment. You will ask, "Why weren't we warned?," but then the realization will hit you that all those Christians really did care about you and were trying to protect you from God's wrath. What you are reading now is meant as a gentle and loving warning to you. We beg you not to ignore it.

At the moment you may not believe in any divine punishment, but do you really want to risk it out of blind faith because you never bothered to find out for yourself? You are taking a huge risk and putting yourself in danger if you blindly reject God because if you are wrong the consequences are awful and you will not get a second chance. There is enough information available for you to discover for yourself that God exists and that He loves you and is offering heaven to you free of charge, but you have to make the effort yourself to learn enough about God to make your decision. The decision you make in this lifetime, whether for or against God, is the most important decision you will ever make and it will determine where you spend eternity, because you will spend eternity in one of two places. Don't let your decision be "Against God" by default just because you never bothered to take a little time to check the facts for yourself.

Christians are often accused of checking their brains at the door and believing in God based on blind faith. If you haven't honestly tried to determine for yourself whether or not God exists, if you don't believe in God just because you don't want to, then whose brain is really checked at the door? Who is basing their beliefs on blind faith?

 

 

The Universal Quest for the Meaning of Life

Have you ever noticed that it seems like most people have some type of spiritual beliefs? Or that people tend to have some kind of inner sense of emptiness or dissatisfaction or yearning that they try to fill through hobbies or sports or drugs or alcohol or work or meditation or therapy or something else that might help them attain inner peace? Or what about that new car or new jewelry or new gadget that you wanted so much and that you were so excited to finally own, have you ever noticed that the novelty soon wears off and you find yourself wanting the next new gizmo that excites you? That inner longing or inner dissatisfaction cannot be permanently filled by material wealth or possessions or meditation or drugs or false spiritual journeys.

Consider this: God does not want us to be His puppets, He wants us to use our minds and look for Him and choose to come to Him of our own free will. He is not going to force you to come to Him. When He created us He put within us a longing to find the meaning of life, something that will motivate us to seek Him. That is why everyone on earth has some kind of desire for spiritual understanding, some kind of longing to find the meaning of life, some kind of emptiness within us that cannot be filled through money or power or material possessions or therapy or anything that we might try to do through our own efforts. If you are honest with yourself you will find that same feeling within you, although you might use different terms to describe it. Still, it is there, and it can only be filled by Jesus Christ once you turn to Him. Sadly, too many people do not understand the nature of the spiritual longing or emptiness they feel and so they fall prey to other spiritual beliefs which deny God and which will doom them for all eternity. Please don't let this happen to you. Please at least try to find out for yourself if Christianity is true or not, don't rely on what anybody else tells you, find out for yourself.

 

 

There Is Only One Way...

...to discover for yourself the taste and the texture of an apple. You have to bite into it! There is also only one way to prove to yourself that God is real. You have to bite into Christianity! You don't have to be good to become a Christian, you don't have to be a perfect person, you don't have to somehow deserve God's love. Believe me, God knows that no-one is perfect! Yet He loves you anyway and He will forgive every sin you have ever committed, every terrible thing you have done that may be eating at your soul!

Take a moment and decide for yourself that you are going to settle this issue once and for all no matter what the answer turns out to be, even if you find yourself coming to the conclusion that God exists. There are several easy things you can do to bite into Christianity and decide for yourself if it is true.

 

 

3 Simple Ways of Checking Out Christianity

  1. Ask God to help you find Him! What could be easier? Think about it, if God does not exist then all you have done is spent a few minutes talking to empty air, but at least you gave Christianity an honest try. The flip side is that if He does exist, the Bible says that God will help you find Him if you are honestly looking for Him.

    2. It doesn't matter if you are standing or sitting or kneeling, it doesn't matter if you speak out loud or just speak to Him quietly inside your head. Just say something from your heart like:

    "God, I don't know if you're really out there or not, but if you are then please help me find you. I really want to know the truth. Amen."

    Take this first step and say this right now.

    Be honest with Him, what's it going to hurt? He already knows all about you anyway. He knows your name, He knows your talents and dreams and ambitions, He knows your thoughts, your fears, your weaknesses, and your pain. If you feel like it, tell Him why you don't believe in Him, tell Him you are angry with Him, tell Him you are confused, just unload your problems and concerns on Him, He can take it. We are not talking about cursing and swearing and reviling Him out of anger and spite, of course, we are talking about being honest with Him and opening up your deepest feelings to Him. Just let it all out, then ask Him to help you find Him.

    You don't need to beg Him to show Himself to you, don't test Him or make deals with Him. Just say, "God, help me find out if you're real," then watch for the evidence and listen inside your heart day by day as you try the next two suggestions.

  2. For the next month or so, try to live and act as a Christian should and see if it makes any improvements in your life and relationships. Christians are not perfect, we're all human and we usually fall short of the ideal Christian attitudes and behavior that the Bible describes. However, if you will decide that for about a month you're going to try your best to incorporate most of these behaviors into your life you will probably find that your attitudes, your outlook, and your relationships will significantly improve.

    3. Try to:

    As you can see, these things require some self-control but these are all behaviors which make us better people and which improve our relationships with loved ones, friends, co-workers, and so on. You probably know Christians who do not behave in a very Christian manner, but don't judge all of Christianity based on some bad examples. There are always going to be bad examples for just about every good thing you can name. Instead, judge Christianity for now by the evidence of your own experience. Ask God to help you find Him and to help you live the Christian lifestyle for a month (surely you can handle being a better person for just a month!). At the end of that month, evaluate whether living as a Christian has helped you in any way, if you are happier and healthier, if your relationships with others have improved, if maybe your conscience is now refreshingly clear, etc. If you can honestly see some direct benefits from this test, then maybe Jesus knew what He was talking about after all and maybe it's time to decide to become a Christian. Simply acting like a Christian or calling yourself a Christian does not actually make you a Christian, but in a moment we will tell how you can become saved and be sure that you are going to heaven.
  3. Read some books to learn more about Christianity so that you are not basing your beliefs on any preconceived notions or misconceptions. Did you know that there are books written by atheists who examined the proof for Christianity and couldn't refute the evidence, so they became Christians? Some of these people actually started off trying to prove that the Bible is wrong or that Jesus is not God or that God does not exist, yet they couldn't deny the proof! Try reading their stories in their own words and see what made them believe in God. Here are some examples:
 

 

So How Does One Become A Christian?

If you find your thoughts returning again and again to questions about God or the meaning of life or other spiritual matters, then please understand that God is calling out to your heart, trying to get your attention. Don’t ignore this! Please, don’t put it off until later because there may never be a "later." You might die at any time, but the decision you make during this lifetime has eternal consequences! Please send us any questions you may have that are holding you back from asking Jesus into your life...  we will give each submission our prayerful consideration and reply.

What you need to understand is that by rejecting God and doing things that are sinful you have made yourself God's enemy. God is going to punish His enemies by banishing them to what the Bible calls "the lake of fire," where they will be "tormented day and night for ever and ever."

Unfortunately, we are all sinners, we all do things that are evil and offensive to God. There is nothing we can do to deserve to be saved from this punishment or to earn our salvation. We can't do any good works or perform any religious ceremonies in order to get to heaven. Fortunately for us, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came down to earth as a man about 2,000 years ago and lived a completely sinless life. He did not deserve the "lake of fire" punishment because He never committed any sins, yet He allowed Himself to suffer horribly and be put to a cruel death by being nailed to a cross in order to atone for our sins. He paid the death penalty for all of us and took our punishment in our place, then God raised Him from the dead. When you understand that you are a sinner in God's eyes and when you put your trust in Jesus and His execution (in your place) on the cross as the only way for your sins to be forgiven, at that exact moment your sins are forgiven and forgotten and you will go to heaven when you die.

So in other words, even though you are a sinner, God loves you and wants to forgive every sin you have ever committed, if you will just ask Him to. Tell God that from this moment on you want Jesus to be the Lord of your life and that you are trusting in Jesus alone to get you to heaven. Read over the following prayer, and if it expresses your heart's desire then pray it out loud to God:

"Dear God, I confess all of my sins to you. I now repent and turn away from my sins. I know that nothing I do will make me deserve to go to heaven. I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is God, that He came to earth as a man, and that He died in my place as punishment for all of my sins. I believe in my heart that He rose from the dead and that He is alive now and forevermore. I now trust in Jesus alone as my Savior and I verbally confess Him as my Lord and Master. I thank you that you have now forgiven and forgotten all of my sins, that you have now given me eternal life in Christ, and that the Holy Spirit is now living within me! In Jesus' Name, amen."
 

 

If You Prayed This Prayer:

If you prayed this prayer and sincerely meant it then you are now a Christian, you are saved, you are definitely going to heaven and nothing can ever take that away from you! However, it is not the prayer which has saved you, it is the fact that you have admitted in sorrow that you are a sinner and that you trust in Jesus and nothing else to get you to heaven.

You may not feel any different yet, but you now have the Spirit of Jesus in your heart. He is there to guide you and to guarantee your salvation and eternal life. As you start putting Christ first in your life and start obeying Him you will begin noticing the changes in yourself. You will still struggle with sin in your life sometimes, but God will give you what you need to grow in grace and in  the understanding of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2Peter 3:18

 

 

Now That You Are a Christian It Is Important That You:

1. Start going to a Bible-based church where Christ is honored to worship God and to grow and mature in Christ.

2. Get baptized.

3. Read the Bible daily to hear what God is saying to you and to learn more about Jesus. Try starting with the Gospel of John and then Acts.

4. Pray daily. Thank Jesus for what He did for you and ask Him to help you mature spiritually.

5. Live a life of gentleness, humility, and selfless love for others and of obedience to Christ.

6. Share the Good News about Jesus to help more and more people get to heaven.

 

 To help you grow spiritually, please read our Web page called  "Know That You Are Saved!"

 

 Welcome to the Christian family, dear brother or sister! Now that you have repented and have turned away from your old lifestyle and have turned to Jesus, there is now great rejoicing going on in heaven (read Luke 15:7, 10)! We are looking forward to meeting you there!

PLEASE NOTE:
 

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (R). NIV (R). Copyright (C) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

 Because of Him:
Rev. Marshall and Ruth Lawson
Sussex, New Brunswick,
Canada

This material is not copyrighted. Please feel free to copy and distribute it in its entirety for the greater glory of the Lord.

A special thanks to Dave and Gina Root of Houston, Tx. for their considerable work regarding this material.