What Does It Mean To Believe In God?

Understanding Belief, Understanding God: What Does It Mean To Believe In God?

This is another one of those popular questions that is out there in ‘the corridors of the ether’. It is a good question but the asker should realise that the answer has profound implications. The simple answer is that if a person truly believes in God, then he or she has to take God for real along with everything He says to us through His Son Jesus and through His Word, the Bible. That is a life-changing decision.

Confidence Booster

Not everyone is confident and not everyone who seems confident actually is. In the world of sport, each athlete began with a measure of confidence but needed to overcome many failed attempts. The most talented violinist began making the sounds of a yowling cat before reaching the confidence of a virtuoso concert performer! Generally, confidence has a direct relationship with experience.

WAKE-UP CALL

The world is heating up.  Do you wonder why?  There are lots of culprits that are cited – cars, carbon and cows could begin the list.  Perhaps it could justly continue with politicians, population and pride.  Will the list end with the greed of nations, peoples and individuals like us, like you, like me?  Are we bringing it upon ourselves and find we cannot change our all-consuming behaviour that devours not only the earth’s resources but all those ‘others’ who stand in the way of our corporate and personal consumption? Can it be any surprise that there are consequences from personal, national and world behaviour? It’s no good eye-balling the next cow you meet and trying to shift the responsibility on to her because of our milk or meat consumption! The world is heating up and we all have to consider our personal responsibility.  Young people and scientists are sounding the alarm – it is a wake-up call in more ways that we might imagine.

  • ‘History is a vast early warning system’ – Norman Cousins
  • ‘Scientists have been warning about global warming for decades. It's too late to stop it now, but we can lessen its severity and impacts’ – David Suzuki

Confidence

Do you ever feel that life is a little bit like the game of cat and mouse?  What can you get away with?  Who’s looking? You’ve done ‘it’ before and no one seemed to notice?  Although this model cat is blindfolded, who’s to say that it isn’t peeping?! To the mouse, this is vital as it could be the difference between life and death.  Confidence must not be misplaced or be based on a false premise for in such cases, life will fall apart.  If the given statistic that 85% of people lack confidence is true, then what are the reasons for that and how can it be addressed?  Are you genuinely confident behind the shop window shown to others?

  • ‘Confidence is the most beautiful thing you can possess’ – Sabrina Carpenter
  • ‘Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence’ – Helen Keller

Heaven’s above

What did Brian Cox, Brian May and Sir Patrick Moore have in common? It’s true that they loved music – Brian Cox being an accomplished keyboard player with two bands, Brian May being the legendary guitarist with Queen whilst Sir Patrick was a keen pianist and player of the xylophone.  However, their main bond was in their love of the night skies!  Brian May is an astrophysicist and generously bought Sir Patrick’s house in Selsey allowing him to live there for a peppercorn rent when finances became tight.  Patrick wore a monocle from the age of 16, becoming a specialist on the moon and an eccentric TV presenter who built an observatory in his back garden housing a 12 ½ inch reflector telescope.  The fascination of these three astronomers is shared by many, not least the mysterious astrologers from lands afar who followed a star.  We all want to know more about what is up there in the heavens above, whether it holds solutions for the problems of the earth and where the location is of Heaven itself.

  • ‘The love of heaven makes one heavenly’ – William Shakespeare