I have hope, but not the total secure knowledge that God exists, enough to totally give my life for that belief. I do not have blind faith and can not have just blind faith. If there is definently a God, I do not believe that he would want us to have blind faith. God wants us to be dumb? I don't think so. Could it be possible that he would want us to search? Very possible. I am presently searching for the so called proof of God. I do not expect God to make an appearance in front of me for that proof. But I do expect to do research and get an answer one way or another. We can not go into a black hole, but we can definently study external evidence and know that a black hole exists. I believe the same holds true for God. If I study the evidence objectively enough for both sides of the argument I will get an answer. And I have to weigh everything I am told, both by the churches and scientists. If I believed with blind faith, the world would be flat and Calvin would have never posted his reform papers on the church doors. And if there is a devil, don't you think he would attack the churches and attempt to twist it enough so that we will not believe? The same holds true for the scientists. Should we even begin to talk about leaches, medicine, or incorrect theorys on gravity, the Sun etc... My point is that both sides have many problems or obstacles to overcome. Those who believe in blind faith(religion or science) are mislead either by the devil(if he exists) or complacent to be told what to believe by both sides. I believe that those who preach blind faith are ignorant to the fact that they are really hurting their cause, and driving intelligent potential persons who could be saved away. For we can not accept the stupidity clause. Instead you should be offering a Q&A Web sight that offers that external evidence to the intelligent seekers. And offer both sides of the argument. If you truly believe in God, how can you not have enough faith, to believe that God is great enough, that his evidence will stand up? Elijah(1) challenged Baal(450 prophets) to a contest in full light of the people. He said you call on the name of your God and I will call on the name of the Lord. The God who answers by fire, he is God. They called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. Elijah even began to taunt them "Shout louder" he said. Surely he is a God! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy traveling. Maybe he is busy, or traveling. He gave them every chance to prove their point. Then had the people pour water on his sacrifice to really make his point. Three times, until the water even overflowed and filled a trench. Elijah prayed. Then the fire of the Lord burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. Now that is powerful, and the way that it is written, is what gives me hope that a God does exist. Not blind faith. But external evidence. How can a man write something so in harmony amoung different writers as is done in the Bible. How can the storys,symbols and numbers correlate in the Bible? How can a man control events to even get them to agree? Read the bible with this in mind: 1=the number of unity 2=the number of union 3=the number of individual completion 4=wordly number 5=the number of division 6=the number of man 7=the number of perfection 8=the number of "new beginning and resurrection" 10=the number of wordly completion 12=the number of final completion These correlations and harmony is what gives me enough external evidence to have hope. Now I am in search of enough evidence to make me truly saved. I believe that the faith is what occurs after having true belief, but blind faith is not the reason to believe. Faith is trust of your father, not proof that your father exists. Where is Elijahs example, full information of all opinions on the internet? This is a huge task that would require many. Who will enlighten us thinkers? Any volunteers in this great challenge? I ask, who will answer? grega@freei.net or galcorn@fedsig.com

• a little story - Beelzebub - November 8, 1999 - 13:36 UTC