Westside Church

October 06, 2010 by Pastor Jeremiah

Some of the most powerful and succinct writing in our world today can be found on the back end of automobiles.  In a society where you’re not supposed to talk about religion and politics in public, it’s ironic that we will display the most raw and honest opinions that we posses and then drive them down the freeway for all to see. You can learn more about your fellow motorists than you may have ever wanted to by reading the small adhesive labels attached to the rear bumper of their cars. 

At Westside church, where I pastor, we are in the middle of a 4 week teaching series called “Bumper Sticker Theology”.  We are going to be exploring some of these popular sayings displayed on cars and trucks throughout our city and examining them through the lens of God’s word.  In the next few weeks, I’ll be addressing some additional topics via the blog.

There’s an abundance of bumper stickers out there that seem to indicate that Christians, like me, are imbeciles who are unable to fully utilize their mental capacities (I'll admit I struggle from time to time).  “God is just pretend”, “When religion ruled we called it the dark ages”, or “may God be with you on your noble quest for a clue” are just a small sampling of some of the popular slams against religion.  There are some who come to the conclusion that religion is for all of the simple minded, touchy-feely type people in the world and there is no reasonable explanation for practicing one’s faith.    

Are faith and intelligence compatible?

The existence of God cannot be proved, however, it cannot be disproved either.  This fact alone has made the explanation of creation for the origins of the universe an unpopular one in the scientific community.  What is left to be determined when everything can be explained away as supernatural?  It’s much more fun to come up with theories like evolution, or the big bang, then back those theories up with experimentation.  The only problem is evolution, at least on the macro level, has never been observed and cannot be proved, and the big bang is a theory that gives little meaning without understanding its cause.  In fact, the best explanation to date for the cause of the Big Bang is “And God said, ‘let there be light,’ and there was light.”  Ironically, what we observe in the fossil record, that points to the process of evolution, is best explained as a planned process that was guided by the will of God.

This leaves me questioning, “what is so irrational about faith.”  Either way faith of some sort is required to explain the existence of life.  Faith in a God who created everything we see, or faith in the best theories man has to offer that remain unproven.  Considering a vast majority of the global population are believers in God (only 2.5% of the world’s population identify as atheists), isn’t it a little arrogant to refer to the rest of us as ingrates?  Sure, they’ve got Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins on their side, but we’ve got Moses, Jesus, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, and Oprah on ours.  That’s got to count for something, right?

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not a believer because I’m a joiner.  If anything, I’m the type to rebel from everything my parents taught me to believe, but faith is compelling to me.  Not just philosophically, or emotionally, but because it makes sense.  Stay tuned for my next blog post and I’ll explain why.