Peter (host):
Anjali Kumar set out on a mission to find God. Along the way she encountered a lot of interesting and unusual religions. At the end of her journey, she admits that she did not find God but she did discover a heartwarming message to share with others.
Anjali Kumar:
I set out on a mission to find God. Now I'm going to tell you right up front that I failed, which as a lawyer, is a really hard thing to me to admit. But on that failed journey, a lot of what I found was enlightening. But that is when I decided that on my spiritual journey, I was going to avoid the obvious places and skip the big box religions altogether, and instead, venture out into the spiritual fringe of mediums and faith. Healers, God men, when I reflect back on my spiritual quest, even though I did not find God, I found a home and even today in a world fractured by religious, ethnic, political, philosophical and racial divides. Even with all of our obvious differences. At the end of the day, on the most fundamental level, we are all the same.
Peter (host):
Some people claim that Christianity is objectively false, while others claim that it is just subjectively true. Both views are wrong. Christianity, as it is presented in the Bible, is objectively true. Of course, virtually every religion in the world also claims that their religion is objectively true. So who is right? It’s not an easy question to answer but apologetics can help.
Video clips:
That’s good to hear.
Because I need help.
So do I.
Peter (host):
Good. Keep in mind that there are a number of things that apologetics should not be about. It should not be about accepting biased arguments just because they give you the conclusion that you want. It should also not be about simply trying to win an argument, or trying to show people how smart you are, or anything like that. In the Bible, in 1 Peter 3:15, it says that Christians should always be ready to give a reason for their hope in Jesus, but do so with gentleness and respect.
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Respect.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Peter (host):
We also need to be careful about having realistic expectations. We can show that there are good reasons to put your faith in Jesus and…
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Prove it!
Peter (host):
Well, that’s just it. Although there are good reasons, Christianity is not something that you can “prove” in such a way that everyone will feel absolutely compelled to believe. Remember what Dr. Sean Carroll said in a previous episode: strictly speaking, not even scientists can absolutely prove their theories beyond any doubt whatsoever. If someone doesn’t want to believe, then nothing will convince them.
Interviewer:
So what would persuade you?
Richard Dawkins:
Well, I'm starting to think nothing would.
Peter (host):
We can still make a compelling case which the Holy Spirit can use to convict people of their sin and their need for salvation. It’s important to remember that it’s ultimately the Holy Spirit that convicts people and never our ingenuity, or our ability to debate, or anything of that sort.
Peter (host):
Lots of people have never heard of apologetics. But almost everyone has spent at least some time thinking about life’s ultimate questions. These are questions like: What is ultimate reality? Where did we all come from? What is the problem with the world? And what is the solution? What is the purpose of our existence? And what happens after we die? The religions of the world all give different answers to these questions.
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That’s so… deep.
So deep.
deep, deep, deep
Peter (host):
Ok! But here’s another important thing to appreciate. The core beliefs of these religions contradict each other, so they can’t all be right. They can all be wrong, but they can’t all be right. The thing is, when people think about life’s ultimate questions, lots of people have a hard time deciding who is right and who is wrong. Even if they’ve spent some time studying apologetics, they can still have a hard time deciding. So a lot of people just decide not to decide.
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I just can’t decide.
I’m completely neutral.
Peter (host):
These people don’t see themselves as atheists or anything like that. They’re not ready to say that any religion is wrong, they’re just not ready to commit and say that any religion is right. And many times they just don’t care. So these people often identify as “nones.”
Video clip:
Nuns, monks, priests.
Peter (host):
No, not that type of “nun.” The “nones” I’m referring to are those who, when filling out surveys asking about religion, they check off the box marked “none,” as in “no religion.”
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Oh, the nuns
They ain’t got no religion.
Peter (host):
Right. That’s what Anjali Kumar realized she was.
Anjali Kumar:
I came to learn that I was a none, which isn't an acronym or a clever play on words, nor is it one of these. It's simply the painfully uninspired name given to everyone who checks off the box. None when Pew Research ask them about their religious affiliation. Now, a couple of interesting things about nones are there are a lot of us and we skew young in 2014. There were over 56 million religiously unaffiliated nones in the United States. And nones account for over 1/3 of adults between the ages of 18 to 33.
Peter (host):
The thing that many in this group probably don’t realize is that they’re not actually neutral. They’re not undecided. They have made a decision, and they’ve shown that decision through the way they live their lives. What their lives show is that they think all the religions of the world are false.
Video clips:
That’s nonsense.
Why you gotta be so negative?
Don’t be so harsh.
Peter (host):
I understand your reaction. Nones don’t see themselves as atheists or to be more technical as physicalists or naturalists. Many times they just don’t care about religion. They often see themselves as spiritual and happy to affirm all religions. And a good number of them even think that some type of God exists.
Anjali Kumar:
But the most interesting thing to me about nones is that we're often spiritual. In fact, 68% of us believe with some degree of certainty that there is a God. We're just not sure who it is.
Peter (host):
However, here’s the kicker. If you think a religion is true, then your life will reflect that. If you think Buddhism is true, then you’ll do what Buddhists do. If you don’t do any of those things, and don’t even think you should do those things, or don’t even think you should learn about Buddhism to find out what you should do, then your life shows that you’ve rejected Buddhism. You might claim to be neutral but you’re not. You obviously don’t think that Buddhism might be correct; that it might have the answers to life’s ultimate questions.
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So you’re saying…
No one is neutral.
Peter (host):
That’s right. No one is neutral, because everyone lives their life a particular way and based on how you live your life, you show what you believe. There are some things in life you simply cannot be neutral or undecided about.
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Undecided!
Peter (host):
For example, suppose someone asks you the following question.
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Will you marry me?
Peter (host):
You have to give an answer to that type of question.
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There is no answer. The answer is nothing.
Peter (host):
No, there is an answer and you will have to give it. You simply cannot be neutral about someone asking for your hand in marriage.
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But what if… But what if what?
What if I just…
Well, what if we just delay giving an answer?
Peter (host):
Yes, you could delay giving an answer for a period of time. In all fairness, you might not be prepared to give a simple yes or no answer. So you might say something like “I’m not sure” or “I need time to think about it”. But eventually you will have to give a yes or no answer because if you don’t choose to marry someone and live with them as their spouse, then your answer is no. Your life will reflect that your answer is. If you just try to delay your whole life, eventually it becomes clear that your answer is no. Even if you don’t use the word “no” your life shows that your answer is no.
Video clips:
Fine! Fine!
The answer is no.
Peter (host):
The same thing applies to you and the God of the Bible. The Christian God deserves your fullest love expressed as worship. Worship happens when we express God’s supreme value and worth. It’s reflected in many things we do every day, including when we give God our highest thanks, praise and honour. That’s what happens when we make Jesus the saviour and lord of our lives. And frankly, you either live your life doing this, or you don’t. But there is no neutrality.
Anjali Kumar:
I did not find God.
Peter (host):
That’s good that she admits that. I agree that Anjali Kumar did not find God. But if Christianity is true, and the God of the Bible is real, then that means she’s failing to live her life for that which is most important. That’s because the most important thing we can do in our lives is love the most important being in all of existence. God is more important than anybody or anything else. And when we fail to give him the worship he deserves, we’re failing to live for that which is most important. You can’t be neutral about that. You either live your life for the one, true and living God, or you don’t.
Video clips:
Why are you making such a big deal?
Yeah
Why are you making such a big deal out of it?
Yeah!
Peter (host):
Well, it’s a big deal because Jesus thought it’s a big deal. He said the most important commandment was to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
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But people matter more than God.
Yeah, I’m sure God can take care of himself.
Peter (host):
No, God matters more. Just like human beings matter more than, say, dogs or rabbits. And dogs or rabbits matter more than, say, insects or worms. So God matters more than human beings. And he cares deeply about whether we treat him as he deserves. He’s the most wonderful, fantastic being in all of existence and he deserves to be treated as such. There’s certainly more that could be said here, perhaps in a different LIT series, but that’s it in a nutshell. This is an issue that really matters. The stakes are high.
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Very high.
Peter (host):
If you claim to be a “none,” like Anjali Kumar, then your life shows that you’ve decided the Christian God does not exist. Either that or you’ve decided to reject the most important thing in life. But, if that’s your decision, then I’d encourage you to consider, have you really made the right choice? Is that really where the evidence points? Is that what’s really true?
Peter (host):
In this episode we looked at the story of Anjali Kumar and her quest to find God. Kumar says that, in the end, she didn’t find God but she did discover that she was a “none.” That is, she’s part of a demographic group that is not affiliated with any religion. And she ends her presentation on a heartwarming note.
Anjali Kumar:
I found a home. And that's even today in a world fractured by religious, ethnic, political, philosophical and racial divides, even with all of our obvious differences at the end of the day, and the most fundamental level, we are all the same.
Peter (host):
It’s great to try and bring people together and point to those things which we all share. It’s good to promote harmony in the world. But if Christianity is true, then living our lives for God is more important than that. It’s actually much more important. It’s more important than anything else. And that’s not something we can be neutral about.
Video clip:
No one is neutral.
Peter (host):
In our next episode we’re going to look at the relationship between faith and reason. More specifically, if we have good evidence for Christianity being true, then why do we need faith?
Female Narrator:
You're listening to LIT by Worldview Summit with Peter Kupisz.