Why I believe... A Facebook TheoLogue 6.23.10

6.23.10 The question arose on a forum: Believers, why are you so sure of your beliefs?

This was my answer-

I see design in the Cosmos. Thus, I think there's a Designer. It's a greater leap for me to believe that Mind developed from Mindless Matter in Motion than to believe that a Mega-Mind crafted it all.

I see the Jews survive & thrive in spite of every attempt to oppress & destroy them. Therefore, I believe that the Mega-Mind is also the LORD God of Israel.While the Saga of Israel is compelling, it has not made itself relevant to the nations of the world & has indeed kept mostly to itself out of sheer necessity to maintain its survival.

However, in the Person of Jesus, His Gospel and His Church, I see The LORD With a Message and a Heritage for all humanity.

If you don't see any of those things, OK.

>Then, a questioner asked me for detail on how I saw Design in a Cosmos largely absent of Life and how I could regard the Jews' history as evidence of God since they were lucky to be alive after so much suffering-

and I responded thusly-Since you brought up the emergence of life in a seemingly hostile Universe, that is indeed where I think we have to begin with Mindful Design instead of Mindlessness. I don't believe it was inevitable life would eventually emerge out of the vastness, much less Self-aware & Self-determining Life.
Re the brutality of Jewish history- their own founders and sages noticed it (even predicted it, if you will) and saw two possibilities in it- that it validated the Covenant by showing what penalties fall on Israel for violating it (Deuteronomy 28-32) and that the Righteous of Israel have a destiny as God's Servant suffering for the wrongs of not only the sinners of Israel, but of all humanity (Isaiah 52-53).
And I think their survival is due to something more than luck.

>Finally he said...That helps, although, with regard to the Suffering Servant, don't you take that to be a prophecy about Jesus? Are you saying that all of Israel is to take the 'sins of humanity' on?

My response-I do take that as a prophecy of Jesus but many religious Jews take that as a reference to the Righteous of Israel. I actually could see it as being both- with Jesus being the Individual Personification of the Righteous of Israel.