25. IF ALL ELSE FAILS ASK FOR A "SIGN"?
So, i find myself at a point where i have assembled a huge diversity of information which i can relate to in terms of my own personal life experience over nearly 54 years and all of these things suggest to me convincingly that we have come into existence and all around us has come into existence as a systematic creative endeavour by a super engineer, architect, scientist, etc who over thousands and quite possibly millions of years has progressively created and assembled building blocks to produce what we have today.
Was there an element of evolutionary prototyping and experimentation, yes i think so.
Did all this self create itself to achieve such perfection and completion and complexity all on its own, particles binding to particles to create atoms, atoms to atoms to create molecules, molecules to molecules to create planets, plants, animals and finally humans? Without an external engineering agency i do not think that it is possible to provide any substantive evidence that this is possible. But, i am still left to conclude that if you do NOT want to see this there is nothing i can do to force you to see it.
I can offer you the dozens of examples and arguments presented in this document but i cannot provide you with the one solid piece of irrefutable evidence that proves that there is a super-natural creator, that is a choice that you have to make.
If you are more comfortable with an inexplicable creative miracle that caused all that we see around us to come into existence without any creative agency, then you have greater faith than i do.
I choose to believe in the existence of a creator and i cannot prove to you where He came from but accept His existence by faith and through fourteen years of personal experience of His existence.
So, both sides of the debate have faith in something they cannot explain.
There is one remaining thing to consider: Revelation 21:8 in the Bible says "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." (King James Version of the Bible)
The Bible and other books such as the Quran, allege that people who do not believe in the creator will spend eternity in a lake of fire and brimstone (sulphur).
So the best reason i can give you to look at all that i have presented and choose to consider strongly the existence of a creator is simply that there is evidence of a strong belief in the lake of fire -- Google 3 October 2007 reports "lake of fire and brimstone" (40,500), "lake of fire" (1,990,00).
What IF it is REAL?
If you want to consider this further, my ebook, "Where will YOU spend Eternity" provides an in-depth examination of this subject. Please email me on james@etimin.org and i will send you a copy.
There is one further course of action -- pray in humility and openness and ask the Almighty to reveal Himself to you and prove to you that He is real. You will need to be open and willing to see the sign or signs that He gives you but i have great confidence that He will answer you if you are truly seeking truth.
I have written a document "Essential Principles in Seeking a Valid Sign from The Almighty" which goes into this subject in some detail. Please email me at james@etimin.org and i will send you a copy.
In essence you might pray something like the following:
"I am told that there is a mighty creator and that He desires a relationship with me. I ask that if you are there you will reveal yourself to me in ways that i can understand and i ask you to help me to see when you are revealing yourself to me".
I cannot guarantee this prayer will be answered but i do believe that if you pray it sincerely it will be answered, the challenge will be for you to discern that it has been answered.
The bottom line is that the essential question is a question of faith and belief, not a question of intellect.
As i hope you will see from this document, you can rationalize, argue, present facts, find fault with facts presented by others, etc and at the end of the day if you are really honest with yourself you will probably intellectually decide absolutely that there is a creator, but is unlikely that without a personal experience you will really conclude that He wants a relationship with you and that there is a high throne in heaven for eternity if you serve Him faithfully to the end versus a place in a lake of fire and brimstone for eternity if you reject Him and do your own thing.