Oil and Water? More like Faith and Paul.

Many have argued against a benevolent, just God. Their question is simple: how can a benevolent, just God allow pain and suffering? Why do bad things happen to seemingly decent people? Those that believe in such a God claim that He granted us all with free will. Because we choose to act in opposition to God’s will (this is called sin), evil is present in the world. To banish evil would be to take away our free will, and in the same breath, the ability to have faith. It is precisely on this point that God (and more precisely, Jesus) is so easily attacked. We need only invoke the story of St. Paul and other founding Christians, though he is the most important and case sensitive. Now, I personally believe that Paul was completely delusional, but a believing Christian has to accept that Jesus appeared to Paul on his way to Damascus.

What business did Paul have in Damascus, by the way? The answer: the persecution and murder of Christians. Come again? Yes. Paul was going to Damascus to persecute Christian believers, and on his way, Jesus appeared to him to say something on the order of, “Hey, you better cut that shit out, because I’m the real deal. Now, go write the New Testament.”

How many Christians “struggle with their faith?” Honestly, what Christian can say that they have never doubted their God? “Let he who has never doubted throw the first stone.” All Christian believers have doubted. All have questioned. They might be ashamed to admit it, but they have, and we all know it.

I’ll pose another question: what Christian would deny the opportunity to have Jesus appear to them? “Let he who would choose not to see Jesus in person – in the flesh - as undeniable proof of his resurrection and presence in the world throw the first stone.”

Maybe a Christian choosing to play – quite ironically – the Devil’s Advocate would say that he or she would refuse a personal visit from Jesus, but I don’t think I’m going out on a limb when I suggest that almost all Christians would dine with Jesus if He was buying. Surely such an encounter would cast aside all doubt. Anyone privileged enough to have the experience of a personal house call from Jesus Christ would know, really and truly know, that He is the resurrected Son of God. No more questioning. No more … faith.

And there’s the rub. The Bible says that you can only come to God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but what of arguably the most famous Christian of all time – author, no less, of the vast majority of its founding text? Of him, no such thing was required. After all, once you’ve seen Jesus in person, what room is there for faith?

Returning to the original point, this – in my opinion – calls into question the benevolence and justness of Jesus more than anything else. When we consider the faith that is required of His modern day followers and compare it to the circumstances of the Christians of the Bible, we are faced with a very important question: did ANY of the Christians in the Bible actually have faith? More precisely, did they need it? Jesus appeared – according to Paul – to more than 500 people shortly after his resurrection. Is it not safe to say that there simply wasn’t any logical space for faith to reside in any of these people who saw Jesus in person after it was confirmed that he died? Some of these men may have considered the possibility that they were under a delusion, but once the hundreds of others began coming forward with their stories, I think all would agree: we’ve seen Jesus and that man is alive. And so, is it not then reasonable to call into the question the goodness and fairness of a God who requires that you come to Him purely by faith (I will define faith as a lack of any concrete physical evidence) when He required nothing of the sort from someone like Paul who – unlike many modern Christians who struggle with their faith – wasn’t even attempting to become a believer, but rather, was on his way to massacre Christians?

The next time I’m on my way to commit a sin and Jesus appears to me, I’ll be sure to get my act together and start going to church. Until then, I won’t be bothered to “have faith” in someone who clearly had no problem stripping away the faith and free will of hundreds of His early followers – or in Paul’s case, His outright dissenters. No thanks.