Happy Easter everyone!

Since this is the Holy Week, the timing couldn’t be more appropriate to write what I have been intending to write for some time now.  (Sorry, haven’t blogged for about a month 🙂 )  If you have been following my blog, you know my regular topics include financial abundance, character development, success, positivity, winning, and similar other stuff.  But there’s one topic that I haven’t really touched yet.  Until today.  And that’s Faith.

Okay I have a confession to make.  (Deep inhale :D)

Friends, this may shock some of you, but I am a former atheist.  There was once in my life where I was 99.9% sure that God does not exist; that the Bible does not make much sense and could not be the Word of God, and that religion seems to cause more wars than peace.

When people hear this, there are two questions I encounter without fail.  The first one is:  “What makes you believe there is no God?”

My answer is simple.  Logic.  I took 12 units of philosophy in college.  And I believed you can never use logic to prove God.  That’s why it’s called faith.  You chose to believe despite the lack of proof.  That’s what faith is.  There are several other influences that made me an atheist.  History channel’s Ancient Aliens(documentary TV show).  A documentary movie called Zeitgeist.  Some articles in the news (especially Yahoo news) and science journals that I’ve read long ago.  They all seem to point to the conclusion that faith believers are not logical.

Here’s the second question people ask me when they realize I was a non-believer.  “What makes you regain your faith?”

To simplify my answer, I realized that the reason I cannot see the teachings of the Bible and the existence of God as logical is because I lack a certain level of maturity.  I was being very logical, yes.  But there is a certain level of maturity that once you achieve, you will begin to see that it actually makes perfect logic.  The teachings of the Bible will then make perfect sense.  The existence of God will become the most logical thing you’ll ever hear.

I do not want to get too complex so I’ll share the ones that are simple enough to be talked about in a blog.

Why does the Bible say forgive not just 7 times but 70×7 times?  Aren’t you teaching others to become abusive if you do this?  I genuinely thought it does not make sense.

But here’s what I learned.  It makes the ultimate sense if you have a certain level of maturity.  If you do not forgive, you will bottle up hatred, anger, resentment inside of you.  Soon, personal issues and insecurities will develop.  Soon, this will affect your relationships, your job, your career, your finances.  Given enough time, you’ll be a total loser with nobody to cling on to.  So which is more logical, choosing to forgive 70×7 times or choosing not to forgive?

Here’s another one I asked myself.  The Vatican is so freakin’ rich its wealth may even be enough to end the famine in Africa.  Why should we tithe and donate alms?

Again, with a little maturity, you gain more perspective.  And once you have a better perspective, it actually makes perfect sense.  The truth is tithing and giving alms will expand your capacity to practice the teaching “love one another”.  Once you develop this and do this on a regular basis, money will come by quite easily.  That’s just the way it is.  It’s a universal rule.  What comes around goes around.  There has to be give-and-take for it to flow healthily.  When you inhale, you have to exhale.  When you eat, you have to go to the toilet.  Otherwise, the pattern stops.  Learning how to tithe will make your financial life easier.  (Read my first blog “Law of Reciprocity” for more details on this).  It’s for your own good.  And yes, I believe God wants you to be rich (the right way and for the right reasons of course).

There are several other questions that doesn’t seem to make sense at first thought.  Why do bad things happen to good people?  Why does the Bible say pray continuously?  Doesn’t God hear us the first time?  Why do God allow top drug dealers, high-profile kidnappers, organized crime leaders, cheating businessmen to get rich?  Why do God allow them to succeed?  If God is all powerful and all good, why are there so much suffering in the world?

I can answer all these questions that would make perfect sense both to believers and non-believers.  Most would require several pages to answer though.  And this is a blog, not a book (who knows? Maybe I’ll come up with a book one day 🙂 )  Until now, I still do have a lot of questions.  There are still many questions that does not seem to make sense to me.  But I now ask these questions knowing I lack a certain level of maturity or perspective.  I now know that just because it does not make sense to me doesn’t mean that it makes no sense at all.

Let me end this by sharing a personal story.

It was about a year and a half back.  I was definitely a non-believer then.  I was in a Church but only because I have to accompany my ex-girlfriend there.  I have no intention to pray.  I have no intention of signing up for a religion.  But while I was there, I remembered what a former college professor said – “Even faith can be prayed for.”  So there I was, nothing to do, and decided to talk to God to see if He is real:  “If You really do exist, then show it to me.  If my beliefs are really wrong, then guide me to the right path.  If there are things that I misunderstood, then change my perspective.”

Any guess what happened next?  My brother introduced me to Bo Sanchez (his books & blogs, not personally :D).  Suddenly documentaries such as “A Strong Delusion” and “Wake Up Project” find their way into my inbox.  My former flatmate, out of the blue, gave me a Bible, saying it was left in the old apartment and it’s not his.  I met a man named Joseph Chew while doing business.  He turned out to be a part-time pastor and has answered a lot of my questions and doubts.  I got invited to a financial seminar, and it was headed by an entrepreneur who also happens to be another part-time pastor.  The list goes on and on and on.

Albert Einstein once said: “There are two ways to live.  One is as though nothing is a miracle.  The other one is as though everything is a miracle.”  Friends, if you have not experienced a miracle in your life, you have absolutely no idea what you’re missing out!

Speaking of Einstein, can you do me just one small favor and click on this link – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JgpARGvBnc  It’s only a 79-second video clip (and worth every second of it).

Last few words.  To all the atheists, spiritually lost, spiritually deceived, non-believers, or for those who just need more faith, I have learned that God is a gentle God.  He won’t barge in through a closed door.  If you are reading this blog, consider this the knocks in your door.  Open up.  I dare you to “challenge” God to give you faith.  See for yourself what He can do even to non-believers.  Do it!  Don’t chicken out 😉

Enjoy Easter Sunday,

Dan Mark See