Further thoughts on "life, the universe and everything"
On reflection, this makes so much sense, because I now see how this was the way God designed us to work best - in a proper relationship with Him.
My experience also helped me to recognise that the real issue in deciding how to respond to the claims of Christianity is mainly to do with the challenge of changing our lives, rather than whether it is true or not! So when we do consider these matters, we should be careful we are being objective, confronting the matter for what it is - a call to change from a view of the world which revolves around self, to one which revolves around God.
It seems to me that there is a great need in our modern world to start facing up to real issues and carry things through to their logical conclusions. Many deny the existence of God, or even if they acknowledge that there is a 'creator', believe that humankind are merely a chance product of natural life which itself arose by chance.
If this is the case, a person is simply a collection of atoms and emotions are ultimately nothing more than programming to make sure we propagate. Therefore, it should not matter how we treat one another and there can be no such thing as right and wrong. Killing another human being would be a meaningless fact, as insignificant as pulling a petal off a daisy. Yet even the smallest child recognises the existence of standards in the order of things, that one thing is right and another is wrong. So something does not tally! It can't be!!!
I believe that the Christian story does provide answers to these questions, and answers which are relevant to all human beings from the illiterate tribesman to the most sophisticated modern man. The answers cross all cultures, races and standings in the world, and this is born out by the fact that the gospel message has been found to be highly relevant to the lives of millions across the world.
In fact, the thoughts I have written here pale into insignificance when I read of the incredible work of God in different parts of the world. Our workplace CU support the work of Rolland and Heidi Baker of Iris Ministries working with street children and orphans in Mozambique.
The weekly emailed prayer updates take us to another world, where those who have nothing and have experienced overwhelming suffering in worldly terms, especially in the aftermath of the recent floods, experience deliverance and incredible joy in knowing our Lord. Time after time we read of lives turned upside down by the Christian message.
We read of people with a hunger to know about God, such that they would ignore desperately needed relief supplies of food for the sake of getting hold of Christian tracts, which they see as more valuable. We read of people who all there lives have been prisoners to fear, superstition and witchcraft set free and so grateful. We read of children who have nothing brought in off the rubbish dumps worshipping the Lord with abandoned joy.
And this situation is not confined to Mozambique! A visiting speaker at Cranfield Christian Union from the Mission Aviation Fellowship told us of similar experiences when delivering relief supplies to refugees from southern Sudan whilst in Northern Uganda. Moving amongst the destitute and hungry refugees, people were constantly coming to him to ask for one thing - bibles, the word of God.
Then I hear from a college room-mate who is now a pastor in a large church in Nigeria, of how hundreds of thousands of people come to the monthly all-night prayer vigil held in his church. These people are eager to seek God and lives and situations are seen to be changed through the power of prayer.
Here in the West, there is limited interest in the things of God and priorities are different. But maybe we can learn from others, each of whom is known and loved by God to the same extent as any high-flying professional in the capitalist West. I believe that deep inside, we all have the same needs and concerns - a need to know that we are known and loved by the creator of all things, and a need to know why we are here.
There's lots more I would love to say, but there's a limit to what one can do in a few lines of text. Which leads us to....
Further steps
I have made no attempt to set out the gospel message itself here, but just wanted to put in writing my own experiences and thoughts about these important matters - the meaning of our lives! So if this testimony has raised any questions for you, please check out the other links on my site for more info, or send me a mail.
Stephen Welch, July 1997, updated November 1998, April 2000
