What do You Believe?

Whether we acknowledge it or not, we all believe in something.  Most of the things we believe in can be verified by our senses.  We can see the sun and feel its warmth, so we believe it exists.  We can hear dogs bark and know they are nearby.  We believe there is a skunk living under the shed because we can smell it.  When we get out of bed in the morning, we believe the floor under our feet will support our weight.

To believe  in something is to accept or regard it as true.[1] If we accept with certainty that something exists or is true[2] we say it is a belief.

Religions, science, and philosophies are organized systems of related beliefs.  They are often ardently championed by their adherents.

Atheists do not believe any deity exists.  The agnostic believes that ultimate reality is not known and may not be knowable.  They are, consequently, not committed to the existence or nonexistence of a deity.  Essentially, the agnostic believes that we can only know with certainty what we perceive with our senses.  Atheism and agnosticism are belief systems.

The skeptic questions facts, attitudes, and beliefs that others say are true.  The skeptic wants to test ideas to see if they are true and tries to accept nothing at face value.  He or she wants proof. For the skeptic, the belief that things must be questioned is axiomatic.  It is their belief system.

What if something cannot be confirmed by observation?  What if it may exist, but it cannot be seen, heard, touched, smelled, or tasted?  What if it is an idea that cannot be verified by scientific experiments?  Freud theorized that the personality includes an Id, Ego, and Superego.  We are told that the universe was formed by a huge, spontaneously occurring explosion billions of years ago.  Did life begin on Earth by spontaneous generation as well?  Have you observed life erupt from a mixture of ocean ooze and sunlight?  Today, scientists are speculating about the existence of dark matter in space.  Sounds okay to me, but where is the conclusive evidence?

A theory is an unproved speculation about reality?  Have any of these widely accepted theories been upheld in a conclusive way?   Light seems to bend in space, and memories long forgotten can be brought back to recall when the brain is stimulated with electrodes.  These observations do not, however, prove with certainty the existence of the unconscious, or subconscious mind, or dark matter.

Some theoretical concepts defy verification.  Nonetheless, to many people these ideas make a lot of sense.  Many believe  they are true simply because learned people say they are.

If we give credence to the unproven speculations of science, philosophy, and political systems, does not fundamental fairness require that we consider the possibility that God exists, too?  If we are skeptical about the Almighty God, must we not at least apply the same degree of rigorous examination to other belief systems?

Knowledgeable Christian apologists have debated unbelievers of all kinds, making the case for our One God in Three Persons … the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  They have shown that creation attests to its Creator, and that over 300 biblical prophesies were fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ.  They have explained the statistical impossibility that the universe and life were spontaneously generated, and that it is virtually impossible for so many prophesies to be fulfilled in one life by accident.  They have revealed the proofs that the Holy Bible is reliable and is an exact representation of the ancient scriptural manuscripts.  The archeological evidence confirming biblical events, and the corroboration of the Bible by ancient secular manuscripts substantiate that the Bible is the truth.  They have demonstrated the internal consistency of the Bible and explained any apparent contradictions in it.  The scope of this post does not permit me to elaborate.  Simply put these apologists have proved the existence of God as he has revealed Himself in the Bible.  There is nothing more I can say that will add to their scholarly arguments.  I can only tell my experience.

From where I sit what Jesus said of the Pharisees may be true of today’s unbelievers as well.  “… You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.” (Matthew 23:24 NIV)[3]

God is Spirit, and He is not apprehended by our five senses.  Jesus promised, however, that if we earnestly seek Him we will find Him. (Matthew 7:7-8)  God is not unknown or unknowable.  He has given us the Holy Bible and the Holy Spirit.  Everything that we need to know about God is available to us in His Holy Word.  If we believe in Him, God will cause us to feel His presence and see the result of it in our lives.  If we trust God the Son (Jesus Christ) for our salvation, He will give us His Holy Spirit, dwelling within us, to guide and teach us as we read the Word.

God is real.  I can testify it’s true from my own experience.

How would you like to come into the very presence of Almighty God and worship Him for giving you life everlasting?  Believe in Jesus Christ today and then walk as Jesus walked.

 

---

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/believe

[2] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/belief

[3] https://biblehub.com/niv/matthew/23.htm

 

Mistakes to Learn From Afghanistan

“There is no avoiding war;

it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.”

Niccolo Machiavelli

https://www.brainyquote.com/search_results?x=33&y=17&q=niccolo+machiavelli

It is easier to see clearly when looking at past events, than it is to forecast the future.  It might be helpful for all of us to remember that the decisions that resulted in the War in Afghanistan were made with the information  available at the time, and without the benefit of hindsight, (although a little regard for History might have helped.)  It is a mistake to judge what has taken place in Afghanistan without considering that decision making usually takes place without complete information.  In decision making, we never have all the information needed, nor do we even have enough useful information to guarantee a successful outcome all of the time.  In some cases, leaders may consider it to be better to act decisively, rather than to vacillate, even if there is a risk of being wrong.

On September 11, 2001, airliners hijacked by 19 terrorists aligned with al-Qaeda were deliberately crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.  Another hijacked airliner crashed into a field in Pennsylvania when the passengers heroically struggled with the terrorists to get control of it.  On that terrible day, around 3,000 people died.  First responders and civilians are still dying from exposure to the smoke and debris.  The primary cause of the War in Afghanistan was the 9/11 attacks, and it is a mistake to think otherwise.

We may never know the whole truth about why Usama bin Laden ordered the 9/11 attacks.  We do know that American military actions have been taking place in the Middle East and Afghanistan ever since.  Many militant Islamists have paid with their lives, including Usama bin Laden himself.  Regardless of the ultimate outcome in Afghanistan, it was a mistake for bin Laden to kick over that kind of hornets’ nest.  It drew the United States deeper into the affairs of the Muslim world, rather than moving us out.

It was a mistake for President Bush to allow a businessman like Donald Rumsfeld to direct the military efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq.  War is not a matter of controlling costs by allocating “just enough” resources to achieve “limited and clearly defined objectives.”  The military needs to be able to bring overwhelming force to bear in order to seize and retain the initiative and to find, fix, close with, and destroy the enemy.  If there are insufficient resources to fix the enemy to a position, they will not be completely destroyed, and their escape cannot be blocked.  In Afghanistan, some of the bad guys got away.  We must not try to prosecute war “on the cheap.”

President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and Secretary Rumsfeld  made a mistake when they opened a second front in Iraq  before the job was done in Afghanistan.  The resources needed to close the deal in Afghanistan were diverted to Iraq, and it doomed the effort in Afghanistan to a slow and agonizing death.

In my opinion, it is a mistake to regard the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria as individual wars.  Rather, it is better to view them as theaters of operations in a larger War on Terror.  Immediately following the September 11^th attacks, President George W. Bush spoke eloquently about such a war.  In what some called “the Bush doctrine” the President said that the United States would wage this war wherever terrorists were found.  He warned that the war would last a long time, and that for America to survive we must not lose our resolve.  Somehow along the way those ideas got lost, and we need to find them again.

On her Fox News program, The Ingram Angle, I recently heard Laura Ingram point out that the United States of America has not decisively won a war since World War II.  She suggested that we needed new decision makers with a different approach to waging war. Amen.

It is a mistake for America to go to war unless we are willing to do whatever it takes to win it.  Winning a war means to destroy the enemy until they are unable and unwilling to fight.  It does not mean to achieve limited and clearly defined objectives.  It is a mistake to allow the enemy to have sanctuaries where they can recover, reorganize, and then conduct “asymmetrical warfare.”

War is the worst, most horrible thing humankind does.  I wish that there could be an end to it.  So far as I know, however, there will be war until Jesus Christ returns to Earth to set up His thousand-year kingdom.  We should do everything humanly possible to avoid going to war.  If we cannot avoid it, we must stop trying to fight with one hand tied behind our back.  We must fight to win … fight until the threat to our country is utterly destroyed.  As Albert Einstein is reported to have said, ‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.’  It is a mistake to fight limited, no-win wars.

It is a mistake to generalize.  Countries differ in history, culture, religion, social organization, economic resources, and infrastructure, to name a few. What worked in one country may not be possible in another.  We helped Italy, Germany, Japan and others rebuild after WWII.  We helped South Korea become a wonderful success story.  That did not work in Afghanistan.  About a decade ago an informed source who had served for a number of years in Afghanistan told me that country would revert to what it used to be before our involvement, the minute we pulled out.  Was it a  mistake for us to stay so long and try to help the Afghan people learn to have a better life?  Only if we were not prepared to stay there as long as it takes.  Only if we were not willing to pursue and destroy the Taliban, no matter where they took refuge.

To put all the blame on any one President for our failure in Afghanistan is a mistake.  President Biden’s mismanagement of the final withdrawal, however, has done incalculable damage to America and Afghanistan.

To think we can fix the way we wage war without revamping our entire way of waging war is also a mistake.  We cannot use even battalion sized special operations units when the situation calls for overwhelming force from Brigade or Division sized units with tank, artillery, and air support.

It is a mistake to think it is over.  The War on Terror will not end until the terrorists stop waging war on us.

“Wars begin when you will,

but they do not end when you please.”

Niccolo Machiavelli.

https://philosiblog.com/2012/10/06/wars-begin-when-you-will-but-they-do-not-end-when-you-please/