MR. FAUST NOTES: While researching Christian celebrities to speak at a fundraising dinner, I ran across a site called peoplejustlikeus.org. It is a listing of athletes, musician, actors, and yes, writers of faith. I wrote the site, complimented their work, and made a couple of recommendations... including yours truly. I don't consider myself to be a celebrity, but I thought being a writer might be enough to interest them. It was. I was asked to send the site a 'couple of paragraphs' on what I believe for their listing. The result is found below... now posted below because I had no essay here discussing the roots of my faith. So this one appears courtesy of People Just Like Us.
God has blessed me in many ways, but I believe the greatest gift He has given me is that of Faith. It has always been easy for me to believe in Him. And while I have questioned God at times, I never wander far because the existence of God is the only thing that makes sense in this troubled world.
Why? Because God answers questions that science can't: Why is Man here? What is our purpose? Where did Love come from, defying both psychology and biology as it does? If God Himself isn't the answer to these, then He provides the answer.
What's more, if there is no God, then where does the whole notion of morality come from? Did we learn about the concept of good and evil from the animals? If so, which animals gave us this startling concept? Or what kind of biological event put that spark into our brains? How could something so basic to our being simply be an accident of sentience? And what about that whole sentience thing? What kind of mishap led to that if it is not God-breathed? These questions are just the tip of the iceberg, the kind of things that bring migraines when God is removed from the equation.
But it's not enough just to believe in God. I also believe in a God who desires a personal relationship with each one of us. This desire was made manifest when God sent His son to reconcile all people in creation I believe that Jesus Christ is that reconciliation, the Son of the living God, God made flesh.
The proof of the desire for a personal individual relationship was never more evident for me than it was in Luke 23:39-43. Even though he had been beaten, tortured and humiliated, even though he was at death's door, Jesus Christ still had time to feel compassion for one solitary, sinful man. And it's the same story today - only the solitary, sinful person God has time for is you and me.
That is a God I can believe in. That is a God I can love.
