The Four stages of Our Path to God
I do not believe
I assume
I believe
I KNOW
1. I do not believe
As children and adolescents, we have our inborn curiosity and absorb information from reality that surrounds us, we are blinded by the huge variety of shapes, colors, sounds, smells, tastes, etc. The great authorities in our lives are our parents, the TV-heroes, possibly the teachers. If none of our relatives is a religious person, it is hard to bring to our mind the thoughts about the existence of God.
Take into account that the generations born before 1970 were raised as atheists. Do not forget that there were periods when going to the church was almost forbidden.
2. I Assume
After our student years and the excitement of youth are gone, we get used to going to work, raising families, bearing our children. Life confronts us with problems whose solution is not always in our power. We need support, someone more powerful than us, whom to turn to and ask for help.
I remember when I was around 30 years old I felt a deep need to believe in something. I went to church when there was no one there, gathered my hands in a prayer and spoke from the heart: "Lord, please help me to believe ...".
3. I Believe
True faith usually comes after a cataclysm. The Loss of a loved one, a difficult separation, serious illness ... suffering that makes life almost meaningless if there is no big thing for the sake of which we have the strength to go on.
We had a neighbor, a petty officer in the division, rude, unkind and unhelpful. One day his wife received a stroke and became paralyzed. He collapsed. He became estranged from society, stopped greeting and talking to anyone. So it took months, years for him to overcome that pain. Once we saw a change. His eyes brightened and he began to smile again, even trying to help his neighbors. Once I heard him say: "God is great". I was amazed, it was so unexpected. Then we found out - someone had brought him into the Evangelical Church, presented the Bible to him, so that faith had found its way to his heart ... Since the past two decades. He started to take good Care of his wife, helping others with what he could, he started to believe and glorify God.
4. I KNOW
Belief itself is not as such a great achievement. Millions believed and believe now. But there is a Gap between belief and knowledge.
If you believe that you can swim, would you jump in the river? You need to know that you actually can.
"Be silent and just know that I am God," says the Bible (Psalms 46:10).
When Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) was asked by a journalist, "Do you believe in God?" the Swiss psychologist and philosopher replied, "No". After a long pause that he made absorbed in thoughts, he replied, "I know that there is a God."
