In a recent NY Times opinion article the author poses the question “why is it that, according to Jesus, faith is better than proof”? He uses Thomas as his example who wanted to see proof that Jesus had risen from the grave and did not just take the other disciples word that he had risen. When Jesus confront Thomas Jesus says “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” This article was made even more famous because Richard Dawkins tweeted it earlier today mocking the conclusions of the author.

The author draws many of the same conclusions I do here. However is there a difference in belief and faith? Can someone believe in something or someone without having faith in them? When we look at The Bible we see that Satan and his demons believe that Jesus is God’s Son but they are condemned to Hell for not having faith in Jesus. So a distinction must be made between belief and faith. In case you don’t believe that Satan has belief in who Jesus is consider the following.

James, the brother of Jesus says “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder” (James2:19) In this one statement James is saying that even the powers of Hell know and believe in one God. Another instance In Mark 5 Jesus heals a man possessed by demons during this encounter the demons shouted to Jesus “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” (Mark 5:7 also Luke 8:28) Even though Satan doesn’t explicitly state Jesus is God’s Son one would wonder why he would allow his demons say such a thing without believing it himself first? However one may ask, then, why did Satan say “If you are the Son of God…” (Mt 4:3 and 6)if he already knew Jesus was God’s son?

My best guess is this is a challenge statement and not an admission of ignorance. For instance, anyone who follows American football would probably agree that Tom Brady is the best quarterback playing today. If someone wanted to challenge this and prove Tom is not the greatest they would begin with “If you really are the greatest QB playing today do _______.” This “if you are…” statement has nothing to do with doubt but everything to do with undermining the person. Here Tom knows he is the best and doing some task to prove so only gives the challenger power over him (at least for a moment) and undermines everything he has worked so hard to become. Consider this more like an “I dare you” or “I bet there is no way you could” and less like an admission of doubt. When a person responds to the challenge at least for that moment the person issuing the challenge is dictating what the other person will do. In effect, the person performing the challenge has become obedient to the issuer of the challenge.

The demons, under Satan, acknowledged publically their belief on who Jesus is yet they were still afraid of punishment and torture. So it would seem to believe in Jesus as God’s son is not what we need to have eternal life. Why? because Satan and his demons believe and have publically made the confession of belief of who he is but were not accepted back into God’s kingdom.

“If God showed himself to be real beyond any doubt I will believe in Him”. This statement is true for a lot of people who doubt the existence of God. They challenge Him to make himself known in such a way that no doubt could be left. I understand where this comes from. Christians, for years, have said, “Just believe in God and you will have eternal life”. They also say “Jesus loves you and doesn’t want you to perish in Hell”. With these statements, one would then ask “if God loves me so much and all I need to do is believe in Him to have eternal life then why would He not just show Himself and remove all doubt? This way He gets what He wants (me in Heaven)?

For most atheists or other non-believers, they have bought this idea of God’s only requirement (if there is a God) is a belief in Him and they can not understand why He has not made Himself more obvious so that way there would be no doubt and therefore no one would go to Hell (this is why people like Dawkins mocks an op-ed piece as mentioned above)

If belief that there is a God and that Jesus is His Son is all that is needed to ensure our eternal salvation than it would make sense that an undeniable sign would be what God would produce to show us He is in fact real. Further, Jesus would’ve never needed to come to earth and suffer the way He did for our sake. Even if Jesus never came to earth we would still have all the signs of nature that point to there being a creator.

It is widely accepted that something can not come from nothing. We also know from the laws of thermodynamics and the fact the universe is expanding (if we could hit rewind on the expansion of the universe we would, at some point, collapsing the whole universe into a finite point in time called the big bang) that the universe had a beginning and is not infinite. There is largely one explanation for this that something infinite caused this universe. That something infinities the cause. This cause is theorized to be a multitude of universes banging into one another or God. We also have DNA which is basically the instructions for building a life form. When we consider other forms of information or instruction we think of recipes, musical compositions, books, instruction manuals, computer coding, etc. Whenever we see information or instructions we always assume an author. Yet somehow DNA is exempt in that DNA is a product of blind chance and circumstances and we are just lucky that DNA organized, through evolution, in such a way to bring about our species. I could go on but here is the point. Ockham’s razor states that the simplest most complete explanation should be given precedence over more complex and convoluted explanations. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle demonstrated this through his character Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock would often solve his crimes by connecting everything to the simplest explanation, which is something non-fiction detectives do as well to solve a crime. If belief was all that was needed Jesus never needed to be born in Bethlehem over 2000 yrs ago. We have plenty of evidence all around us every day that help point, at least, to the possibility and belief of God. If proof is what was needed there is a ton of proof out there already God doesn’t need to provide more proof He has already showed us who He is if we just look.

The conclusion is God must want more from us than just simple belief that He is God’s Son. So the question becomes if belief in Jesus being God’s Son isn’t enough what does He want? Why did Jesus come to the earth if it wasn’t for us to believe in God? Do not get me wrong belief in God is important but it belief alone isn’t enough. It is because He wants a relationship with us! He wants us to pursue Him and He wants to pursue hard after us. Only through His Son could this relationship be resorted.

Consider this. What do you value most someone who demand proof and is never satisfied with the proofs you have provided for your love for them or someone who accepts your statement of love and because of that trusts you to care for and protect them? To make this point clearer we all have parents so either through direct knowledge or projection we can say that we desire our children to just listen to us when we given them instruction. Why? Because we know Best and desire the best for them. If they constantly demanded proof the children would be seen as rebellious having no trust for the parents. How can a relationship flourish in the presence of untrustworthiness? Our demands of proof only solidify the statement “I don’t trust you” and this is no way to establish a heathy relationship with Christ.

How could anyone have a relationship with another who demands it? If God made Himself known to remove all doubt how authentic would that relationship be? God doesn’t want us to feel forced into a relationship with Him. He wants us to come voluntarily. This is why proving Jesus was truly the Son of God today is ambiguous to some people. Relationships are personal. The events that bring one into a relationship with Jesus are personal and can not be seen or felt from someone outside of themselves. The scientific method can not test or prove experiences.

I will grant that this is a process. For example, how could anyone have a relationship with God when they do not even believe God exists? Yes in this case belief in God is important but it’s not the final step. Next would be, they would have to believe that Jesus is God’s Son. These two prerequisites are things even the demons believe (God is real and Jesus is His Son). God wants us to take this knowledge a step further and that is to love and trust Him. Without that, we are no better than the demons and will be punished along with him for rejecting the relationship with God Jesus purchased at such a high price.

When Jesus says “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” He is saying you trust me only because you have seen me but those who trust me even though they haven’t seen me are even more blessed.

God wants us fully. He wants our hearts, minds, our strength and passion. He wants us to be devoted to Him above everything and without reservations. For this it was His will to crush His Son so that we would never have to know life without Him. So we could finally be in a relationship with Him where we are capable of fully trusting Him for all our needs.