Beyond blind faith part 5

Beyond blind faith
Evidence for the existence of God
Part 5

Arguments that do not belong to human reason

Existence of the spirit world: angels

This argument starts from the understanding that there is also someone else in the world besides us. Affirming the evidence of the material world does not exclude the awareness of the existence of another world, parallel to the material one, called the spiritual world.

Even the Bible tells us without a doubt about this world. It presents us with the existence of spiritual beings, of hierarchically organised angels, each with well-established places and roles. There are good and bad angels.

It is not the intention of this study to develop this subject, but only to cover it as proof of the existence of God, the inclusive Creator of this spiritual world, to which these otherworldly beings belong. Moreover, the Bible tells us that God is a spirit and belongs to this spiritual world.

John 4:24
“God is Spirit and those who worship He must worship in spirit and truth.”

Even if the recognition of this spiritual world is problematic for some, there are still reasons to recognise its existence. At the same time, it’s stated that the metaphysical world is before and will be posterior to the material one.

It must be affirmed that in this spiritual world the spiritual beings that populate it recognise the authority of the One who created it, the One who created them, that is, God.

The material and spiritual worlds are belligerents in a war of antagonistic interests. The Bible warns its believers:

Ephesians 6:12
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Rationally inexplicable healings in this subject we will only focus on a few aspects related to what the Bible calls: “Powers of the age to come” Hebrews 6:5

They are found in some of Jesus’ teachings:

John 14:12-14
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

Matthew 10:1,8:
“And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”

This Bible verse firstly emphasises that there is a power that Jesus Christ has, a transferable power from Him to His disciples of all times. The statement “His disciples of all times” should be emphasised, because this is true even today, even if it’s relatively small scale when healings of incurable diseases are encountered before which medicine and doctors, however benevolent they may be, most of the time they can only helplessly shrug their shoulders, or point their finger up to the sky. That’s because there is no rational explanation for some healing of severe diseases in the terminal stage.

Prophets, visions and premonition dreams. The guidance is given by the Spirit of God

A prophecy can be understood as a prediction of what will happen in the near or distant future. The Bible teaches very clearly about the existence of prophets and prophecies, about visions. We find hundreds of biblical prophets and visions speaking about future events. Prophecies and visions are not alien to God’s people today. They are a reality that can be part of the life of some devout believers.

Visions and premonition dreams can also be the object of experiences and people who are not found in the Christian space.

All this points to the existence of a Prime Mover who has a plan for the two worlds created by Him, the material world of man and the immaterial world of spirits.

In addition, through the prophets, it can be understood that God is the ascendency of the two realities, directing things towards the finality desired by Him, and about which He speaks, notifying mankind in advance. The prophecies and visions of the Christian perimeter are directly related to the guidance given by the Spirit of God.

Instincts. Intuition. Forebodings. Premonition dreams

Instincts can be considered a treasure trove of intelligence. They are a complex of innate, unconditioned reflexes that ensure our reproduction, defence, etc.
At the same time, we can also talk about feelings that escape the consciousness, a prediction of what is likely to come.

How are these instincts formed?

Science offers limited explanations. The theory of unconditioned reflexes is a bit pretentious. The fact that once a species acquired these reflexes at a certain time and another species followed it, then by chance an intelligent program took over is a bit too much to understand. It’s like saying that I learned to write and my children don’t have to anymore, because I genetically passed this skill onto them.

About intuition, according to the accepted definitions, it can be said “It is a sui-generis knowledge, of irrational nature and essence, opposite and superior to discursive and analytical knowledge, which would make it possible to perceive directly, without a prior logical elaboration of the essence.” It’s also quoted as a “Priori form of sensitivity.”

But from Bible’s perspective, it can be said that it’s the spirit of man. Man consists of body, soul and spirit.

However, regarding how its defined, one thing is crystal clear, it belongs to a field of knowledge in which science does not hold many explanations.

Some say it’s the highest form of intelligence. Descartes said, “Intuition is the confident conception of a simple and careful mind, which appears only from the light of reason, and is more certain than deduction.”

Others quote that “Intuition being always active has access to the data bank of the universal spirit.” Some say it’s “A sixth sense” or that it’s “A woman’s, or mother’s most powerful resource.”

Many books assume the role of teaching you how to (listen) to your intuition. They even grant you “signs” to distinguish or even (access) it.

A plausible answer, however, is provided by Christianity, which identifies it as belonging to an (internal voice) that only God can tell us more it.

People endowed with supernatural abilities

We would class people endowed with different powers or unusual supernatural abilities as superhuman. Some gifted people can speak ten languages fluently; while others through meditation and concentration, can emit a heat of 94.44 degrees Celsius through their palms. It’s been witnessed that a person could hold his body weight on a sheet of paper; while another experienced unusual vision, i.e., to be able to see details at 1609.34 meters. An average person sees the details below 10 meters. One man was able to withstand an electrical charge of 20,000 volts without suffering any trauma, while another experienced enough electricity passing through his body to heat a cup of water to a temperature of 97°C.
There are many more examples that are could discuss, that is not widely shared or known. As extraordinary as they are, this proves that mankind has latently unsuspected capabilities that seem to go outwardly in different situations or sustained training. These incredible abilities, which today are isolated and individual, point to a physical and intellectual potency held as if on stand-by for other times, and for all who will populate a waiting reality.

Personal Mystical Experiences

Only a certain category of believers can talk about mystical experiences. We, simple believers, can only accept the idea that higher spiritual experiences are not pretence or phantasms of the human mind. The spiritual realm is unsuspectingly complex and veiled. It does not reveal itself to Christian amateurs or half-hearted believers. The viability in most cases of monks is a life concealed living in mountains, deserts, and places unknown by prying eyes. It’s a life lived to moral and spiritual standards that simple believers cannot ever dream of obtaining. The testimony of hundreds of genuine believers proves the existence of special mystical encounters. Monks sustain supernatural visions and have mystical experiences of the supernatural. In general, many of them remain unknown to the public domain, if only so that the person concerned can guard against pride. Pride is the main enemy of all Christians. Beyond all discussions, a simple truth remains to be told, but difficult to verify by a person uninterested in the spiritual realm. Our inner world is a real miracle and in no way the result of pure chance or an accident. There are worshipers of God who leave worldly wealth behind devoting their lives to Christ, just to obtain these boundless spiritual beauties, that we simple Christians know only in theory. They trust and believe that at the end of their carnal travails, they will gain salvation which is directly related to God’s agape love.

Decorporation phenomena

Clinical loss of life means the border between life and death, in most cases about patients in critical situations from a medical point of view. Numerous accounts at the time of clinical cessation describe the temporary phenomena of the disembodying of the soul. The explanation for this development is controversial in the world of specialists. People in clinical death situations report various phenomena such as detachment from the body, visualisation of images or various other perceptions, explained by some specialists through the activity of the cortical centres, which remain relatively active throughout the resuscitation process. Other specialists claim that they are natural phenomena of separation of the soul from the body. Traditionally, science has dismissed the soul as an object of human belief. While science has explained some of the functioning of the human brain, the reason for one’s subjective experience remains a mystery. Biocentrism and other scientific theories have started to challenge the old Physico-chemical paradigm to ask: “Is there a soul?”

While many scientists now accept this is the case. However, the large number and many of the elements described by those in question are common and can justify the credibility of the act itself, parallel to the personal accounts influenced by various factors. Beyond the parallelism of the material world and the spiritual world, including the credibility or incredibility of out-of-body, experiences one thing remains certain, that science is facing a little-known subject, difficult to penetrate and that promises many incredible things.

We can only wait for the time when we can penetrate beyond the (nutshell) of this mysterious domain. Then, it will be able to go beyond the level of observations and interpretations themselves, which are limited and very controversial. But something remains to be said, the fact that science will at best be able to give explanations, to discover what is, even to determine one process or another, but it will never be able to be in the situation of the One who designed the human body in all its amazing complexity whose limits only God knows. For now, the situation is on a standoff between the forces of evolutionism and creationism, to wait reservedly while they shrug their shoulders at the inability to understand. The difference is only that some accept the existence of this state of fact, and others look for explanations whose value does not exceed the value of an opinion.

Exorcisms

The Bible presents enough cases where people under the power of evil spirits, or (demonised) benefited from instant deliverances through the hand of Christ. Note that the spirits that were in man recognised the supreme authority of Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, as the only authority in both our material and spiritual worlds.

A verse from Luke is also relevant:

Mark 5:1-9
“Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshipped Him. And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Highest God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.” For He said to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!” Then He asked him, “What is your name?” And he answered, saying, “My name is Legion; for we are many.”

Even if these things are not part of the concerns of the modern world, exorcism cannot be considered a matter of lying, telling stories, myths, etc. Dr Richard Gallagher is an Ivy League-educated, board-certified psychiatrist who teaches at Columbia University and New York Medical College. He proudly calls himself a “man of science.” Yet today, Gallagher has confirmed possession as real. He’s seen the evidence: victims suddenly speaking perfect Latin; sacred objects flying off shelves; people displaying “hidden knowledge” or secrets about people that they could not have possibly known. He went on to say:

“There was one woman who was like 90 pounds soaking wet. She threw a Lutheran the deacon who was about 200 pounds across the room,” he says. “That’s not psychiatry. That’s beyond psychiatry.”

To be able to fight demon possession was a stark reality faced by the hierarchs of the traditional churches, and the disciples of Jesus who had or have authority and power, given by Him through the Holy Spirit of God.

Spells and wizards

No matter how this subject may seem like anachronistic stories and lies, the occult reality confirms that there are also powers that the common man only hears about from time to time. The Bible makes known the existence of these pagan practices and rituals both in the Old and the New Testaments. God strongly condemns the practice of witchcraft or pagan occult practices. These practices are considered evil and have nothing to do with the Christian spirit. Even if the frequency with which these unchristian practices come to light is low or average in the modern world, their existence cannot be disputed. The latest witch renaissance coincides with a growing fascination with astrology, crystals, and tarot, which, like magic, practitioners consider ways to tap into unseen, unconventional sources of spiritual power. The spiritual reality was created by God, but part of it is fallen from God’s original purpose and comes under the view of what the Bible calls God’s adversary, the Devil. According to the Bible, this unclean fallen spirit has unsuspected spiritual powers, which accesses people who recognise it as the spiritual master of their souls and lives.

The power of Christian prayer

Prayer has been talked about a lot many times, yet few truly know its potential or power. This is because this potentiality which a true believer does not doubt is conditioned by several factors, among which his relationship with God is a priority. It’s very important to live a clean life in the biblical spirit. Healings, exorcisms and other things of a nature that is difficult to explain scientifically have a direct connection with praying to God, His Holy Spirit and respectively in the name of Jesus. Knowing the power of prayer, Christian believers are exhorted:

Ephesians 6:18
“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance”

1 Thessalonians 5:17
“Pray without ceasing,”

Even in modern times, when prayer is used less and less, the scientific explanation of the connection between prayer and the changes that are observed, especially in the mental and soulful state of man is often attempted. Although science is ill-equipped to prove the existence of God, scientific research does show that prayer works. Regardless of God’s existence, elements of prayer are universally valid across various religions, traditions, and practices. The act of prayer itself has beneficial physiological effects.

Miracles from the area of Christendom

The number of miracles in the sphere of Christendom both throughout time and in our era is large and verifiable. It can be read about and studied in holy people, both from traditional churches, Orthodox and Catholic circles also in other Christian denominations such as the Pentecostal Church, and the Baptist Church and in ecclesiastical literature over time. But, even today, missionaries in different areas of the world can testify to incredible miracles of God’s power, through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. These testimonies rest on visible evidence and the personal testimony of third-person witnesses.

Conclusion
The best and most prevalent evidence of the spiritual realm is testimonial evidence.
The millions of people who focus their attention on the spiritual realm too are vast. Is it likely that so many people would
report their experiences with the spiritual realm for it not to be true?
For most of us, the spiritual world is hard to accept because it catches reason and logic in unexpected ways.
But regardless of the attitude of those who belong to the material world, the spiritual world is a reality in itself, an independent creation, a reality that does not depend on the opinions of others, no matter how different or strange it may manifest.
Today this reality is outside the boundaries of science, but hopefully one day
its thresholds in this world will be crossed more convincingly.
Finally, one thing is certain, leaving the material world is something that cannot be denied, we are all going to die.
Each of us will have to face this reality sooner or later.
Then, for many, the shock and surprise may be even greater, more unexpected, and stranger when they are in the spiritual realm.
This also includes formal Christians, those who stated theoretically but neglected it and did not consider it under all the aspects of genuine faith.
But, to end on an optimistic note, let’s hope that both realities are favourable to us and in the end, we will be the beneficiaries of the advantages of both worlds.

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