'THERE IS PROBABLY NO GOD' according to the current advertising campaign supported by Richard Dawkins - he would apparently have preferred 'There is certainly no God'. There's nothing like the dogmatism of a confirmed atheist... Or am I being harsh? What a moving affirmation of Christianity lived out provided by Matthew Paris writing in the Times on 27th December 2008 with particular reference to Malawi:
'Now a confirmed atheist, I have become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good'.
Quite a challenge for us to make real the genuinely tranforming nature of faith in general and Christian faith in particular. And also to counter the assumption made by the second half of the slogan, that our faith leads to worry and a lack of enjoyment in our lives. Jesus came to bring 'Life in all its fullness'.
The whole 'Does God exist thing' raises fundamental questions about what God we're talking about. I'm reminded of the student who went to chaplain and said 'I do not believe in God'. To which the chaplain responded 'Tell me about the God you don't believe in'. After listening to the student's words the chaplain replied, 'No, I don't believe in that God either'.
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