Help My Unbelief: A Personal Philosophy of Faith: from Foundation to Fortification

By Christopher Chadwick Gee

With the many obstacles to faith that the Christian faces in these current times, it is imperative to build increasingly on the foundation of ones faith in God through the vehicles of knowledge and understanding. As life presents certain challenges, it must be countered with the assurance of copacetic outcomes. This is what faith in God entails. The purpose of my journey presented in this book is to share experiences and insights on how I established a foundation of faith in God and continue to seek greater understanding of it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Apr 7, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512736670

Christopher Chadwick Gee

Christopher is an independent Christian philosopher and motivator. He holds a masters degree in Christian Counseling and a doctorate in Theology. He lives in Mount Holly, NC with his two children.

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Copyright © 2016 Christopher Chadwick Gee.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Author Photo credit: Deborah M. Melvin

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-3666-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-3668-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-3667-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016905521

WestBow Press rev. date: 04/06/2016

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Part One

Establishing a Foundation

Chapter 1 Firm Justification for Belief in the Existence of God

Chapter 2 Who Is This God?

Chapter 3 Faith and Its Significance

Part Two

Fortification of Faith

Chapter 4 Storms Will Come!

Chapter 5 Hope

Conclusion: An Ongoing Philosophy of Understanding

Notes

Foreword

I am very proud of my spiritual son, Christopher Chadwick Gee, for this great endeavor to inspire, encourage, and give hope to the weary through his gift of writing. It is through his informative words based on Scripture one can gain a desire to strengthen one's faith in God and to have instilled within you the belief that with God all things are possible. I know that Chad is hoping with all of his will that these written words will motivate you to reflect on the promise of God and give you a desire to walk in the newness of life, and restore our hope in who God is. To believe is an act of accepting something that is true and to establish and sustain your faith always in God. I know this book will enhance someone's belief system and empower all of us to try to live out these truths.

This book will be an amazing contribution to the Christian world---a world where we try to live out the faith and hope that we have in a living God who loves all of us. We have to remember that God is still in control of this world. So we ought to have faith in God and just believe in a God that knows all about each and every one of us.

Chad knows about losing someone you love, a mother and a wife at a young age, and having to raise two children alone. He has never stopped believing in a God who will not stop loving him. God said in Hebrews 13:5 that, I will never leave you or forsake you. Isaiah 41:10--13 states, Fear thou not; for I am with you: be not dismayed; for I am your God: I will strengthen you; yea, I will help you; yea, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.

As you read this book, remember the importance of establishing and sustaining faith in God; it will enrich your spiritual journey. I am confident it will be a great asset to you as you grow and mature in the Lord. Be encouraged to believe again in a living God. Build your faith and hope on nothing other than Christ Jesus.

Rev. James R. Gee

New Zion AME Church

Wisacky, South Carolina

Introduction

Jesus said to him, If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes. Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!

---Mark 9:23--24

As many have taken it upon themselves to write about the undertakings of their lives, I thought it would be beneficial also for me to do the same thing. The task here is not to format a detailed outline of my life but to describe the ongoing journey that I recognize as the most essential part---that of coming to an understanding of sound faith in God. The purpose of this work is not to inscribe an exhaustive tome on forty-plus years of life lessons, interactions, challenges, or accomplishments but to present a brief narrative of a period that has definitively and substantially changed and continues to change the outlook of my life.

When I was growing up in rural South Carolina, my family attended Christian-based church services on Sunday mornings. Now, I must mention that although my family hardly ever missed church on Sunday morning, we were not excessively religious. I was not inculcated with biblical doctrine night and day or anything like that. Nevertheless, my parents held a strong belief in God and involved their children in practicing this belief. I would listen to the preaching, although at that age trying to understand it was rather futile. I would retain a few stories from the Bible---such as Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, the flood, Moses and the Red Sea, the plagues of Egypt, David and Goliath, the three Hebrew boys, and the miracles of Jesus---as these stories fascinate children, but the sermons included nothing that provoked any gripping attention. I was more interested in rummaging through my mother's purse for candy or chewing gum than I was in what was going on in the church service. The stories that I heard about the Bible, God, and Jesus were, at that age, on the same plane as the childhood characters Santa Claus and the tooth fairy. A child's mind is so susceptible that most things that enter it, no matter how incredible, tend to be believed. I can remember when right around this age my cousin TJ, who was much older than I, teased me that the wee-waa monster lived behind their house in Oswego, South Carolina. As ridiculous as this sounded, every time I visited, I was completely and utterly terrified. I believed in what I was hearing because my elders pretended that it was true. I was too immature to judge between reality and adult-guided fiction ... or, may I say, nonsense.

When I was about nine years old, I almost instantly developed a natural inquisitiveness that compelled me to ask questions. At every opportune moment, the questions of why, how, who, and what were readily perched on my lips, ad nauseam. So when I asked my parents about the veracity of those childhood characters, naturally they wanted to preserve that innocent euphoria that children experience when they encapsulate hope and expectation, so they continued to play along. Having an idea of the huge circumference of the planet and the number of children in the world, I asked, How can Santa Claus deliver toys to children all over the world in a single night? They replied, Santa Claus is magical and can drop off presents to every boy and girl at the twinkling of an eye, or they would concoct answers about the many time zones in the world to keep their case plausibly veiled. When they would take us along with them to shopping centers, we could see people dressed as Santa Claus, replete with white beard and accompanying elves, a model sleigh, and reindeer. Children would stand in long lines to have their photograph taken with him. I mean, they painted a pretty convincing picture for a child.

Then my brother and I decided to do a little private investigating of our own early one Christmas morning before anyone else was awake. My parents used to get out of bed before us and spread the gifts under the Christmas tree to make it seem like Santa Claus had visited. To our surprise, we found toys and presents tucked away in a downstairs cabinet that Santa Claus was supposed to deliver! Aha! We immediately confronted our parents that morning, and they confessed that Santa Claus was a myth. Our disappointment was