Seeking Truth, Finding God: A Spiritual and Intellectual Journey

By Sally Pitts

Many people search for purpose, meaning, and happiness in their lives, but how many of them search for truth?

In Seeking Truth, Finding God, author Sally Pitts shares her struggle to believe the faith passed down by her parents and teachers, her forty year search for truth, and the doubts that plagued her at every p

• Language: English
• Publisher: Illumify Literary Services
• Release date: Mar 29, 2017
• ISBN: 9780692429037

Book preview

Introduction

Can We Know Truth?

Wherever you appear on the continuum between an atheist and a sincere follower of Christ—I understand. I started out as a Christian in name only, attending a Christian school kindergarten through 8th grade. As early as 5th grade, I became a non-believer, then an atheist, then an agnostic, then a believer in the Jewish God, then an intellectual believer in Christ, and finally, an intellectual and spiritual believer in Jesus Christ, God the Father, the Holy Spirit and the gospel message found in the Bible.

I empathize with those who answer yes when asked if they believe in God, but do not understand what or who He really is. I also can relate to and care about those who don’t believe in a Creator/God at all. Many people search for purpose, meaning, and happiness in their lives, but how many of them search for truth? I am trying to appeal to non-seekers to search for truth; more specifically, truth about God. I am urging people to open their minds enough to allow Him to penetrate their hearts.

In this book, you’ll read about my struggle to believe what my parents and teachers passed down to me about God. You will also read about my search for truth, and the doubts that plagued me at every point in my faith journey. I will share with you my discovery of a deeper meaning to faith than my childhood religion taught me, my exciting encounters with spiritual truth and, finally, my joyful experience of connecting with God in spirit.

I can relate to many people regarding faith issues, except those who have no curiosity with exploring truths about the origin of our world or no interest in asking big questions like, Does God exist? and Do I have a purpose? To my amazement, some people do not ponder the big truths about our world. Wherever you are in your spiritual journey, I hope this book will spark your natural curiosity about the world and its connection to a Creator/God.

As you read, I will gently challenge you to better understand your beliefs. Be ready to answer, "If you don’t believe X, then what do you believe? and How can you explain it?" I intend for this book to be interactive, so whenever you see a question, I hope that you will take the time necessary to contemplate your answer.

I became a follower of Jesus Christ by asking thousands of questions, exploring many possibilities, and then logically reaching intellectual conclusions. Believe me, I understand the heart and mind of a skeptic who needs to analyze the possibilities of God’s existence or non-existence. I not only understand people who need to question and study; I deeply respect them.

Please understand that I’m not implying I know everything and that my opinions about different truths are more solid than yours. However, I do contend that truth is not a relative term or a moving target like opinions and beliefs. Truth is an absolute that exists outside of our opinions and beliefs, regardless of how many people believe it or not. No one can understand all truth this side of heaven. My faith doesn’t require me to understand all things, so finally I feel comfortable with unanswered questions. In the meantime, I will continue seeking truth wherever it can be found and asking plenty of questions. Speaking of questions, I want to leave you with a couple to ponder as we launch into our investigation:

If you believe that an entity greater than you exists, to what extent are you currently exploring what it is and how your life fits into it?

Is it possible that you could be missing or possibly blocking some truths from your conscious thoughts?

Chapter 1

Are You Operating on All Three Cylinders?

I believe that human beings were created with a body, a mind and a spirit. Some people consider human beings nothing more than animals. Like apes and aardvarks, they believe we live in bodies that act on little more than instincts. Others acknowledge that our minds separate us from other living beings.

Some people know a great deal about their own body, but very little about their mind. They may not know the differences between knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. Even more common, some people acknowledge the existence of their body and mind, but know very little about their spirit. Certainly, many don’t believe they even have a spirit, let alone a spirit that can connect them intimately with God.

Like a three-legged stool, all three integral parts (body, mind, and spirit) operate best when working together in a person’s life. And each part can point us to God:

Body—Interacts with the physical world and witnesses the beauty and complexity of nature

Mind—Discerns information, discovers truths, and employs logic

Spirit—Communicates with God.

In spite of these three different parts of our being that point to God, countless numbers of people every year reject the idea of a Creator/God. I suggest that people who deny this reality share one or two common traits: they have shut down their natural curiosity about the possibility of God and/or they ignore or explain away any spiritual nudges from God.

Numerous avenues can lead us to our Creator. We can start by observing the physical world and then use our minds to analyze, reason, discern and logically process our surroundings beyond what we see. A yearning to know what is true and the willingness to pursue truth wherever it leads us can take us to unexpected places. Even as Christians, we must encourage deep thinking by continually stoking the fires of our natural curiosity, refusing to protect what we think we know.

People who describe all Bible-based Christians as naïve, stupid, and/or blind are not only misinformed, but their accusations carry serious consequences. When someone assigns a negative label to a person with whom they disagree, they create an environment that immediately negates the other person’s opinions and grants everyone permission to disregard anything the other person says. Why should anyone discuss an important topic with someone labeled naïve, stupid or blind? Whether done intentionally or unintentionally, labeling can effectively end conversations about important subjects.

In reality, most Christians are neither naïve, stupid, or blind. The amount of deep study that occurs in Christian seminaries and Bible-based Christian churches would surprise many of today’s college students. Most Ivy League schools were founded by Christians. Early in the history of Western civilization, all levels of education, including institutions of higher learning, prioritized the practice of studying the Bible. For example, a contingent of Presbyterian leaders founded Princeton University in order to train young pastors. Jonathan Edwards, one of the most prominent theologians in American history, served as their president in their early years. Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, and Columbia share similar stories.

Many Christians are accustomed to questioning their beliefs, their fellow Christians, and their Christian leaders. They search for truth; dialogue with people whom they agree and disagree; study other religions; dissect the Bible; and even argue with God. They care about scientific truths in the world as well, and continually explore how their faith and science fit together.

In addition to using their minds, Christians encourage each other to spiritually connect with God, who gives them treasured gifts like enlightened wisdom, deep joy, inner peace and an intimate relationship with Him. Because this deals with unfamiliar and unexplainable ideas, many atheists tend to disparage anything associated with the spiritual realm as brainwashing or delusional thinking. In my experience, some of the same people who refuse to acknowledge the spiritual part of their being try to speak with authority on spiritual subjects they know nothing about. I understand why they try, but I don’t understand why anyone who has never experienced God would be considered credible in subjects pertaining to God and man’s spiritual life?

Someone reading this may remember a time when you were pressured into thinking that you believed something you later realized you did not. Over-enthusiastic youth leaders can sometimes expect too much from kids who are only responding to peer pressure to believe something they are not yet sure about. If you experienced something like this, I hope that you will come to realize that true faith is much wider and deeper than temporary feelings or a short-lived faith. Don’t think that you experienced true faith and you were just able to resist being brainwashed better than other people.

I can soundly report that nothing remotely close to brainwashing or peer pressure has occurred in my faith walk as a Christian. Most Christian pastors I have heard, and all of the verses in the Bible I have read on this subject, make it crystal clear that accepting Christ as your Savior is a personal decision that only an individual can make, nothing that can be pressured onto someone. Rather than brainwashing, I have found new freedom to think for myself and question and explore every message that comes my way.

Before becoming a Christian, I didn’t always feel this sense of freedom. For many years I didn’t know what I believed, which added stress to my life. Before determining what I believed, I formulated a theology around what I didn’t believe. Early on, I decided to reject the God of the Bible, whom I had learned about from my family and school. By college, I assumed Christians were naïve for believing in a fairy tale.

At that time, I didn’t know if God existed or what He was like, but I assumed I knew who or what He wasn’t. I even felt a little sad for people who believed the Bible, because I thought they had been fooled into something that wasn’t true. Many people fall into this same pattern today, but then they get stuck there, never seriously considering what they do believe.

For years and years after high school, I periodically returned to my hometown to visit my parents, where they expected me to attend church with them on Sunday mornings. I accompanied them out of respect and sat silently, critiquing the worship service. Everything was smooth sailing until one Sunday when communion was served. Not wanting to be untrue to my convictions, I sat in the pew while the rest of my family walked to the front to receive communion. Knowing that I disappointed my parents by not believing what they believed and certainly not understanding what I believed made me feel very uncomfortable. At this time, I did not yet understand that I had a body, a mind, and spirit, but I continued to care deeply about discovering what was and was not true.

Thinking about your life in a deeper way, to what extent can you embrace the idea that everyone (including you) has a body, mind, and spirit—three separate, yet connected parts of one being?

How confident are you that you’re using all three legs on your stool?

Chapter 2

How Did the World Come into Existence?

Throughout college, I was unclear about what I believed. Toward the end, I became an atheist, which at first felt great because at last I knew what I believed: a Creator/God did not exist. I didn’t need to explain it to anyone and it felt like I had finally found my niche.

Content with knowing I did not believe in a Creator, I eagerly explained my beliefs to anyone who asked. After five or six years, my passion for truth forced me to better explain atheism to myself—and I couldn’t do it, no matter how hard I tried. It always led me to more questions and left me with unsatisfying answers that didn’t make sense. I started questioning my atheist beliefs, using what I refer to now as "natural curiosity."

When you ask yourself how the world came into existence, you tap into your natural curiosity. The same is true when people wonder about God. Whether you’re a person of faith or a devout atheist, you’ll eventually reach a point where you can’t explain how something happened. Atheists can’t explain how the first dust particle formed, where that first piece of matter came from that caused the Big Bang, how energy materialized out of nothing, or how Darwin’s theory of evolution changed a dust particle into something completely different over time.

In the same way, Christians can’t explain God’s beginning because they believe He always was and always will be; something humans simply cannot understand. Even though both atheists and Christians may care about truth, let’s face it: neither group can fully explain the origins of the world.

In my encounters with atheists, many viewed Christians as having a blind faith completely disconnected from their intellect. I now wonder why atheists get a pass from explaining their origins while labeling people of the Christian faith as blind? Ironically, instead of people of faith being blind, the Bible refers to unbelievers as being blinded towards God (see 2 Corinthians 4:4). I wonder to what extent all of our egos and personal agendas cut off our ability to see and hear God’s truth?

So, if no one can explain where the first piece of matter or the first form of energy came from and no one can explain where God came from, then that leaves us in similar positions.