When someone asks: "Can you prove to me that God is, without quoting any religious book or Bible?"

Remember The dress? I saw it as white and gold. Others, including my husband, saw the colours blue and black. What colours did you see back then?

Let's assume that you saw white and gold as I did; do you think that anyone (by their power and might) could have coddled you into believing that what you were seeing with your own eyes and knew to be true was not true? I doubt that. At best, the differing opinion of many would make you wonder….

Many use Science as the basis for unbelief. It’s not out of place to see laymen professing that there is no God based on their secondary school Physics knowledge of linear expansivity, yet many Science teachers and Nobel Prize winners from scientific fields express their belief in God. But this does not and cannot change the perception of non-believers. Belief in God and unbelief cut across all human demographics - from scientists who are at the top of their field to the academically unintelligent who have no idea what an electron is. Science is neither a proof nor a problem. Rather, it’s the colours that we see. What we see is influenced by myriads of circumstances (e.g. what family we are born into) which we have no control over. Many people agreed that their perception was faulty after dressmaker announced the true colours of the dress. This scenario is similar to how we who believe in Jesus Christ got to believe. You have to have a relationship as well as a personal revelation from the Dressmaker to truly believe.

Someone made that dress whose colours got the whole world debating or else we wouldn't have had anything to debate in the first place. Only the maker of the dress can give you a revelation of the truth and help you see that your eyes/mind was playing tricks on you all the while that you saw the dress as white and gold. This is why arguments about the existence of God, demand for proof or trying to convert non-believers (using logical conclusions which are in the habit of being disproved and discarded with each new scientific discovery) are an effort in futility. Quite pointless and a total waste of time if you ask me.

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For believers in Christ (so Bible verses inclusive,) hear why we believe from the mouth of Christ Himself in John 6 (MSG:)

43-46 Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over Me. You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent Me is in charge. He draws people to Me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End...."

We would be no different from the souls out there that don't believe or those whom we sometimes derisively describe as "living in sin and having no heart for Christ" if He hadn't given us the “Dressmaker's” revelation of His true colours alongside the willingness to believe that His are the true colours when our sight tells us differently. Recall we walk by faith and not by sight.

Realising this truth brings us down from any pedestals of self-righteousness/morality that we might have erected for ourselves and makes it difficult for us to condemn or get tired of those who do not believe or are still struggling with sins. We find it hard to tell these beloved of God things like: "You'd better stop sinning and come to Christ, or else you will suffer and burn in hell!" This is akin to telling a blind person: “See!…or else.” It is akin to trying to make me see The dress as blue and black when what was staring me in the face were the colours white and gold. Our believing is a gift from God the Maker.

When our eyes are opened to see the Truth and how we got to believe, we get to stop trusting our senses (human effort aka arm of flesh) and put our trust utterly in Christ; we get to have compassion on those who are yet to be drawn to Christ our Shepherd, just like our Saviour in Matt. 9:36-37:

“When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 He said to His disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. 38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields.”

Like Christ, instead of seeing people who “obstinately” refuse to believe despite “overwhelming evidence,” want to wallow in sins and do not give a hoot about where they will spend eternity, we get to see who we would be without God’s Grace aka His undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour; like sheep without a shepherd, we too would not believe if we had not been drawn/given the desire to come to Christ our Shepherd. With this understanding, our natural inclination would be to avoid pointless God debates that are based on man's senses which are so prone to misleading us that they cannot even tell the colour of a dress by looking at it. Rather, we get to do what Christ says in verse 38 above:

“So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields.”

I find that both religious people and atheists who bother to argue with those who do not share their POV about God just want to win an argument. It's seldom because they care.

What is the point of heckling others for their unbelief and dishing out pointless warnings of death in hell if they don't stop sinning by themselves when their perception of reality is staring them right in the face like the colours of the dress? This salvation from sin via human effort does not even represent Christianity as Christ came to save His people from sins that lead to death, including death in hell.

But God the Maker hears the prayers of His children. If we really want our loved ones to see the Truth and live right, let's pray to our Maker and Abba Father in Christ to touch their hearts and by His grace, tell them about His love and His power to save from all that we need saving from, including our sins (Matthew 1:21.) When God does the drawing to Christ, even the stoniest of hearts will believe and swim across oceans just to hear His word. Christ does it all.

Believe Right and you will Live Right.