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For My Friend on Yon Kippur
(10/16/2005)

I have a friend who is Jewish by heritage but an atheist by choice. He and I have discussed on several occasions the existence of God along with related ethical issues. This past Yon Kippur, I wrote him an e-mail where I tried to convey to him how the reality of Jesus is in everything (especially for someone of his lineage). I thought that others might benefit from it:

According to my understanding, this is a day of repentance, atonement, and reconciliation. In that Spirit, I offer the following for your consideration.

You and I have discussed whether or not God actually exists. In that context, I ask that you consider the following:

As you read this, you are standing on a large ball of matter rotating at 36,000 mph. That ball of matter that we call Earth has a thin veneer of atmosphere containing just the right elements at just the right temperature and pressure to support life. This planet is in an elliptical orbit at 18.5 miles per second around a fiery ball of gas. Any closer to the sun and we would burn up and any further away we would freeze. The elliptical shape of the orbit is precisely what is required to create the seasons on which our ecological environment depends. The solar system we live in is just one of billions making up the Milky Way and the Milky Way is just one of what appears to be an infinite number of galaxies.

Think about your own ancestry…the history of the Hebrew people. Your people are the result of a promise given by God to Abraham almost 4000 years ago. If there was no God, there would have been no promise to Abraham and the Jewish people would never have existed. God’s promise created the Jewish people and gave them the land of Israel. History shows how time and time again the Jews have miraculously survived…escaping slavery in Eygpt…being conquered by the Babylonians, the Romans, and the Muslims, the Crusades…and the final solution of the Nazis. In 1948 the nation of Israel was restored and against overwhelming odds survived the Sinai War, the Six Day War, and the Yom Kippur War. The restoration of the nation of Israel and the return of Jerusalem fulfilled prophecies made over 3000 years ago.

Now look in the mirror. Look at the miracle of YOU. The incredible complexity of human DNA where the absence or defect of a single chromosome would mean that you would never have existed…the interdependent functions of your body from respiration to blood flow to hormone levels to food processing to waste elimination…the complexity of the eye and the unfathomable intricacy of the brain…the physical features of your face…the special mix of personality, emotions, experiences, faults, and talents which makes you “YOU” and gives you the ability to sing, reason, love and be loved…

With all of this taken into consideration, what is the probability that it all came about by chance? Doesn’t EVERYTHING that exists scream DESIGN? Everywhere you find pattern and purpose…not chaos and accident.

I’ve only known you a short time, but I consider you to be my friend. I ask you to consider the possibility that there really is a God. That God made promises to your ancestors and that many of those promises have already been fulfilled. The greatest of these were that a Messiah would come from the line of David and that of His kingdom there would be no end. His name was Jesus. As laughable as the world may consider it, He really lived and walked on this earth, He was completely God and completely man, He was crucified and resurrected for our sins, and He is coming back as Judge of the Living and the Dead. In Jesus, Yon Kippur finds its fulfillment because Jesus was the unblemished Lamb of God who was sacrificed in order to atone for our sins and to reconcile us to God. But for us to be able to receive what He gave his life for, we must give up our life and get a new one from Him by repenting of our sins and believing in Him. The only way to do this (whether you’re a genius or an idiot, a rich man or a poor one, young or old) is by faith in what He has done.

Mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Matthew 16:24,25 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Ephesians 2:8,9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

1 Corinthians 1:21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

John 20:29 “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

Your friend and fellow pilgrim,

Jim