Wonderful!  We are excited that you are seeking some answers about God.  Be encouraged.  The Bible says that those who seek God with all of their heart will find what they are looking for.  So we applaud your courage in seeking after God while living in a culture that looks for answers in so many other places. 

How Can Rational People Believe In God?
There are many rational approaches to a belief in God.  One of those asks the question, “In our universe, why is there something rather than nothing, and why is it all so ordered?”  Everything about the world we can see and observe, from gazing up at the stars at night in your backyard, to observing the behavior of sub-atomic particles in a laboratory, speaks to a creative mind at work in them all.  For the world to have made itself out of nothing, or to have ordered itself out of pre-existing, disordered material, seems very irrational.  On the other hand a rational person may understandably conclude that a universe of such amazingly creative design does, in fact, have a designer. 

More than this, author C.S. Lewis once said that while hunger is no proof that food exists, it certainly seems to indicate that there might be something to the idea of food.  Human beings have long demonstrated having a spiritual hunger.  While that spiritual hunger is no proof of God’s existence, it just might indicate that there is something to the idea that there is a God. 

What Kind of God Would Be Interested In Me?
While all of creation speaks to the reality of God, the primary way we know, and are able to understand who this God is and what God is like, is through the Bible.  From start to finish, the Bible tells the story of a God who created, loved, entered into a relationship with, watched fall away, pursued, and bought back at enormous personal cost, a world and people that this God would not let go.  The Bible tells of God as being one who desires a relationship with us so much, that we are given freedom to choose that relationship or not.  God does not want robots.  God wants people who choose to love and follow God freely, as God loves and provides for us freely. 

What Makes the Way of Following Jesus So Different? 
For many of us, concepts such as God, Heaven, and life after death get difficult to sort out given all of the philosophies and religions competing for our attention.  Who is right?  Are they all right?  Is there any such thing as truth, and if so, how can I know what it is?

An easy solution would be to say that all religious ideas are equally valid.  That way, whatever we end up believing cannot be challenged or contradicted.  But can the central, deepest, most essential truths of the universe be summed up in the word, “whatever?”  Or is there something more?

At the heart of First United Methodist Church of Carrollton, is the central message of Jesus: who He is, what He taught, how He lived, the challenge he gives, the gift He offers, and the promise He makes.  This message has captivated the hearts and minds of much of the human race for the last two thousand years like no other religion or philosophy.

So what sets the way of Jesus apart?  Simply put, every other religious tradition which acknowledges a god or gods has at its center, the human effort required to earn favor with the divine.  It might be about obeying certain laws or in doing good.  It might be about becoming a perfect person.  It might be about faithful religious prayers and practices.  Then, at the end of the day, maybe one’s god has found favor with the person.  But how do we ever know what is good enough, or how much is enough?  All of these performance-based religions can be spelled “D-O.”  They ask, “What must I do to please and earn favor with the divine?”  But the Bible says that we can never earn our way to God or do enough good to make up for our sin.  The way of Jesus is not like that at all.  In fact, Jesus’ way can be spelled “D-O-N-E.”  It is about grace - what Christ has done for us that we could never do for ourselves.  We can experience a reconciled relationship with God through the life, death and resurrection of God’s Son, Jesus.  And it is given not as the result of religious faithfulness or doing good deeds, no matter how sincerely offered.  This reconciliation comes from God as a free gift, and is worth looking in to.  We encourage you to do just that this Sunday at First Church.