in order to become his disciple or follower. The more you learn about Jesus, through reading about his life and hearing his words and obeying his teaching, the more you will experience his love, peace, and a transformed life. Coming to realize that he will never leave, or forsake, or hurt, or abuse, or become hypocritical in his relationship with us sets us free to become otherfocused instead of remaining self-focused. He is the person we follow and attempt to imitate, not religion or the church. If we could all do that then we would be a long way toward seeing real peace on earth. I believe it is possible. I think it would be good to first look at a few of the most common arguments against the existence of God, or arguments for atheism. (By the way when I use the word or term argument it doesn’t mean what we sometimes imagine when we hear it. Here it is just a technical term in philosophy or debate and not an angry or violent exchange.) One of the most common arguments is that belief in God is an emotional crutch or wish fulfillment. This has been raised by many thinkers and philosophers for centuries now. One of the most famous was Sigmund Freud who believed that God was the invention of a fearful psyche. He said that because human beings feared death they created a wish for a divine father and that religions developed partly from this. So is faith in God wishful thinking? Are those who believe in him just attempting to avoid the reality of life without God? In answering this question it is important to note that fearful people invent all kinds of ideologies and beliefs. But there is no logical basis to say something wished for can’t exist. I may wish that I will be a better father to you now than when you were growing up in our family in Amsterdam. That is something that very well could come true. And I am working at that
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