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Opinions of Tuesday, 19 December 2017

Columnist: Isaac Kyei Andoh

What would I lose if I realise after death that God is an imaginary figment and Jesus a hoax?

Isaac Kyei Andoh Isaac Kyei Andoh

The belief in the existent of God despite being with man since ages past remains a subject of debate even though overwhelming majority of the world’s population believe that there is God.

Scientists are divided by this with many theories to refute the existence of a supremo never emerging as law because of their inability to prove that in deed, the existent of God is untrue.
In science, when theories are proven beyond reasonable doubt, they become law. This is why we have the theory of evolution but have the law of gravity, The Big-Bang theory but have Newton law of motion.
In view of this, people who believe in the scientific denial of God only make their decision based on unproven theories and that is very dangerous even in the context of science.

Even before Christianity was brought to Africa, people believed in the existence of a superior person who created everything.

Interestingly, most beliefs had a middle man or things through which they connected with this Supreme being.

In the Old Testament of the Bible, you’d realise that God punished people directly on this earth and rewarded upright living right here on this earth. No one in the Old Testament worshiped God with the idea of going to Heaven even though the Bible talks about Enoch and Elijah who went to Heaven directly.

Then came Christianity with Jesus as the middleman between man and God. His message of life after death is what has made Christianity the most popular faith in the world aside his reported resurrection from the death.

This is because people can’t find meaning to life if everything begins and ends on this earth and no other religion guaranteed or promised that aside Jesus.

The debate now is whether Jesus is a historical figure or the result of a conspiracy.

The evidence though about the existence of Jesus and the validity of the claims of the New Testament is overwhelming.

Today, after over 2000 years of his ascension to Heaven, the mention of his name still heals the sick and saves addict who gave up on themselves.

The miracles happening in the name of Jesus all over the world can’t happen if not enforced by in deed a supreme being. Yes, you can make claims of some false prophets but will be an insanity to suggest that all the prophet aren’t genuine.

Jesus works because he existed and exists.

My issue though is, what do you lose if you dedicate your whole life worshiping a ‘non-existent God and’ a ‘fake Jesus’ and realise this after death.

Personally, I have lived my entire life believing without an iota of doubt that this world was carefully put together by God and didn’t happen though the Big-Bang or any other means apart from the careful creation by the One God through whom everything that is became.
I believe that this God who man couldn’t access directly gave Jesus to serve as man’s mediator in his relationship with God.

Because of this God, whose Son I have believed with the knowledge that when I die, I will be saved, I have tried not to live totally the way my human flesh would want me to live.

I have denied myself a lot of earthly pleasures because I know there’s a life befitting the believer.

It is not a crime to go round having sex with as many women as you can lay hand on as long as there is no God and that everything has an end once we die.
With God in mind though, I have placed so many restrictions on myself that even during my lowest, during the times I fall short of his standards and sin, I had a place, a bus stop I never go beyond because of this God.

The worse me isn't bad enough because without God, I’d have done more. It means the knowledge of God has made me considerably better than I’d have been as a person.

If after all this, I die and there’s no God and Jesus turns out to be fake, what do I lose?

Majority of human laws came out of the knowledge of a superior being who punishes evil. In view of this, without a God, a lot of moral laws that safeguard our co-existence as humans wouldn’t have been

Even now, there are a lot of wrongs in religious perspective that are not punishable by law but still very relevant for protecting us from each other and making this world a better place for all.
Without a God or the knowledge and hope of such, no one will live on this earth caring about what will happen to him after he’s dead.

If the knowledge of God’s and Jesus’ existence makes at least some people do the good they ordinarily wouldn’t have done, if the knowledge of God prevents some people from being as bad as they could possibly be, how’d the world be if man didn’t believe in the existence of God?

People can make reference to human laws as a way evil will be curbed or minimized. What such people should not forget is that human laws apply only to those caught.

Majority of people who don’t steal when the opportunity to steal presents itself don’t always refrain from the act due to the fear of being caught but mostly because of a superior being, a God who sees in the closet and rewards evil accordingly.

In view of this, the God factor that aids in the spread of the little goodness left in man, the God factor that prevents even the most evil of men from being as evil as he can possibly be would have been absent in our world.

The knowledge of God’s eternal punishment for sin tames people; it gives the weak protection and makes a strongman considerate.

The knowledge of God’s existence has saved this world and remains the most important evil repellent on this earth.

What would I lose if I get to know after my death that God was the making of man and Jesus the result of conspiracy?

If atheists believe that death is perpetual unconsciousness, then it means that after my death, nothing follows and the moment to analyse the wasted years on this earth wouldn’t exist. It means that I will be in a state of hibernation forever with little care of how I lived and my mistakes during this time. A man asleep doesn’t care about what he ate the night before.

In view of this, I won’t have any regret because that sense of knowing the mistakes I made during my time on earth wouldn’t exist.

This clearly shows that as daft as the idea that God exist seems to some people, as deceptive as a historic Jesus might seem to some people it is not only good for the world but also the one who walks in the belief loses nothing regardless of the side of the coin you flip.

It doesn’t change if we say God passes the test and narrow it to Jesus: the concept of life after death is a Jesus doctrine. The Old Testament man didn’t serve God for eternal life but for earthly blessing. People do good with the hope of heaven because of Jesus, it is the promise of Jesus and I believe it. I don’t care if it’s’ a lie, beyond the 100% conviction I have about this, beyond the personal life-changing encounter I had with Jesus that saved me from addiction, believing a lie that has saved the world is a wise decision and from what I have said so far, there will be no room for regret if it turns out to be false after my death.

In view of this, wherever you belong: whether the ‘I don’t believe in God’ or the ‘Jesus doesn’t exist’ group, you have no advantage over the person who believes all this.

At least, the God factor gives the hopeless hope, it comfort people who lose their dear ones that they’d meet one day. Take away the God factor and the world would lose count of the number of suicide cases.

What is the hope of the person who doesn’t believe in God or Jesus? What does the person take solace in?

Now that you know I wouldn’t lose anything after I’m dead if God doesn’t exist, now that you can logically conclude that there is no risk in believing, I want to ask you: what if you dedicate your whole life rejecting God and Jesus and realise after death that He truly exist?

Food for thought