One is made or unmade by his beliefs. They determine his doings and shape
his destiny. Therefore, what we believe is a matter of vital importance.
The demands upon our credulity are confusing. We wish to be receptive to
truth, but on our guard against error. What may we believe with a
reasonable degree of assurance and conviction? What may safely enter into
the making of one’s personal faith?
A considerable number of claims upon our credulity may be put aside and
disposed of once and for all. Among them are the claims which violate the
evident laws of truth, the merely controversial claims of the various
Christian groups, the superficial formalities of observance and
organization, the vagaries of popular thought and personal opinion, and
the mental effects of the shifting tides of emotion. Certain things we
are driven to accept by the very facts of life.
One of them is that back of all the wonder of the universe and of life is
a great Source, a First Cause, a Divine Something that we have named God.
This Architect of the universe has not always dwelt among clouds and thick
darkness. He has given us one revelation of Himself in human terms. It is
the sweet spirit, the rugged strength, and the simple life of the Peasant
of Galilee. It is not difficult to believe in God when one has
contemplated the story of Jesus.
Another is that life has its consequences, that the results of right and
wrong action are cumulative and reactive, and that each person now and
forever reaps the reward of his doings. Some call it the law of cause and
effect. Others call it judgment. Whatever it be called, it is not a
penalty imposed, but a result arrived at. The goal one reaches depends
upon the road he chooses and the direction in which he goes. The day one
arrives at his destination is his judgment day.
Another is the everlastingness of spiritual values, the chief of which is
the human soul. If nature treasures each atom of matter, and across long
ages does not permit one of them to be destroyed, shall not that which
transcends matter be even more jealously guarded and preserved? Nothing
else in the universe can be destroyed. How, then, can life be done away?