For logical, rational, educated human beings to actually believe there is a spirit realm, to a degree where it would change their life, is nonsensical. You see, logic will deny there is such a thing as life after death, or that there even is a heaven. The physical world says, "We are and have only what we see and no more." And I can understand that point of view.
When you get most, if not all of the sciences in the world who deny that God created—if there is a God—the universe out of nothing physical, and deny that humans are a special creation of His, this is too much for any rational person to believe.
It seems that the more education and intelligence a person has, the more difficult, if not impossible, it is to believe in a realm that is invisible. Why is that? I believe that human intelligence is a deterrent to believing in invisible things; their logic says “impossible.”
That is the reason why Jesus chose uneducated, ordinary men as His disciples. Matthew 11:25. "I praise you, Father Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children." Does that mean that it would be impossible for educated and intelligent people to believe? No, but they would have a more difficult time believing. The only thing is, when they do believe, their faith may be a bit superficial. What I mean is that they may harbor a little bit of doubt because of their logical thinking which does not leave them just because they decide to believe in Jesus, thus making their devotion a little less than acceptable.
Does that mean that the intellect of Christians is just a little bit above the level of morons? Absolutely not! It means we don’t have to be whiz kids to become Christians. The secret is that we must believe as little children do. Matthew 18:3. "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Also Luke 18:17. "I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." When children are told some new facts, it is easy for them to believe because they trust the one who is teaching them. What is being said here means that as simple as it is for a child to believe—click on post # 232: "The Faith of a Little Child"—it is extremely difficult for adults to believe in spiritual matters to the point where all doubt is removed. And doubt is a formidable deterrent to Godliness that will allow compromise to enter one’s life.
I wish I could give you a formula in which we could believe as little children. I am not sure there is one. The only thing Jesus didn’t mention is that little children can be naive, which would make them not the best candidates to believe, since there are many beautiful, silver-tongued spiritual deceivers in the world vying for the attention of naive, foolish and gullible people.
Then there is Matthew 10:16, which teaches that we must ". . . be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." Therefore, here is the formula: become like little children, don’t be naive and gullible as fools; and be wise as serpents and as innocent as doves. That formula seems to be contradictory. What else is new?
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.
Don’t let anyone tell you that it is an easy thing to believe in God without doubt, and to have all the above qualities. It, most likely, is one of the most difficult things a person can be asked to do. The possible answer, as mentioned in post # 232, is to have a desperate, life-or-death need to find a life better than what one has at the present. That type of need is not found to any great degree in America. And even those who have a great need may not be aware of the rescue plan that is offered by Almighty God.
Now we have a large class of intellectuals, such as the biologists, cosmologists, physicists, astronomers, geologists and other scientists that shout: “impossible.” They say the Bible is wrong and is nothing more than but a bunch of stories, myths and old wives’ tales. They believe the way they do because they can prove with an abundant amount of empirical evidence from various sources that the earth and the universe are billions of years older; they, most likely, are correct. Where they err is in believing that the universe was a random happening via the Big Bang, and that it and humans have no specific purpose for their existence; and if there is a God, he had nothing to do with the creation of the universe.
The Old Testament teaches that the earth is about 6,000 years old. That seemed like an apparent known truth until science proved otherwise. Therefore, it is now a known error, even though that belief is unswervingly held by millions of people who call themselves Christians; these people have to be pitied for their credulity. To get more info. that may help explain the truth of the matter, please, for your sake, click on post # 143 or # 109, "Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design." Also, you can click on post # 200, "Science Removes Doubt."
If any more was to be said, it would only be a repeat of what is taught in the above-mentioned posts.
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